Top Items:
Mark Steyn / Chicago Sun Times:
Toon-deaf Europe is taking the wrong stand — From Europe's biggest-selling newspaper, the Sun: ''Furious Muslims have blasted adult shop [i.e., sex shop] Ann Summers for selling a blowup male doll called Mustafa Shag. Not literally "blasted" in the Danish Embassy sense, or at least not yet.
Philip Sherwell / Telegraph:
US prepares military blitz against Iran's nuclear sites — Strategists at the Pentagon are drawing up plans for devastating bombing raids backed by submarine-launched ballistic missile attacks against Iran's nuclear sites as a "last resort" to block Teheran's efforts to develop an atomic bomb.
RELATED ITEM:
Con Coughlin / Telegraph:Iran plant 'has restarted its nuclear bomb-making equipment'
Discussion:
NewsHog
BBC:
Thousands join pro-Islam protest — About 5,000 UK mainstream Muslims joined a protest in London's Trafalgar Square against controversial cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad. — There had been fears the rally may have been disrupted by extremists, but it proved to be a trouble-free afternoon.
RELATED ITEMS:
Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:
Katrina Report Spreads Blame — Homeland Security, Chertoff Singled Out — Hurricane Katrina exposed the U.S. government's failure to learn the lessons of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as leaders from President Bush down disregarded ample warnings of the threat to New Orleans …
Times of London:
British imam praises London Tube bombers — A LEADING imam in the mosque where the July 7 bombers worshipped has hailed their terrorist attack on London as a "good" act in a secretly taped conversation with an undercover reporter. — Hamid Ali, spiritual leader of the mosque in West Yorkshire …
New York Times:
The Trust Gap — We can't think of a president who has gone to the American people more often than George W. Bush has to ask them to forget about things like democracy, judicial process and the balance of powers — and just trust him. We also can't think of a president who has deserved that trust less.
Discussion:
The Heretik, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Booman Tribune, Seeing the Forest, Rising Hegemon and The Democratic Daily Blog
Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:
Do Bush followers have a political ideology? — Alexandra von Maltzan at All Things Beautiful has written a long and somewhat personal post expressing her "disappointment" in my blogging and in my political views. Scott "Big Trunk" Johnson at Powerline, in a post entitled "One Beautiful Thing …
RELATED ITEM:
Samantha Gross / Associated Press:
Nor'easter Dumps Nearly Two Feet of Snow — A major storm slammed the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states with nearly 2 feet of windblown snow on Sunday, nearing record levels as it blacked out thousands of customers and shut down air travel from Washington to Boston.
Lynn Zinser / New York Times:
Michelle Kwan Pulls Out of Olympics — TURIN, Italy, Feb. 12 ˆ Michelle Kwan, the face of United States figure skating for more than a decade and one of the best known female athletes in the world, announced in a tearful news conference today that she has withdrawn from her final Olympics …
Discussion:
Althouse
Deborah Howell / Washington Post:
Why Not Publish These Cartoons? — Hundreds of readers have asked why The Post hasn't reprinted the Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that inflamed Muslims around the world, leading to deadly protests and the burning of embassies. Some readers questioned the Post's journalistic courage.
Dan Balz / Washington Post:
For Possible '08 Run, McCain Is Courting Bush Loyalists — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a man in perpetual motion, flew to South Carolina on Jan. 16. His stops included a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. and speeches to local Republican groups. But one of his most important events …
Times of London:
Focus: How liberal Britain let hate flourish — A clash of civilisations or a failure of moderates to stand firm? Richard Woods and David Leppard report on the rise of Islamic extremism — WHEN Rachid Salama, a young Algerian, found himself homeless in London, salvation lay …
Byron Calame / New York Times:
The Case of the Missing Roll-Call Votes — This fall's Congressional elections seem certain to rouse the interest of citizen-readers of The New York Times in the votes their legislators are casting in Washington. Given a newspaper's fundamental role in helping readers hold lawmakers accountable …
Discussion:
Prairie Weather
Susan Saulny / New York Times:
Tutor Program Offered by Law Is Going Unused — Four years after President Bush signed the landmark No Child Left Behind education law, vast numbers of students are not getting the tutoring that the law offers as one of its hallmarks. — In the nation's largest school district, New York City …
