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IAF bombs Gaza bridge to prevent transport of seized soldier — An Israel Air Force aircraft attacked the main bridge between Gaza City and Khan Yunis on Monday, in an effort to prevent miltants from transporting kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit within Gaza. — IDF officials said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert approved a "limited
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Israeli planes attack 3 Gaza bridges — GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli planes attacked three bridges in central Gaza, the military said Wednesday, and Israeli tanks were on the move after the government approved a limited operation — a response to a weekend Palestinian attack in which two soldiers were killed and a third captured.
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Blue Crab Boulevard, The Belmont Club, Captain's Quarters, Counterterrorism Blog and OPFOR

IAF aircraft blow up bridge in northern Gaza Strip — IAF aircraft blew up a key strategic bridge in the northern Gaza Strip shortly before midnight on Tuesday. The army said that the operation was intended to keep Hamas from taking kidnapped soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit out of the Gaza Strip.

Report: Israeli body found in Ramallah — Two days after IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit was captured by Palestinian terrorists, security establishment officials began assessing on Tuesday evening that 18-year-old Eliyahu Asheri of Itamar had in fact been kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists.


Israeli Planes Attack Bridge in Gaza — Israeli planes attacked a bridge in central Gaza late Tuesday, Israel Radio reported, and Israeli tanks were said to be on the move, possibly signaling the start of a military operation. — Palestinian security forces said Israeli tanks were moving near …

Tony Snow Tells E&P: 'NYT' Deserves Special Criticism — NEW YORK White House Press Secretary Tony Snow told E&P today that The New York Times deserves the brunt of criticism for disclosure of a secret bank records monitoring program, even though two other newspapers - The Wall Street Journal …
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The Bush lynch mob against the nation's free press — (updated below) — Any doubts about whether the Bush administration intends to imprison unfriendly journalists (defined as "journalists who fail to obey the Bush administration's orders about what to publish") were completely dispelled this weekend.
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The Left Coaster, The Mahablog, Booman Tribune, Captain's Quarters, PunditGuy, QandO, The Reaction —, american footprints, Shakespeare's Sister, AMERICAN FUTURE, The Sundries Shack, Firedoglake, Confederate Yankee, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Majikthise, Power Line, The Democratic Party and Decision '08


In the Senate, Covering Themselves in Old Glory — The Citizens Flag Alliance, a group pushing for the Senate this week to pass a flag-burning amendment to the Constitution, just reported an alarming, 33 percent increase in the number of flag-desecration incidents this year.
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Senate rejects flag desecration amendment — WASHINGTON - A constitutional amendment to ban flag desecration died in a Senate cliffhanger Tuesday, a single vote short of the support needed to send it to the states for ratification a week before Independence Day.


A Divided Labor House Backs Joe — Connecticut's labor movement goes into the Democratic primary campaign for U.S. Senate deeply divided. As expected, the state AFL-CIO endorsed Sen. Joe Lieberman for reelection at a convention at New Haven's Omni Hotel Tuesday.
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The Upright Citizens Brigade
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New Haven Independent, Eschaton, TAPPED, ConnecticutBLOG, Daily Kos, Iowa Voice and spazeboy

Government Drops Demand for Library Records — With Help of ACLU, Connecticut Library Group Successfully Keeps Patron Records Private — NEW YORK — The American Civil Liberties Union today declared victory in their legal battle with the FBI over a Connecticut library group's right to keep patron records private.
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MORE ON CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS' VIEWS IN THE CAMPAIGN FINANCE DECISION: WHAT HAPPENED AFTER ORAL ARGUMENT? — This post follows up on my earlier initial thoughts on the Vermont campaign finance case. — At oral argument in the Vermont contribution limits case, Chief Justice Roberts was quite skeptical of the state's arguments.
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Womb environment 'makes men gay' — A man's sexual orientation may be determined by conditions in the womb, according to a study. — Previous research had revealed the more older brothers a boy has, the more likely he is to be gay, but the reason for this phenomenon was unknown.
Discussion:
Clayton Cramer's BLOG, Bring it On!, Feministing, Preemptive Karma, PoliPundit.com and BrothersJudd Blog


Scientists OK Gore's movie for accuracy — WASHINGTON - The nation's top climate scientists are giving "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore's documentary on global warming, five stars for accuracy. — The former vice president's movie — replete with the prospect of a flooded New York City …
Discussion:
The Sundries Shack

Making love in the White House is even better — Because he was the first Democrat to step up and say publicly last year that he's exploring running for president, we can assume that Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) is plenty interested in the office. — But like most other men, apparently there are things that interest him more.
Discussion:
The Florida Masochist

U.S. to Deploy Patriot Missiles In Japan to Counter North Korea — TOKYO, June 27 — The Pentagon is reportedly speeding up plans to deploy advanced Patriot interceptor missiles on U.S. bases in Japan for the first time, a countermeasure seen as a response to the increasing threat of North Korean missiles.

The roots of Islamism — In the second extract from his book Celsius 7/7, Michael Gove claims Islamism is not a campaign to restore piety but a revolutionary attempt to re-make society — The First World War began with the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the Second with the invasion …


'Breathtaking' Waste and Fraud in Hurricane Aid — FEMA spends $250,000 a month to store about 10,000 empty mobile homes at an airfield in Hope, Ark. — WASHINGTON, June 26 — Among the many superlatives associated with Hurricane Katrina can now be added this one: it produced …

Revenge of the Wal-Mart Voters — Live by Wal-Mart. Die by Wal-Mart. That could be the fate of the Republican Party this November if millions of government-loving voters suddenly abandon the GOP and return to their natural home in the Democratic Party. — The worst-case scenario …