Top Items:
Washington Post:
Abramoff Gets Minimum Sentence — Former Lobbyist to Spend 5 Years, 10 Months in Prison — MIAMI, March 29 — Jack A. Abramoff, the once-powerful Republican lobbyist at the center of a major corruption scandal, was sentenced Wednesday to five years and 10 months in prison for his role …
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New York Times:
Abramoff Sentenced to Over Five Years in Prison in Fraud Case — MIAMI — Disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a business partner were sentenced Wednesday to five years and 10 months in federal prison, the minimum they faced for fraud related to their 2000 purchase of the SunCruz Casinos gambling fleet.
Jim VandeHei / Washington Post:
Card's Departure Seen as a Sign President Hears Words of Critics — A few weeks ago, President Bush's spokesman dismissed talk of an impending staff change as "inside Washington babble." — White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr.'s resignation yesterday suggests that Bush was listening.
Discussion:
MSNBC, The Heretik, Booman Tribune, The Huffington Post, ScrappleFace, The Sideshow and State of the Day
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Steven Emerson / The Counterterrorism Blog:
There Is No Evidence to Support Moussaoui's Claims — This morning I appeared on NBC's "Today" program to discuss the claims by Zacarias Moussaoui yesterday that he was supposed to hijack a fifth jetliner with Richard Reid and fly it into the White House as part of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Michelle Malkin:
THE AMERICAN FLAG COMES SECOND — ***scroll for updates...new photo added below of a student in Dallas screamed at by an angry mob for carrying an American flag...plus fence-hopping at Montebello H.S...unreality-based Ted Kennedy gets the Clueless Blowhard of the Day Award...chanting in Las Vegas …
Discussion:
Townhall.com, The Moderate Voice, Babalu Blog, AMERICAN DIGEST, QandO, Right Wing News, Clayton Cramer's BLOG, Confederate Yankee, The World Wide Rant, Unclaimed Territory, The American Street, La Shawn Barber's Corner, Gina Cobb, PA Pundits, Sister Toldjah, MacStansbury.org, Blogs for Bush, Wizbang, Jay Reding.com, The Daily Brief, The Truth Laid Bear and The Rude Pundit
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BBC:
Afghan convert given Italy asylum — The Italian cabinet has approved a request for asylum from an Afghan who escaped a possible death sentence for converting from Islam to Christianity. — Welfare Minister Roberto Maroni said the case of Abdul Rahman, 41, was now in the hands of the interior ministry.
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Liz Sidoti / Associated Press:
Democrats Pledge to 'Eliminate' Osama — WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats promise to "eliminate" Osama bin Laden and ensure a "responsible redeployment of U.S. forces" from Iraq in 2006 in an election-year national security policy statement. — In the position paper to be announced Wednesday …
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radioblogger.com:
Time Magazine's Michael Ware from Baghdad. — HH: Joining me now live from Baghdad is Michael Ware, bureau chief for Time Magazine. Michael, welcome to the Hugh Hewitt Show. — MW: Thanks, Hugh. — HH: Michael, we met each other courtesy of CNN on a couple of editions of Anderson Cooper's program last week.
Discussion:
Hugh Hewitt, Democrat Taylor Marsh …, Democracy Project, Unfogged, Tim Blair and Kesher Talk
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Mary Curtius / Los Angeles Times:
Senators End Right to Derail Votes Secretly — Nearing a vote on ethics and lobbying rules that many say are too weak, they also defeat a bid to create an independent public integrity office. — WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday voted to strip its members of the power to secretly place a …
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Jeffrey H. Birnbaum / Washington Post:
Senate Votes Down Outside Ethics Office
Senate Votes Down Outside Ethics Office
Discussion:
TPM Muckraker
Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
Judges on Secretive Panel Speak Out on Spy Program — WASHINGTON, March 28 — Five former judges on the nation's most secretive court, including one who resigned in apparent protest over President Bush's domestic eavesdropping, urged Congress on Tuesday to give the court a formal role in overseeing the surveillance program.
Steven R. Weisman / New York Times:
Democrats Opening Assault on Bush Security Policies — WASHINGTON, March 28 — Seeking to capitalize on President Bush's troubles overseas, leading Democrats in Congress are unveiling a broad attack this week on the administration's security policies at home and overseas along with a set …
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Amir Taheri / Opinion Journal:
'The Last Helicopter' — Mideast dictators try to "wait Bush out." They may be miscalculating. — Hassan Abbasi has a dream—a helicopter doing an arabesque in cloudy skies to avoid being shot at from the ground. On board are the last of the "fleeing Americans," forced out of the Dar al-Islam …
Discussion:
Penraker, TigerHawk, The Anchoress, Solomonia, The Claremont Institute, Ed Driscoll.com and Cold Fury
Agence France Presse:
Saudis, with Pakistani help, working on nuclear programme — BERLIN (AFP) - Saudi Arabia is working secretly on a nuclear programme, with help from Pakistani experts, a German magazine reports in its latest edition, citing Western security sources. — The German magazine Cicero says that during …
Discussion:
protein wisdom, In the Bullpen, AMERICAN FUTURE, Gina Cobb, A Blog For All and The American Street
Alan Cooperman / Washington Post:
'War' on Christians Is Alleged — Conference Depicts a Culture Hostile to Evangelical Beliefs — The "War on Christmas" has morphed into a "War on Christians." — Last December, some evangelical Christian groups declared that the religious celebration of Christmas — and even the phrase …
Discussion:
Street Prophets, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Just a Bump in the Beltway and Shakespeare's Sister
Atrios / Eschaton:
Victory — Attempts to seriously regulate the internets are finally dead for the moment. HR 1606 will provide a weapon to use against zombie reform efforts which will keep coming back to life. — To make something clear I'm not necessarily opposed to the idea that some day we might …
Associated Press:
Appeals Court: Rep. McDermott Violated Law in Leaking Taped Call — WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Rep. Jim McDermott violated federal law by turning over an illegally taped telephone call to reporters nearly a decade ago. — In a 2-1 opinion, the U.S. Court …
Ellen Knickmeyer / Washington Post:
Thousands of Iraqis Flee to Avoid Spread Of Violence — BAGHDAD, March 28 — Sectarian violence has displaced more than 25,000 Iraqis since the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine, a U.N.-affiliated agency said Tuesday, and shelters and tent cities are springing up across central …
New York Times:
Voters in Israel Support Parties Vowing Pullout — JERUSALEM, Wednesday, March 29 — Israelis voted Tuesday to bring to power a new centrist party, Kadima, which is committed to a further pullout from the occupied West Bank. — Kadima's leader, Ehud Olmert, will become prime minister …
amnestyusa.org:
Iraq: Prosecutions threaten freedom of expression in northern Iraq — Amnesty International is greatly concerned by the prosecutions of two critics of the Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq and the threat these pose to freedom of expression in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:
Rubber Stamp Republican Congress: Citizen Action Update — Morning everyone — happy Jack Abramoff Sentencing in Florida Day. Looks like Jack still has a few friends on the Hill. But today, it's all about the sentencing judge — and the proffer as to what cooperation Jackie Boy has been giving the Feds.