Top Items:
Daniela Deane / Washington Post:
Former FEMA Chief Blames DHS — Michael Brown, the embattled former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, testified before a Senate committee today that he told a top White House official on the day Hurricane Katrina struck that "our worst nightmares" had come true in New Orleans.
RELATED ITEMS:
CNN:
Brown says he's been made Katrina scapegoat — Ex-FEMA chief blames Homeland Security for slow response — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown told a Senate panel Friday that he feels he's been made a scapegoat for the government's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina.
Stephen Brook / Guardian:
Political magazine pulls cartoon after police warning — Politics magazine the Liberal has followed the Spectator in publishing then hastily withdrawing from its website one of the controversial Danish cartoons featuring the prophet Muhammad. — The independent title …
RELATED ITEMS:
BBC:
Sweden shuts website over cartoon — The Swedish government has moved to shut down the website of a far-right political party's newspaper over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. — The site's host, Levonline, pulled the plug on the website of the Swedish Democrats' SD-Kuriren newspaper after consulting with the government.
Discussion:
Hit and Run
Max Blumenthal / The Huffington Post:
Ann Coulter at CPAC on "Ragheads" and Assassinating Bill Clinton (and Dr. Bill Frist's Diagnosis) — On Friday, February 10, the rock star of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was none other than Ann Coulter. Before an overflow crowd of at least 1000 young right-wing activists …
Discussion:
AMERICAblog, The Moderate Voice, Hullabaloo, IntoxiNation-News …, Alternate Brain and Catch
RELATED ITEM:
Jennifer Skalka / Baltimore Sun:
Steele's words at meeting faulted … Discussing his position on embryonic stem cell research with Baltimore Jewish leaders yesterday, Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele said he is "concerned about the destruction of human life" and made a comparison between the controversial science and experiments done on Jews during the Holocaust.
Discussion:
AMERICAblog
RELATED ITEM:
Washington Post:
Steele Apologizes for Holocaust Remarks — Compared Stem Cell Research to Nazi Medical Experiments — Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele apologized this morning for telling a Baltimore Jewish group yesterday that he believes stem cell research could be comparable to Nazi medical testing on Jews during World War II.
Anthony Loyd / Times of London:
Murder of sheikh provokes Sunnis to turn on al-Qaeda — Ramadi, stronghold of the insurgents, has turned against al-Zarqawi — REGARDED as untouchable by the Sunni populace, Sheikh Naser Abdul Karim al-Miklif believed that he had no need for bodyguards. — Leader of the huge al-Bu Fahad tribe …
RELATED ITEM:
Lynn Sweet / sweet:
Washington Times: Lifts my Obama story quotes — Call the journalism police. It's a quote heist. — Familiar with the phrase, ``imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?'' — A story in Friday's Washington Times about Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)—written in the wake of his flap …
RELATED ITEM:
Joseph Carroll / Gallup:
Bush Approval Steady at 42% — Approval ratings show essentially no change since late November 2005 — PRINCETON, NJ — President George W. Bush's State of the Union address on Jan. 31 did little to move his overall job approval rating, according to a new Gallup Poll.
Deborah Hastings / Associated Press:
Turin Games Kick Off With Surreal Ceremony — This gritty city below the Alps gave a heartfelt "benvenuto" Friday night to the Winter Games, a fiery opening ceremony dedicated to passion and to igniting the competitive spirits of more than 2,500 of the world's best athletes.
tcsdaily.com:
Stop Worrying About the Trade Deficit — America's trade deficit — in December reaching a near-record $64.7 billion — is unfortunate, right? — Wrong. Contrary to popular opinion, this so-called "deficit" is a blessing. — Consider that if Americans export lumber, sheetrock …
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Blackmail — So now we see where this is leading. The head of Hezbollah, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, … And he essentially made a threat: … People keep talking about avoiding conflict. They are in denial. The conflict is already here. It is outrageous to be informed by a crowd …
Jennifer Loven / Associated Press:
Update 19: Bush Reveals Rationale Behind Surveillance — President Bush defended his warrantless eavesdropping program Friday, saying during what he thought were private remarks that he concluded that spying on Americans was necessary to fill a gap in the United States' security.
Jesus' General:
Anti-Semitism — Commenters at strormfront and Little Green Footballs have a lot in common. For instance, they both believe that you're an anti-Semite if you criticize Israel's apartheid government. — My wife, daughters, and grandson are Jewish. We live near a part of Washington State …
Discussion:
One Good Thing
Atlas Shrugs:
THE MOHAMMAD CARTOON TEE SHRT BROUHAHAHA — It's funny, when I saw this tee shirt on metro spy earlier in the week, I ordered it immediately. Little did I know that it too would create a brouhaha (love that word). I even used it as a graphic in a prior post here.
Paul R. Pillar / Foreign Affairs:
Intelligence, Policy,and the War in Iraq — Summary: During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, writes the intelligence community's former senior analyst for the Middle East, the Bush administration disregarded the community's expertise, politicized the intelligence process …
