Top Items:
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 …
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Pete Yost / Associated Press:
Top Republicans Give Up Abramoff Donations — WASHINGTON - President Bush, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and his successor Roy Blunt Wednesday joined the growing list of officials shedding political donations from Jack Abramoff, the once powerful lobbyist who has agreed to testify …
Juan / Informed Comment:
Abramoff and al-Arian: Lobbyist's "Charity" a Front for Terrorism — The guilty plea of fabulously wealthy and highly corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff raised the question of whether he would roll over on congressmen involved in illegal fundraising and other crimes with him.
Los Angeles Times:
Lobbying Plan Was Central to GOP's Political Strategy — Abramoff was key to the 'K Street Project,' designed to extend the party's influence. Changes are urged to avoid 'huge black eye.' — WASHINGTON — The corruption investigation surrounding lobbyist Jack Abramoff shows …
Discussion:
The Washington Monthly, NewDonkey.com, The Moderate Voice, The Heretik and Pacific Views
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 …
Washington Post:Case Bringing New Scrutiny To a System and a Profession
Discussion:
The American Street, Attytood, AMERICAblog, Unclaimed Territory, The Huffington Post, Democrat Taylor Marsh …, Betsy's Page, The Heretik, Kobayashi Maru, Taegan Goddard's …, 'Just World News …, The RCP Blog, Macsmind, Christian Science Monitor, Right Wing Nut House, firedoglake, WTF Is It Now?? and The Florida Masochist
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 …
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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.
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.
John Cole / Balloon Juice:
The Mining Tragedy — If there is any way to make a disaster worse, it happened last night. I went to bed listening to the general euphoria of Rita Crosby as she interviewed family members, and woke up this morning and listened to those same family members dealing not only with tragic loss, but anger and a sense of betrayal.
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.
Discussion:
Gateway Pundit, Tim Blair, Associated Press, Liberty Street, Captain's Quarters, PunditGuy, Donklephant and The Sideshow
Maha / The Mahablog:Dark as a Dungeon — I come from a long line of stone cutters …
Discussion:
Associated Press, livejournal.com, Cafe Hayek, The Sundries Shack, Hullabaloo and Lawyers, Guns and Money
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 …
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Ted / Crooked Timber:
Isn't it the same thing? — Law professor Glenn Reynolds quotes law professor Ann Althouse: … Pointing out this vile hypocrisy must be the zingiest zinger that ever zinged a zingee. They're right, in way. Few of us who are upset about the outing of Valerie Plame are viscerally upset …
Discussion:
The Volokh Conspiracy, american footprints, The RCP Blog, Wampum and The Anonymous Liberal
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 …
Noor Khan / Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Taliban is blamed for beheading teacher — KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Taliban militants beheaded a teacher in a central Afghan town while his wife and eight children watched, officials said Wednesday, describing the latest in a string of attacks targeting educators at schools where girls study.
Discussion:
AMERICAN DIGEST
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Andrea Mitchell / MSNBC:
Reporter defends release of NSA spy program — James Risen says his sources are 'patriots,' CIA calls them 'unreliable' … Andrea Mitchell — New York Times reporter James Risen first broke the story two weeks ago that the National Security Agency began spying on domestic communications soon after 9/11.
Discussion:
mediabistro
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Washington Post:
Mooning deemed 'disgusting' but legal in Md. — Man who exposed his buttocks during an argument walks free — WASHINGTON - Acquitting a Germantown man who exposed his buttocks during an argument with a neighbor, a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge ruled yesterday that mooning, while distasteful, is not illegal in Maryland.
Discussion:
Norwegianity
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 …
