Top Items:
Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:
Secret Court's Judges Were Warned About NSA Spy Data — Program May Have Led Improperly to Warrants — Twice in the past four years, a top Justice Department lawyer warned the presiding judge of a secret surveillance court that information overheard in President Bush's eavesdropping program …
Charles Babington / Washington Post:
White House Agrees to Brief Congress on NSA Surveillance — Responding to congressional pressure from both parties, the White House agreed yesterday to give lawmakers more information about its domestic surveillance program, although the briefings remain highly classified and limited in scope.
Discussion:
Big Lizards, Captain's Quarters, The Heretik, Sister Toldjah, the talking dog and Reuters
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White House:President Bush Welcomes King Abdullah of Jordan to the White House
Discussion:
Left I on the News
Hassan M. Fattah / New York Times:
At Mecca Meeting, Cartoon Outrage Crystallized — BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 8 — As leaders of the world's 57 Muslim nations gathered for a summit meeting in Mecca in December, issues like religious extremism dominated the official agenda. But much of the talk in the hallways was of a wholly different issue …
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Elisabeth Bumiller / New York Times:
The Nation's Dual Political Dynasties Are Growing Closer Than Arm's Length — WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 — When the Bushes and Clintons held hands before 15,000 mourners at Coretta Scott King's funeral on Tuesday, it looked like a prayerful moment in the life of the nation.
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Tim Golden / New York Times:
Tough U.S. Steps in Hunger Strike at Camp in Cuba — United States military authorities have taken tougher measures to force-feed detainees engaged in hunger strikes at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, after concluding that some were determined to commit suicide to protest their indefinite confinement, military officials have said.
Discussion:
Majikthise, Mia Culpa, Left I on the News, The Heretik, Brilliant at Breakfast, Althouse, Gina Cobb and Air America Radio
August J. Pollak / xoverboard.com:
As a white guy, did you just throw up right now? — The most disturbing part of the fake outrage over Coretta Scott King's funeral is the absurdist mentality of right-wingers on black outrage. I can't think of anything more insulting to an entire race of people than acting as if they'll change …
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Steven Lee Myers / New York Times:
Toast of the TV in Russian Eyes: It's Solzhenitsyn — MOSCOW, Feb. 8 — A grandfatherly figure, his bearded face wrinkled into a smile, peers down from billboards around town. — It is surprise enough that the man is Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, the once-exiled writer, Nobel Prize winner and, of late, octogenarian scold.
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Jeff Flake / New York Times:
Earmarked Men — BACK on the F-Bar Ranch, when I was too young to load the chute, de-horn, vaccinate, hold a hot iron or otherwise make myself useful as my father and older brothers branded calves, I would spend my time collecting "earmarks" — V-shaped pieces of a calf's left ear detached with two swift strokes of a pocketknife.
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Carl Hulse / New York Times:Lawmakers Seeking Curbs on Special Spending Requests
Discussion:
A Chequer-Board of Nights …
CNN:
Senate nerve agent scare a false alarm — More than 200 were evacuated from Russell office building — (CNN) — A U.S. Senate office building was evacuated Wednesday evening after a sensor detected the presence of a possible nerve agent, but it was later determined to be a false alarm, sources said.
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Bernard-Henri Levy / Opinion Journal:
Moral Atomic Bomb — In the midst of a planetary intifada, let us stand by the moderate Muslims. — One can find these cartoons mediocre. — One can perceive in them, as I do, a certain similarity with the anti-Semitic and racist caricatures of the 1930s or '50s.
Jonathan D. Glater / New York Times:
Applications to Law Schools Are Declining — Has law school lost its appeal? — Last year, for the first time since the 1997-98 admission cycle, the number of applicants to law school declined, by 4.6 percent, and so far this year, the number has declined by 9.5 percent.
Discussion:
Althouse
Pew Research Center:
Summary of Findings — Public concern over Iran's nuclear program has risen dramatically in the past few months. Today, 27% of Americans cite Iran as the country that represents the greatest danger to the United States. In October, just 9% pointed to Iran as the biggest danger to the U.S. …
Nick Britten / Telegraph:
100,000 Muslims to vent anger in London at cartoon protest — A mass demonstration of 100,000 Muslims will take place in London next weekend as anger continues over publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. — The Muslim Action Committee, an umbrella group which claims to represent …
Andrew Taylor / Associated Press:
DeLay Lands Coveted Appropriations Spot — WASHINGTON - Indicted Rep. Tom DeLay, forced to step down as the No. 2 Republican in the House, scored a soft landing Wednesday as GOP leaders rewarded him with a coveted seat on the Appropriations Committee. — DeLay, R-Texas, also claimed a seat …
Jim Geraghty / Washington Times:
The growing role of bloggers — Imagine what the mood at President Bush's State of the Union address would have been if the big news before the speech was the Senate's confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Harriet Miers. — It's hard to believe that as recently as late October that was the White House's goal.
Discussion:
QandO, RedState, TKS on National Review Online, Right Wing News, Outside The Beltway and Beltway Blogroll
Nancy Goldstein / rawstory.com:
Money shot — Twenty bloggers. Seventeen states. One question: If you had $100 to invest politically, where would it go? — True confessions: when I queried folks, I told them that I, like so many disenchanted progressives, had sworn off giving money to the Democratic National Party …
