Top Items:
Washington Post:
Valerie Plame, the Spy Who's Ready to Speak for Herself — Years of Silence Will End Today With Capitol Hill Testimony — She has been silent nearly four years. Today, the CIA officer whose unmasking fueled a political uproar and criminal probe that reached into the White House is poised …
RELATED:
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Diagnosis: Cheney — "What is wrong with Dick Cheney?" asks Michelle Cottle in the inaugural issue of the newly relaunched New Republic. She then spends the next 1,900 words marshaling evidence suggesting that his cardiac disease has left him demented and mentally disordered.
Discussion:
Power Line, TPMCafe blogs, Sister Toldjah, Betsy's Page, Confederate Yankee, Blue Crab Boulevard, Matthew Yglesias and Central Sanity
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Gonzales' unprecedented efforts to block a FISA investigation — Last July, it was revealed that the Office of Professional Responsibility in the Justice Department — the office "responsible for investigating allegations of misconduct involving Department attorneys" …
Discussion:
White House Watch, Donklephant, National Journal, Daily Kos, TBogg, The Heretik and f a t c a t politics
UPI:
Danish scientist: Global warming is a myth — A Danish scientist said the idea of a "global temperature" and global warming is more political than scientific. — University of Copenhagen Professor Bjarne Andresen has analyzed the topic in collaboration with Canadian Professors Christopher Essex …
RELATED:
Melanie Phillips's Diary:
The 'post-normal' science of climate change — From the horse's mouth — climate change theory has nothing to do with the truth. In a remarkable column in today's Guardian Mike Hulme, professor in the school of environmental sciences at the University of East Anglia and the founding director …
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Confession at Guantánamo by 9/11 Mastermind May Aid Other Qaeda Defendants — The admissions made by the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks illuminated and transformed the cases against him and the 13 other Qaeda leaders transferred last year from C.I.A. prisons to the Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Two Senators Secretly Flew to Cuba for Alleged 9/11 Mastermind's Hearing — Two key congressional leaders secretly flew to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Saturday to observe the closed military hearing for al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheik Mohammed, according to Capitol Hill staff members and Pentagon officials.
Discussion:
Michael P.F. van der Galiën
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
President Turns to an Insider to Negotiate on Dismissals — It was hardly a social call when Fred F. Fielding, the new White House counsel, turned up Wednesday afternoon on Capitol Hill. — He had come to negotiate with Democrats, who are investigating whether politics played a role …
RELATED:
Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
Far From Inevitable, McCain Retunes '08 Engine — Senator John McCain of Arizona worked hard for years to make himself the all-but-inevitable 2008 Republican presidential nominee, assembling a formidable machine of advisers and contributors, repairing his relationship with the Bush White House …
Richard Waters / Financial Times:
Web censorship spreading globally — Internet censorship is spreading rapidly, being practised by about two dozen countries and applied to a far wider range of online information and applications, according to research by a transatlantic group of academics. — This file requires Macromedia Flash Player 7 or higher
Discussion:
Secular Blasphemy
RELATED:
Joseph Kahn / New York Times:
China Approves Property Law, Strengthening Its Middle Class — After more than a quarter-century of market-oriented economic policies and record-setting growth, China on Friday enacted its first law to protect private property explicitly. — The measure, which was delayed …
Washington Post:
The Reliable Source — The Education of a Senator, Day Two: Yesterday we told you about Chuck Schumer's early years on the "It's Academic" team in high school. Now we've learned that the brainy New Yorker (high school valedictorian, 1600 SAT score) is still steamed about the grade he got on his college thesis.
Discussion:
Betsy's Page
RELATED:
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup Poll:
Americans 3-to-1 Against a Libby Pardon — Bush approval rating holds steady — PRINCETON, NJ — Last week, former vice presidential aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby was found guilty of making false statements, perjury, and obstruction of justice in connection with a special prosecutor's investigation …
Discussion:
Donklephant
Ronald Brownstein / Los Angeles Times:
Fox hounded — How the Democrats are turning on Fox News. — In the history of capitalism has any company had more success with just a wink and a nod than the Fox News Channel? And can Democrats be successful in the 2008 campaign by refusing to wink or nod back?
Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:
Today's Must Read — Now that the morning papers have taken a shot interpreting the email released late yesterday, let's take another look. — Shortly after the email's release, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters that the email does not show that the idea of firing certain or all U.S. attorneys began with Karl Rove.
RELATED:
New York Times:
Phony Fraud Charges — In its fumbling attempts to explain the purge of United States attorneys, the Bush administration has argued that the fired prosecutors were not aggressive enough about addressing voter fraud. It is a phony argument; there is no evidence that any of them ignored real instances of voter fraud.
Discussion:
Right Wing Nut House, The BRAD BLOG, protein wisdom, Althouse, Middle Earth Journal, The Mahablog and CorrenteWire
Dan Balz / Washington Post:
With Earlier Primary, Calif. Reshapes Race — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signed legislation yesterday moving the state's presidential primary to Feb. 5, 2008, a change that could lead to the earliest and biggest single-day test of candidate strength ever.
Discussion:
Simianbrain