Top Items:
Jay Rosen / PressThink:
Dick Cheney Did Not Make a Mistake By Not Telling the Press He Shot a Guy — "The public visibility of the presidency itself is under revision. More of it lies in shadow all the time. Non-communication has become the standard procedure, not a breakdown in practice but the essence of it …
RELATED ITEMS:
Steve Clemons / The Washington Note:
Can Cheney be His Own Declassification Machine? — In my view, the law says "No". . .but I have little doubt Alberto Gonzales and his minions will construct a rationale that says otherwise. — But I have run across some interesting information — and have some questions that we should all pose …
National Review:
The Little-Noticed Order That Gave Dick Cheney New Power — In addition to discussing his hunting accident, Vice President Dick Cheney, in his interview on the Fox News Channel Wednesday, also pointed to a little-known but enormously consequential expansion of vice-presidential power …
AOL News:Rove Pushed Cheney to Talk
Discussion:
The RCP Blog, firedoglake, Adventus, Daily Kos, SpeakSpeak News, The All Spin Zone, Althouse, sisu, The Rude Pundit and WTF Is It Now??
Kevin Sites / Associated Press:
Iran Renames Danish Pastries — TEHRAN, Iran - Iranians love Danish pastries, but when they look for the flaky dessert at the bakery they now have to ask for "Roses of the Prophet Muhammad." — Bakeries across the capital were covering up their ads for Danish pastries Thursday …
Mark Benjamin / Salon:
Salon exclusive: The Abu Ghraib files — Never-published photos, and an internal Army report, show more Iraqi prisoner abuse — evidence the government is fighting to hide. — Print EmailFont: S / S+ / S++ — An unknown detainee with women's underwear on his head, strapped to a bed frame.
Discussion:
Reuters, ACLU, Body and Soul, Obsidian Wings, Fausta's Blog, Daimnation!, Andrew Sullivan and Riehl World View
RELATED ITEMS:
Dr. Rusty Shackleford / The Jawa Report v3.0 Beta:
Exclusive: Prisoner Abuse Photos from Iraq that MSM Won't Show You — **Jawa Report Exclusive** — The Jawa Report has obtained new photos from a new prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq. The photos show Iraqi prisoners being murdered by troops. The photos have not been published by a single mainstream news outlet.
MSNBC:
U.S. must release domestic spying documents — Judge rules in favor of civil liberties group in Freedom of Information case — WASHINGTON - A federal judge Thursday ordered the Justice Department to respond within 20 days to requests by a civil liberties group for documents about President Bush's domestic eavesdropping program.
RELATED ITEMS:
Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:The NSA scandal grows & other matters
Discussion:
Washington Post, skippy the bush kangaroo, The Heretik, Brilliant at Breakfast and Political Cortex
David Stout / New York Times:
Senate Panel Decides Against Eavesdropping Inquiry, for Now — WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 — The Senate Intelligence Committee decided today not to investigate President Bush's domestic surveillance program, at least for the time being. — "I believe that such an investigation is currently unwarranted …
RELATED ITEM:
National Review:
Checked and Unbalanced — As a reverent admirer of George Will, it pains me to say that his diatribe today against the National Security Agency's terrorist-surveillance program is an embarrassing magpie of hyperbole and error. — Will's premise is that the administration, in authorizing the program …
RELATED ITEM:
White House:
President Discusses Health Care — Reforming Health Care for the 21st Century — THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming. Please be seated. (Applause.) Jack, thanks for the introduction, thanks for letting us convert your lobby into a — (laughter) — place to come and visit.
Discussion:
The Washington Monthly, Obsidian Wings, The Carpetbagger Report, ShopFloor.org and Whatever It Is …
RELATED ITEM:
Ace / Ace of Spades HQ:
Bryant Gumbel: Winter Olympics So White They Look Like a "GOP Convention" — Well, yeah, moron. Last time I checked, black kids weren't walking around in Nike Air Turino luge-cleats. — Suffice to say that Mr. Gumbel will not, in the near future, be commenting on the NBA looking like a Biggie Smalls funeral procession.
Discussion:
Exposing Liberal Media Bias, RightWinged.com, Random Thoughts …, Expose the Left, IMAO, GOP and the City and USS Neverdock
Polly Curtis / Guardian:
Abortions at home are safe - pilot study — Women who are less than nine weeks pregnant can safely have medical abortions at home, according to the head of a government-backed pilot project. — Abortion services for the 20,000 women who seek a chemically induced abortion every year …
Raleigh News & Observer:
Able Danger hearing sets intelligence officers at odds — The Pentagon's top intelligence official clashed repeatedly Wednesday with former operatives of the clandestine Able Danger program over how much the government knew about al-Qaeda before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Discussion:
irishpennants.com, Able Danger Blog, Macsmind, The Strata-Sphere, The American Thinker and Flopping Aces
Mario F. Cattabiani / Philadelphia Inquirer:
Swann sat out on most election days — When Lynn Swann votes for himself in the May Republican primary, it will be a rare springtime trip to the polls. — Despite once saying that the right to vote should never be taken for granted, Swann missed 20 of the state's 36 elections in the last 18 years …
Anthony Faiola / Washington Post:
Japanese Putting All Their Energy Into Saving Fuel — KAMIITA, Japan — When the Japanese government issued a national battle cry against soaring global energy prices this winter, no one heeded the call to arms more than this farming town in the misty mountains of western Japan.
Dorkafork / INDC Journal:
The Birdshot Conspiracy — You're close to the truth, Mr. Marshall. Closer than you know. — I was in New Zealand 20 hours after the shooting. And there was no mention of it in any of the newspapers. Not one. If I had been in the press office I would have sent out a press release immediately.
BBC:
France steps up rhetoric on Iran — France has for the first time explicitly accused Iran of using its nuclear programme as a cover for clandestine military nuclear activity. — Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told French TV no civilian programme could explain Iran's activity.
