Top Items:
Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:
Following the script — (updated below - updated again) — By Anonymous Liberal — Sometimes it's all so predictable. Yesterday I wrote that despite the bipartisan consensus that President Bush acted illegally, Sen. Feingold "will undoubtedly be labeled as a rabid partisan by the GOP …
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Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Democrats Beat Quick Retreat on Call to Censure President — WASHINGTON, March 13 — Senate Democrats on Monday blocked an immediate vote on a call by one of their own to censure President Bush for his eavesdropping program. — They acted after Republicans said they were eager to pass judgment …
Drudge Report:
FRIST DARES DEMS: MORE CENSURE TALK — Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist plans to push Democrats for a vote of censure against President Bush! — After facing down Senator Russ Feingold's censure bill on Monday and seeing Democrats of all ranks fold, Frist thinks it's time to call Democrats …
John Byrne / rawstory.com:
Democrats slash Feingold move on censure, as Feingold says party 'cowering' — While mainstream media outlets have pounced on the fact that Democrats blocked an effort by one of their own to censure President Bush over his warrantless wiretapping program, RAW STORY has found that Senate Democratic offices are fuming.
Ralph Peters / realclearpolitics.com:
Myths of Iraq — During a recent visit to Baghdad, I saw an enormous failure. On the part of our media. The reality in the streets, day after day, bore little resemblance to the sensational claims of civil war and disaster in the headlines. — No one with first-hand experience of Iraq …
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Alexandra Zavis / Associated Press:
Iraqis Find 85 Bodies in 24-Hour Period — BAGHDAD, Iraq - Police in the past 24 hours have found the bodies of at least 85 people killed by execution-style shootings — a gruesome wave of apparent sectarian reprisal slayings, officials said Tuesday. — The dead included at least 27 bodies stacked …
CNN:
More than 80 dead in apparent reprisal killings — Bodies found around Baghdad in 30-hour period — BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Authorities said at least 86 bodies were found in the Iraqi capital during a 30-hour period ending midday Tuesday, sparking fears that sectarian reprisal killings are continuing at a grisly pace.
Discussion:
New Sisyphus, Waveflux, MoJo Blog, Blanton's and Ashton's, Washington Post, Simianbrain and AMERICAblog
Insight:
Bush delegates most issues, focuses only on Iraq, '06 campaign — President Bush has decided to stay out of the lion's share of decisions made by his administration. — Sources close to the administration said that over the last year, Mr. Bush has chosen to focus on two issues …
Discussion:
WTF Is It Now??
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Atrios / Eschaton:
On Religion and Politics — Since I'm now getting angry emails about things I've never even said let's clear a few things up. — I'm not hostile to religion. I don't much care about religion. I'm not much interested in it. This isn't strange. Most people aren't much interested in religion other than their own, if that.
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Jacques Steinberg / New York Times:
Mike Wallace Retiring From '60 Minutes' — When asked in an interview last April if he would ever consider retiring from "60 Minutes," Mike Wallace said that he planned to do so only "when my toes turn up." — "Well," Mr. Wallace said, amending that statement in an interview today, "they're just beginning to curl a trifle."
Howard Fineman / Newsweek:
Straw Poll Strategy — John McCain is changing his tactics for 2008. Inside a maverick's campaign. — March 13, 2006 - In a sense, Sen. John McCain's campaign for the presidency in 2008 began with a personal, private phone call he made last week-to President George W. Bush.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Outside The Beltway, Decision '08, NewsBusters.org, Hullabaloo and BrothersJudd Blog
New York Times:
Web Magazine Raises Doubts Over a Symbol of Abu Ghraib — The online magazine Salon is challenging the identity of a man profiled by The New York Times in a front-page article on Saturday who says he is the iconic hooded figure in a published photograph who was abused by Americans at Abu Ghraib prison in 2003 and 2004.
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Jesus' General:
Recruiting "top drawer blacks" for the GOP — Adele Fergusen — Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal — Dear Mrs. Fergusen, — I think you answered your own question about why black people aren't flocking to the Republican Party. If, as you point out, slavery was a godsend to them …
Discussion:
Pam's House Blend
Stephanie Saul / New York Times:
Study Links Ambien Use to Unconscious Food Forays — The sleeping pill Ambien seems to unlock a primitive desire to eat in some patients, according to emerging medical case studies that describe how the drug's users sometimes sleepwalk into their kitchens, claw through their refrigerators …
John R. Bradley / Washington Times:
Tehran elite turning on extremist presidency — TEHRAN — Iran's clerical and business establishments, deeply concerned by what they see as reckless spending and needlessly aggressive foreign policies, are increasingly turning against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Wall Street Journal:
Bush's Approval Ratings Slip In the Latest Harris Poll — President Bush's job-approval ratings continue to slip, according to a recent Harris Interactive poll, while job-approval ratings for most of his key cabinet members also remain low. — Mr. Bush's current job-approval ratings stand at 36% in March …
Discussion:
IntoxiNation, State of the Day, The Democratic Daily Blog, Balloon Juice and Below The Beltway
Associated Press:
Informant: Zawahiri Attended Lodi Mosque — SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An FBI informant testified Monday that a top Al Qaeda official lived in California's Central Valley in the years before the 2001 terrorist attacks, but the statements were attacked immediately as unreliable.
Discussion:
The Strata-Sphere, Captain's Quarters, Michelle Malkin, Los Angeles Times and The Jawa Report v3.0 Beta
USA Today:
Federal aid programs expand at record rate — A sweeping expansion of social programs since 2000 has sparked a record increase in the number of Americans receiving federal government benefits such as college aid, food stamps and health care. — A USA TODAY analysis of 25 major government programs found …
Matt Stoller / MyDD:
Cue Republican Whining and Posturing on Feingold — According to Progress Now, Senator Wayne 'Whiny' Allard, Republican of Colorado, accused Feingold of 'siding with terrorists' by introducing his censure resolution. They have a petition up demanding Allard apologize.
Neil A. Lewis / New York Times:
Judge Calls Halt to Penalty Phase of Terror Trial — ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 — An angry federal judge delayed the sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui on Monday and said she was considering ending the prosecution's bid to have him executed after the disclosure that a government lawyer had improperly coached some witnesses.
Barry Schweid / Associated Press:
New Panel to Investigate Iraq War Policy — WASHINGTON - Ten prominent Americans, including former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, are forming a bipartisan group to assess the Bush administration's policies in Iraq and political and economic developments in the troubled country.