Top Items:
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.
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 …
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:
ShrinkWrapped, The Washington Monthly, Jihad Watch, AMERICAN FUTURE, Ace of Spades HQ and All Things Beautiful
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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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Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:New, Troubling Questions Over Bush Domestic Spying
Discussion:
The Left Coaster, New York Times, Decision '08, The Heretik, Democrat Taylor Marsh … and Middle Earth Journal
Peter Finn / Washington Post:
Russia Warned on Natural Gas Dispute — EU Plans Emergency Session to Address Sharp Drop in Gas Imports — MOSCOW, Jan. 2 — Several European countries reported sharp drops Monday in the level of natural gas they are receiving from Russia as a dispute over pricing between …
Discussion:
Rook's Rant
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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:
Betsy's Page, A Blog For All, Gut Rumbles, Thespis Journal, Louisiana Libertarian and Taegan Goddard's …
Andrew Miga / Associated Press:
Kerry Positioned for '08 White House Bid — WASHINGTON - It's almost as if Sen. John Kerry never stopped running for president. He still jets across the country, raising millions of dollars and rallying Democrats. He still stalks the TV news show circuit, scolding President Bush at every turn.
Discussion:
Shakespeare's Sister, Captain's Quarters, The RCP Blog, The Florida Masochist and Dohiyi Mir
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:
All Things Beautiful
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 …
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, Rantingprofs, Betsy's Page, Scylla & Charybdis, Ace of Spades HQ and mediabistro
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Marty Lederman / Balkinization:
So Much for the President's Assent to the McCain Amendment — The President signed the Defense Appropriations bill on Friday. In his signing statement he did at least two notable things. — First, with respect to several provisions of the bill, the President signaled his intention …
Discussion:
www.AndrewSullivan.com
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 …
Salman Masood / New York Times:
Pakistanis Back Off Vow to Control Madrasas — ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 1 - As the incendiary training at some of Pakistan's seminaries drew renewed focus in the weeks after the July 7 bombings in London, President Pervez Musharraf promised to bring the schools into the mainstream and expel …
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.
Hullabaloo:
Divine Right Of Republicans — This Newsweak story is, well, weak: … First of all, I'm sick of this bulls**t about the president being the commander in chief all the time. This isn't a military dictatorship. Citizens, and even lawyers in the Justice department, don't have a commander in chief.
Discussion:
Daily Kos
