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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 — MOSCOW, Jan. 1 - Russia cut off the natural gas intended for Ukraine on Sunday as talks over pricing and transit terms unraveled into a bald political conflict that carried consequences for Ukraine's recovering economy and possibly for gas supplies to Western Europe.
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:
Rantingprofs, Informed Comment, The Washington Monthly, Jihad Watch, AMERICAN FUTURE and Ace of Spades HQ
Ellen Knickmeyer / Washington Post:
U.S. Has End in Sight on Iraq Rebuilding — 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. The decision signals the winding down of an $18.4 billion U.S. rebuilding effort …
Discussion:
Rantingprofs, IntoxiNation-News …, Left I on the News, Just a Bump in the Beltway and Air America Radio
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 …
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 …
Discussion:
Althouse
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.
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 …
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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Christopher Lee / Washington Post:
Alito Once Made Case For Presidential Power — As a young Justice Department lawyer, Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. tried to help tip the balance of power between Congress and the White House a little more in favor of the executive branch. — In the 1980s, the Reagan administration …
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.
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.
Jane Hamsher / firedoglake:
What Do We Look Like, Newsweek? — In an evident bid to replace Harriet Miers as the number one go-to frothy apologist for the Bush Junta, Newsweek jumps into the wiretapping fray this morning: … They remove the anodized knee pads momentarily however to lapse into a bit of actual news:
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Hindrocket / Power Line:
BUSH DEFENDS NSA PROGRAM — President Bush is giving a live press conference from a hospital where he is visiting servicemen who were wounded in Iraq. Nearly all of the questions related to the NSA surveillance program. Bush did a great job of both defining and defending the program.
Discussion:
The Claremont Institute
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