Top Items:
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 …
RELATED 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.
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.
Reuters:
Gaza militants say fired chemical-tipped warhead —Text+GAZA (Reuters) - A spokesman for gunmen in the Gaza Strip said they had fired a rocket tipped with a chemical warhead at Israel early on Thursday. — The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the claim by the spokesman …
Discussion:
Arutz Sheva, A Blog For All, Riehl World View, Wizbang, Assorted Babble, ynetnews.com and Morning Coffee
Haaretz:
More than 30 Hamas man arrested, Palestinians say — Israel Defense Forces troops launched early Thursday a major arrest operation against Hamas officials, detaining more than 30 of the ruling militant group's ministers and parliamentarians in the West Bank, Palestinian security officials said.
Discussion:
Kesher Talk
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.
RELATED ITEMS:
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 …
Chicago Sun Times:
Obama: On Faith and Politics. And Alan Keyes. — Sen. Barack Obama this morning talks about religion and says Democrats need to better acknowledge the power of faith. — Here's his speech. — Remarks of Senator Barack Obama — Call to Renewal Keynote Address — Washington, DC
Rick Hasen / Election Law:
INITIAL THOUGHTS ON THE TEXAS REDISTRICTING CASE — The Supreme Court's decision today in LULAC v. Perry is a rich and complex set of six opinions, and there is a huge amount of material, especially on interpretation of section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, that will require more sustained study for me to understand.
RELATED ITEMS:
Associated Press:
Justices Back Most G.O.P. Changes to Texas Districts
Justices Back Most G.O.P. Changes to Texas Districts
Discussion:
MyDD, SCOTUSblog, Daily Kos, The Strata-Sphere, ed fitzgerald's unfutz, Booman Tribune, NewDonkey.com, The Fix — Chris …, Right Wing Nut House, The RCP Blog, DownWithTyranny!, Captain's Quarters, Hot Air, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Power Line, Seeing the Forest, Election Law, The Democratic Daily and Hugh Hewitt
Patty Reinert / Houston Chronicle:
Most of Texas' redistricting map upheld
Most of Texas' redistricting map upheld
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report, The Reaction —, Election Law, Burnt Orange Report, Off the Kuff and PrairiePundit
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.
RELATED ITEMS:
James R. Carroll / Courier-Journal:
Bunning: New York Times committed treason with story — WASHINGTON — The New York Times committed treason by revealing an anti-terrorism program that checks international banking records of Americans and others, U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning said yesterday. — "That the press wouldn't have better sense …
RELATED ITEMS:
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."
RELATED ITEMS:
Tom Ferrick Jr. / Philadelphia Inquirer:
Indiana Jones? No, it's Weldon — It's a scene out of an Indiana Jones movie - or an Indiana Jones parody: — A caravan of jeeps and heavy equipment crawls across the Iraqi desert, headed for a secret location on the banks of the Euphrates River. — Their mission: to dig 25 feet …
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."
CNN:
Senator seeks tax on pimps, prostitutes — Grassley: 'It's a no-brainer to have the IRS go after sex traffickers' — NEW YORK (CNN) — Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa is hoping to stamp out the sex trade by taxing pimps and prostitutes, then jailing them when they don't pay.
Discussion:
Outside The Beltway, Simianbrain, Bring it On!, The Moderate Voice, Balloon Juice and Right Angle Blog
White House:
Nominations Sent to the Senate — John Preston Bailey, of West Virginia, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of West Virginia, vice Frederick P. Stamp, Jr., retiring. — Mary O. Donohue, of New York, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of New York …
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.
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.
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.