Top Items:
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Issues and (Possible) Answers: A Primer on the Alito Hearings — WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 - When Judge John G. Roberts Jr. appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September for hearings on his nomination to the Supreme Court, all of the participants were largely improvising.
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Charles Babington / Washington Post:
Democrats Ready to Go After Alito — High Court Nominee's Memos Opposing Abortion Likely to Be Focal Points at Hearings — Senate Democrats are expected to attack Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. on multiple fronts at the confirmation hearing that opens at noon today …
Washington Post:
Proving His Mettle in the Reagan Justice Dept. — The captains of the Reagan revolution at the Justice Department had two big concerns about a bookish new recruit named Samuel A. Alito Jr., who arrived in 1981: his blank slate as a conservative activist and his pedigree from a perceived bastion of legal liberalism.
Richard Morin / Washington Post:
Majority of Americans Favor Alito Nomination — Most Expect Nominee Wouldn't Vote to Strike Down Roe v. Wade — A majority of Americans favor the confirmation of federal appeals court judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the U.S. Supreme Court and an even larger proportion believe Alito would not vote …
Jesse J. Holland / Associated Press:
Senate Hearings to Begin for Samuel Alito — WASHINGTON (AP) - After months of preparation, Samuel Alito will face close questioning by senators to determine his fitness to be the nation's 110th Supreme Court justice. — Alito, a conservative, 15-year member of the federal appeals court in Philadelphia …
Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:
Hastert Moves to Tighten Rules on Lobbyists — With Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) formally removed from congressional leadership, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) took the next step yesterday in Republican efforts to distance the party from a growing corruption scandal …
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New York Times:Lobbyist's Firm Escapes Fallout From a Scandal
Discussion:
White Collar Crime Prof Blog
National Review:
One Moment in Time — There's an old Chinese theory according to which the best way to understand historical events is not to reconstruct the sequence of "causes" by which the events were "produced," but rather to look at the unique characteristics of the moment in which the events occurred.
Daniela Deane / Washington Post:
Cheney Briefly Hospitalized Monday Morning — Vice President Dick Cheney went to George Washington University Hospital in the middle of night Monday experiencing shortness of breath, which doctors found was unrelated to his recurring heart problems, a White House statement said.
Discussion:
The Heretik
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Opinion Journal:
Incumbency Over Ideas — The House GOP's real problems. — Tom DeLay deserves credit for taking himself out of the House Majority Leader contest this weekend, even if he did wait until other Members began to force his hand. He has now given his GOP colleagues a chance to reinvigorate their leadership …
Discussion:
BizzyBlog.com
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Washington Post:
12 Killed In Crash Of Copter In N. Iraq — Wreck Is Deadliest For U.S. in a Year; 5 Marines Also Die — BAGHDAD, Jan. 8 — An Army helicopter crashed in bad weather in northern Iraq shortly before midnight Saturday, killing all 12 Americans aboard, military authorities reported Sunday …
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Richard A. Oppel Jr / New York Times:12 Feared Dead as Army Copter Crashes in Iraq
Discussion:
Rantingprofs
Declan McCullagh / CNET News.com:
Perspective: Create an e-annoyance, go to jail — Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime. — It's no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.
Stanley Kurtz / The Corner on National Review Online:
POLYGAMY WARS — Yes Jonah, Glenn Reynolds has taken a dip into the debate over polygamy, citing Naomi Schaefer Riley's interesting piece from the WSJ. Glenn thinks marriage and state ought to be separated. I don't agree. But this does make the point that there are plenty of folks …
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Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit.com:WORRYING ABOUT POLYGAMY: There's been a lot of that on the right lately …
Discussion:
Clayton Cramer's BLOG
www9.sbs.com.au:
BELAFONTE: BUSH A TERRORIST — American singer and human rights activist Harry Belafonte has called US President George W Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world" saying millions of Americans support the socialist revolution of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.
RELATED ITEM:
Ian James / Associated Press:In Caracas, Belafonte Calls Bush Terrorist
Discussion:
Elephants in Academia, Gateway Pundit, Michelle Malkin, ScrappleFace, Macsmind and The Political Teen
Washington Post:
N.Y. Times Editor-Reporter Dies After Attack in NW — David E. Rosenbaum, a longtime editor and reporter in the Washington bureau of the New York Times, died yesterday after being beaten and robbed Friday night near his home in upper Northwest Washington. — Rosenbaum, 63 …
The Unabrewer:
Carnival of the RINOs, Imminent Arrest Edition — Ah, yes. Perfect timing for RINO hosting. My keyboard died on me in the middle of last week, and the replacement has a sticky "shift" key. I'm hoping it frees up as I work it some, but please forgive me if I miss a capital or two.
Mary Williams Walsh / New York Times:
More Companies Ending Promises for Retirement — The death knell for the traditional company pension has been tolling for some time now. Companies in ailing industries like steel, airlines and auto parts have thrown themselves into bankruptcy and turned over their ruined pension plans to the federal government.
