Top Items:
Jeffrey H. Birnbaum / Washington Post:
Loophole in Lobbying Bill Leaves Wiggle Room — Lawmakers are about to bombard the American public with proposals that would crack down on lobbyists. Several prominent plans, including one outlined yesterday by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), would specifically ban meals and privately paid travel for lawmakers.
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Washington Post:
U.S. Journalist Shown as Hostage — Kidnappers in Iraq Threaten to Kill Her, Demanding Female Prisoners Be Freed — BAGHDAD, Jan. 17 — The captors of an American journalist kidnapped in Baghdad 10 days ago threatened to kill her in three days unless authorities freed all female prisoners in Iraq …
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Robert F. Worth / New York Times:
Al Jazeera Shows Kidnapped U.S. Journalist — BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 17 - Looking pale and tired, a kidnapped American reporter, Jill Carroll, appeared in a silent videotape broadcast Tuesday by Al Jazeera television. The network said her captors had threatened to kill her if the United States does …
Thomas Ferraro / Reuters:
Senate Democrat backs Alito for US Supreme Court — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ben Nelson of Nebraska, a moderate voice in the U.S. Congress, on Tuesday became the first Senate Democrat to announce his support for conservative Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, who is expected to be confirmed later …
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Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
2002 Memo Doubted Uranium Sale Claim — WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 - A high-level intelligence assessment by the Bush administration concluded in early 2002 that the sale of uranium from Niger to Iraq was "unlikely" because of a host of economic, diplomatic and logistical obstacles …
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:
Decision '08, Sisyphus Shrugged, BrothersJudd Blog, Begging to Differ, ACLU, The Poor Man Institute and Booman Tribune
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James Webb / New York Times:
Purple Heartbreakers — IT should come as no surprise that an arch-conservative Web site is questioning whether Representative John Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has been critical of the war in Iraq, deserved the combat awards he received in Vietnam.
Associated Press:
Supreme Court Steers Clear of First Abortion Case in 5 Years — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that a lower court was wrong to strike down New Hampshire abortion restrictions, steering clear of a major ruling on whether such laws place an undue burden on women.
Los Angeles Times:
UCLA Alumni Group Is Tracking 'Radical' Faculty — A fledgling alumni group headed by a former campus Republican leader is offering students payments of up to $100 per class to provide information on instructors who are "abusive, one-sided or off-topic" in advocating political ideologies.
U.S. Newswire:
Leading Conservatives Call for Extensive Hearings on NSA Surveillance; Checks on Invasive Federal Powers Essential — Contact: Laura Brinker, 202-715-1540, for Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances, laura.brinker@dittus.com — WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 /U.S. Newswire …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, The Carpetbagger Report, Seeing the Forest, Brilliant at Breakfast and Middle Earth Journal
Jennifer McKee / missoulian.com:
Former Burns aide confirms Super Bowl trip is under investigation — HELENA - A former top aide to Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., has confirmed that Justice Department investigators are looking into a 2001 Super Bowl trip attended by two Burns staffers and organized by confessed felon Jack Abramoff.
Manuel Roig-Franzia / Washington Post:
New Orleans Mayor Apologizes for Remarks About God's Wrath — NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 17 — An avalanche of criticism, stoked by heated talk-radio rants, forced Mayor C. Ray Nagin to apologize Tuesday for declaring that God wants New Orleans to be a "chocolate city."
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.
Discussion:
The Belmont Club, The Corner on National …, Atlas Shrugs, Dr. Sanity, Betsy's Page, Daily Pundit and The Washington Monthly
John Shadegg / Opinion Journal:
The Spirit of 1994 — Republicans need to look again to the examples of Goldwater and Reagan. — WASHINGTON—Ten years ago, the American people put Republicans in control of the House of Representatives for the first time in more than 40 years. It was a historic achievement …
Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:
Update 15: White House Lobs Accusations at Gore — Former Vice President Al Gore and the White House traded accusations over national security Tuesday in a dispute that also pulled in President Bush's other presidential election rival, John Kerry. — At issue was Bush's secret domestic …
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.
