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 …
Herb Keinon / Jerusalem Post:
Sharon moved to intensive care; vital signs stable — For a Channel 2 English feed on PM's condition click here. — Professor Shlomo Mor-Yosef, Director-General of the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, announced that a CAT scan had been done and showed that the surgery had halted the hemorrhaging …
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Daniel Pipes / danielpipes.org:
[After Sharon:] Israeli Politics Will Revert to Its Past — Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, has suffered a massive brain hemorrhage; at the very least, his long political career appears to be over. What does that mean for Israeli politics and for Arab-Israeli relations?
Steven Erlanger / New York Times:Sharon in Critical Condition After Suffering 'Extensive' Stroke
Discussion:
Israel news and commentary …
Jerusalem Post:Jibril: Sharon illness is 'God's gift'
Discussion:
Time, New York Times, QandO, All Things Beautiful, The Counterterrorism Blog, Yourish.com, THE ASTUTE BLOGGER, neo-neocon and The RCP Blog
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
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 …
Discussion:
Eschaton, skippy the bush kangaroo, Brilliant at Breakfast, Balloon Juice, Running Scared, Talking Points Memo, The Heretik, The American Street, Comments From Left Field, The Washington Monthly, mediabistro, The All Spin Zone, The Poor Man Institute, Amygdala, The Huffington Post and Incomprehensible …
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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.
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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.
Ben Lynfield / Scotsman:
Kidnap attempt on US activist's parents — PALESTINIAN society disintegrated further yesterday as gunmen from the ruling Fatah movement tried to kidnap the parents of an American activist who died trying to halt the demolition of Gaza homes, while other militants destroyed part of Gaza's border wall with Egypt - killing two guards.
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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 …
