Top Items:
Newsday:
Hillary's hardball — In MLK day speech, Sen. Clinton slams the Bush team, saying GOP Congress is 'run like a plantation' — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sparked a Martin Luther King Day political firestorm yesterday by describing the GOP-controlled Congress as a "plantation" …
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Arianna Huffington / The Huffington Post:
A Sneak Peek at "Al vs. Hillary" — Have you seen the coming attraction trailer for "Democratic Presidential Nomination '08: Al vs. Hillary" yet? It just opened yesterday, in the dueling speeches by Al Gore and Hillary Clinton. — And you can already see the two different approaches.
Discussion:
The Left Coaster, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, TalkLeft and Comments From Left Field
Associated Press:
GOP anger flares after Sen. Clinton slams party — N.Y. lawmaker compared GOP-run House to a 'plantation' … NEW YORK - A day after Hillary Clinton blasted the Bush administration and compared the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to a plantation, Republicans said Tuesday that the New York senator was out of line.
Julia Levy / New York Sun:
Senator Likens House to Slavery, Drawing Rebukes From Some — Martin Luther King Jr. fought four decades ago to free black Americans from the legacy of slavery. Yesterday, Senator Clinton compared the Republican leadership of the current House of Representatives to the very idea the civil rights leader dedicated his life to fighting.
MSNBC:
Abductors threaten to kill American journalist — Kidnappers say U.S. must release Iraqi women prisoners within 72 hours … MSNBC TV — CAIRO, Egypt - An Arab television channel aired a silent 20-second videotape Tuesday night of an abducted American journalist and said an accompanying message gave …
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Jim Abrams / Associated Press:
House GOP Leaders Unveil New Ethics Plan — WASHINGTON — House Speaker Dennis Hastert urged new restrictions on gifts from lobbyists Tuesday, responding to a scandal that already has claimed two Republican leaders and raised GOP fears about this year's elections.
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rawstory.com:
Gore responds to White House 'hypocrisy' comments — RAW STORY — In response to White House comments that Gore exhibited "hypocrisy" in calling for a Special Prosecutor, saying that the Clinton administration had wiretapped some Americans, Gore will make this statement shortly.
Christopher Hitchens / The Huffington Post:
What Reason Do We Have to Trust the State to Know Best? — Although I am named in this suit in my own behalf, I am motivated to join it by concerns well beyond my own. I have been frankly appalled by the discrepant and contradictory positions taken by the Administration in this matter.
Discussion:
ACLU, Decision '08, Begging to Differ, Sisyphus Shrugged, BrothersJudd Blog, The Poor Man Institute and Booman Tribune
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ACLU:
Prominent Journalists, Nonprofit Groups, Terrorism Experts and Community Advocates Join First Lawsuit to Challenge New NSA Spying Program — NEW YORK - Saying that the Bush administration's illegal spying on Americans must end, the American Civil Liberties Union today filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit …
Linda Greenhouse / New York Times:
Supreme Court Removes Obstacle to Assisted-Suicide Laws — WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 - The Supreme Court removed an obstacle today to state efforts to authorize physician-assisted suicide, ruling 6 to 3 that John Ashcroft, the former attorney general, acted without legal authority in 2001 when he threw …
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Rebecca Traister / Salon:
My lunch with an antifeminist pundit — My lunch interview with Kate O'Beirne, Washington editor of National Review and author of the new antifeminist book "Women Who Make the World Worse," was on a Friday. I had stayed up Thursday night reading the 200-page galley copy of the book and taken copious notes.
BBC:
US mayor regrets 'God comments' — New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has apologised for comments suggesting that the savage hurricanes of 2005 were divine retribution for the war in Iraq. — Speaking on Monday, Mr Nagin said God must be "mad at America... for being in Iraq under false pretences".
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Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
Connecting The Dots - Booooring... The NY Times delivers the latest on the NSA warrantless eavesdropping program - it generated far too many dead-end leads to be useful to the FBI. … "Virtually all" were useless? Uh Huh. And since, to pick an odd example, most New York City cops …
Washington Post:
Md. Overrides Minimum Wage Veto — The Maryland General Assembly today voted to raise the state's minimum wage by $1 an hour, brushing aside concerns by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) that the move would hurt small businesses. — The Democratic-led Senate voted 30-17 to override Ehrlich's veto …
New York Times:
Russia and China Want More Talks With Iran, Not Sanctions — PARIS, Jan. 17 - Russia and China today called for more negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, a day after rebuffing a call by the Americans and the Europeans for the issue to be put before the United Nations Security Council.
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
The Iran Charade, Part II — "It was what made this E.U. Three approach so successful. They [Britain, France and Germany] stood together and they had one uniform position." — German Chancellor — Angela Merkel, Jan. 13 — Makes you want to weep.
