Top Items:
Michael McAuliff / Mercury News:
Lawmakers assail deal giving Dubai firm control of ports — WASHINGTON - The Bush administration gave control of six crucial ports to a Sept. 11-linked Arab nation after a flimsy investigation and with weak guarantees the company in charge can stop Osama bin Laden from infiltrating, the House homeland security chairman said.
Discussion:
Think Progress, liberal catnip, Democrat Taylor Marsh …, The Talent Show, Progressive Prof and State of the Day
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Michael McAuliff / Mercury News:
Dubai company set to run U.S. ports has ties to administration — WASHINGTON - The Dubai firm that won Bush administration backing to run six U.S. ports has at least two ties to the White House. — One is Treasury Secretary John Snow, whose department heads the federal panel that signed off …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post
New York Times:
Pataki Joins Opposition to Takeover of Ports — WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 — The Republican governors of New York and Maryland on Monday joined the growing chorus of criticism of an Arab company's takeover of operations at six major American ports. Both raised the threat of legal action …
Discussion:
Bark Bark Woof Woof
CNN:
Bush faces pressure to block port deal — Lawmakers voice concerns about takeover by Dubai-based firm — WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush on Monday faced political pressure to block a deal that would give a United Arab Emirates-based company management of six major U.S. seaports.
John M. Broder / New York Times:
States Curbing Right to Seize Private Homes — In a rare display of unanimity that cuts across partisan and geographic lines, lawmakers in virtually every statehouse across the country are advancing bills and constitutional amendments to limit use of the government's power of eminent domain …
Will Bunch / American Prospect:
With A Little Help From His Friends — Exclusive: An investigation into the private and public finances of Rick Santorum suggests that the Senate GOP might want to reconsider making him its ethics czar. — "In far too many families with young children, both parents are working, when …
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Scott Shane / New York Times:
U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review — WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 — In a seven-year-old secret program at the National Archives, intelligence agencies have been removing from public access thousands of historical documents that were available for years, including some already published …
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report, Defense Tech, Norwegianity, Prairie Weather, War and Piece and TalkLeft
Dan Morgan / nospeedbumps.com:
Is Instapundit a Conservative? — You may have wondered if Glenn Reynolds is a conservative. Today he writes: … I have read his Instapundit blog nearly every day for a year. Being a non-liberal, I have found that I agree with him much more than not. This says that he is likely a non-liberal too.
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BBC:
Holocaust denier Irving to appeal — British historian David Irving is to appeal against the prison term imposed by an Austrian court for denying the Holocaust of European Jewry. — Irving, who appeared stunned by the three-year sentence, told reporters: "I'm very shocked."
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Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:
Able Danger Conference Call — Earlier this evening, I was able to participate in a conference call with Mark Zaid, the attorney representing Lt. Colonel Tony Shaffer in his dispute with the DIA in the Able Danger controversy. Joining in the call were the group of bloggers that has kept …
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Jim VandeHei / Washington Post:
Bush Urges Funding for Alternative Energy — MILWAUKEE, Feb. 20 — President Bush visited one of the nation's leading producers of energy-efficient technologies on Monday and hailed the company's innovations as proof that the United States can one day wean itself off foreign oil.
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Charles Lane / Washington Post:
With Longevity on Court, Stevens's Center-Left Influence Has Grown — One day last summer, an unusual baseball practice took place at Bluemont Park in Arlington. A white-haired gentleman in owlish glasses tossed one pitch after another to a female catcher half his age, trying to hit the strike zone.
Ray Robison / The American Thinker:
The proof has been right in front of you the entire time. Documents available on the internet, which pass the smell test and are probably genuine, show the link between Saddam and al Qaeda. — On October 11th, 2004 an online news service called CNSnews published 42 documents that they claimed came from the Iraq Survey Group.
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Don Van Natta Jr / New York Times:
Germany Weighs if It Played Role in Seizure by U.S. — MUNICH, Feb. 20 — For more than a year, the German government has criticized the United States for its role in the abduction of a German man who was taken to an American prison in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he said he was held and tortured …
Discussion:
TalkLeft
DownWithTyranny!:
DIEBOLD TAKES OVER CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT!! BRUCE McPHERSON MUST BE RECALLED — A couple years ago I was in DC, a city I had hoped to not return to before the vile usurper was removed from the White House. But I was there for an important Board of Directors meeting …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Left Coaster, The Democratic Daily Blog and skippy the bush kangaroo
Houston Chronicle:
Ex-Malasian Leader Says He Paid Abramoff — KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Monday that disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was paid $1.2 million to organize his 2002 meeting with President Bush, but denied the money came from the Malaysian government.
Rick Klein / Boston Globe:
Democrats may unite on plan to pull troops — See Iraq withdrawal, deployment in region — WASHINGTON — After months of trying unsuccessfully to develop a common message on the war in Iraq, Democratic Party leaders are beginning to coalesce around a broad plan to begin a quick withdrawal …
Discussion:
AMERICAblog, Democrat Taylor Marsh …, Riehl World View, Liberty Street, The Strata-Sphere and Macsmind
Zogby:
Presidents Day Rating: Bush 40% — President's job approval rating now stable, but base weakened by weight of Iraq War concerns, new Zogby International telephone poll shows — As America marks its official Presidents Day holiday, the nation's likely voters appear to have settled …
Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Administration Critics Chafe at State Dept. Shuffle — Merger Has Brought Appointees Into Conflict With Longtime Workers, Who Say They Are Sidelined — A State Department reorganization of analysts involved in preventing the spread of deadly weapons has spawned internal turmoil …
Matt Stoller / MyDD:
Reporters: The Right-Wing Hates You — There's this pernicious attitude among reporters I know that 'both sides give them grief'; it is an ardent desire to be seen as an umpire calling 'balls and strikes' within the political system. I'm glad Beutler came onto this blog, and had a dialogue with all of us.
