Top Items:
White House:
Press Conference of the President — THE PRESIDENT: It's always a pleasure to be introduced into the Rose Garden. Thank you, Wendell. Thank you for coming. I'm looking forward to answering some of your questions. — This week our nation paused to mark the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
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Terence Hunt / Associated Press:
Bush wants 'clarity' on interrogations — WASHINGTON - Facing a GOP revolt in the Senate, President Bush urged Congress on Friday to join in backing legislation to spell out strategies for interrogating and trying terror suspects, saying "the enemy wants to attack us again."
Marty Lederman / Balkinization:
At Last, the Issue is Publicly Joined . . . and When All the Smoke has Cleared, the Central Question is Quite Simple — And it is this: Should the CIA be legally authorized to breach the Geneva Conventions by engaging in the following forms of "cruel treatment" prohibited by "common" Article 3(1)(a) of those Conventions?:
CNN:
Bush: Without my plan, detainee questioning won't continue … WASHINGTON (CNN) — Questioning of suspected terrorists "won't go forward" unless Congress clarifies a U.S. standard for the treatment and interrogation of detainees, President Bush warned on Friday.
Digby / Hullabaloo:
"You're Looking Beautiful Today, Dave" — Here is Bush getting pissed off at David Gregory for suggesting that North Korea or other countries might adopt Bush's new way of dealing with the Geneva Conventions — "interpret" them however it suits them and change them at will.
William Branigin / Washington Post:
Bush Pushes for Terror Legislation — Warning that "time's running out" for Congress to act, President Bush urged lawmakers today to pass legislation that would create special military tribunals to try terrorist suspects and allow the CIA to continue a program in which captured al-Qaeda leaders …
Top MSNBC Headlines:
Pontiff cites text that calls some teachings of Muhammad 'evil and inhuman' — ISTANBUL, Turkey - Pakistan's legislature unanimously condemned Pope Benedict XVI. Lebanon's top Shiite cleric demanded an apology. And in Turkey, the ruling party likened the pontiff to Hitler and Mussolini …
Discussion:
Associated Press, BBC, The Daily Nightly, Macsmind, The Cafeteria Is Closed and AMERICAblog
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Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
The Tehran Calculus — In his televised Sept. 11 address, President Bush said that we must not "leave our children to face a Middle East overrun by terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons." There's only one such current candidate: Iran.
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Zogby:
Zogby: Battle for Congress Tightens — Republican Candidates Trail Democrats by Just 3%; Bush Job Approval Climbs to 39% — Following an aggressive media blitz, the latest Zogby America poll finds the standing of President Bush and congressional Republicans climbing as the November elections rapidly approach.
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Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Democrats Meander in a New New Direction — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the woman who will become speaker of the House if Democrats get lucky in November, began her weekly news conference yesterday holding up a red-white-and-blue brochure. — "I hope you all received 'A New Direction for America …
Discussion:
Donklephant, The Carpetbagger Report, Blue Crab Boulevard, BrothersJudd Blog and JustOneMinute
Wretchard / The Belmont Club:
Oriana Fallaci — I had the privilege of listening to a lecture by Oriana Fallaci at Harvard sometime in 1983. I realize now that she was 53 and it must have been at around that time that the picture below was taken because that is precisely how I remember her.
Ace / Ace of Spades HQ:
Ace of Spades Reader Spotted Wanted Terrorist? (Updated: Limited Confirmation From FBI) — TKS alerts me of an interesting comment posted here: … Name withheld (and I hope she used a pseudonym). — Later, after Purple Avenger provided the contact information for the Texas FBI, — she reported:
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Cara Rubinsky / Associated Press:
Lieberman criticizes Republicans who assail war critics — FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Sen. Joe Lieberman on Friday criticized Republicans who accuse Democratic critics of the Iraq war of encouraging terrorists, arguing such talk "demeans the freedom we are all fighting for."
Danny / Beltway Blogroll:
Friday Festival Of Blog Bits — Earmarks have been all the rage in Washington this week, as Congress cleared to President Bush a bill to create a federal spending database and the House also passed legislation that would mandate disclosure of earmark sponsors in tax and spending legislation.
Steven Reinberg / Yahoo! News:
Private Health Insurance Hard to Get and Costly — THURSDAY, Sept. 14 (HealthDay News) — Almost nine out of every 10 Americans who seek private health insurance never buy a plan, and one in five who apply are turned down or charged more because of preexisting conditions, a new report finds.
Washington Post:
Rep. Ney Agrees to Plead Guilty — Rep. Robert Ney (R-Ohio) agreed today to plead guilty to conspiring to commit multiple official acts for lobbyists in exchange for campaign contributions, meals and luxury travel, sports tickets and gambling chips. He became the first elected official …
Discussion:
The Right Angle
Ann Althouse / Althouse:
Let's take a closer look at those breasts. — I wanted to elevate a discussion from the comments section of a post from Wednesday, you know the one with the photo of the Daou-wrangled bloggers posing in from of Bill Clinton? The first commenter, Goesh, picks up on my prompt …
Bill Roggio / The Fourth Rail:
Pakistan Releases over 2,500 Taliban, al-Qaeda — Pakistan follows the truce to the letter and releases thousands of Taliban and al-Qaeda members captured since 2001 — The Pakistani government is living up to its commitments on the "Waziristan Accord," and has emptied the prisons of Taliban …
Andrew Kirtzman / WCBS-TV:
Bloomberg Secretly Considers Presidential Campaign — CBS 2 Exclusive: Despite Public Denials, Mayor Has Secret Meeting With National Political Strategist, Wall Street Money Man — (CBS) NEW YORK New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has always denied it, but CBS 2 has learned the details of a secret meeting …
Discussion:
MyDD
Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:
In a Volatile Region of Iraq, U.S. Military Takes Two Paths — AL-FURAT, Iraq — With a biker's bandanna tied under his helmet, the Special Forces team sergeant gunned a Humvee down a desert road in Iraq's volatile Anbar province. Skirting the restive town of Hit, the team of a dozen soldiers crossed …
Discussion:
Political Animal, Thomas P.M. Barnett, The Belgravia Dispatch, Pajamas Media and Say Anything
Tparty / LamontBlog:
A Thousand Words — Sen. Lieberman's car parked at Fairfield University this morning: — Did anyone call the police about this? That's illegal parking unless the car has a handicap sticker. — Wow - That really does just say everything you need to know about Lieberman, doesn't it?