Top Items:
Charles Babington / Washington Post:
GOP Bid On Wages, Estate Tax Is Blocked — Senate Democrats blocked a Republican bid to combine a tax cut for the wealthy with a wage increase for the working poor last night, adding a volatile economic issue to this fall's congressional campaigns. — GOP leaders fell three votes short …
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E. J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
The End Of the Right? — Is conservatism finished? — What might have seemed an absurd question less than two years ago is now one of the most important issues in American politics. The question is being asked — mostly quietly but occasionally publicly — by conservatives themselves …
Reuters:
UPDATE 1-US Senate blocks minimum wage hike, estate tax cut — WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - A group of mostly Democratic U.S. senators blocked legislation on Thursday that would have raised the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade, because it also would have permanently cut estate taxes paid by the rich.
Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Wage Bill Dies; Senate Backs Pension Shift — Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked legislation tying the first minimum wage increase in almost a decade to a decrease in the federal estate tax, denying Republicans a legislative victory as lawmakers head into a crucial month of campaigning before the November elections.
Matt Stoller / MyDD:
Hail Mary Attempt #1: Lieberman's New Thug Strategy — So I just tracked this down with several sources, and something really strange is going on. Lieberman's campaign seems to arming his supporters with aggressive talking points in order to pick fights at Lamont events.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, ConnecticutBLOG, Brilliant at Breakfast, The American Street, Daily Kos, Fact-esque and The News Blog
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Tim Tagaris / Ned Lamont for Senate:
"Paid-for Thuggery" [70] — I am just as astonished as anyone else watching reports from today's event in Meriden fly around the blogosphere at break-neck speed. I'll be honest, at first I was a bit skeptical. I had heard stories of behind-the-scenes desperation and frustration from the Lieberman camp …
Discussion:
My Left Nutmeg
Jeff Greenfield / CNN:
It's more than just Iraq — Lieberman has long been on the outs with his party's base — NEW YORK (CNN) — If the latest Quinnipiac University Poll is right, three-term Sen. Joseph Lieberman is headed for defeat Tuesday in Connecticut's Democratic primary, and Iraq — more specifically …
New York Times:
In Connecticut Race, Bloggers Are Throwing Curves and Spitballs — Senator Joseph I. Lieberman was on a roll, skewering Ned Lamont, his wealthy antiwar opponent in Tuesday's Democratic primary in Connecticut, for owning stock in the military contractor Halliburton.
Associated Press:
Ahmadinejad's call to destroy Israel draws French condemnation — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday the solution to the Middle East crisis was to destroy Israel, Iranian state media reported. — In a speech during an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders in Malaysia …
Thom Shanker / New York Times:
U.S. General Says Iraq Could Slide Into a Civil War — The commander of American forces in the Middle East bluntly warned a Senate committee on Thursday that sectarian violence in Iraq, especially in the capital, Baghdad, had grown so severe that the nation could slide toward civil war.
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Anne Plummer Flaherty / Associated Press:Pentagon generals warn of Iraq civil war
Discussion:
AMERICAblog
Val Prieto / Babalu Blog:
A Message to the MSM — I'd like to take this opportunity to send a message to certain members of the MSM like The New York Times, The Washington Post, LA Times, etal. and especially to their editorial boards who continue in their attempts at shaping public opinion vis-a-vis the Cuba issue …
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Associated Press:
Court: DeLay must remain on the ballot — NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court panel on Thursday refused to let Texas Republicans replace Tom DeLay's name on the November congressional ballot. — A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling …
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Israel's Lost Moment — Israel's war with Hezbollah is a war to secure its northern border, to defeat a terrorist militia bent on Israel's destruction, to restore Israeli deterrence in the age of the missile. But even more is at stake. Israel's leaders do not seem to understand how ruinous …
Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:
More Frequent Heat Waves Linked to Global Warming — U.S. and European Researchers Call Long Hot Spells Likely — Heat waves like those that have scorched Europe and the United States in recent weeks are becoming more frequent because of global warming, say scientists who have studied decades …
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Washington Post:
A Better Way on Detainees — Everyone involved in the contentious negotiations between the White House and Congress over the proper form for military commissions seems to agree on at least one thing: that al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists ought to be prosecuted.
USA Today:
What's the real federal deficit? — The federal government keeps two sets of books. — The set the government promotes to the public has a healthier bottom line: a $318 billion deficit in 2005. — The set the government doesn't talk about is the audited financial statement produced …
Discussion:
ParaPundit, Tapscott's Copy Desk, Thoughts of an Average Woman, EconoPundit and Balloon Juice
Economist:
The invisible hand on the keyboard — Why do economists spend valuable time blogging? — "CLEARLY there is here a problem of the division of knowledge, which is quite analogous to, and at least as important as, the problem of the division of labour," Friedrich Hayek told the London Economic Club in 1936.
Discussion:
normblog
Victor Davis Hanson / Real Clear Politics:
It's Not Just About Land — Despite the claims of terrorist organizations, Israel's current two-front war is not just about land. After all, Hezbollah and Hamas fired rockets from Lebanon and Gaza well after Israel had withdrawn from both places. — Indeed, if sacred Arab ground …
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