Top Items:
Michael Hedges / Houston Chronicle:
Abramoff plea bargain announcement expected — Deal may give prosecutors a view into possible favors — WASHINGTON - A plea agreement between prominent lobbyist Jack Abramoff and federal prosecutors is expected this week, bringing a wide-ranging corruption probe to the doors of Congress …
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Bloomberg:
Abramoff May Plead Guilty This Week, Snaring Lawmakers in Probe — Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) — Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is under criminal investigation, may agree this week to cooperate with federal officials in a move that former prosecutors say would put U.S. lawmakers in legal jeopardy.
Paul E. Schroeder / Washington Post:
A Life, Wasted — Let's Stop This War Before More Heroes Are Killed — Early on Aug. 3, 2005, we heard that 14 Marines had been killed in Haditha, Iraq. Our son, Lance Cpl. Edward "Augie" Schroeder II, was stationed there. At 10:45 a.m. two Marines showed up at our door.
Discussion:
skippy the bush kangaroo, Democrat Taylor Marsh …, Rantingprofs, TBogg and Bark Bark Woof Woof
Franklin Foer / The New Republic:
OY, THE MSB: — Last month, I wrote a column against the Mainstream Blogosphere. I argued that the MSB has made a grave mistake in relentlessly attacking the credibility of the New York Times and Washington Post. For decades, conservatives have been trying to shred these institutions.
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R.G. Ratcliffe / Houston Chronicle:
Strayhorn enters governor's race as independent — AUSTIN — Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn ended speculation today by announcing she will run for governor against Gov. Rick Perry as an independent. — "It's time to shake Austin up," Strayhorn, who is now serving as a Republican officeholder …
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April Castro / Associated Press:Comptroller in Texas Walks Away From GOP
Discussion:
rawstory.com, Hotline On Call, Bull Moose, The Washington Monthly, IntoxiNation-News … and Decision '08
Peter Lattman / Law Blog:
Article III Groupie Expected to Become Wonkette — Here's the latest buzz: Queen of the blogosphere Ana Marie Cox is said to be handing over the reins at her spicy political blog Wonkette. David Lat, the federal prosecutor who revealed himself to the New Yorker magazine in November …
Discussion:
The Media Mob - NYO, Althouse, mediabistro, TalkLeft, Poynter Online, Concurring Opinions, Wizbang and Betsy's Page
Jennifer C. Yates / Associated Press:
Mining Exec 'Discouraged' by Air Quality — Rescuers trying to reach 13 trapped miners punched a hole into the mine early Tuesday, but a company executive said he was "very discouraged" by air quality tests. — Carbon monoxide levels measured 1,300 parts per million …
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Richard A. Oppel Jr / New York Times:
Sunni Group Near Deal With Kurds on Iraqi Government — BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 2 - The largest Sunni Arab political group in Iraq unexpectedly moved toward agreement with Kurdish leaders Monday on a broad framework for a coalition government. The group, the Iraqi Consensus Front …
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters
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Sinan Salaheddin / Associated Press:Iraq's main Sunni Arabs group agrees on outlines of coalition government
Discussion:
PoliPundit.com
Michael J. Totten / Opinion Journal:
Lebanon the Model — Iraq isn't the Arab world's first democracy. — BEIRUT, Lebanon—Of all the rationales for demolishing Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, the most compelling was the Middle East's desperate need for at least one free Arab democracy to act as a model and an inspiration …
Discussion:
irishpennants.com
E. J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
For Bush, a Test in the Midterms — Elections at midterm can be low-interest affairs or immensely important. This fall's congressional elections will be a big show with large consequences, because 2006 is looking a lot like the political years 1958, 1966 and 1978, all of which heralded major political transformations.
Associated Press:
New Book Reveals Secret War Operations — WASHINGTON - A new book on the government's secret anti-terrorism operations describes how the CIA recruited an Iraqi-American anesthesiologist in 2002 to obtain information from her brother, who was a figure in Saddam Hussein's nuclear program.
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Editor and Publisher:
'Military Times' Poll Finds Fading Support for President, War — NEW YORK While President Bush remains more popular within the military than outside it, support for him, and for the war in Iraq, "has slipped significantly in the last year among members of the military's professional core," …
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Margot Dudkevitch / Jerusalem Post:
2,990 attacks during 2005 'truce' — As Islamic Jihad, the Popular Resistance Committees and Fatah's Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades announced an end to their self-declared truce of January 2005, under which they pledged to refrain from attacking Israeli targets, an annual summary of terror activities …
Discussion:
discarded lies
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Griff Witte / Washington Post:
U.S. Cedes Duties in Rebuilding Afghanistan — KABUL, Afghanistan — Four years into a mammoth reconstruction effort here that has been largely led, funded and secured by Americans, the United States is showing a growing willingness to cede those jobs to others.
Thomas Sowell / Townhall.com:
Serious or suicidal? — When you are boating on the Niagara River, there are signs marking the point at which you must go ashore or else you will be sucked over the falls. With Iran moving toward the development of nuclear weapons, we are getting dangerously close to that fatal point of no return on the world stage.
Eric Lipton / New York Times:
New Rules Set for Giving Out Antiterror Aid — Facing cuts in antiterrorism financing, the Department of Homeland Security plans to announce today that it will evaluate new requests for money from an $800 million aid program for cities based less on politics and more on assessments …
Discussion:
Catch
Reuters:
US Rep. Murtha says he wouldn't join military now — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rep. John Murtha, a key Democratic voice who favors pulling U.S. troops from Iraq, said in remarks airing on Monday that he would not join the U.S. military today. — A decorated Vietnam combat veteran who retired …
Paul Martin / Washington Times:
Saddam prefers death by shooting — LONDON — Saddam Hussein has told his lawyers that he wants to be shot by firing squad, not hanged, if sentenced to death during his murder trial, which resumes later this month in Baghdad. — Saddam maintains that he is still commander in chief …
Discussion:
The American Mind
