memeorandum @ 6:35 PM ET, March 9, 2006

6:35 PM ET, March 9, 2006

RELATED ITEMS:

Ports deal opens rift between Bush, House GOP — Committee votes 62-2 to block approval of UAE takeover — WASHINGTON (CNN) — The White House faced a major rupture with House Republicans on Thursday after a House committee overwhelmingly voted to block a deal that would allow …

Discussion: The Reality-Based Community, Crooks and Liars, The Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, And Another Thing, RedState, Media Blog on National …, Blogs for Bush, The Democratic Party, Wonkette, Peaktalk, UNCoRRELATED, The Glittering Eye, GOP Bloggers and The Jawa Report v3.0 Beta

MSNBC:

Dubai to give up control of U.S. ports — Deal ran into tough opposition in Senate over security concerns … MSNBC TV — MSNBC staff and news service reports — WASHINGTON - A top Senate Republican says a Dubai-owned company has decided to give up its management stake in U.S. ports.

Discussion: The Daily Nightly, The Carpetbagger Report, The Left Coaster, Daily Kos, Crazy Politico's Rantings, Macsmind and Decision '08

Michelle Malkin:

BREAKING PORT NEWS: DUBAI YIELDS — ***scroll for updates...230pm EST Dem Senators Schumer, Clinton, Reid scrambling to organize press conference...248pm EST. Harry Reid looks irked at being outmaneuvered: "We want an up-and-down vote...the devil is in the details."

Discussion: The Political Pit Bull, Macsmind, The Moderate Voice, Church and State, Ace of Spades HQ and A Blog For All

New York Times:

Dubai Company to Transfer U.S. Ports to American Company — WASHINGTON, March 9 — DP World, the United Arab Emirates state-owned company that had agreed to buy several port terminals in the United States, said today that it will transfer those properties to an American-owned company …

Discussion: On Deadline

Roxana Tiron / The Hill:

Dubai threat to hit back — Dubai is threatening retaliation against American strategic and commercial interests if Washington blocks its $6.8 billion takeover of operations at several U.S. ports. — As the House Appropriations Committee yesterday marked up legislation …

Discussion: PunditGuy, GOP Bloggers, Neocon Express, Riehl World View, NewsHog and PoliBlog

Fox News:

Senate Could Mirror House Rebuke of Ports Deal — WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday could vote on a Democratic amendment to halt a controversial ports deal that the Bush administration still hopes to push through. — The Senate vote would come just one day after the House Appropriations …

Discussion: Fraters Libertas, Hugh Hewitt and Tim Worstall

New York Times:
G.O.P. Plan Would Allow Spying Without Warrants

Discussion: Washington Post, Stop The ACLU, TalkLeft, The Heretik, Booman Tribune, Unclaimed Territory, Balloon Juice, The Jawa Report v3.0 Beta, IntoxiNation and Prairie Weather

Associated Press:
GOP Leaders Tell Bush Ports Deal Is Doomed

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Sister Toldjah and Blogs for Bush

Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:
Sen. Rockefeller praises the GOP's actions on the Intelligence Committee

Discussion: Washington Post, Balloon Juice, The Next Hurrah and battlepanda.blogspot.com

Rick Moran / Right Wing Nut House:
DUBAI-BAI: IT'S ALL OVER BUT THE WHIMPERING

Discussion: Outside The Beltway

John Byrne / rawstory.com:

Report posits that Chris Matthews has accepted hefty speaking fees from conservative groups — A new report advanced to RAW STORY Thursday suggests that Chris Matthews, the star of the Sunday talk show circuit's Hardball, has accepted hefty speaking fees from an array of conservative trade associations.

Discussion: Democrat Taylor Marsh …

Washington Post:

Senator Resumes Lobbyist Huddles — After saying in January that he would end his regular meetings with lobbyists, Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), the third-ranking GOP leader in the Senate, has continued to meet with many of the same lobbyists at the same time and on the same day of the week.

Discussion: The Reality-Based Community, Balloon Juice, TPM Muckraker, Greg's Opinion, The Carpetbagger Report, DownWithTyranny!, Attytood, Election Law and Think Progress

RELATED ITEM:

aolsvc.news.aol.com:
Faith Hill, Tim McGraw Blast 'Humiliating' Katrina Cleanup

Discussion: Adventus

Peggy Noonan / Opinion Journal:

Boy in a Bubble — What George Clooney doesn't know about life. — Memo to: The Academy — From: Just another viewer — Re: Advice, as if you wanted more — I cannot remember a time when, in the days after the Academy Awards show, it was not criticized, and even blasted.

Discussion: Dr. Sanity, THE ASTUTE BLOGGER, Shakespeare's Sister, No More Mister Nice Blog, Shot In The Dark and SCSUScholars

Ellen Knickmeyer / Washington Post:

Official Says Shiite Party Suppressed Body Count — BAGHDAD, March 8 — Days after the bombing of a Shiite shrine unleashed a wave of retaliatory killings of Sunnis, the leading Shiite party in Iraq's governing coalition directed the Health Ministry to stop tabulating execution-style shootings …

Discussion: Unqualified Offerings, News Blog, Norwegianity, Martini Republic, Booman Tribune, The Left Coaster, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES and Unfogged

Michael J. Totten:

Zarqawi Was Here — BIARA, IRAQ - The PUK's Minister of the Interior ordered 20 heavily armed Peshmerga soldiers to go with me to the borderland mountain village of Biara. For years the village was occupied by Ansar Al Islam, the Kurdish-Arab-Persian branch of Al Qaeda in Northern Iraq.

Discussion: Andrew Sullivan and In the Bullpen

Alexandra von Maltzan / All Things Beautiful:

Iran Is Building A Nuclear Weapon — A Nuclear Composition based on one of my favorite El Greco's "An Allegory with a 'Believer' Lighting a Candle in the Company of an Ape and a Fool (Fábula)" ca. 1589-92; National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh — For some months now …

Discussion: Haaretz, Captain's Quarters, A Blog For All and Sigmund, Carl and Alfred

Jacob Weisberg / Slate:

The Three Stooges — Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Howard Dean. — According to the latest CBS News poll, George W. Bush's approval rating hit a personal worst of 34 percent in February, making him the most unpopular president since Nixon during Watergate.