Top Items:
Anne E. Kornblut / New York Times:
G.O.P. Lobbyist to Plead Guilty in Deal With Prosecutors — WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 - Jack Abramoff will plead guilty to three felony counts in Washington on Wednesday as part of a settlement with federal prosecutors, ending an intense, months-long negotiation over whether the Republican lobbyist …
Discussion:
Boston Globe, Balloon Juice, Bloomberg, Houston Chronicle, Brilliant at Breakfast, Booman Tribune, Obsidian Wings, David Corn, Democrat Taylor Marsh …, The Carpetbagger Report, The Heretik, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Hotline On Call, Politics in the Zeros, TAPPED, The Green Knight, NewsBusters.org, The All Spin Zone, Blanton's and Ashton's, Donklephant, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES and The Moderate Voice
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ReddHedd / firedoglake:
Abramoff Plea Deal Reached — The NYTimes is reporting on the details of the Abramoff plea deal. According to Anne Kornblut, Abramoff will plead guilty to three counts in the DC phase of the investigation — public corruption, fraud, and tax evasion — resulting in a maximum exposure of about 10 years in federal prison.
Discussion:
The Left Coaster, Eschaton, PSoTD, The Truth Laid Bear, Fired Up! America, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Off the Kuff, Norwegianity and Daily Kos
Washington Post:
Abramoff Expected to Plead Guilty to 3 Felony Charges — Former high-powered lobbyist Jack Abramoff is expected to plead guilty today to three felony charges in a Washington courtroom, a Justice Department spokesman said. — The plea deal opens the prospect that Abramoff could provide testimony …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, TalkLeft, The Stakeholder, Democratic Veteran, The Sideshow, Left in the West and ScrappleFace
Jason Leopold / rawstory.com:
How they got caught: After lobbyist broke off engagement, ex-fiancee told of illicit dealings to FBI — Michael Scanlon found himself at the center of one of the biggest political scandals in Washington history as a result of cheating and lying—but not the type involving the numerous clients …
MSNBC:
Top lobbyist to plead guilty in corruption case — Abramoff cuts deal in congressional, gambling boat investigations … MSNBC TV — WASHINGTON - Lobbyist Jack Abramoff will plead guilty to federal charges in Washington and Miami, clearing the way for him to cooperate …
Mark Sherman / Associated Press:
Abramoff Makes Plea Deal, Will Cooperate — WASHINGTON - Lobbyist Jack Abramoff will plead guilty to federal charges in Washington and Miami, clearing the way for him to cooperate in a massive government investigation of influence peddling involving members of Congress, lawyers said Tuesday.
Jennifer C. Yates / Associated Press:
Air Quality Tests in Mine Discouraging — TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. - A mining company executive said officials are "very discouraged" by air quality tests in the mine where 13 workers are trapped, and planned to drill a third hole to take additional air samples.
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James Dao / New York Times:Rescuers Continue Search for 13 Workers Trapped in Mine
Discussion:
ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES
Reuters:
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 …
Steven E. Landsburg / Slate:
Do the Poor Deserve Life Support? — A woman who couldn't pay her bills is unplugged from her ventilator and dies. Is this wrong? — Tirhas Habtegiris, a 27-year-old terminal cancer patient at Baylor Regional Medical Center in Plano, Texas, was removed from her ventilator last month because she couldn't pay her medical bills.
Adam Cohen / New York Times:
Question for Judge Alito: What About One Person One Vote? — When Samuel Alito Jr. applied for a top job in the Reagan Justice Department, he explained what had attracted him to constitutional law as a college student. He was motivated, he said, "in large part by disagreement with Warren Court decisions …
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USA Today:
'Dog Days' squares with Washington — You may not know Ana Marie Cox. However, if you are one of the millions who take their information nourishment from Internet blogs, odds are you know Wonkette, her electronic nom de plume. — Cox's Wonkette is to snarky inside-politics blogs …
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Opinion Journal:
Teachers' Pets — The NEA gave $65 million in its members' dues to left-liberal groups last year. — If we told you that an organization gave away more than $65 million last year to Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Amnesty International …
Discussion:
QandO, Kobayashi Maru, Betsy's Page, SCSUScholars, sisu, Generation Why?, Everything I Know Is Wrong and Daily Pundit
rconversation.blogs.com:
Microsoft takes down Chinese blogger — Microsoft's MSN Spaces continues to censor its Chinese language blogs, and has become more aggressive and thorough at censorship since I first checked out MSN's censorship system last summer. On New Years Eve, MSN Spaces took down the popular blog written by Zhao Jing, aka Michael Anti.
Discussion:
La Shawn Barber's Corner
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.
Michelle Malkin:
LET THE SHILLING BEGIN — Robin Boyd at Newsbusters notes that the Associated Press is playing book publicist for NYTimes reporter James Risen, whose book blabbing about the Bush administration's classified counterterrorism programs is out today: … Time magazine's preview of Risen's book is only slightly less unbalanced.
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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 …
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.
Alan Light / New York Times:
Songwriter Says Columbia Dropped Her in Fight Over Album — Nellie McKay, a young singer-songwriter whose 2004 album, "Get Away From Me," was one of the most acclaimed pop debuts in recent years, says she has been dropped by Columbia Records just as her follow-up was scheduled to reach stores.
