memeorandum: Saudis Urge Bush to Push for Cease-Fire in the Mideast (Jim Rutenberg/New York Times)

3:30 PM ET, July 24, 2006

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Surveillance We Can Live With — President Bush's electronic surveillance program has been a festering sore on our body politic since it was publicly disclosed last December. Civil libertarians, myself included, have insisted that the program must be subject to judicial review to ensure compliance with the Fourth Amendment.

Discussion: Donklephant, Captain's Quarters, The Strata-Sphere, Begging To Differ, TalkLeft and Bark Bark Woof Woof

Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:

Specter instructs us to be grateful to the President — Sen. Arlen Specter has an Op-Ed in this morning's Washington Post which attempts to justify his proposed FISA legislation — legislation which, at its core, renders legal the President's lawbreaking and cedes to the President the right …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Calling All Wingnuts, The Sideshow and Balloon Juice

A.L. / The Anonymous Liberal:
Arlen Specter Displays His Near Total Ignorance of Basic Constitutional Law

Discussion: JustOneMinute

Marty Lederman / Balkinization: Proof Positive That Arlen Specter Does Not Read Balkinization

Confederate Yankee: The Silence of the Informed — Arlen Specter has written …

Jeff Jacoby / Boston Globe:

'Chickenhawk' — ``IT'S TOUCHING that you're so concerned about the military in Iraq," a reader in Wyoming e-mails in response to one of my columns on the war. ``But I have a suspicion you're a phony. So tell me, what's your combat record? Ever serve?"

Discussion: QandO, The Mahablog, Captain's Quarters, The Moderate Voice, PoliBlog, Sister Toldjah, Blue Crab Boulevard and Cold Fury

Dean Barnett / Weekly Standard:

Kos, Hezbollah, and Israel — WHEN THE BOMBS began to fall in the Middle East, the Daily Kos had a problem. And the Daily Kos's problem could soon be the Democratic party's problem. — On the one hand, one of the most solid blocks of support for the Democratic party is America's Jewish community.

Discussion: Althouse, Right Wing Nut House, Outside The Beltway, Blue Crab Boulevard, Liberty and Justice, Pajamas Media and Kesher Talk

Jeff Goldstein / protein wisdom:

"The Lord Will Smite" — From progressive lefty site the Booman Tribune: … Wow!—a hard leftist wishing harm to a political opponent's children? Where have I heard that before? — A note to the progressive left: for behavior such as this to be labeled "non-representative" …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Ace of Spades HQ, Little Green Footballs, The American Thinker and Cold Fury

Eric Pfeiffer / Washington Times:

Democrats pledge to fight Bolton nod — Senate Democrats have promised a "bruising fight" over the administration's nomination of John R. Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. — Mr. Bolton's nomination was sent out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last year without …

Discussion: Power Line, GOP Bloggers, PoliPundit.com, The RCP Blog and Blogs for Bush

Joby Warrick / Washington Post:

Pakistan Expanding Nuclear Program — Plant Underway Could Generate Plutonium for 40 to 50 Bombs a Year, Analysts Say — Pakistan has begun building what independent analysts say is a powerful new reactor for producing plutonium, a move that, if verified, would signal a major expansion …

Discussion: The Next Hurrah, Booman Tribune, Blue Crab Boulevard and PAXALLES

Charlie Savage / Boston Globe:

Civil rights hiring shifted in Bush era — Conservative leanings stressed — WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is quietly remaking the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, filling the permanent ranks with lawyers who have strong conservative credentials but little experience in civil rights …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Democratic National Committee, blackprof.com, All Spin Zone and Balloon Juice

Daniel Gilbert / New York Times:

He Who Cast the First Stone Probably Didn't — LONG before seat belts or common sense were particularly widespread, my family made annual trips to New York in our 1963 Valiant station wagon. Mom and Dad took the front seat, my infant sister sat in my mother's lap and my brother and I had what we called "the wayback" all to ourselves.

Discussion: Althouse and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Thomas E. Ricks / Washington Post:

'It Looked Weird and Felt Wrong' — From its first days in Iraq in April 2003, the Army's 4th Infantry Division made an impression on soldiers from other units — the wrong one. — "We slowly drove past 4th Infantry guys looking mean and ugly," recalled Sgt. Kayla Williams …

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere, Whiskey Bar and Needlenose

Aaron Klein / New York Sun:

War Dead Flown to Iran — JERUSALEM — The bodies of Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers killed by the Israeli army in Lebanon have been transported to Syria and flown to Tehran, senior Lebanese political sources said. — Israeli and Egyptian security officials confirmed the news …

Discussion: Hyscience

Patrick Cockburn / Independent:

Sectarian break-up of Iraq is now inevitable, admit officials — The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, meets Tony Blair in London today as violence in Iraq reaches a new crescendo and senior Iraqi officials say the break up of the country is inevitable.

Discussion: AMERICAblog, The Green Knight, The Arabist and BrothersJudd Blog