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, The American Mind, NewsBusters.org, The Washington Monthly, Booman Tribune, Right Wing News, RightWinged.com, The Next Hurrah, The Volokh Conspiracy, The Left Coaster, Hot Air, PoliBlog, Daily Kos, Eschaton, Balkinization, David Corn, QandO, The Moderate Voice, Flopping Aces, News Hounds, Donklephant, Yourish.com, The Huffington Post, PunditGuy, TalkLeft, The Sideshow, The Reality-Based Community, Obsidian Wings, Vox Popoli, Balloon Juice, The Anonymous Liberal, TAPPED, The Hotline's Blogometer, Media Blog on National …, Midtopia, Sister Toldjah, Hit and Run, Bench Conference, Amygdala, Democrats.com, The Gun Toting Liberal, Crooks and Liars, Shakespeare's Sister, Brilliant at Breakfast, Defense Tech, The All Spin Zone, Feministe, Scrutiny Hooligans, The Carpetbagger Report, dartblog.com, Riehl World View, Lifelike Pundits, Blue Crab Boulevard, Attytood, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Hotline On Call, Just a Bump in the Beltway, AfterDowningStreet.org, Cato-at-liberty, Thoughts of an Average Woman, The Green Knight, Pensito Review, Air America Radio, ACSBlog, State of the Day, No More Mister Nice Blog, skippy the bush kangaroo, BlueOregon, Middle Earth Journal and TheAgitator.com
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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 …
Discussion:
First Draft
AJStrata / The Strata-Sphere:
Another Day, Another National Security Leak — *** Major Update: Mac Ranger has word those who leaked this story are known to authorities and this may be a political hit job *** — *** Major Update at the end - and make sure to check out the comments section for links …
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 …
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 …
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.
Associated Press:
Text: Bush's Comments on NSA Activities — Remarks by President Bush Thursday on reports of the National Security Agency building a secret database of U.S. telephone records, as transcribed by the White House: — After September the 11th, I vowed to the American people that our government …
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.
Confederate Yankee:
And? — USA Today has packaged a story today about a massive …
And? — USA Today has packaged a story today about a massive …
Discussion:
Gateway Pundit
James Joyner / Outside The Beltway:
NSA Has Massive Database of Americans' Phone Calls
NSA Has Massive Database of Americans' Phone Calls
Discussion:
The American Mind
Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:
Legal issues governing the Administration's newly disclosed surveillance program
Legal issues governing the Administration's newly disclosed surveillance program
Discussion:
Firedoglake
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.
New York Times:
Reining in Charter Schools — The charter school movement began with the tantalizing promise that independently operated schools would outperform their traditional counterparts — if they could only be exempted from state regulations while receiving public money. It hasn't quite worked out that way.
Michelle Malkin:
THE BORDER PATROL UNDER SIEGE — The Department of Homeland Security is working overtime to quell citizen outrage over the Border Patrol/Mexico/Minutemen story. The contradictory spin doctors are not doing a very good job. I'll have more in a moment. — But now is a crucial time to step …
Discussion:
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, Watcher of Weasels, Associated Press and California Conservative
Adam Zagorin / Time:
A New Gesture From Iran? — A top Iranian official, in an open letter given to TIME, offers what could be a starting point for negotiations — The White House has brushed aside a new letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to President Bush that was designed …
The Hill:
Plame leak probe descends into absurdity — Will CIA-leak prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald indict Karl Rove? — Who knows? While some observers search the tea leaves for answers, the only real answer right now is that nobody outside of Fitzgerald's office knows for sure.
Discussion:
Blue Crab Boulevard
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.