Top Items:
New York Times:
Inquiry on Clinton Official Ends With Accusations of Cover-Up — WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 - After the longest independent counsel investigation in history, the prosecutor in the case of former Housing Secretary Henry G. Cisneros is finally closing his operation with a scathing report accusing …
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James Gordon Meek / NY Daily News:
Prober blasts Bill — Cites coverup on Cisneros — WASHINGTON - A special prosecutor's long-delayed report charges that a coverup at senior levels of the Clinton administration killed a tax fraud case against ex-cabinet member Henry Cisneros, the Daily News has learned.
Associated Press:
Obama Backs Clinton's Criticism of GOP — WASHINGTON — Sen. Barack Obama and other black Democrats are defending Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's description of the House of Representatives as a "plantation." First lady Laura Bush says Clinton's remark was "ridiculous."
Discussion:
The RCP Blog, The Glittering Eye, The Corner on National …, JunkYardBlog, Shot In The Dark, PunditGuy and Rising Hegemon
Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
Congressional Agency Questions Legality of Wiretaps — The Bush administration appears to have violated the National Security Act by limiting its briefings about a warrantless domestic eavesdropping program to congressional leaders, according to a memo from Congress's research arm released yesterday.
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Scott Shane / New York Times:
Report Questions Legality of Briefings on Surveillance — WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 - A legal analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service concludes that the Bush administration's limited briefings for Congress on the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping without warrants are "inconsistent with the law."
David S. Broder / Washington Post:
Gore's Challenge — Former vice president Al Gore has turned himself into a one-man grand jury, ready to indict the Bush administration for any number of crimes against the Constitution. Whether you agree with Gore's conclusions or not, the speech that the 2000 Democratic nominee …
Discussion:
The Blogging of the President, Patridiot Watch, The Moderate Voice, RAGGED THOTS, Eschaton and Suburban Guerrilla
Associated Press:
Democratic Senator Endorses Alito — (AP) Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito has the confirmation vote of at least one Senate Democrat but several other Democrats said Wednesday they had lingering questions about the nominee and will vote against him. — Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. …
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David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:Democrats Urge Strategic 'No' Votes on Alito
Discussion:
TalkLeft
New York Times:
U.S. Raid Killed Qaeda Leaders, Pakistanis Say — PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Jan. 18 - Two senior members of Al Qaeda and the son-in-law of its No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, were among those killed in the American airstrikes in remote northeastern Pakistan last week, two Pakistani officials said here on Wednesday.
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Howard Mintz / Mercury News:
Feds after Google data — RECORDS SOUGHT IN U.S. QUEST TO REVIVE PORN LAW — The Bush administration on Wednesday asked a federal judge to order Google to turn over a broad range of material from its closely guarded databases. — The move is part of a government effort to revive …
New York Times:
In 'Design' vs. Darwinism, Darwin Wins Point in Rome — ROME, Jan. 18 - The official Vatican newspaper published an article this week labeling as "correct" the recent decision by a judge in Pennsylvania that intelligent design should not be taught as a scientific alternative to evolution.
Elisabeth Rosenthal / New York Times:
When Bad People Are Punished, Men Smile (but Women Don't) — ROME, Jan. 18 - In "Don Juan" Lord Byron wrote, "Sweet is revenge - especially to women." But a study released Wednesday, bolstered by magnetic resonance imaging, suggests that men may be the more natural avengers.
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Washington Post:
Diplomats Will Be Shifted to Hot Spots — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that she will shift hundreds of Foreign Service positions from Europe and Washington to difficult assignments in the Middle East, Asia and elsewhere as part of a broad restructuring of the diplomatic corps …
Right Wing Nut House:
THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE — When it comes to Iran possessing nuclear weapons, there appears to be general agreement on the right that the mad mullahs must be prevented from getting them at all costs. There is the recognition that Iran is being led by if not irrational …
Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:
Democrats Unveil Lobbying Curbs — As Party Escalates Reform Push, GOP Calls Scandal Bipartisan — Congressional Democrats yesterday laid out a plan to change what they called a GOP "culture of corruption" in Washington, even as Republicans pointed to ethics lapses on their antagonists' side of the aisle.
William Douglas / Knight Ridder:
White House won't discuss meetings between officials, Abramoff — WASHINGTON - For the second straight day, the White House refused Wednesday to say who among its staffers met with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff or whom the recently convicted felon was representing when he visited the executive mansion.
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Associated Press:
Court: State can let beaten girl die — Stepfather, charged in her beating, fought state's decision — SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts (AP) — Massachusetts' highest court ruled Tuesday that an 11-year-old girl who allegedly was beaten with a baseball bat could be taken off life support.
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Louis Charbonneau / Reuters:
Iran scorns EU trio's draft nuclear resolution — BERLIN (Reuters) - EU powers began circulating a draft resolution on Wednesday for a February 2 meeting of the U.N. nuclear watchdog asking it to report Iran to the Security Council, but Russia was seeking moves that stopped short of a formal referral.
Trent Telenko / Winds of Change.NET:
THE CASE FOR INVADING IRAN — America has come to another turning point - whether our inaction will again engulf the world and us in a nightmare comparable to World War Two. This will entail loss of our freedom as the price of domestic security measures against terrorist weapons of mass destruction …
Haaretz:
Suicide bomber wounds 16 in Tel Aviv near old central bus station — A suicide bomber blew up near the old central bus station in southern Tel Aviv at around 3:45 P.M. on Thursday, wounding at least 16 people. — Islamic Jihad said that it carried out the attack.
Discussion:
An Unsealed Room
