Top Items:
Aluf Benn / Haaretz:
Analysis: A tragic end to Ariel Sharon's one-man show — The hospitalization of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, this time because of a cerebral hemorrhage, will make it difficult for him to return to his job even if he gets through the medical treatment and gets better.
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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 …
Discussion:
IRIS Blog, Mere Rhetoric, Soccer Dad, Gateway Pundit, SerandEz, Israel news and commentary …, Yourish.com and Talking Points Memo
Steven Erlanger / New York Times:Sharon in Critical Condition After Suffering 'Extensive' Stroke
Discussion:
Israel news and commentary …
Haaretz:Ehud Olmert taking over prime ministerial powers
Discussion:
Reuters, Kesher Talk, All Things Beautiful, The Political Pit Bull, Associated Press, BBC, Israellycool, Atlas Shrugs, Jerusalem Post, Mere Rhetoric, ynetnews.com, Yourish.com, THE ASTUTE BLOGGER, neo-neocon, The RCP Blog, Gina Cobb, Roger L. Simon, The Indepundit, Scared Monkeys, Blogs for Bush, The Reaction and The Moderate Voice
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 …
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 …
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Brian / mediabistro.com:
NBC Removed Reference To Amanpour To "Further Continue Our Inquiry" — Yesterday, MSNBC.com published a transcript of Andrea Mitchell's interview with author James Risen about the CIA's domestic spying program. In it, Mitchell asked Risen if he had uncovered evidence that CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour was eavesdropped upon.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Carpetbagger Report, This Modern World, The All Spin Zone and The Heretik
Will / Attytood:
Was Christiane Amanpour spied on — and more importantly, if so, why? — "Given the choice, it's better to be viewed as a foot soldier for Bush than a spokeswoman for al-Qaeda." — Fox News spokeswoman Irena Briganti, referring to CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour, Sept. 14, 2003.
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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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
Discussion:
Sirotablog
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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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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Sameer N. Yacoub / Associated Press:
Attacks on Shiites, Police Kill 79 in Iraq — KARBALA, Iraq - Suicide bombers targeted Shiite pilgrims in the south and police recruits in central Iraq Thursday, killing almost 80 people in a stepped-up line of attacks. — Thursday's bombings came a day after insurgents killed 53 people …
Discussion:
PoliPundit.com
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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.
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.
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 …
