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9:30 AM ET, April 19, 2007

Top Items:

Full coverage: Virginia Tech massacre — April 18: NBC News releases a picture of Cho Seung-Hui that was in the package the Virginia Tech gunman sent to NBC between the two shootings on Monday. — Photos & audio — Virginia Tech students, faculty come to terms with the horror of the mass shooting at the Blacksburg, Va., school.

Bill Carter / New York Times:

Package Forced NBC to Make Tough Decisions — The package that arrived yesterday at NBC headquarters in New York was almost immediately flagged as suspicious, because it had been mailed from Blacksburg, Va., and bore the return name A. Ishmael. — Last night, the anchor of "The NBC Nightly News …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Betsy's Page and Ed Driscoll.com

Barbara Oakley / New York Times:

The Killer in the Lecture Hall — THE sticky note on my door was wiggling. It was a gift from a student. — Glued to the middle of it was a cockroach. — Don't get me wrong. It wasn't that I was an unpopular professor. To the contrary — according to student evaluations …

NBC Nightly / The Daily Nightly:

ONE WORD — This morning, about five miles outside of Roanoke, Va., I watched a Nissan pickup truck merge into traffic in front of us on the interstate. I noticed there was something written on the rear cab window. When we got closer, I was able to read what it was — just one word, written in white shoe polish on the glass: WHY?

Discussion: Threat Level and On Deadline

Calvin Woodward / Associated Press:

McCain says he backs no gun control — WASHINGTON - Republican presidential candidate John McCain (news, bio, voting record) declared Wednesday he believes in "no gun control," making the strongest affirmation of support for gun rights in the GOP field since the Virginia Tech massacre.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and theneweditor.com

Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:
Around The Sphere: Blog Reaction To Virginia Tech Massacre

Discussion: The Reaction and Better Living

Matt Apuzzo / Associated Press:
Va. Tech gunman sent material to NBC

Discussion: ninemsn, Don Surber and Wake up America

Mike Nizza / The Lede:
Updates on Virginia Tech

Discussion: Althouse, Hot Air, The Huffington Post, On Deadline, Threat Level, Redstate, Boing Boing, Los Angeles Times, Michelle Malkin, The Moderate Voice and The Volokh Conspiracy

Nazila Fathi / New York Times:

Iran Exonerates Six Who Killed in Islam's Name — The Iranian Supreme Court has overturned the murder convictions of six members of a prestigious state militia who killed five people they considered "morally corrupt." — The reversal, in an infamous five-year-old case from Kerman …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Overlawyered and Sweetness & Light

Linda Greenhouse / New York Times:

In Reversal, Justices Back Ban on Method of Abortion — The Supreme Court reversed course on abortion on Wednesday, upholding the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in a 5-to-4 decision that promises to reframe the abortion debate and define the young Roberts court.

Discussion: SCOTUSblog, The Galloping Beaver, Pacific Views, Daily Kos, Rising Hegemon and Think Progress

MSNBC:
Top court upholds ban on abortion procedure

Discussion: New York Times, SCOTUSblog, AlterNet.org, About U.S. Politics, On Politics, Brilliant at Breakfast, Crooks and Liars, Public Eye, TBogg and Sister Toldjah

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:
Father Knows Best

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, My Left Wing, SCOTUSblog and a bird and a bottle

Mark Sherman / Associated Press:
Supreme Court OKs Abortion Procedure Ban

Discussion: The Caucus, Feminist Law Professors and The Moderate Voice

Peter Baker / Washington Post:

On the Hill, Gonzales Gets His Chance at Redemption — When Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales's top aide contemplated the mass dismissal of chief federal prosecutors two years ago, he advocated keeping the "loyal Bushies." Two years later, the question confronting President Bush is whether …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and Taegan Goddard's …

Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
Gonzales to Admit Mistakes in Firings

Discussion: TPMCafe blogs

Paul Kane / Washington Post:
Immunity for Ex-Gonzales Aide Weighed

Discussion: Firedoglake, Crooks and Liars, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Real Cities and TPMmuckraker

Eric Boehlert / Media Matters for America:

Can conservative bloggers tell the truth? — Here's a simple challenge for John Hinderaker, a writer for the popular conservative blog Power Line who recently revisited the 2004 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign controversy. Upset by recent media references that suggested …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, The Mahablog, Power Line, Hullabaloo and Liberal Values

Hindrocket / Power Line: INEFFECTIVE, EVEN FOR A LIBERAL — Eric Boehlert of Media Matters must …

Bill Theobald / Tennessean.com:

Looking 'presidential,' Thompson dazzles GOP — WASHINGTON — Fred Thompson took the stage and gave a virtuoso performance Wednesday during a private meeting with House Republicans — leaving many star-struck and gushing about the prospect of the former Tennessee Republican senator running for president.

Political Radar:
Fred Thompson 2008: A Matter of When — Not If

Discussion: washingtonpost.com, Don Surber and TIME

Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns and Money:

Four Things To Remember When Reading Gonzales v. Carhart — As an antidote against the inevitable chorus of fake moderates arguing that today's abortion case is no big deal, four things to keep in mind as you ponder today's decision: — Don't take assertions by the Court …

Discussion: the talking dog, Hullabaloo, a bird and a bottle, LiberalOasis, Feminist Law Professors, The Reaction, The Mahablog, Wake up America, Feministing and ACSBlog

LII:
Supreme Court collection

Discussion: Pacific Views

Michael Stokes Paulsen / Balkinization: The Pernicious Doctrine of Stare Decisis

Washington Post:

Democrats Would Make Iraq Timetable in Bill 'Advisory' — Congressional Democratic leaders are moving to make their proposed timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq "advisory" as they seek to reconcile two versions of war spending legislation into a single bill that they plan to pass next week …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, MyDD and Wot Is It Good 4

USA Today:
Public favors giving illegal immigrants a break

Discussion: Think Progress and Oliver Willis

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Video: Carolyn McCarthy doesn't understand her own gun-control legislation — I wish I could show you the bill (H.R. 1859) but the text isn't online at Thomas yet. It's probably identical or nearly identical to this bill, which she introduced in February, to reinstate the assault-weapons ban.

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Washington Post:

Giuliani's Lead Shrinks, Clinton's Margin Holds — Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's lead over his Republican presidential rivals has narrowed considerably, while Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) has maintained her advantage in the race for the Democratic nomination, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and TalkLeft

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:

Don't Reward Failure By Giving Money to NARAL — I'm sure Nancy Keenan is licking her sweet chops over the latest SCOTUS decision. It is, after all, probably going to be the biggest fundraising opportunity she's had during her tenure at NARAL. Bigger even than Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement.

Discussion: Brilliant at Breakfast, Redstate, Don Surber and The American Street