Top Items:
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?
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Steven Erlanger / New York Times:Sharon in Critical Condition After Suffering 'Extensive' Stroke
Discussion:
Israel news and commentary …
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
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Strata-Sphere, The Heretik, AMERICAN FUTURE, TalkLeft and Philosoraptor
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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New York Times:
At Least 80 Iraqis Killed in 2nd Straight Day of Big Attacks — BAGHDAD, Jan. 5 - Two new suicide bombings rocked Iraq today, killing at least 80 in an attack at a shrine in the Shiite city of Karbala and a police recruiting station in the Sunni city of Ramadi.
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Sameer N. Yacoub / Associated Press:Attacks on Shiites, Police Kill 79 in Iraq
Discussion:
PoliPundit.com
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 Carr / New York Times:Once Washington's Wonkette in Chief, Now With a Novel to Sell
Discussion:
mediabistro
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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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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New York Times:
The Sago Mine Disaster — In the long history of coal mine tragedies in Appalachia, few have borne the compound misery suffered in Sago, W.Va., where a dozen families were plunged from exultation to furious grief by a false report that their loved ones had survived a deadly mine explosion on Monday.
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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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Jerry Markon / Washington Post:Justices Order Padilla Terror Case Moved to Civilian Court
Discussion:
The Heretik
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 …
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:
Samizdata.net, AMERICAblog, 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.
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
When a Firebrand Burns His Bridges — The fiery phrases and righteous anger were straight out of 1994. But this time, Newt Gingrich was turning his famous indignation on fellow Republicans: — "Cronies behaving as cronies!" — "Indifference to right and wrong!" — "A system of corruption!"
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.
