Top Items:
Ron Word / Associated Press:
Official says Fla. execution was botched — OCALA, Fla. - Gov. Jeb Bush suspended all executions in Florida after a medical examiner said Friday that prison officials botched the insertion of the needles when a convicted killer was put to death earlier this week.
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Henry Weinstein / Los Angeles Times:
Judge calls California's lethal-injection procedure 'intolerable' — A federal judge in San Jose said that California's lethal injection procedure represents "an undue and unnecessary risk" of a violation of the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
Elrod / The Moderate Voice:
Beginning of the End of the Death Penalty in America?
Beginning of the End of the Death Penalty in America?
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters
Associated Press:
Carter Nixes Debate With Outspoken Prof — Former President Carter turned down a request to debate Alan Dershowitz about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying the outspoken Harvard law professor "knows nothing about the situation." — Carter, author of a new book advocating …
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John F. Burns / New York Times:
Military Considers Sending as Many as 35,000 More U.S. Troops to Iraq, McCain Says — Senator John McCain said Thursday that American military commanders were discussing the possibility of adding as many as 10 more combat brigades — a maximum of about 35,000 troops — to …
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Wall Street Journal:
Call to Add U.S. Forces Is Resisted at Home, in Iraq — Bush Administration Leans — Toward Temporary Boost; — General Wants Clear Mission — The Bush administration is leaning toward temporarily sending as many as 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq, even as the Democrats taking charge …
Raleigh News & Observer:
Head of DNA lab says he and Nifong agreed not to report results — The head of a private DNA laboratory said under oath today that he and District Attorney Mike Nifong agreed not to report DNA results favorable to Duke lacrosse players charged with rape. — Brian Meehan, director …
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
In Baker's Blunder, A Chance For Bush — As a result of the Iraq Study Group, President Bush has been given one last chance to alter course on Iraq. This did not, however, come about the way James Baker intended. It came about because the long-anticipated report turned out to be, as is widely agreed, a farce.
Discussion:
Redstate, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Decision '08, TAPPED, Don Surber, Wake up America and Blue Crab Boulevard
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John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Matt Damon: Ship the Bush Twins off to Iraq — Robert De Niro and Matt Damon will be on Hardball next week, so they played a little teaser clip for us. Damon thinks that all of America should share the burden of war and maybe the Bush Twins could be serving our country better shopping in Baghdad.
Scott Horsley / NPR:
Border Fence Firm Snared for Hiring Illegal Workers — · A fence-building company in Southern California agrees to pay nearly $5 million in fines for hiring illegal immigrants. Two executives from the company may also serve jail time. The Golden State Fence Company's work includes …
Discussion:
The Democratic Daily
MSNBC:
U.N. ambassador says Ahmadinejad's Holocaust remarks incite genocide — NEW YORK - Outgoing U.S. U.N. Ambassador John Bolton and former diplomats from Israel and Canada called on the United Nations on Thursday to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with inciting genocide.
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Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:
HostGator Will Not Stand Up For Clients' Free Speech — Stop the ACLU and My Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy have a disturbing story for those of us who defend freedom of speech through our blogging; a hosting service has shut down a blogger for voicing a controversial satire.
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Alicia Colon / New York Sun:
The Mendacity Of the Liberal Press — The first time I heard the word "mendacity" was in the film "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." I loved the way Burl Ives's character spits out the word as something vile and unacceptable. — Unfortunately, we live in a society where untruthfulness …
Federal Reserve:
The Chinese Economy: Progress and Challenges — The emergence of China as a global economic power is one of the most important developments of recent decades. For the past twenty years, the Chinese economy has achieved a growth rate averaging nearly 10 percent per year, resulting in a quintupling of output per person.
Laura Mansnerus / New York Times:
Legislators Vote for Gay Unions in N.J. — The Legislature voted on Thursday to make New Jersey the third state in the nation to recognize civil unions for same-sex couples. In doing so, it moved quickly to fulfill a court mandate to provide equal rights to gay couples but frustrated people on both sides of the emotional issue.
Discussion:
The Remedy
White House:
Press Briefing by Tony Snow — White House Conference Center Briefing Room — MR. SNOW: Just a quick preliminary note, and then I'll be happy to take questions. — Prime Minister Maliki tomorrow is convening another national reconciliation conference for political leaders from across Iraq.
Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:
Castro Near Death, U.S. Intelligence Chief Says — Cuban President Fidel Castro is very ill and close to death, Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte said yesterday. — "Everything we see indicates it will not be much longer . . . months, not years," Negroponte told a meeting of Washington Post editors and reporters.
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys, The Moderate Voice, PoliBlog (TM), Rising Hegemon and Blue Crab Boulevard