Top Items:
Washington Post:
Twelve Found Dead in W.Va. Coal Mine — SAGO, W.Va., Jan. 4 — Great joy turned suddenly to deep sorrow Wednesday morning when stunned family members were told that 12 of the 13 miners trapped 13,000 feet into a mountainside since early Monday were dead rather than alive, as they, and the world, had been told hours earlier.
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CNN:
Grief, anger as all but one miner found dead — Initial reports indicated 12 had survived — TALLMANSVILLE, West Virginia (CNN) — Grief and anger replaced jubilation early Wednesday as mine officials announced that, despite earlier reports, only one of 13 trapped miners had survived a West Virginia mining accident.
Greg Mitchell / Editor and Publisher:
Media Reports Miracle Mine Rescue — Then Carries the Tragic Truth — NEW YORK In one of the most disturbing and disgraceful media performances of this type in recent years, television and newspapers carried the tragically wrong news late Tuesday and early Wednesday that 12 of 13 trapped coal miners …
Jennifer C. Yates / Associated Press:
11 of 12 Miners Reported Alive Are Dead — TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. (AP) - In a stunning and heartbreaking reversal, family members were told early Wednesday that 11 of 12 trapped coal miners found were dead - three hours after they began celebrating news that they were alive.
Joby Warrick / Washington Post:
Safety Violations Have Piled Up at Coal Mine — Time and again over the past four years, federal mining inspectors documented the same litany of problems at central West Virginia's Sago Mine: mine roofs that tended to collapse without warning. Faulty or inadequate tunnel supports.
Associated Press:
Eleven of Twelve Missing Coal Miners Believed to Be Alive Found Dead — TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. — Family members learned early Wednesday that 11 of the 12 coal miners who were initially thought to have survived an explosion in a coal mine have died. — Families learned of the deaths …
James Dao / New York Times:12 Miners Are Found Alive, Family Members Say
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Liberty Street, Lean Left, QandO, volunteertv.com, AMERICAN DIGEST, Balloon Juice and Conglomerate Blog
Jennifer C. Yates / Associated Press:Jubilation Turns to Anger, Outrage
Discussion:
The Sundries Shack
William McQuillen / Bloomberg:Mine Where Explosion Occurred Was Cited for Hazards (Update2)
Discussion:
Think Progress
Washington Post:
Case Bringing New Scrutiny To a System and a Profession — The biggest corruption scandal to infect Congress in a generation took down one of the best-connected lobbyists in Washington yesterday. The questions echoing around the capital were what other careers — and what other familiar ways of doing business — are endangered.
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Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:
GOP Leaders Seek Distance From Abramoff — Hastert to Donate Money Given by Lobbyist's Clients — With a House Republican committee chairman implicated in the criminal case and the highest echelons of the Republican Party increasingly vulnerable to charges, GOP leaders moved yesterday …
New York Times:
Tremors Across Washington as Lobbyist Will Aid Inquiry — WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 - As a high-flying Republican lobbyist, Jack Abramoff has long been known as a mover and shaker in Washington. But when he cut a deal with federal prosecutors on Tuesday, he shook up this town as never before.
Discussion:
Slate, Democrat Taylor Marsh …, AMERICAblog, Norwegianity, Mediacrity and The Moderate Voice
Ace / Ace of Spades HQ:
Abramoff's Plea Deal Requires He Dress Like B-Movie Heavy For Rest Of Life — Either that his public relations consultant is Toht from Raiders of the Lost Ark. — Yeah, that's a good look for a man accused of serious crimes. Now all he needs to do is complete the ensemble by burning …
Los Angeles Times:Lobbying Plan Was Central to GOP's Political Strategy
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The Moderate Voice
John / AMERICAblog:Hardball's Chris Matthews, FOX's Tony Snow …
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James Wolcott, Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars, The Left Coaster, Roger Ailes, Dean's World, Brilliant at Breakfast and Mercury Rising
Sam Rosenfeld / TAPPED:COLLATERAL DAMAGE. This passage caught my eye in Sheryl Gay …
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Democratic Veteran
Pete Yost / Associated Press:Update 37: Bush to Give Up $6,000 Linked to Abramoff
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RuminateThis
AKA GayPatriotWest / Gay Patriot:The Tragedy of Jack Abramoff
Discussion:
Debbie Schlussel, Norwegianity, Michelle Malkin, Gateway Pundit, The Anchoress and Flopping Aces
New York Times:
On the Subject of Leaks — Given the Bush administration's appetite for leak investigations (three are under way), this seems a good moment to try to clear away the fog around this issue. — A democratic society cannot long survive if whistle-blowers are criminally punished for revealing …
Discussion:
TigerHawk, The Heretik, Right Wing Nut House, Heard Here, NewsBusters.org, The Carpetbagger Report and Viking Pundit
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New York Times:
Agency First Acted on Its Own to Broaden Spying, Files Show — WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 - The National Security Agency acted on its own authority, without a formal directive from President Bush, to expand its domestic surveillance operations in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to declassified documents released Tuesday.
Charlie Savage / Boston Globe:
Bush could bypass new torture ban — Waiver right is reserved — WASHINGTON — When President Bush last week signed the bill outlawing the torture of detainees, he quietly reserved the right to bypass the law under his powers as commander in chief. — After approving the bill last Friday …
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Guardian:
Secret services say Iran is trying to assemble a nuclear missile — Document seen by Guardian details web of front companies and middlemen — The Iranian government has been successfully scouring Europe for the sophisticated equipment needed to develop a nuclear bomb …
Discussion:
The Washington Realist, New Sisyphus, Right Wing Nut House, The Next Hurrah, Reuters, Secular Blasphemy, The Washington Monthly, Hugh Hewitt, Right Wing News, Atlas Shrugs, All Things Beautiful, THE BELGRAVIA DISPATCH, ArmsControlWonk, Elephants in Academia, protein wisdom, Donklephant and Ace of Spades HQ
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Josh Meyer / Los Angeles Times:CIA Gave Iran Bomb Plans, Book Says
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog
Peter Carlson / Washington Post:
Quote Cuisine — Everybody wants some of Marshall Wittmann's wisdom. People keep calling, asking him to explain the mysteries of Washington. — USA Today wants to know the state of Dick Cheney's status. The Albany Times Union wants to know if the administration is getting serious about the deficit.
Washington Post:
U.S. Raid Kills Family North of Baghdad — Iraqis Say 12 Slain in Airstrike; Americans Believed Targeted Farm Was Shelter for Insurgents — BAGHDAD, Jan. 3 — U.S. pilots targeting a house where they believed insurgents had taken shelter killed a family of 12, Iraqi officials said Tuesday.
Washington Post:
Wonkette's Sex Change — Wonkette is dead — long live Wonkette. — Ana Marie Cox, the writer who made Washington politics irresistibly naughty, is giving up her job as a full-time, pajama-clad blogger to become a full-time, pajama-clad author. Cox, who just signed a contract for her second book …
