Top Items:
New York Times:
Spy Agency Data After Sept. 11 Led F.B.I. to Dead Ends — WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 - In the anxious months after the Sept. 11 attacks, the National Security Agency began sending a steady stream of telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and names to the F.B.I. in search of terrorists.
RELATED ITEMS:
Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
Two Groups Planning to Sue Over Federal Eavesdropping — WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 - Two leading civil rights groups plan to file lawsuits Tuesday against the Bush administration over its domestic spying program to determine whether the operation was used to monitor 10 defense lawyers, journalists …
Discussion:
ACLU, AMERICAN FUTURE, TalkLeft, Everything Between, Wonkette, The Democratic Daily Blog, Eschaton and War and Piece
PR Newswire:
ACLU Sues to Stop Illegal Spying on Americans, Saying President is Not Above the Law — Prominent Journalists, Nonprofit Groups, Terrorism Experts and Community Advocates Join First Lawsuit to Challenge New NSA Spying Program — NEW YORK, Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ — Saying …
Associated Press:
Gore assails domestic wiretapping program — Former vice president: Bush 'repeatedly and persistently' broke the law — WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Al Gore asserted Monday that President Bush "repeatedly and persistently" broke the law by eavesdropping on Americans without …
RELATED ITEMS:
radioblogger.com:
Arizona Congressman John Shadegg is the first of the three House leadership candidates to answer the hard questions. — HH: One of the men who would replace Tom Delay is the Congressman from the 3rd District in Arizona, John Shadegg, originally elected in the landslide year of 1994.
RELATED ITEMS:
Anne E. Kornblut / New York Times:
Spotlight on Lobbying Swings to Little-Known Congressman — WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 - Until recently, Representative Bob Ney was little more than an obscure, sometimes eccentric, lawmaker from Ohio. — He had made his biggest public splash in 2003, when he ordered the House cafeteria …
Discussion:
TalkLeft
Marcia Kramer / wcbstv.com:
Controversial Words At Sharpton's MLK Event — Clinton's Use Of Word 'Plantation' Raises Eyebrows — (CBS) NEW YORK The Martin Luther King Day celebration at Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network is a rite of passage in an election year. And with so many big races this year …
RELATED ITEMS:
Deepti Hajela / Associated Press:
Clinton slams Bush at King event, says Congress like `plantation' — NEW YORK — Sounding a little like a preacher, a fired-up Sen. Hillary Clinton lambasted the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event, predicting the presidency …
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, Kobayashi Maru, The Political Pit Bull, Best of the Blogs, The Political Teen and PunditGuy
Amy Goldstein / Washington Post:
Senate Panel's Vote on Alito Delayed Until Next Week — The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee reached an agreement yesterday evening to wait until next Tuesday to vote on the nomination of Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court.
RELATED ITEM:
Jerusalem Post:
Saudi FM opposes Iranian attempts to build nukes — LONDON — Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said he opposed any attempt by Iran to develop nuclear weapons, but alleged the West was partly to blame for Tehran's nuclear program. — In an interview broadcast Monday by the British Broadcasting Corp. …
RELATED ITEMS:
Brett Martel / Associated Press:
New Orleans Mayor Says God Mad at U.S. — Mayor Ray Nagin suggested Monday that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other storms were a sign that "God is mad at America" and at black communities, too, for tearing themselves apart with violence and political infighting. — "Surely God is mad at America.
Lydia Polgreen / New York Times:
Africa's First Elected Female Head of State Takes Office — MONROVIA, Liberia, Jan. 16 - Standing before the bullet-scarred capitol of this war-torn nation, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the Harvard-trained banker and stalwart survivor of Liberia's brutal politics, took the oath today …
RELATED ITEM:
ThreatsWatch.Org:
Security Incidents in Iraq — al-Qaeda and the Iraqi Insurgency, a week in review — al-Qaeda in Iraq has issued a statement claiming to "have set up an umbrella body to coordinate their fight against U.S.-led forces and the Iraqi government." Notably excluded from this body of insurgent groups …
Discussion:
Today in Iraq
RELATED ITEM:
Jane Hamsher / firedoglake:
Amour Courtois — A trembling Sir Galahad comes to the defense of the Fair Deborah Howell over at the WaPo blog: … The links provided by this Derek Willis do in fact prove that the Post has been consistent in their attempts to tar Democrats all along. — This hardly works in his defense.
RELATED ITEM:
USA Today:
U.S. tally of wounded drops 26% — WASHINGTON — The number of U.S. troops wounded in Iraq fell by more than a quarter in 2005 from a year earlier, Pentagon records show. Military officials call that a sign that insurgent attacks have declined in the face of elections and stronger Iraqi security forces.
Christopher Hitchens / Slate:
It's Curtains for al-Qaida — What happens when Iraqi "insurgents" take on Zarqawi's thugs? — The best news from Iraq this year would certainly be the long New York Times report of Jan. 12 on the murderous strife between local "insurgents" and al-Qaida infiltrators. This was also among the best news from last year.
