Top Items:
New York Times:
Military Expands Domestic Surveillance — The Pentagon has been using a little-known power to obtain banking and credit records of hundreds of Americans and others suspected of terrorism or espionage inside the United States, part of an aggressive expansion by the military into domestic intelligence gathering.
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Digby / Hullabaloo:
Open Your Wallet And Show Us What You've Got — A lot of folks don't seem exercized that the government might be listening in on their phone calls without a warrant or reading their e-mails and letters with no oversight from anyone. But I have noticed for years that people would much rather tell …
Looseheadprop / Firedoglake:
Hypocrisy Alert: Homeland Security Undocumented!
Hypocrisy Alert: Homeland Security Undocumented!
Discussion:
The Agonist
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
In hindsight, Sunni jihadis not sure killing Shiites was such a good idea; Update: Mahdi Army lowers its profile — They were hugely outnumbered, but they made a deal with the devil and now the bill's come due. … That conversation happened in October; Abu Omar has long since disappeared …
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Nancy Trejos / Washington Post:
Battling With Sadr for Iraqi Soldiers' Hearts — BAGHDAD — The Iraqi soldiers broke into chants to commemorate the 86th anniversary of the creation of their army. — "Muhammad, Haider, Fatima, Hasan and Husayn!" shouted a group of dancing soldiers, bellowing the names of the prophet …
Guardian:
'The jihad now is against the Shias, not the Americans' — As 20,000 more US troops head for Iraq, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, the only correspondent reporting regularly from behind the country's sectarian battle lines, reveals how the Sunni insurgency has changed — One morning a few weeks ago …
Neil A. Lewis / New York Times:
Official Attacks Top Law Firms Over Detainees — The senior Pentagon official in charge of military detainees suspected of terrorism said in an interview this week that he was dismayed that lawyers at many of the nation's top firms were representing prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba …
Discussion:
Abovethelaw.com, TPMmuckraker, Larisa Alexandrovna's …, The Huffington Post, Flopping Aces, Prairie Weather, Obsidian Wings, Andrew Sullivan, Concurring Opinions, the talking dog, Daily Kos, Blue Gal, Brendan Nyhan, Liberty Street, Balloon Juice, Talking Points Memo, The Impolitic, ACSBlog, The Belgravia Dispatch, Althouse and Washington Post
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Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Boxer: I spoke "truth to power" by suggesting that childless hawks are moral monsters — It's not her logic that bugs me since it's just Chickenhawk 101, i.e., those who support the war but stand to suffer no personal loss from it must necessarily be indifferent to the human toll and therefore lack moral authority for their position.
Discussion:
Ed Driscoll.com
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Carla Marinucci / San Francisco Chronicle:
Boxer comments to Rice draw fire from the right — Senator says she won't apologize for 'strong message' — Was Sen. Barbara Boxer's heated confrontation this week with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a case of "vicious" feminine politics — as some critics have suggested — or merely the politics of frank talk in tough times?
Discussion:
Neptunus Lex
Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:
Rod Dreher: "Hadn't the hippies tried to tell my generation this"? — (updated below) — Rod Dreher is as conservative as it gets — a contributor to National Review and the Corner, a current columnist for The Dallas Morning News, a self-described "practicing Christian and political conservative."
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Daniela Deane / Washington Post:
Bush Lashes Out at Opponents on Iraq Plan — President Bush fought back at lawmakers opposing his new plan for Iraq today, charging that simply being against the strategy without suggesting alternatives was "irresponsible." He challenged them to come up with a better plan.
Pajamas Media:
ERITREA SIDES WITH AL-QAEDA IN SOMALIA — A Pajamas Media Exclusive by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross. — Eritrea has deployed some two thousand troops to fight alongside Somalia's al-Qaeda linked Islamic Courts Union, Pajamas Media has learned. — Thus, Ethiopia and the United States …
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Charles Hurt / Washington Times:
Pelosi moves to close Samoa wage loophole — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday said Democrats will close a loophole in the House-passed minimum wage increase that exempts American Samoa — an action taken after it was revealed that one of the U.S. territory's main employers is based in her congressional district.
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Rick Klein / Boston Globe:
Democrats may push to shutter war prisons — Party leaders say they'll cut funding — WASHINGTON — House Democratic leaders yesterday outlined plans to try to force the Bush administration to close the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba …
Anne Gearan / Associated Press:
Rice says U.S. won't pull plug on Iraq — JERUSALEM - Americans' skepticism about Iraq will not change until they see progress, but the U.S. will not "pull the plug" on the war, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. — Rice, at the start of a Mideast trip, would not detail any backup strategy …
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T.R. Reid / Washington Post:
West Is Going in Democrats' Direction — Choice of Denver as Convention Site Reflects Political Shift in Mountain States — When the major political parties gathered for their national conventions in 2004, Colorado had a Republican governor, a Republican-controlled legislature …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, MyDD, The Democratic Daily, Western Democrat, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and Viking Pundit
Beth Fouhy / Associated Press:
Obama, Clinton making 2008 moves — NEW YORK - Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record), a pair of front-runners in waiting, have shown fresh signs in recent days of joining the 2008 race, hiring senior aides while they court potential supporters in Iowa, New Hampshire and other key states.