Top Items:
Bill Gertz / Washington Times:
NSA whistleblower asks to testify — A former National Security Agency official wants to tell Congress about electronic intelligence programs that he asserts were carried out illegally by the NSA and the Defense Intelligence Agency. — Russ Tice, a whistleblower who was dismissed from the NSA last year …
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Scott Shane / New York Times:
Key Democrat Says Spying Violated Law — WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 - The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said on Wednesday that the limited Congressional briefings the Bush administration has provided on a National Security Agency eavesdropping program violated the law.
Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:
Surveillance Court Is Seeking Answers — The members of a secret federal court that oversees government surveillance in espionage and terrorism cases are scheduled to receive a classified briefing Monday from top Justice Department and intelligence officials about a controversial warrantless …
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Strata-Sphere, The Heretik, AMERICAN FUTURE, TalkLeft and Philosoraptor
Scott Wilson / Washington Post:
Israeli Prime Minister Sharon's Condition Remains Grave — JERUSALEM, Jan. 5 — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon emerged from emergency brain surgery Thursday morning after suffering a massive stroke as the national vigil over his life continued. Doctors said his vital signs appeared normal …
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Steven Erlanger / New York Times:Sharon in Critical Condition After Suffering 'Extensive' Stroke
Discussion:
Israel news and commentary …
Andrea Mitchell / MSNBC:
Reporter defends release of NSA spy program — James Risen says his sources are 'patriots,' CIA calls them 'unreliable' — 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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John / AMERICAblog:
NBC confirms it's investigating whether Bush spied on CNN's Christiane Amanpour — That is the only way to read NBC's just-issued statement on why they deleted key portions of Andrea Mitchell's interview after we reported on it here earlier today. — [Background: We reported earlier today …
Ana Marie Cox / New York Times:
Political Theater of the Absurd — THE bad guy with a fondness for quoting the most extortionary lines of "The Godfather" walks out of the courtroom dressed like a film noir villain. He was there because his pretty-boy partner had already dropped a dime on him. Lying, cheating, stealing, gambling ... and Indians.
Discussion:
Althouse
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Washington Post:
Iraq Blasts Kill 80 in Two Cities — Five U.S. Troops Killed in Separate Attack — KARBALA, Jan. 5 — Separate acts of violence across Iraq Thursday claimed at least 80 Iraqi lives and killed five U.S. soldiers, according to officials and eyewitnesses. The deaths brought the brutal two day toll of fatalities to at least 139.
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Sameer N. Yacoub / Associated Press:Attacks on Shiites, Police Kill 79 in Iraq
Discussion:
PoliPundit.com
Thomas B. Edsall / Washington Post:
Bush Appointments Avert Senate Battles — President Bush yesterday made a raft of controversial recess appointments, including Julie L. Myers to head the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau at the Department of Homeland Security, in a maneuver circumventing the need for approval by the Senate.
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David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
Liberal Groups to Release Ads Attacking Court Pick — WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 - The battle over the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. turned personal Wednesday with the announcement of new commercials that sharply escalated liberal attacks on him, moving beyond his legal views …
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Laurie Goodstein / New York Times:
Minister, a Bush Ally, Gives Church as Site for Alito Rally — The Rev. Herbert H. Lusk II is a maverick black minister who took to his pulpit in Philadelphia in 2000 and pledged his support for a Bush presidency, a speech broadcast live at the Republican National Convention.
Kristen Mack / Houston Chronicle:
Former Rep. Stockman joins field eyeing DeLay — Elected in 1994 as a Republican, he will now run as an independent — Former U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman, who served a single term in Congress after being elected in the Republican sweep of 1994, now wants a shot at Republican Rep. Tom DeLay.
Discussion:
National Review, The Carpetbagger Report, Balloon Juice, Off the Kuff, The Stakeholder and THE DAILY DELAY
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David G. Savage / Los Angeles Times:
Court Clears Way for Criminal Trial in Padilla Case — WASHINGTON — In a small victory for the Bush administration, the Supreme Court cleared the way Wednesday for erstwhile "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla to be released from a military brig and moved to a jail in Miami where he faces a criminal trial.
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Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:
Bush to Give Up $6,000 In Abramoff Contributions — Republican Party officials said yesterday that President Bush will give up $6,000 in campaign contributions connected to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, joining an expansive list of politicians who have shed more than half a million dollars in tainted campaign cash.
Discussion:
AMERICAblog, Samizdata.net, Balloon Juice, Wonkette, Bull Moose, Roger Ailes and BrothersJudd Blog
Josh Gerstein / New York Sun:
A Clinton Fund-Raising Group Is Fined for Understating Gifts — A fund-raising committee for Senator Clinton's 2000 campaign has agreed to pay a $35,000 civil penalty and to concede that reports it made to the federal government understated by more than $700,000 donations to a California celebrity gala held to benefit her Senate bid.
channeloklahoma.com:
Tulsa Pastor Arrested In OKC On Lewdness Charge — OKLAHOMA CITY — An executive committee member of the Southern Baptist Convention was arrested on a lewdness charge for propositioning a plainclothes policeman outside a hotel, police said. — Lonnie Latham, senior pastor at South Tulsa Baptist Church …
Adam Nossiter / New York Times:
A Big Government Fix-It Plan for New Orleans — BATON ROUGE, La. - Into the void of the post-Katrina policy landscape, littered with half-ruined proposals, crumbling prescriptions and washed-out initiatives, an obscure and very conservative congressman has stepped in with the ultimate big government solution.
