Top Items:
Richard Morin / Washington Post:
Poll: Most Americans Support NSA's Efforts — A majority of Americans initially support a controversial National Security Agency program to collect information on telephone calls made in the United States in an effort to identify and investigate potential terrorist threats, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Discussion:
The Left Coaster, The Strata-Sphere, Associated Press, Democrats.com, Environmental Republican, NewsBusters.org, Democrat Taylor Marsh …, In From the Cold, Blogs for Bush, Comments From Left Field, TAPPED, Michelle Malkin, The Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, Flopping Aces, Sister Toldjah, All Things Conservative, Decision '08, PunditGuy, Democracy Project, Villainous Company, Macsmind, AMERICAN FUTURE, Booman Tribune, Mark in Mexico, The Carpetbagger Report, Vidiot Speak, State of the Day, Ezra Klein, SoCalPundit, A Blog For All, Blue Crab Boulevard, Bring it On!, The Influence Peddler, Hit and Run, Brainster's Blog, The Blogging of the President, Low on the Hog and The Big Pharaoh
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New York Times:
Qwest's Refusal of N.S.A. Query Is Explained — WASHINGTON, May 12 — The telecommunications company Qwest turned down requests by the National Security Agency for private telephone records because it concluded that doing so would violate federal privacy laws, a lawyer for the telephone company's former chief executive said today.
Discussion:
Power Line, The Anonymous Liberal, In the Bullpen, Amygdala, PoliBlog and liberal catnip
Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:
Polling hysteria and the NSA program — Somehow, The Washington Post — on the very same day most people learned about the new NSA data-collection program — managed to conduct a poll which purports to show that "63 percent of Americans said they found the NSA program to be an acceptable way to investigate terrorism."
ABCNEWS:
Phone-Records Surveillance Is Broadly Acceptable to Public — May 12, 2006 — Americans by nearly a 2-1 ratio call the surveillance of telephone records an acceptable way for the federal government to investigate possible terrorist threats, expressing broad unconcern even if their own calling patterns are scrutinized.
Discussion:
TalkLeft, The Carpetbagger Report, Solomonia, Dr. Sanity, In Search Of Utopia, TheWorldNewser and Ace of Spades HQ
USA Today:
Gathering data may not violate privacy rights, but it could be illegal — WASHINGTON — The U.S. government's secret collection of Americans' phone records may not breach the Fourth Amendment's privacy guarantee, legal analysts said Thursday, but it could violate federal surveillance and telecommunication laws.
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Federal agents raid home of CIA's former No. 3 boss — VIENNA, Va.- Federal agents Friday morning raided the home of Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, who stepped down this week from the No. 3 post at the CIA amid accusations of improper ties to a defense contractor named as a co-conspirator in the bribery case …
Discussion:
Firedoglake
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George Jahn / Associated Press:
More Uranium Reportedly Found in Iran — The U.N. atomic agency has found traces of highly enriched uranium at an Iranian site linked to the country's defense ministry, diplomats said Friday. The finding added to concerns that Tehran was hiding activities that could be used to make nuclear arms.
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, The Strata-Sphere, protein wisdom, Right Wing Nut House, A Blog For All and Brainster's Blog
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Fox News:
Bush to Address Nation Monday Night on Immigration — WASHINGTON — President Bush will address the nation on immigration reform Monday night from the Oval Office. — The White House said Friday that this is the first time it has requested network time for a presidential address on a specific domestic issue.
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John Gibson / Fox News:
Procreation Not Recreation — Make more babies. That's the lesson drawn out of two interesting stories over the last couple days. — First, a story Wednesday that half the kids under 5 years old in this country are minorities. By far, the greatest number are Hispanic. — Know what that means?
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Media Matters for America:
Gibson: "Make more babies" because in "[t]wenty-five years ... the majority of the population is Hispanic" … On the May 11 edition of Fox News' The Big Story, host John Gibson advised viewers during the "My Word" segment of his program to "[d]o your duty. Make more babies."
Associated Press:
Pentagon eyes ways to use military for border security — WASHINGTON (AP) — Faced with growing pressure from Southern states, the Bush administration wants the military to come up with ideas to help solve security problems along the U.S. border with Mexico.
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Charles Babington / Washington Post:
Democrats Won't Try To Impeach President — Seeking to choke off a Republican rallying cry, the House's top Democrat has told colleagues that the party will not seek to impeach President Bush even if it gains control of the House in November's elections, her office said last night.
Timothy Dwyer / Washington Post:
One Juror Between Terrorist And Death — Only one juror stood between the death penalty and Zacarias Moussaoui and that juror frustrated his colleagues because he never explained his vote, according to the foreman of the jury that sentenced the al-Qaeda operative to life in prison last week.
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Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:
Senate Passes $70 Billion in Tax Cuts — Measure Set to Become the Sixth Reduction in Six Years Amid Warnings on Deficit — The Senate gave final approval yesterday to a five-year, $70 billion tax package that would extend deep cuts to tax rates on dividends and capital gains for two years …
Monica Davey / New York Times:
New Fears of Security Risks in Electronic Voting Systems — CHICAGO, May 11 — With primary election dates fast approaching in many states, officials in Pennsylvania and California issued urgent directives in recent days about a potential security risk in their Diebold Election Systems touch …
Greg Sargent / TAPPED:
IS THE NSA PROGRAM ILLEGAL? COULD IT BE CRIMINAL, TOO? Is the NSA's newly-revealed program to collect the phone records of millions of Americans illegal? Experts are expressing different opinions this morning. But Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies …
TCS Daily:
The Real Enemy — "The American left is where the American far right was in the 1950s — besotted with anger, boiling in conspiracy theories." — Austin Bay — "Enemy sighted, enemy met, I'm addressing the realpolitik" — R.E.M., Exhuming McCarthy — Most of America is ready for a change of government.
George F. Will / Washington Post:
Our Right And His Wrongs — Presidents swear to "protect and defend the Constitution." The Constitution says: "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech." On April 28, on Don Imus's radio program, discussing the charge that the McCain-Feingold law abridges freedom …