Top Items:
CNN:
Independence Day liftoff for Discovery — KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida (CNN) — The space shuttle Discovery and its seven-member crew roared into space Tuesday afternoon — NASA's first manned launch on Independence Day and its second shuttle flight since the Columbia accident of 2003.
RELATED ITEMS:
Deborah Zabarenko / Reuters:
Discovery blasts off — CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The U.S. space shuttle Discovery roared off its Florida launch pad on Tuesday on a voyage to the International Space Station, a mission whose failure would likely ground the shuttle fleet permanently.
Discussion:
Ed Driscoll.com
Marcia Dunn / Associated Press:
Space shuttle Discovery goes into orbit — CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In a majestic Independence Day liftoff, Discovery and its crew of seven blasted into orbit Tuesday on the first space shuttle launch in a year, flying over objections from those within NASA who argued for more fuel-tank repairs.
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters
E. J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
A Dissident's Holiday — Have you ever noticed a certain hesitant quality to the expressions of patriotism by progressives or left-wingers? — The patriotism of the conservative goes unquestioned. It's assumed that every politician on the right will wear a flag on his lapel …
RELATED ITEMS:
John Kerry / The Huffington Post:
How to Love Your Country — This Fourth of July it's right to spend some time thinking about what it means not just to be an American, but to be a patriot — because the concept of patriotism itself is under assault in ways that remind me of a different time in our history.
Agence France Presse:
US stars align in anti-Iraq war hunger strike — Star Hollywood actor-activists including Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon and anti-war campaigners led by bereaved mother Cindy Sheehan plan to launch a hunger strike, demanding the immediate return of US troops from Iraq.
RELATED ITEMS:
Examiner:
Christopher Hitchens: This July Fourth, ignore polls on America's image — WASHINGTON - Here's what I want to know, and here's why I want to know it. At what point in history, exactly, did the Pew Center decide that it knew how to measure world opinion? — I ask this because almost every week …
RELATED ITEMS:
Josh White / Washington Post:
Ex-Soldier Charged in Killing of Iraqi Family — Coverup Is Alleged; Four Others Implicated — A former U.S. Army soldier was charged yesterday with the rape and murder of a young Iraqi woman and the slayings of three of her family members in their home south of Baghdad in March, federal prosecutors said.
RELATED ITEMS:
Mark Mazzetti / New York Times:
C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden — WASHINGTON, July 3 — The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday. — The unit, known as Alec Station …
Discussion:
The Strata-Sphere, JustOneMinute, Captain's Quarters, Liberty and Justice, The Raw Story, The American Street, The Heretik, Security Watchtower, Macsmind, A Blog For All, Alternate Brain, The Democratic Daily, AMERICAblog, Thoughts of an Average Woman, Crooks and Liars, Blue Crab Boulevard, TBogg, The Sundries Shack, Outside The Beltway and TalkLeft
RELATED ITEMS:
Rick Klein / Boston Globe:
House GOP leaders say vote on minimum wage now likely — Cite the pressure of Nov. elections — WASHINGTON — With Democrats plotting to make the minimum wage a major issue in this fall's congressional races, House Republican leaders are conceding that they may have to yield to pressure …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars
New York Times:
Senator's Plan B Creates Quandary for Democrats — Six years ago Joseph I. Lieberman came within a hairbreadth of the vice presidency after the Democratic Party chose him as a moderate face whose support for family values and a stronger military might attract Reagan Democrats and independents.
Discussion:
The Next Hurrah, LamontBlog, The Moderate Voice, A Blog For All, Captain's Quarters and The Influence Peddler
BBC:
Al-Qaeda 'bid to infiltrate MI5' — Al-Qaeda sympathisers have been trying to infiltrate the British security service MI5, the BBC has learned. — Whitehall officials confirmed what some had long suspected, says BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner. — But those with al-Qaeda sympathies …
RELATED ITEMS:
Nathan / NathanNewman.org:
Ulysses Grant: Our Greatest President? — In 1854, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison led a crowd celebrating Independence Day by burning the Constitution, denouncing it as "A Convenant With Death and an Agreement with Hell." His worthy point was that the founding fathers of the nation …
Tom Raum / Associated Press:
Bush's foreign friends fading fast — WASHINGTON - President Bush's stalwart foreign friends are fading fast. — Most of the leaders who defied criticism at home to stand with him on Iraq and win his friendship are no longer players on the world stage, or are on their way out.
MSNBC:
Dirty wars, dirty bombs — Plus, Slacker Friday letters — I am taking an extra day because I love my country, sooo much. If people really miss me, I'll be on Al Franken's show around 1:30 p.m. ET. — I've got a new Think Again: The Best of Times . here. — We're not yet a police state.
Senior Data Journalist, NY — 
Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — 
Oil Reporter, Singapore — 
Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — 
Business Reporter, SC — 
State Government Reporter, WA — 
Climate Crisis Columnist — 
Multimedia Journalist, CA — 
Community Engagement Mgr., DC — 
Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — 
Staff Writer - Business, NY — 
Team Editor - Opinion, ON — 
Assistant Correspondent, DC — 
Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — 
Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — 
Lead Business Reporter, TN — 
Managing Editor, WA — 
Private Credit Reporter, NY — 
Trending News Reporter, TX — 
City Correspondent, London — 
Legislative Reporter, CA — 
Reporter, PA — 
Visual Editor, Remote — 
Staff Writer, MI — 
Senior Political Reporter, DC — 
California Playbook Writer, CA — 
National Investigative Reporter, NY — 
Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — 
Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — 
Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — 
Coordinating Editor, OR — 
Editor, Remote US — 
Business Reporter, WA — 
Editor-in-Chief, AZ — 
