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:
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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 …
AJStrata / The Strata-Sphere:
Another Day, Another National Security Leak — Is anyone surprised the rogue CIA and their media counterparts are leaking more information and spinning it to sound really, really bad: … Emphasis mine because there are wo things to note. First off most recordings related to a warranted search cover the innocent.
Rick Moran / Right Wing Nut House:
JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE FOR THE LEAKERS — There are apparently no limits to which the cadre of leakers who are working in our intelligence agencies will go to undermine legitimate national security interests in furtherance of their own, private agendas.
Jim Watson / MSNBC:
Bush defends spying after NSA database report — Agency collecting information on tens of millions of Americans, paper says — Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, President Bush's nominee to head the CIA, listens to a reporter's question after meeting with Sen. John Warner, W-Va., on Monday.
Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:
No need for Congress, no need for courts — (updated below) — I just this morning read the obviously significant USA Today article detailing the fact that the NSA is maintaining a comprehensive data base of every call made by every American - both internationally and domestically …
Associated Press:
Bush: We're not trolling your personal life — Lawmakers demand answers on phone records report — WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Republicans and Democrats demanded answers from the Bush administration Thursday about a government spy agency secretly collecting records …
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.
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Scott Shane / New York Times:
With Access Denied, Justice Department Drops Spying Investigation
With Access Denied, Justice Department Drops Spying Investigation
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Next Hurrah, The Reality-Based Community, Charging RINO, The Glittering Eye and Amygdala
Orin Kerr / OrinKerr.com:
Thoughts on the Legality of the Latest NSA Surveillance Program
Thoughts on the Legality of the Latest NSA Surveillance Program
Discussion:
Balkinization
Associated Press:
Security issue kills domestic spying inquiry
Security issue kills domestic spying inquiry
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Booman Tribune, Obsidian Wings, Outside The Beltway, QandO, The Next Hurrah, Bring it On! and Daily Kos
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.
Discussion:
The Washington Monthly, TAPPED, Betsy's Page, JustOneMinute, Oliver Willis and Blue Crab Boulevard
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Joshua Lynsen / washblade.com:
Dean slams gay marriage on '700 Club' — DNC chair misstates party platform, angering gay Democrats, activists — Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean has contradicted his party's platform and infuriated gay rights advocates by saying the party's platform states "marriage is between a man and a woman."
Baltimore Examiner:
Snow issues detailed rebuttals to media coverage of the president — WASHINGTON - New White House Press Secretary Tony Snow is starting off in a combative mode against the press by issuing detailed rebuttals to what he considers unfair coverage of Bush. — "The New York Times continues …
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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:
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 …
Discussion:
MSNBC, Midtopia, Shakespeare's Sister, The Next Hurrah, Bark Bark Woof Woof, The Gun Toting Liberal and Hot Air
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.