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The Raw Story:
Pelosi asks congressman snared in bribery probe to resign post — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has formally asked Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) to resign from the powerful Ways and Means Committee. — Jefferson wrote Pelosi quickly in reply, refusing to surrender his seat.
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Laurie Kellman / Associated Press:
Hastert Demands FBI Return Documents — The FBI's raid on a Democrat's office rippled through Capitol Hill Wednesday, with Republicans demanding that the bureau surrender documents and other items its agents seized under what lawmakers said were unconstitutional circumstances.
Laura Blumenfeld / Washington Post:
Bill Frist: A Doctor at Heart — The houses were dark on Bill Frist's street. A morning bird chirped; the others were waiting for dawn. But Frist was awake, and his bedroom light was on. "I'm going to take a shower," the Senate majority leader said brightly. Ten minutes later, the blow dryer roared.
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Carpetbagger / The Carpetbagger Report:
Putting stem-cell research back on the front-burner — Exactly one year ago tomorrow, the House easily passed bi-partisan legislation that would remove restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. The companion measure in the Senate had a filibuster-proof majority, Bill Frist endorsed …
Edwin Meese Iii / New York Times:
An Amnesty by Any Other Name ... IN the debate over immigration, "amnesty" has become something of a dirty word. Some opponents of the immigration bill being debated in the Senate assert that it would grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. Supporters claim it would do no such thing.
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, Hugh Hewitt, QandO, Decision '08, Wizbang, Power Line, PrestoPundit, The Claremont Institute, Freeman Hunt and Expose the Left
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Charles Babington / Washington Post:
House-Senate Battle On Immigration Likely — With the Senate marching toward completion of an immigration bill that is more generous to illegal immigrants than the House-passed version, House leaders said yesterday that it will be difficult to reach a compromise and enact a measure.
Discussion:
New York Times, NewDonkey.com, Talking Points Memo, Blue Crab Boulevard, Air America Radio and On Deadline
Rachel L. Swarns / New York Times:
Senate Advances Sweeping Immigration Bill
Senate Advances Sweeping Immigration Bill
Discussion:
The Corner on National …
Associated Press:
Congress considers pets' place in disaster plans — House approves legislation; similar measure in Senate — WASHINGTON (AP) — A television shot of a little boy losing his dog during Katrina rescue operations was the catalyst for the House to pass legislation Monday that would require pets …
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Brett Martel / Associated Press:
Hurricane Drill in Louisiana Canceled
Hurricane Drill in Louisiana Canceled
Discussion:
Confederate Yankee
TCS Daily:
Inconvenient Truths Indeed — Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" opens around the country this week. In the film Gore pulls together evidence from every corner of the globe to convince us that climate change is happening fast, we are to blame, and if we don't act immediately, our Earth will be all but ruined.
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Gregg Easterbrook / New York Times:
Finally Feeling the Heat — TODAY "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore's movie about the greenhouse effect, opens in New York and California. Many who already believe global warming is a menace will flock to the film; many who scoff at the notion will opt for Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks.
Dexter Filkins / New York Times:
Armed Groups Propel Iraq Toward Chaos — Haider Hamid was arrested in Baghdad on April 15 by officers wearing Interior Ministry uniforms, according to Mr. Hamid's brother, Majid. Majid Hamid found his brother's body, above, showing signs of torture, five days later in the city morgue.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Informed Comment, David Corn, Andrew Sullivan, QandO, The Mahablog, Just a Bump in the Beltway, BBC and Air America Radio
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Mary Katharine Ham / Townhall.com:
In need of moral clarity — "I was aiming to follow in the footsteps of one of my role-models, Muhammad Atta." … Do you remember Taheri-azar? The 25-year-old Iranian graduate of the University of North Carolina rented an SUV in March and drove it into The Pit, a campus gathering place for UNC students.
Discussion:
Hugh Hewitt, Daily Pundit, Outside The Beltway, Blue Crab Boulevard, La Shawn Barber's Corner and dartblog.com
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Bill Roggio / Counterterrorism Blog:
Fighting in Uruzgan; Osama bin Laden sighting in Pakistan — The provincial border region of Kandahar, Uruzgan, and Helmand remains a hot spot in Southeastern Afghanistan. Fighting between Coalition forces and the Taliban intensified Tuesday in the Tarin Kowt District of Uruzgan.
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Jason Horowitz / New York Observer:
Senator McCain Worked Blue — On New York Stage — Behind Closed Doors, Republican Works in Material: 'I'd Tell Shiites and Sunnis, "Stop the Bulls**t"'; Fresh From Falwell, Attacks Right-Wing Nativism — For all the national attention surrounding John McCain's two highly anticipated …
Stephanie Strom / New York Times:
A.C.L.U. May Block Criticism by Its Board — The American Civil Liberties Union is weighing new standards that would discourage its board members from publicly criticizing the organization's policies and internal administration. — "Where an individual director disagrees with a board position …
Michael Warren / Detroit News:
Keep 'America' in Michigan schools — State bureaucrats want to do what Stalin, Osama could only dream about — C ensoring the word "America" from our own schools is something Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden would never have thought possible. Michigan has done it without a whimper.
Eli Pariser / The Huffington Post:
Desperate Telcos: When the Going Gets Tough, the Absurd Rumors Get Going — Opponents of Internet freedom seem shocked that Google, MoveOn, the Christian Coalition, and 700 other diverse organizations are fighting on the same side to preserve the Internet that has revolutionized democratic participation …
Revere / Effect Measure:
Indonesia: probably H2H2H — WHO is now saying what could be inferred from their update yesterday: it is likely that for the first time H5N1 has spread from human to human to human — three generations of cases, possibly four. This does not mean that a pandemic strain has started but it is another warning signal.
Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:
Any differences between Democrats in 2003 and today? — (updated below) — Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday essentially assured that President Bush's nominee to head the CIA, Gen. Michael Hayden, would not only be confirmed by the full Senate, but confirmed overwhelmingly.
Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:
Crashing the Gates of Congress — And Action Request for Everyone — Some of our Roots Project members crashed the gates of Congress yesterday — delivering a copy of Markos and Jerome's Crashing the Gate to every Democratic member of the House and the Senate.
Discussion:
MyDD, Democrat Taylor Marsh …, PoliticsTV.com Blog Channel, Connecticut Bob and Democrats.com
Walter Pincus / Washington Post:
Gonzales Defends Phone-Data Collection — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said yesterday that the government can obtain domestic telephone records without court approval under a 1979 Supreme Court ruling that authorized the collection of business records.