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Bush Defends Gonzales in Firing of Prosecutors — President Bush defended Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales today amid the furor over the firing of federal prosecutors, but he said he was troubled over the clumsy handling of the dismissals. — "I do have confidence in Attorney General Al Gonzales …
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Bush Defends Gonzales's Decision
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CNN, About U.S. Politics, Firedoglake, TPMmuckraker, The Rittenhouse Review, Law Blog and The Democratic Daily

Bush defends Gonzales: Just some confusion and mismanagement is all....
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Think Progress, Real Cities, Captain's Quarters, Washington Post, Hullabaloo, The Mahablog, Macsmind and The Impolitic

Republican says Gonzales should be fired
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Bloomberg, DownWithTyranny!, MyDD, Heath Haussamen …, Midtopia and The Carpetbagger Report

Inside the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorneys Controversy


9/11 Mastermind Confesses in Guantanamo — WASHINGTON — Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, confessed to that attack and a string of others during a military hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a transcript released Wednesday by the Pentagon.
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KSM confesses to Gitmo tribunal: I planned 9/11 "from A to Z"; Update: Full transcript added — And much, much more. … The Beeb says he also admitted to plots against Big Ben and Heathrow. — Looking for the transcript. Standby. — Update: Fox has updated their story.

Zogby Poll: Voters Believe Media Bias is Very Real — Institute for Politics, Democracy, and the Internet/Zogby Poll shows American voters are skeptical political motivation may be behind blogs run by mainstream news organizations — The vast majority of American voters believe media bias …
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BREAKING: CBC chooses CNN over Fox — Last week, the Prospect reported that the Congressional Black Caucus were close to nearing a deal to host two Democratic presidentialy primary debates in concert with Fox News: … Black online activists led by ColorOfChange.org partnered …


Clinton and Obama Court Jewish Vote — As Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama compete for Jewish donors and voters, Mrs. Clinton is following a tried-and-true rule of hers from New York — support Israel to the last — while Mr. Obama is trying a more delicate strategy that hit some bumps this week.
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Clinton Sees Some Troops Staying in Iraq if She Is Elected — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton foresees a "remaining military as well as political mission" in Iraq, and says that if elected president, she would keep a reduced but significant military force there to fight Al Qaeda …
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Dean's World

The president receives "lessons" from his neoconservative tutors
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Weekly Standard, Council for Secular Humanism, Obsidian Wings, Ezra Klein, Michael P.F. van der Galiën and TAPPED

Fitzgerald: Rove tried to limit choice — WASHINGTON — Former Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.) said Tuesday that White House political adviser Karl Rove told him in the spring of 2001 that he should limit his choice for U.S. attorney in Chicago to someone from Illinois.
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The Carpetbagger Report, Hullabaloo, TalkLeft, CorrenteWire, AMERICAblog and Washington Post
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Giuliani Law Firm Lobbies in Texas for Chavez-Controlled Citgo — Rudolph Giuliani's law firm lobbies for Citgo Petroleum Corp., a unit of the state-owned oil company controlled by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the U.S.'s chief antagonist in the Western Hemisphere.
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MIL-IRAQ-US SOLDIERS — Baghdad security crackdown seriously curbs killings of US soldiers — The rate of killings of US troops in Iraq has been on the decline, down by 60 percent, since the launch of the new security measures in Baghdad, according to statistics revealed …
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Attytood, protein wisdom, Hang Right Politics, The Jawa Report, Don Surber and Sister Toldjah

Senator Clinton, unplugged — This morning on Good Morning, America, we ran an interview with Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, in which she called for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's head. — "The buck should stop somewhere," Clinton said (CLICK HERE FOR MORE) "and the Attorney General …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, NewsBusters.org, The Caucus, TIME, The Swamp, The Daily Dish, Scared Monkeys, Harry's Place and Donklephant


Taste for Guinness wanes in changing Ireland — How about a glass of wine to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day in Dublin? — That might not sit well on the stomach of many residents of Ireland's capital this Saturday as they mark the year's biggest party with copious quantities of Guinness …
Discussion:
Angry Bear

French High Court Rejects Gay Marriage — PARIS (AP) - France's highest court Tuesday rejected as unlawful the first marriage by a gay couple in France, annulling the union of the two men. — Stephane Charpin and Bertrand Charpentier were married in a civil ceremony on June 5, 2004 …


Pig Out — WITH some fanfare, the world's largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods, recently announced that it intended to phase out certain cages for its breeding females. Called gestation crates, the cages virtually immobilize pigs during their pregnancies in metal stalls so narrow they are unable to turn around.