Top Items:
R. Jeffrey Smith / Washington Post:
Hussein's Prewar Ties To Al-Qaeda Discounted — Pentagon Report Says Contacts Were Limited — Captured Iraqi documents and intelligence interrogations of Saddam Hussein and two former aides "all confirmed" that Hussein's regime was not directly cooperating with al-Qaeda before the U.S. invasion of Iraq …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, The Moderate Voice, Informed Comment, Think Progress, The Gun Toting Liberal™, New Pairodimes, Brilliant at Breakfast, Ezra Klein, The Osterley Times, Wonkette, Prairie Weather, The Washington Note, Sadly, No!, Connecting.the.Dots, Liberal Values, Macsmind, Rising Hegemon, Unqualified Offerings, American Footprints and Cliff Schecter
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White House:
Interview of the Vice President by Rush Limbaugh, The Rush Limbaugh Show — Q It's always a great privilege to have the Vice President, Dick Cheney, with us. Mr. Vice President, welcome once again to our program. — THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you, Rush. It's good to be back on.
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Britain's Humiliation — and Europe's — Iran has pulled off a tidy little success with its seizure and release of those 15 British sailors and marines: a pointed humiliation of Britain, with a bonus demonstration of Iran's intention to push back against coalition challenges to its assets in Iraq.
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Roger Kimball / Armavirumque:
Ahmadinejad's grin — A smile is a curious thing. It can be a spontaneous expression of pleasure, a friendly, welcoming gesture, gently solicitous, signifying camaraderie and easy fellow-feeling. A smile can also be a heart-wrinkling recognition of humor, the explosion of a good joke, the sly Cheshire-cat acknowledgment of paradox.
Discussion:
Dr. Sanity
David E. Sanger / New York Times:
No Diplomatic Change After Britons' Release — The Bush administration said Thursday that the release of 15 British sailors and marines held by Iran for two weeks created no new openings in dealing with Tehran, and it urged American allies to return their attention to enforcing new sanctions against Iran.
Paul Kane / Washington Post:
Justice Department In New Fight Over Papers on Firings — The Justice Department is refusing to release hundreds of pages of additional documents related to the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, setting up a fresh clash with Capitol Hill in a controversy that continues to threaten Attorney …
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Oliver Willis:
Bill O'Reilly Loses His Damn Mind — In the entire, dark, black history of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, this is probably the craziest clip ever. A young girl was tragically killed by a drunk driver. But this was not enough for O'Reilly. Instead, because the criminal was an illegal alien …
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Opinion Journal:
Democrats at War — Prime Minister Pelosi and Secretary of State Lantos undermine U.S. foreign policy—and maybe their own party. — Democrats took Congress last fall in part by opposing the war in Iraq, but it is becoming clear that they view their election as a mandate for something far more ambitious …
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E. J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
Answers To the Atheists — This weekend, many of the world's estimated 2 billion Christians will remember and celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. — While some Christians harbor doubts about Christ's actual physical resurrection, hundreds of millions believe devoutly …
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Joe Klein / Time:
An Administration's Epic Collapse — The first three months of the new Democratic Congress have been neither terrible nor transcendent. A Pew poll had it about right: a substantial majority of the public remains happy the Democrats won in 2006, but neither Nancy Pelosi nor Harry Reid …
Discussion:
The Reaction, The Carpetbagger Report, Liberal Values, Bloody Scott, Confederate Yankee, Political Animal, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Matthew Yglesias, Shakesville, Kiko's House, Booman Tribune, Democrats.com, Balloon Juice, Editor and Publisher, Macsmind, New Pairodimes, The Mahablog and Alternate Brain
New York Times:
Federal Official in Student Loans Held Loan Stock — A senior official at the federal Education Department sold more than $100,000 in shares in a student loan company even as he was helping oversee lenders in the federal student loan program. — The official, Matteo Fontana …
New York Times:
Guantánamo Follies — There has been much speculation about the Supreme Court's decision not to hear an appeal from a group of Guantánamo Bay inmates until they have exhausted their legal options. Was the court signaling that the appeal had no merit?
Steve Hargreaves / CNNMoney.com:
And Iraq's big oil contracts go to ... Companies from China, India and other Asian nations are seen getting the first contracts. But don't write off Big Oil just yet. — NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Despite claims by some critics that the Bush administration invaded Iraq to take control of its oil …
David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
Romney Used His Wealth to Enlist Richest Donors — Mitt Romney, the multimillionaire founder of a giant private equity firm, knew he did not need other people's money to mount a presidential campaign. But as they began planning a campaign more than two years ago, Mr. Romney and his advisers wanted …