Top Items:
Josef Federman / Associated Press:
Home Fly-By Sends Message to Syrian Leader — Israeli warplanes buzzed the summer residence of Syrian President Bashar Assad early Wednesday, military officials said, in a message aimed at pressuring the Syrian leader to win the release of a captured Israeli soldier.
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Associated Press:
Hamas leaders arrested; Israeli executed — GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli forces rounded up dozens of Palestinian Cabinet ministers and lawmakers from Hamas, increasing pressure on the Islamic militants to release a captured Israeli soldier, and witnesses said tanks moved into northern Gaza …
Discussion:
CNN.com International, BBC, New York Times, Assorted Babble, All Things Beautiful and Blue Crab Boulevard
Associated Press:
'Mashaal is target for assassination' — Justice Minister Haim Ramon said Wednesday that Hamas's Syria-based leader, Khaled Mashaal, is a target for assassination for ordering the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip. — "He is definitely in our sights ... he is a target," Ramon told Army Radio.
Associated Press:
Justices Back Most G.O.P. Changes to Texas Districts — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld most of the Texas congressional map engineered by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay but threw out part, saying some of the new boundaries failed to protect minority voting rights.
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David Espo / Associated Press:
Obama: Democrats Must Court Evangelicals — WASHINGTON — Sen. Barack Obama chastised fellow Democrats on Wednesday for failing to "acknowledge the power of faith in the lives of the American people," and said the party must compete for the support of evangelicals and other churchgoing Americans.
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Randy Hall / CNSNews:
Dean: 'We're About to Enter the '60s Again' — (CNSNews.com) - America is about to revisit one of the most turbulent decades in its history, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told a religious conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. "We're about to enter the '60s again …
Associated Press:
Insurgents offer to halt attacks in Iraq — BAGHDAD, Iraq - Eleven Sunni insurgent groups have offered an immediate halt to all attacks — including those on American troops — if the United States agrees to withdraw foreign forces from Iraq in two years, insurgent and government officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, IRAQ THE MODEL, Flopping Aces, Secular Blasphemy and Blue Crab Boulevard
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Bryan Bender / Boston Globe:
Terrorist funds-tracking no secret, some say — Cite White House boasts of tighter monitoring system — WASHINGTON — News reports disclosing the Bush administration's use of a special bank surveillance program to track terrorist financing spurred outrage in the White House and on Capitol Hill …
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Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:
9/11 Commission Chair: 'A Good Program Is Over' — Byron York interviewed Thomas Kean, the 9/11 Commission chairman, on the revelation of the covert terror-finance intelligence operation in the New York Times last week. Kean tells the National Review's White House correspondent that he tried …
Discussion:
The Corner on National …, NewsBusters.org, The Sundries Shack and Patterico's Pontifications
Pew Research Center:
Democrats More Eager to Vote, But Unhappy with Party — Gay Marriage, Inheritance Tax Among the Lowest Public Priorities — Summary of Findings — With less than five months to go before Election Day, Democrats hold two distinct advantages in the midterm campaign that they have not enjoyed for some time.
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Porkbusters:
we need to stop this... now — Guest Contributor: Sen. John McCain — Last week I had the honor of speaking to a group of my fellow Republicans at the presidential library of one of my heroes — President Ronald Reagan. — When I was first elected to Congress, I was one of many newly elected members …
Dan Froomkin / Washington Post:
A SWIFT Kick in the Head — When asked to back up the White House accusation that a recent New York Times story put American lives at risk by disclosing vital secrets to terrorists, the best press secretary Tony Snow could do yesterday was this: "I am absolutely sure they didn't know about SWIFT."
Laurie Kellman / Associated Press:
GOP's New `values Agenda' Item Fails — House Republicans failed Wednesday to advance a bill protecting the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. Only a day earlier, the GOP had placed the measure on its "American Values Agenda" in hopes of bolster the party's prospects in the fall election.
James C. Dobson / CNN:
Commentary: Media provides cover for assault on traditional marriage — Editor's note: James C. Dobson is founder and chairman of Focus on the Family Action. He has a Ph.D. in child development and is author of the best-selling book, "Bringing Up Boys." He's currently working on a follow-up, "Bringing Up Girls."
David Holman / American Spectator:
The Huffington Post's Swift Antics — Some readers of HuffingtonPost.com have initiated a new wave of harassing phone calls to Swift Boat veterans who questioned John Kerry's military record in the 2004 campaign — and the website's proprietors remained ignorant of it for days, despite repeated complaints.
Matt Stoller / MyDD:
On the Net Neutrality Commerce Committee Tie — In terms of the vote, well, we pretty much expected this, though we weren't sure whether we could keep the Dems unified. They held under intense lobbying pressure from the telecoms. I think it's fair to say that we've reversed the momentum on this issue …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, The Original Blog, Democrat Taylor Marsh …, The Agonist and Save the Internet