Top Items:
Matea Gold / Los Angeles Times:
Critics slam Cheney's interview choice — New York — For days, the White House news corps has pounded the Bush administration, demanding to learn more about Vice President Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of a hunting companion Saturday. — Cheney finally addressed the incident Wednesday …
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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 …
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 …
Discussion:
Secrecy News, David Corn, The Carpetbagger Report, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo and alternative hippopotamus
Todd J. Gillman / Dallas Morning News:
VP accepts blame in shooting accident — Cheney calls hunting incident one of his worst days, defends delay of announcement — WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney accepted fault for his hunting accident Wednesday and called it one of the worst days of his life.
Pete Yost / Associated Press:
Cheney Says He Can Declassify Secrets — WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney says he has the power to declassify government secrets, raising the possibility that he authorized his former chief of staff to pass along sensitive prewar data on Iraq to reporters.
AOL News:
Rove Pushed Cheney to Talk — (Feb. 16) — President Bush's top political aide, Karl Rove, pushed Vice President Dick Cheney to speak publicly about shooting a fellow hunter, sources tell CBS News. — Rove worried the vice president's silence on the issue was becoming a political problem …
Discussion:
Adventus, Althouse, Daily Kos, SpeakSpeak News, The All Spin Zone, WTF Is It Now??, The Rude Pundit and Expose the Left
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 …
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.
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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.
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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 …
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.
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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.
Thomas E. Ricks / Washington Post:
The Lessons of Counterinsurgency — U.S. Unit Praised for Tactics Against Iraqi Fighters, Treatment of Detainees — TALL AFAR, Iraq — The last time the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment served in Iraq, in 2003-04, its performance was judged mediocre, with a series of abuse cases growing out of its tour of duty in Anbar province.
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 …
Radio Blogger:
Helen Thomas hangs up on Hugh Hewitt. — The dean of the White House press corps, known lovingly around the Hugh Hewitt Show as Aunt Bethany... appeared on the program a little while ago, and it didn't end well, with Ms. Thomas hanging up on Hugh. Here's how it went: — 02-15thomas.mp3
Eli Lake / New York Sun:
Furor Erupts Over Recordings of Saddam — CAIRO, Egypt - Two former CIA directors have resigned from the board of the organization planning tomorrow to make public secret recordings of Saddam Hussein and his advisers. — In the last week both John Deutch and James Woolsey abruptly left …
Warren Hoge / New York Times:
U.N. Report Calls for End to Guantánamo Detentions — UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 16 — United Nations human rights investigators called on the United States today to shut down the Guantánamo Bay camp and give detainees prompt trials or release them.
