Top Items:
bizjournals:
HUD secretary's blunt warning — Alphonso Jackson says deal was scuttled after contractor admits not liking Bush — Once the color barrier has been broken, minority contractors seeking government work may need to overcome the Bush barrier. — That's the message U.S. Housing …
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The Raw Story:
Senator demands resignation of Housing Secretary after 'don't like Bush' dispute — Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) called on President Bush to ask for the immediate resignation of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson if a report about government contracts being awarded based …
Judd / Think Progress:
Housing Sec. Canceled Contract Because Contractor Criticized Bush, Apparently Violating Law — Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson publicly admitted that he canceled a government contract with a business because the CEO was critical of President Bush. From the Dallas Business Journal:
Discussion:
housedemocrats.gov, Obsidian Wings, The Left Coaster, Lean Left, First Draft and AMERICAblog
New York Times:
Bush's Public Approval at New Low Point — Americans have a bleaker view of the country's direction than at any time in more than two decades, and sharp disapproval of President Bush's handling of gasoline prices has combined with intensified unhappiness about Iraq to create a grim political environment …
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Joseph Carroll / Gallup:
Bush Job Approval: 31% — Reaches new low among Republicans, Democrats — PRINCETON, NJ — President George W. Bush's job approval rating has reached yet another new low for his administration, according to a new USA Today/Gallup poll. The poll, conducted May 5-7, 2006 …
CBS News:
Poll: Dim View Of Bush, GOP — Bush Disappoints On Key Issues; Democrats In Congress Trump GOP — (CBS) President Bush and the Republican Congress show nearly record low ratings while Democrats are viewed much more favorably in their performance on the issues that matter most to Americans …
Discussion:
The Left Coaster
Digby / Hullabaloo:
Lapfull of Dick — Richard Cohen got 2,000 mean e-mails and this signals the end of the Democratic party. I'll leave you to figure out why that should follow. In case Cohen hasn't noticed nobody on the f**king planet likes squishy faux liberal courtiers. There's no political downside to hating Richard Cohen.
Discussion:
Michael Bérubé's "Web" "Log", The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, The Mahablog, Eschaton, Pharyngula, PSoTD, The American Street, Orcinus, Balloon Juice, Shakespeare's Sister, The Political Pit Bull, Mathew Gross, No More Mister Nice Blog, Environmental Republican, Crossing the Rubicon2, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Real Ugly American.com, Wonkette, Democratic Underground, Sadly, No!, Gay Patriot, A Tiny Revolution, Done With Mirrors, TAPPED and MyDD
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Robin Toner / New York Times:
Optimistic, Democrats Debate the Party's Vision — WASHINGTON, May 8 — With Democrats increasingly optimistic about this year's midterm elections and the landscape for 2008, intellectuals in the center and on the left are debating how to sharpen the party's identity and present a clear alternative …
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Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
STYLE POINTS: — Over at Tapped, Greg Sargent has an interesting …
STYLE POINTS: — Over at Tapped, Greg Sargent has an interesting …
Discussion:
NewDonkey.com, Sadly, No!, Eschaton, TAPPED, The Washington Monthly, Ezra Klein, MaxSpeak, Booman Tribune and Andrew Sullivan
Ken Silverstein / Harper's:
"Nine Fingers" and the Third Man — New connections between the CIA and the Cunningham Scandal — Justin Rood at TPM Muckraker posted an interesting story yesterday, explaining why the Bush Administration's explanation for Porter Goss's sudden departure from the CIA looks increasingly lame.
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Tamara Traubman / Haaretz:
New U.K. attempt to boycott Israeli universities, professors — The largest university and college lecturers union in Britain is likely to decide shortly to recommend that its 67,000 members boycott Israeli lecturers and academic institutions that do not publicly declare their opposition to Israeli policy in the territories.
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Bill Brubaker / Washington Post:
Judicial Nominee Appears at Contentious Second Hearing — White House staff secretary Brett M. Kavanaugh today testified at a contentious Senate hearing on his nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, asserting he had no involvement in the Bush administration's policies …
Discussion:
The Strata-Sphere
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Neil A. Lewis / New York Times:
Bar Panel Downgrades Bush Nominee for Judiciary — WASHINGTON, May 8 — The American Bar Association said Monday that it had downgraded its rating of one of President Bush's judicial nominees. — The A.B.A. committee that evaluates judicial nominees said that the nominee, Brett M. Kavanaugh …
Jeff Green / CNN:
U.S. has second worst newborn death rate in modern world, report says — Research: 2 million babies die in first 24 hours each year worldwide — (CNN) — An estimated 2 million babies die within their first 24 hours each year worldwide and the United States has the second worst newborn mortality rate …
Christine Hauser / New York Times:
Iranian's Letter to Bush Emerges — In his letter to President Bush, Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, declared that Western-style democracy had failed and that the use of secret prisons in Europe and aspects of the war in Iraq could not be reconciled with Mr. Bush's Christian values.
Discussion:
BLACKFIVE, In the Bullpen, Power Line, A Blog For All, The Moderate Voice, Blue Crab Boulevard and Hot Air
Jennifer Frey / Washington Post:
Out and About — The Vice President's Daughter Tells The Inside Story in Her New Book. But the Subject Is Politics. — NEW YORK — "Are the eyes too much?" — Mary Cheney is peering into the makeup artist's mirror in the early hours of the morning, getting "done" for her appearance on …
Discussion:
Done With Mirrors, Betsy's Page, Althouse, Pam's House Blend, Wonkette and Bark Bark Woof Woof
James Glanz / New York Times:
Killings in Iraq Spawn Search for Missing Funds — BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 8 — The killing of Fern Holland, a human rights worker from Oklahoma, remains unsolved and as mysterious as it was when her body was found riddled with bullets on a desolate stretch of road near one of Iraq's southern holy cities in March 2004.
Matthew Schofield / Knight Ridder:
Under fire, U.S. says it will ban controversial interrogation practice — GENEVA - The U.S. Army will prohibit "water-boarding" - the controversial practice of submerging a prisoner's head in water in an effort to make him talk - when it issues its new interrogation manual …