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:
Right Wing Nut House, AMERICAblog, Outside The Beltway, The American Mind, Hot Air, The Sideshow, The Left Coaster, JustOneMinute, The Washington Monthly, The Next Hurrah, Eschaton, Balkinization, Booman Tribune, Stop The ACLU, The American Street, TAPPED, RightWinged.com, News Hounds, Daily Kos, Shakespeare's Sister, The Moderate Voice, Sister Toldjah, The Carpetbagger Report, Brilliant at Breakfast, QandO, Media Blog on National …, Crooks and Liars, Defense Tech, Democrats.com, A Blog For All, TalkLeft, The All Spin Zone, Just a Bump in the Beltway, dartblog.com, The Reality-Based Community, Air America Radio, Pensito Review, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Thoughts of an Average Woman, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mia Culpa, PoliBlog, King of Zembla, Best of Both Worlds, War and Piece, Truthdig, The Volokh Conspiracy and BrothersJudd Blog
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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 …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, The Next Hurrah, QandO, Daily Kos, Bring it On!, Outside The Beltway, TPMmuckraker, Midtopia and CorrenteWire
Matt Stoller / MyDD:
Qwest: Good Corporate Behavior Should Be Rewarded — I read this post from Atrios on the big telcos cooperating with the NSA and was just about to shrug my shoulders about the latest outrage. Then I actually read the article and something jumped out - these companies have a choice in whether …
USA Today:
Questions and answers about the NSA phone record collection program — Answers to some questions about the program, as described by those sources: — Q: Does the NSA's domestic program mean that my calling records have been secretly collected? — A: In all likelihood, yes.
Confederate Yankee:
And? — USA Today has packaged a story today about a massive National Security Agency call database in such a way as to make it sound quite sinister, but isn't this what we pay them to do? … Read those two key sentence again: … The headline is somewhat—and likely purposefully—misleading.
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 …
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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, Blue Crab Boulevard, Booman Tribune, HolyCoast.com, Power Line and Oliver Willis
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.
Agence France Presse:
Brother Jeb would make 'great' US president: Bush — President George W. Bush praised his brother, Florida governor Jeb Bush, as an "excellent" leader who would make a "great president" of the United States, according to news accounts. — "I think Jeb would be a great president.
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Philip Shenon / New York Times:
Abramoff Visits in White House Logs Are Linked to Rove and a Budget Aide — WASHINGTON, May 10 — Newly disclosed White House visitor logs involving the lobbyist Jack Abramoff refer to a 2001 visit in which Mr. Abramoff talked with Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser …
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Ken Herman / coxwashington.com:
Abramoff's White House visits
Abramoff's White House visits
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Raw Story, judicialwatch.org, SEIXON, PoliPundit.com, TalkLeft and Democratic Underground
Peter Pae / Los Angeles Times:
Lewis Surfaces in Probe of Cunningham — Federal prosecutors have begun an investigation into Rep. Jerry Lewis, the Californian who chairs the powerful House Appropriations Committee, government officials and others said, signaling the spread of a San Diego corruption probe.
Washington Post:
Plan to Give D.C. a Vote In Congress Advances — Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) is teaming up with U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) to introduce a bill that would for the first time give the District a full vote in Congress, a sign of bipartisan cooperation that advocates of D.C. voting rights hailed as a breakthrough.
Juan Forero / New York Times:
Leaving the Wild, and Rather Liking the Change — SAN JOSÉ DEL GUAVIARE, Colombia — Since time immemorial the Nukak-Makú have lived a Stone Age life, roaming across hundreds of miles of isolated and pristine Amazon jungle, killing monkeys with blowguns and scouring the forest floor for berries.
Alaa / Manal and Alaa's bit bucket:
Alaa blogging from his Prison — Today it hit me, I am really an idiot. I'm not sure how I feel. I thought I was OK but I took forever to wake up. The way fellow prisoners look at me tells me I do not feel well but I can't really feel it. — I'd say prison is not like I expected, but I had no expectations.
Discussion:
Rantings of a Sandmonkey
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.