Top Items:
New York Times:
Rushing Off a Cliff — Here's what happens when this irresponsible Congress railroads a profoundly important bill to serve the mindless politics of a midterm election: The Bush administration uses Republicans' fear of losing their majority to push through ghastly ideas about antiterrorism …
Discussion:
Eschaton, Taylor Marsh, Confederate Yankee, Washington Post, The Carpetbagger Report, Hullabaloo, The American Street, The Next Hurrah, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, The Huffington Post, Big Brass Blog, The Smirking Chimp, The Strata-Sphere, Democrats.com, Bring it On!, Balkinization, Don Surber, Obsidian Wings, Preemptive Karma, TalkLeft, The Democratic Daily, Crooks and Liars, Think Progress, DownWithTyranny!, The RBC, Jesus' General and Bark Bark Woof Woof
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Dan Froomkin / Washington Post:
Bush Rules — Today's Senate vote on President Bush's detainee legislation, after House approval yesterday, marks a defining moment for this nation. — How far from our historic and Constitutional values are we willing to stray? How mercilessly are we willing to treat those we suspect to be our enemies?
New York Times:
House Passes Detainee Bill as It Clears Senate Hurdle — Congress took major steps on Wednesday toward establishing a new system for interrogating and trying terror suspects as the House approved legislation sought by President Bush and the Senate defeated efforts to alter the measure.
Amit R. Paley / Washington Post:
Heralded Iraq Police Academy a 'Disaster' — A $75 million project to build the largest police academy in Iraq has been so grossly mismanaged that the campus now poses health risks to recruits and might need to be partially demolished, U.S. investigators have found.
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Patrick Quinn / Associated Press:
Iraq terror leader recruits scientists — CAIRO, Egypt - In a new audio message Thursday, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq called for explosives experts and nuclear scientists to join his group's holy war against the West. He also said that more than 4,000 foreign insurgent fighters …
Discussion:
siteinstitute.org, Hot Air, The Fourth Rail, Counterterrorism Blog, TigerHawk, QandO, Blue Crab Boulevard, Hyscience and Wizbang
Barry Schweid / Associated Press:
Poll: Iraqis back attacks on U.S. troops — WASHINGTON - About six in 10 Iraqis say they approve of attacks on U.S.-led forces, and slightly more than that want their government to ask U.S. troops to leave within a year, a poll finds. — The Iraqis also have negative views of Osama bin Laden …
Discussion:
QandO, TAPPED, The Moderate Voice, All Spin Zone, Gateway Pundit, Decision '08, Democracy Project and Flopping Aces
Sabrina Tavernise / New York Times:
Cleric Said to Lose Reins of Parts of Iraqi Militia — The radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr has lost control of portions of his Mahdi Army militia that are splintering off into freelance death squads and criminal gangs, a senior coalition intelligence official said Wednesday.
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Fouad Ajami / Opinion Journal:
Infidel Documents — Intelligence, jihadists and the Iraq war debate. — The scaffolding of the Iraq war is under renewed attack. So there had been no meeting between Mohamed Atta and Iraqi intelligence operative Ahmad al-Ani in Prague; and Saddam's regime was "intensely secular" while al Qaeda was steeped in religious doctrine.
Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
Webb Denies Ever Using Word as Epithet — Racial Slur Overshadowing All Else in Contest — Democratic Senate candidate James Webb on Wednesday sought to explain remarks he had made a day earlier, in which he refused to say whether he had used the "N-word," but he insisted he has never used it as a racial epithet aimed at anyone.
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, The Allen Blog, Swords Crossed, Right Wing News, Sister Toldjah, Wonkette and Virginia Centrist
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John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Keith Olbermann takes a "look back" at Bush's first months in office leading up to 9/11 — Keith Olbermann responds to Bush's non-response to Bill Clinton. He goes over his first months in office leading up to 9/11. It's not a pretty picture. — Video -WMP Video -QT — (rough transcript)
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The Star-Ledger / nj-community:
Menendez Dumps Key Adviser Caught On Tape Seeking 'Favors' — U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's closest political adviser was secretly recorded seven years ago boasting of political power and urging a Hudson county contractor to hire somone as a favor to Menendez, according to a transcript obtained by The Star-Ledger.
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Associated Press:
Poll: Lieberman Leads Lamont in Conn. — HAMDEN, Conn. (AP) - Sen. Joe Lieberman has a 10-point advantage over Democrat Ned Lamont among likely Connecticut voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday. — Lieberman, a three-term Democrat running as an independent …
Discussion:
Roger L. Simon, Blue Crab Boulevard, Redstate, Riehl World View, Pajamas Media and The Strata-Sphere
Nico / Think Progress:
Musgrave: Gay Marriage 'Is The Most Important Issue That We Face Today' — Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO), the lead sponsor of the constitutional ban on gay marriage in the House, spoke this weekend at the Family Research Council's "Values Voter Summit." (Other virulently anti-gay speakers were featured at the event.)
CBS News:
Bob Woodward: Bush Misleads On Iraq — Tells 60 Minutes' Wallace That Kissinger Is Regular Visitor To White House — (CBS) Veteran Washington reporter Bob Woodward tells Mike Wallace that the Bush administration has not told the truth regarding the level of violence, especially against U.S. troops, in Iraq.
Bruce Ackerman / Los Angeles Times:
The White House Warden — Congress may give the president the power to lock up almost anyone he thinks is a terror threat. — BURIED IN THE complex Senate compromise on detainee treatment is a real shocker, reaching far beyond the legal struggles about foreign terrorist suspects in the Guantanamo Bay fortress.
David S. Broder / Washington Post:
Arnold's Turnaround — A GOP Governor Finds the Key: Independence — SACRAMENTO — The Terminator has rescued himself from political ruin by reinventing his approach to government, thus demonstrating in the most dramatic way possible the value of political independence.
Keith Olbermann / MSNBC:
Threatening letter no joke — Keith Olbermann responds to the New York Post's report — The Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper, The New York Post, may have just impeded an FBI investigation into terroristic threats. — I know this because I was a recipient.
Lorie Byrd / Examiner:
Hard to sort out the truth in mainstream media — WASHINGTON - How can we know what to believe? That is what a neighbor asked me several weeks ago over dinner. We were discussing the fact that she no longer believes everything she sees in the news and often wonders what is the truth.