Top Items:
Washington Post:
Alito Likely To Become A Justice — Liberals See Slim Chance Of Blocking Confirmation — Samuel A. Alito Jr., an appellate judge who could shift the Supreme Court significantly to the right, appeared headed for the high court yesterday after completing three days of interrogation without a serious misstep.
Discussion:
Althouse, The Heretik, RedState, Blogs for Bush, Viking Pundit, Below The Beltway, Manufacturers Blog, Wonkette, Hugh Hewitt, Confirm Them and Carol Platt Liebau
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Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Few Glimmers of How Conservative Judge Alito Is — WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 - In over 18 hours responding to some 700 questions at his Supreme Court confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. mostly described a methodical and incremental approach to the law rooted in no particular theory.
Charles Lane / Washington Post:
A Right Cautious Nominee — Measured Replies Paint Picture With a Conservative Tint — Samuel A. Alito Jr. did everything he could do to avoid saying how he would rule on the big issues that might come before the Supreme Court if, as now seems likely, he is confirmed by the Senate and succeeds Sandra Day O'Connor.
Michelle Malkin:
A WOMAN THE DEMS DON'T WANT TO HEAR — This is U.S. Appeals Court Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, a Clinton appointee who gave a glowing endorsement of her colleague, Sam Alito, earlier today, along with six other judges from the appeals court who appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to support Alito.
Discussion:
PoliPundit.com, Confirm Them, Generation Why?, The Anchoress, Ace of Spades HQ, Bench Memos … and Confederate Yankee
New York Times:
Pro-Choice Senators and Judge Alito — There are many reasons to be concerned about the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito Jr. for the Supreme Court, but for a small group of moderate Republicans who strongly identify themselves as supporters of abortion rights, there is a special problem …
Discussion:
THE NEWS BLOG
Economist:The brainbox and the blowhards — Samuel Alito, George Bush's …
Discussion:
Washington Times
Michael O'Hare / The Reality-Based Community:A piece missing — I have been dipping into the Alito hearings …
Discussion:
Prairie Weather
Jeff Goldstein / protein wisdom:Biden v Alito — the abridged Senate Confirmation Hearing questioning, 3
Clark Hoyt / Knight Ridder:Knight Ridder's Alito story: Factual and fair
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
E. J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:A Hearing About Nothing — A listless intellectual fog …
Discussion:
The Mahablog
Steve Soto / The Left Coaster:Democrats Punt Another One Away On Alito
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report, The Moderate Voice, Middle Earth Journal, The Heretik, Running Scared and Decision '08
Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:
Deficit Could Top $400 Billion — Driven by the cost of hurricane relief, the federal budget deficit is expected to balloon back above $400 billion for the fiscal year that ends in September, reversing the improvements of 2005, a White House official told reporters yesterday.
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Edmund L. Andrews / New York Times:
Deficit Will Climb in 2006, White House Says — WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 - The White House acknowledged on Thursday that the budget deficit would climb back above $400 billion this year, erasing the brief improvement last year and complicating President Bush's vow to cut the deficit in half by 2009.
Elisabeth Bumiller / New York Times:
In New Orleans, Bush Speaks With Optimism but Sees Little of Ruin — NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 12 - President Bush made his first trip here in three months on Thursday and declared that New Orleans was "a heck of a place to bring your family" and that it had "some of the greatest food in the world and some wonderful fun."
Discussion:
BAGnewsNotes
Michael Barbaro / New York Times:
Maryland Sets a Health Cost for Wal-Mart — ANNAPOLIS, Md., Jan. 12 - The Maryland legislature passed a law Thursday that would require Wal-Mart Stores to increase spending on employee health insurance, a measure that is expected to be a model for other states.
Discussion:
TigerHawk, ACSBlog, The Conspiracy to Keep …, Fantasy Life, EconLog, Sisyphus Shrugged and Preemptive Karma
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ABCNEWS:
Surge in Sale of Disposable Cell Phones May Have Terror Link — Phones Can Be Difficult or Impossible to Track; Large Quantities Purchased in California, Texas — Jan. 12, 2006 — Federal agents have launched an investigation into a surge in the purchase of large quantities of disposable cell phones …
Discussion:
The Strata-Sphere, PSoTD, Sister Toldjah, Brutally Honest, Flopping Aces and Confederate Yankee
RELATED ITEM:
Reliapundit / THE ASTUTE BLOGGER:HAS THE NYTIMES NSA LEAK LED TO A SURGE IN DISPOSABLE CELLPHONE PURCHASES?
Discussion:
The Anchoress
William Tate / The American Thinker:
The controversy following revelations that U.S. intelligence agencies have monitored suspected terrorist related communications since 9/11 reflects a severe case of selective amnesia by the New York Times and other media opponents of President Bush. They certainly didn't show the same outrage …
Discussion:
Dr. Sanity, Dean's World, The Anchoress, In the Bullpen, THE ASTUTE BLOGGER, PoliPundit.com and NewsBusters.org
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
'Munich,' the Travesty — If Steven Spielberg had made a fictional movie about the psychological disintegration of a revenge assassin, that would have been fine. Instead, he decided to call this fiction "Munich" and root it in a historical event: the 1972 massacre by Palestinian terrorists of 11 Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games.
Washington Post:
U.S. Seeks to Avoid Detainee Ruling — The Bush administration took the unusual step yesterday of asking the Supreme Court to call off a landmark confrontation over the legality of military trials for terrorism suspects, arguing that a law enacted last month eliminates the court's ability to consider the issue.
Discussion:
First Draft
Macollvie Jean-Francois / Sun-Sentinel:
Young men with bats kill homeless man, injure 2 others in downtown, beachside Lauderdale — FORT LAUDERDALE - Young men armed with baseball bats or sticks attacked three homeless men, killing one and hospitalizing the two others early Thursday morning in the city's downtown and beachside areas, police said.
