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Ellen Knickmeyer / Washington Post:
U.S. Has End in Sight on Iraq Rebuilding — Documents Show Much of the Funding Diverted to Security, Justice System and Hussein Inquiry — BAGHDAD — The Bush administration does not intend to seek any new funds for Iraq reconstruction in the budget request going before Congress in February, officials say.
New York Times:
Muslim Scholars Were Paid to Aid U.S. Propaganda — WASHINGTON, Jan. 1 - A Pentagon contractor that paid Iraqi newspapers to print positive articles written by American soldiers has also been compensating Sunni religious scholars in Iraq in return for assistance with its propaganda work, according to current and former employees.
Discussion:
The Washington Monthly, Jihad Watch, AMERICAN FUTURE, Ace of Spades HQ and All Things Beautiful
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David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
Alito Supporters Portray Nominee as Less Polished — WASHINGTON, Jan. 1 - As Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. enters his final week of dress rehearsals for his Supreme Court confirmation hearings, participants say his performance has already made one thing clear: he will never be as polished …
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Fox News:
Transcript: McConnell, Schumer — The following is a transcript from "FOX News Sunday" on Jan. 1, 2006: — CHRIS WALLACE, HOST: I'm Chris Wallace. A new controversy about that NSA domestic spying program, next on "Fox News Sunday". — As we begin 2006, there's a growing debate …
Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
Bush Again Defends Spy Program — WASHINGTON, Jan. 1 - President Bush continued on Sunday to defend both the legality and the necessity of the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program, and he denied that he misled the public last year when he insisted that any government wiretap required a court order.
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BBC:
Gas row sends shiver through EU — Russia's decision to cut gas imports to Ukraine is causing dismay across Europe, where supplies in a number of countries have been disrupted. — The US has also expressed concern, saying the move raised "serious questions about the use of energy to exert political pressure".
Discussion:
The Brussels Journal
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Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:Russia Cuts Off Gas to Ukraine in Cost Dispute
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Captain's Quarters, SCSUScholars, THE ASTUTE BLOGGER, Middle Earth Journal and The Moderate Voice
Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
Answering Back to the News Media, Using the Internet — Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel, or so goes the old saw. For decades, the famous and the infamous alike largely followed this advice. Even when subjects of news stories felt they had been misunderstood or badly treated …
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John M. Broder / New York Times:
States Take Lead in Push to Raise Minimum Wages — Despite Congressional refusal for almost a decade to raise the federal minimum wage, nearly half of the civilian labor force lives in states where the pay is higher than the rate set by the federal government.
Mark Ballard / 2theadvocate.com:
Blanco orders remodeling just after storms — Office tab: $564,838 — Some members of the governor's staff will return from the three-day holiday on Tuesday to newly renovated offices at the State Capitol. — Shortly after the two hurricanes, Gov. Kathleen Blanco decided to renovate some of her staff's offices.
Discussion:
A Blog For All, Betsy's Page, Gut Rumbles, Thespis Journal, Taegan Goddard's … and Louisiana Libertarian
Martin Wolk / MSNBC:
Dow closes disappointing year with a loss — Despite growing economy, index ends in the red for first time since '02 — Martin Wolk — Wall Street wrapped up a disappointing year Friday with a rally-killing selloff, sending the stock market to its lowest levels since before Thanksgiving …
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Steve Forbes / Forbes:Fact and Comment — Mushrooming Crisis — Iran's soon …
Discussion:
Decision '08
TBogg:
Okay. Enough celebrating. Let's get started... It's 2006, wingnuttery abounds and time's a'wastin'.... First up, K-Lo rings in the New Year: … Unfortunately Mitt Romney was unavailable for smoochies (he must have been with one of his wives) and so K-Lo was forced to finish off her Zima alone …
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Unclaimed Territory, Spot-On, firedoglake, Norwegianity, IntoxiNation-News … and huffingtonpost.com
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Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:New, Troubling Questions Over Bush Domestic Spying
Discussion:
New York Times, The Heretik, Democrat Taylor Marsh …, WTF Is It Now??, Middle Earth Journal and TBogg
Monica Davey / New York Times:
Recruited in Wartime, a Young Private Now Faces Her First Deployment to Iraq — LYNDON, Kan., Dec. 31 - When she signed up for the Army in 2004, Katherine Jordan had little to say about war. Asked about Iraq at the time, she said she was far more concerned about the rigors of basic training …
Telegraph:
Sniper shot that took out an insurgent killer from three quarters of a mile — Gazing through the telescopic sight of his M24 rifle, Staff Sgt Jim Gilliland, leader of Shadow sniper team, fixed his eye on the Iraqi insurgent who had just killed an American soldier.
Michael Barone / US News:
The Wal-Mart Model — The American economy continues to surge ahead, though you won't read much about it in mainstream media. Economic growth in the third quarter was 4.1 percent—despite Hurricane Katrina!—the 10th consecutive quarter with growth over 3 percent.
Discussion:
Loaded Mouth
Ted Hayes / Opinion Journal:
Prejudice — Black Republicans should be able to live without fear. — American blacks who are affiliated with the Republican Party are vigorously vilified by Democrats, especially black Democrats. Uncle Tom, sell-out, Oreo—the list of slurs is long. — But it is not only insults.
Discussion:
Patio Pundit
Kevin Drum / The Washington Monthly:
JOHN ASHCROFT: WEAK ON TERRORISM?....Look, if even John Ashcroft had qualms about the NSA's secret domestic spying program, as Newsweek reports today, I think it's safe to say that something is seriously wrong here. After all, we now know that the FISA court was unhappy about the NSA program …
Discussion:
The Talent Show
hexblog.com:
Windows WMF Metafile Vulnerability HotFix — This week a new vulnerability was found in Windows: — Browsing the web was not safe anymore, regardless of the browser. Microsoft will certainly come up with a thouroughly tested fix for it in the future, but meanwhile I developed a temporary fix - I badly needed it.
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