Top Items:
Washington Post:
Sen. Johnson in Critical Condition After Surgery — Control of Chamber Could Be in Question if He Cannot Serve — Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) underwent emergency brain surgery overnight after falling ill at the Capitol and was in critical condition early this morning, introducing a note …
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Mary Clare Jalonick / Associated Press:
South Dakota senator hospitalized — WASHINGTON - Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson (news, bio, voting record) of South Dakota was hospitalized after becoming disoriented Wednesday, weeks before his party is to take control of the Senate by a one-vote margin. — Johnson, who turns 60 on Dec. 28 …
MSNBC:
S. Dakota's Sen. Johnson has possible stroke — Takes ill in Capitol Hill office, hospitalized for evaluation — NEW YORK - Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S. D., has been hospitalized with symptoms described as stroke-like. The seriousness of his illness has not been disclosed.
Thomas Ferraro / Reuters:
Sen. Johnson undergoes surgery: source — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota underwent surgery on Wednesday, a source said, after suffering what a doctor called "symptoms of a stroke." The actions prompted concerns about his fellow Democrats' razor-thin majority in the incoming Senate.
CNN:
Senator undergoes brain surgery, sources say … WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota underwent brain surgery early Thursday at George Washington University Hospital after suffering stroke-like symptoms, two Democratic sources familiar with his condition told CNN.
Discussion:
Blogs of War
The Raw Story:
Senator Tim Johnson reportedly suffers stroke; Senate power seen in the balance
Senator Tim Johnson reportedly suffers stroke; Senate power seen in the balance
Discussion:
timesleader.com, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, TAPPED, Hot Air, Wizbang, Wonkette and The Moderate Voice
Mark Murray / MSNBC:
U.S. confidence at new low on Iraq war — NBC/WSJ poll: 53 percent say no obligation to killed troops to stay in Iraq — WASHINGTON - As the White House searches for a way to move forward in Iraq after the midterm elections and the Iraq Study Group's recent recommendations …
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Robert D. Novak / Washington Post:
McCain Inc.? — Some 30 invited corporate representatives and other lobbyists gathered at the Phoenix Park Hotel on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning to hear two senior mainstream Republican senators pitch the 2008 presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain. They were selling him to establishment Republicans …
Robert Barnes / Washington Post:
Judge Rejects Detention Challenge of Bin Laden's Driver — A federal judge dismissed yesterday a challenge from Osama bin Laden's driver over his more than four years of detention at the Guantanamo Bay military prison, saying a new anti-terrorism law approved by Congress this fall removes the lower court's jurisdiction in the matter.
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Washington Post:
Joint Chiefs Advise Change In War Strategy — Leaders Seek No Major Troop Increase, Urge Shift in Focus to Support of Iraqi Army — The nation's top uniformed leaders are recommending that the United States change its main military mission in Iraq from combating insurgents to supporting Iraqi troops …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
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Barry R. McCaffrey / Washington Post:
Beyond Baker-Hamilton — One Approach to a Last Try at Stability in Iraq
Beyond Baker-Hamilton — One Approach to a Last Try at Stability in Iraq
Discussion:
Redstate, New Sisyphus - PDX, Middle Earth Journal, The Moderate Voice and New York Times
Will Dunham / Reuters:
Male circumcision greatly reduces HIV risk: studies — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Circumcising men cuts their risk of being infected with the AIDS virus in half, and could prevent hundreds of thousands or even millions of new infections, researchers said on Wednesday.
Discussion:
GINA COBB
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Greg Mitchell / Editor and Publisher:
Former CNN News Chief To Launch 'IraqSlogger' Site — NEW YORK For the past four years there has been no shortage of news and views on Iraq and the long-running war there. What's been missing: a one-stop-shopping clearinghouse for nonpartisan information, including material coming …
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, Captain's Quarters, The Jawa Report, Wizbang, jules crittenden, Don Surber and USS Neverdock
Katherine Kersten / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
The real purpose behind the imam publicity blitz — On Dec. 1, a curious report on the grounded-imams incident at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport appeared on the website of the Iranian Quran News Agency. The report quoted extensively from Madhi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation.
Associated Press:
Ignoring Bush policy, senator meets Syrian president — WASHINGTON (AP) — In a direct affront to the Bush administration, a Democratic senator spent an hour Wednesday with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in Damascus, asking him to do more to stabilize Iraq.
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Virginia Heffernan / New York Times:
An Online Newscaster's Appealing Bafflement — Amanda Congdon, the comely online newsreader, has a new job. After her whirlwind departure from the webcast news show Rocketboom, in July, Ms. Congdon — a droll, blond Rosalind Russell for the digital generation — has at last landed at ABCNews.com.
Robert Berkvist / New York Times:
Peter Boyle, Father on 'Raymond,' Dies at 71 — Peter Boyle, who left the life of a monk to study acting and went on to become one of the most successful character actors of his time in films like "The Candidate," "Young Frankenstein" and "Monster's Ball," then capped his career with a long stint …
Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Democrats Plan to Take Control of Iraq Spending — Frustrated by the Bush administration's piecemeal financing of the Iraq war, Democrats are planning to assert more control over the billions of dollars a month being spent on the conflict when they take charge of Congress in January.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
Ezra Klein:
The Healthy Americans Act — It's been some time since I've run across a genuinely new health care proposal, but the comprehensive reform legislation Ron Wyden's unveiled today is just such a beast. Wyden, a gangly goofball of a Senator who last turned heads for his tax reform ideas …