Top Items:
Doug Bandow / Los Angeles Times:
The lesson Jack Abramoff taught me — I'VE LONG BEEN involved in the public eye, but only as a largely unassuming policy nerd. A couple of weeks ago, however, I found myself spotlighted as a player in l'affaire Jack Abramoff — Abramoff is the lobbyist who pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion.
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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 …
Howard Fineman / MSNBC:
Winners and losers in the Abramoff scandal — The GOP could suffer, opening the way for a third-party movement — WASHINGTON - — Howard Fineman — Forget the black hat. Everybody here is obsessed with Jack Abramoff's gangster-like attire as he came out of the federal courthouse.
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.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The American Street, Betsy's Page, Kobayashi Maru, 'Just World News …, Macsmind and Booman Tribune
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 …
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, Taegan Goddard's …, The Heretik and Pacific Views
John Dickerson / Slate:Jack Attack — Lobbyist Jack Abramoff sows panic through Washington.
Discussion:
In Search Of Utopia
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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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.
Discussion:
This isn't writing …, Pajamas Media, Thespis Journal, The Anchoress and Classical Values
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.
Discussion:
Just a Bump in the Beltway, Bradford Plumer, NathanNewman.org, The American Street, Demagogue and The Liquid List
Maha / The Mahablog:Dark as a Dungeon — I come from a long line of stone cutters …
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livejournal.com, Associated Press, Cafe Hayek, The Sundries Shack, Hullabaloo and Lawyers, Guns and Money
Washington Post:Twelve Found Dead in W.Va. Coal Mine
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Gateway Pundit, Captain's Quarters, Tim Blair, Liberty Street, Donklephant, PunditGuy, Peace Like A River and The Sideshow
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:
Michelle Malkin, Right Wing Nut House, Media Blog on National …, AMERICAN FUTURE, The Heretik and Heard Here
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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 …
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.
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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.
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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.
Del Quentin Wilber / Washington Post:
Robbed at Gunpoint, Barry Harbors 'No Animosities' — D.C. Council member and former mayor Marion Barry yesterday urged two young men who robbed him at gunpoint Monday night to turn themselves in to police, promising that he would urge authorities not to prosecute them. — "I have no animosities," Barry declared.
