Top Items:
David Espo / Associated Press:
Senate rejects bid to raise minimum wage — WASHINGTON - The Republican-controlled Senate smothered a proposed election-year increase in the minimum wage Wednesday, rejecting Democratic claims that it was past time to boost the $5.15 hourly pay floor that has been in effect for nearly a decade.
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Laurie Kellman / Associated Press:
House Delays Renewal of Voting Rights Act — House GOP leaders delay renewal of Voting Rights Act under objections from Southern Republicans — (AP) House Republican leaders on Wednesday postponed a vote on renewing the 1965 Voting Rights Act after GOP lawmakers complained it unfairly singles …
Washington Post:
GOP Plans Hearings on Issue of Immigrants — In a move that could bury President Bush's high-profile effort to overhaul immigration law until after the midterm elections, House GOP leaders yesterday announced a series of field hearings during the August recess, pushing off final negotiations on a bill until fall at the earliest.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, California Conservative, Charging RINO, The Heretik, TAPPED and The Democratic Party
Ali Akbar Dareini / Associated Press:
Iran won't respond to offer 'til August — TEHRAN, Iran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that Iran will respond in mid-August to the package of incentives on its nuclear program offered by the West, but President Bush accused Tehran of dragging its feet. — "We are studying the proposals.
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Jennifer Loven / Associated Press:
Bush prods Iran, N. Korea on nuclear issue — VIENNA, Austria - President Bush and European leaders urged Iran and North Korea on Wednesday to give up military and nuclear ambitions that they said threaten each country's neighbors and destabilize the world.
Kate Zernike / New York Times:
On Iraq, Kerry Again Leaves Democrats Fuming — WASHINGTON, June 20 — When Senator John Kerry was their presidential nominee in 2004, Democrats fervently wished he would express himself firmly about the Iraq war. — Mr. Kerry has found his resolve. But it has not made his fellow Democrats any happier.
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Kimberly Hefling / Associated Press:
Troops echo frustration over war in Iraq — JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - While Staff Sgt. Randy Myers was dodging roadside bombs in Iraq, his congressman was calling the war a lost cause. — Sixteen-term Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record), a decorated Vietnam veteran and military hawk …
Discussion:
Blue Crab Boulevard, The Horse's Mouth, Occidentality, Democratic Underground and Adventus
Eric Boehlert / Washington Monthly:
Shill Wind — All of Washington's political reporters read ABC's The Note. That's why they keep missing the story. — In the spring of 2005, a story came along that was so important, so history-altering that it threatened to revive a killer press instinct that had been dormant for the previous four years.
Jason Zengerle / The New Republic:
THE BLOGOSPHERE'S SMOKE-FILLED BACKROOM: — Are Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas (of the famous Daily Kos) engaged in a pay-for-play scheme in which politicians who hire Armstrong as a consultant get the support of Kos? That's the question that's been bouncing around the blogosphere ever since …
Associated Press:
Some 85 Iraqi workers abducted by gunmen — BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunman abducted about 85 workers Wednesday as they left an industrial plant north of Baghdad, police and a witness said. — The workers were thought to be mostly Shiite and the plant is located in a predominantly Sunni Arab area.
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Qassim Abdul-Zahra / Associated Press:
Another one of Saddam's lawyers killed
Another one of Saddam's lawyers killed
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters
John / AMERICAblog:
Did George Bush deface American flags in Vienna, Austria today? — UPDATE: The Associated Press caught Bush defacing American flags in 2003. The Democrats need to offer an amendment to the "flag burning amendment" that says that writing on the flag is also illegal.
Discussion:
Outside The Beltway
ABCNEWS:
Global Warming Affecting Your Life? E-Mail Us — Send Us Your Stories and Video...Extend the Reach of ABC News' Reporting by Sharing Your Observations — Witnessing the impact of global warming in your life? — ABC News wants to hear from you. We're currently producing a report …
Discussion:
protein wisdom, RedState, Media Blog on National …, Blue Crab Boulevard and Ace of Spades HQ
AKA GayPatriotWest / Gay Patriot:
Murder & Media Manipulation: Al-Qaeda's Strategy in Iraq — Since I first learned of the murder of the two U.S. soldiers whose booby-trapped bodies were recovered earlier today, I've been trying to find words to express my outrage at this atrocity. Simply put, it shows the barbarity of our adversary …
Discussion:
Agence France Presse, INDCJournal, Dean's World, Instapundit.com, OPFOR and Blue Crab Boulevard
Brittney Booth / themonitor.com:
Defendant expected to take stand in sexual harassment case — EDINBURG — Political consultant and ad producer Carey Lee Cramer is expected to testify today defending himself against charges he sexually molested two young girls. — Cramer, 44, took the stand shortly before court recessed at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Harold Meyerson / Washington Post:
Lieberman Vs. the Democrats — Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman is as seasoned a pol as anyone can find, but he seems to have forgotten the very purpose of elections. — In a remarkable interview he recently gave to The Post's David S. Broder [op-ed, June 18], the Democrats' 2000 vice …