Top Items:
Arianna Huffington / The Huffington Post:
NBC News PR Department Gets Down and Dirty... Somebody's feeling the heat... How else to explain the widely-off-the-mark responses from NBC's PR department in Lloyd Grove's column to our reporting on Russert's multitude of journalistic ethical conflicts. — Instead of dealing …
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Think Progress:
UPDATE: Lauer Says 'Technically Speaking,' It 'May Be' That Abramoff Gave Only to Republicans — Yesterday, Today show anchor Katie Couric falsely claimed that "Democrats took money from Jack Abramoff." Challenged on her facts, Couric said she "would look into that and clarify that for our viewers."
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Orcinus, Booman Tribune, The Heretik, Greg's Opinion, Loaded Mouth, CorrenteWire and Daily Kos
Matt Stoller / MyDD:
NBC, Smears, Arianna, and TV Ethics — Arianna Huffington is getting slimed by the NBC PR department for her blogging on Tim Russert. The gist of her blogging is this. Aside from Russert's stonewalling on Plamegate, he routinely accepts massive speaking fees, which is an obvious conflict of interest.
Atrios / Eschaton:The Media Borg — Stoller writes: … This really is a big issue …
Discussion:
Factesque
Jesse J. Holland / Associated Press:
Republicans Clear the Way for Alito Vote — Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito enjoys sufficient bipartisan support to surmount any Senate filibuster attempt by minority Democrats, Senate leaders said Friday. — A final vote making the New Jersey jurist the nation's 110th Supreme Court justice …
Discussion:
Mark in Mexico
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New York Times:
New Poll Finds Mixed Support for Wiretaps — President Bush at his news conference Thursday. The latest polls show that public opinion on Mr. Bush's surveillance program is still unresolved. — Americans are willing to tolerate eavesdropping without warrants to fight terrorism …
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Greg Miller / Financial Times:57% Americans support military action in Iran
Discussion:
New Sisyphus
The Aardvark / Abu Aardvark:
Hamas: tests acoming. — If the reports now out of a clear Hamas victory in the Parliamentary elections, with upwards of 70 seats on participation of over 70%, turn out to be accurate, then we are now facing the single most important test - possibly ever - of America's commitment to democracy in the Middle East.
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Jonathan Steele / Guardian:The Palestinians' democratic choice must be respected
Discussion:
Natalie Solent
Associated Press:
Coulter Jokes About Poisoning Justice — LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Conservative commentator Ann Coulter, speaking at a traditionally black college, joked that Justice John Paul Stevens should be poisoned. — Coulter had told the Philander Smith College audience Thursday that more conservative justices …
Discussion:
firedoglake, Democrat Taylor Marsh …, Orcinus, Ace of Spades HQ, The All Spin Zone, Say Anything and ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES
Edward Wyatt / New York Times:
Live on 'Oprah,' a Memoirist Is Kicked Out of the Book Club — The author James Frey being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey Thursday. "I feel that you betrayed millions of readers," she told him. — In an extraordinary reversal of her defense of the author whose memoir she catapulted …
Gerard Baker / Times of London:
Prepare yourself for the unthinkable: war against Iran may be a necessity — THE UNIMAGINABLE but ultimately inescapable truth is that we are going to have to get ready for war with Iran. Being of a free-speaking, free-thinking disposition, we generally find in the West that hand-wringing …
Michelle Malkin:
MORE CHINA-GOOGLE PROTEST LOGOS — Lots of new entries for the China Google Protest Logo Album coming in. Here's the best of the second batch. — Posted at Discarded Lies: — Sent by reader Herman F.: — From Junkyard Blog's Bryan Preston: — Sent by reader Jorrit P.:
Discussion:
Say Anything, Kokonut Pundits, RightWinged.com, The Political Teen, Atlas Shrugs, Macsmind, Brainster's Blog, Liberty Street and In the Bullpen
New York Times:
Bush and China Endorse Russia's Nuclear Plan for Iran — WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 — President Bush and the Chinese government both declared their full support on Thursday for a Russian proposal to allow Iran to operate civilian nuclear facilities as long as Russia and international nuclear inspectors are in full control of the fuel.
Chris McGann / Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Gay rights bill passes in Legislature — Amid celebration, governor promises to sign law Tuesday — OLYMPIA — The Senate today voted 25-23 to approve a gay rights bill and ended the debate over legislation that emerged in Washington the same year singer Anita Bryant began her "Save Our Children" crusade against such protections.
Richard Morin / Washington Post:
Majority Believe White House Should Release Abramoff Records — A strong bipartisan majority of the public believes President Bush should release records of meetings between disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and White House staffers despite administration claims that media requests for details …
Eric Dash / New York Times:
Savings Accounts for Health Costs Attract Wall Street — When it comes to medical benefits, millions of Americans already have a health insurer. Soon, many will also have a debit card and a bank tied to their medical plan. — Banks, credit unions and money management firms …
11alive.com:
ACLU Releases Government Photos — The ACLU of Georgia released copies of government files on Wednesday that illustrate the extent to which the FBI, the DeKalb County Division of Homeland Security and other government agencies have gone to compile information on Georgians suspected …
Associated Press:
Canada's new leader takes on U.S. over Arctic — Harper to deploy icebreakers, build port; U.S. says waters belong to all — TORONTO - Political pundits who declared that Stephen Harper, Canada's next prime minister, would move quickly to patch up ties with the United States were having …
National Review:
The 2003 Tax Cut on Capital Gains Entirely Paid for Itself — On Thursday the Congressional Budget Office released its annual Budget and Economic Outlook, and buried in one of its nearly impenetrable tables of numbers is a remarkable story that has gone entirely unreported by the mainstream media …
Washington Post:
K Street's New Ways Spawn More Pork — As Barriers With Lawmakers Fall, 'Earmarks' Grow — An explosion of special interest funding engineered in part by lawmakers with close ties to lobbyists is drawing increased scrutiny as Congress moves to address concern about corruption that already …
