Top Items:
USA Today:
NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls — The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.
Discussion:
AMERICAblog, Outside The Beltway, The Mahablog, The Strata-Sphere, Democrats.com, RightWinged.com, QandO, The American Mind, Eschaton, Media Blog on National …, Just a Bump in the Beltway, The Left Coaster, TalkLeft, dartblog.com, Booman Tribune, Thoughts of an Average Woman, Crooks and Liars, Daily Kos, Bark Bark Woof Woof, The Washington Monthly, The Reality-Based Community, Mia Culpa, BrothersJudd Blog, The Volokh Conspiracy and King of Zembla
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Associated Press:
Security issue kills domestic spying inquiry — NSA won't grant Justice Department lawyers required security clearance — WASHINGTON - The government has abruptly ended an inquiry into the warrantless eavesdropping program because the National Security Agency refused to grant Justice Department lawyers …
Charles Babington / Washington Post:
CIA Pick Open to Wiretap Oversight — Hayden Tells Senators He Also Would Consider Retiring From Military — President Bush's choice to head the CIA told senators yesterday that he would consider retiring from the military and bringing a controversial surveillance program "under federal law," senators and aides said.
MSNBC:
Rove revamps the Republican strategy — With ratings down and an election coming up, the GOP take a new tack — President Bush and his longtime confidant and adviser, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove. — WASHINGTON - This fall's election season is going to make the past three look like episodes of "Barney."
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, The Moderate Voice, Riehl World View, Booman Tribune, HolyCoast.com, Power Line and Oliver Willis
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Washington Post:
Hard-Core Republicans Are Fleeing President — Conservatives Point to Spending, Immigration — Disaffection over spending and immigration have caused conservatives to take flight from President Bush and the Republican Congress at a rapid pace in recent weeks, sending Bush's approval ratings …
Thomas B. Edsall / Washington Post:
Democrats Are Fractured Over Strategy, Funds — Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and the leader of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have clashed angrily in recent days in a dispute about how the party should spend its money in advance of this fall's midterm elections.
Robert B. Bluey / Human Events:
Murdoch Defends Plan to Host Hillary Fundraiser; Calls Her 'Effective, Good Senator' — News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News and the New York Post, said today that he his standing by his decision to host a political fundraiser for Sen. Hillary Clinton later this year.
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Ken Herman / coxwashington.com:
Abramoff's White House visits — Secret Service records released today under court order show that convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff made only two visits to the White House since President Bush took office in January 2001. — On March 6, 2001, Abramoff entered at 4:23 p.m. and left at 4:49 p.m. On Jan. 20 …
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Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:
A. M. Rosenthal Is Dead at 84; Innovative Editor of The Times — A. M. Rosenthal, a Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent who became the executive editor of The New York Times and led the paper's global news operations through 17 years of record growth, modernization and major journalistic change, died yesterday in Manhattan.
Discussion:
Gawker
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MSNBC:
Bush: Brother Jeb would be 'great president' — Sen. Trent Lott tells Hardball he would 'not be supportive' of the candidacy — ORLANDO, Fla. - President Bush suggested Wednesday that he'd like to see his family's White House legacy continue, perhaps with his younger brother Jeb as the chief executive.
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Alexei Barrionuevo / New York Times:
Judge in Enron Case Delivers a Serious Blow to the 2 Defendants — HOUSTON, May 10 — The judge in the Enron trial dealt a serious blow on Wednesday to the two former chief executives accused of defrauding investors by agreeing to allow jurors to find both men guilty for consciously avoiding knowing about wrongdoing at the company.
The Futurist:
We Will Decisively Win in Iraq...in 2008 — The Brookings Institute has the latest Iraq Progress Report, which All Things Conservative has summarized nicely. Let's look at the data a bit more closely to see where key inflection points may emerge, and where Iraq will be in the next few years.
Discussion:
All Things Conservative, Power Line, Lawyers, Guns and Money and the evangelical outpost
Digby / Hullabaloo:
Preparing The Ground — I'm sure that most of you read Daily Kos and have come across this diary by thereisnospoon, but if you don't you really should check it out. … I would love to see bloggers on our side engage this issue because I think we might just be able to influence …
Martin Crutsinger / Associated Press:
April Tax Revenue 2nd-Highest in History — A flood of income tax payments pushed up government receipts to the second-highest level in history in April, giving the country a sizable surplus for the month. — In its monthly accounting of the government's books, the Treasury Department …
Orin Kerr / OrinKerr.com:
Does Michael Hayden Understand the Fourth Amendment? — Over at National Review Online, Adam White defends the new nominee to lead the CIA, General Michael Hayden, for his statements about the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. The statements have apparently become an important issue in the debate over Hayden's nomination.
Discussion:
Dean's World
Frederic J. Frommer / Associated Press:
House Panel Supports Bilingual Voting — What was to have been a simple renewal of the historic Voting Rights Act has become snarled in the heated debate involving immigration issues. — Conservative House members tried Wednesday to end a requirement in the 1965 law that bilingual ballots …