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:
LamontBlog, Firedoglake, ConnecticutBLOG, Brilliant at Breakfast, The American Street, Daily Kos, Fact-esque and The News Blog
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Billmon / Whiskey Bar:
The War Party — It looks as if Ned Lamont is riding the anti-war wave to victory in the Connecticut Democratic primary — or so the latest polls suggest. — I'm sure this will be proclaimed a major breakthrough for the anti-war wing of the Democratic Party — tangible proof that Left Blogistan …
Tim Tagaris / Ned Lamont for Senate:
"Paid-for Thuggery" [73] — 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 …
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 …
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 …
Devlin Barrett / Associated Press:
AP Interview: Sen. Clinton Rips Rumsfeld; Calls for His Resignation — WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called Thursday for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, hours after excoriating him at a public hearing over what she said was a "failed policy" in Iraq.
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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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White House:
President Urges Cuban People to Work for Democratic Change — The United States is actively monitoring the situation in Cuba following the announcement of a transfer of power. At this time of uncertainty in Cuba, one thing is clear: The United States is absolutely committed to supporting …
Discussion:
Blogs for Bush
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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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R.G. Ratcliffe / Houston Chronicle:
Court rules GOP can't replace DeLay on ballot — AUSTIN - A federal appeals court panel today in a bipartisan order ruled that former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay cannot be replaced on the November ballot for the congressional seat he vacated in June. — The Republican Party said it will quickly file …
Discussion:
Swing State Project, The Stakeholder, Burnt Orange Report, Election Law, The Left Coaster, TPMmuckraker, Off the Kuff and AMERICAblog
Robert J. Samuelson / Washington Post:
A Reform That Worked — President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, better known as "welfare reform," on Aug. 22 of that year. A decade later it stands as a rarity: a Washington success story.
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.
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
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
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