memeorandum: Job Description: Lighting Rod (Digby/Hullabaloo)

9:25 PM ET, April 25, 2007

Top Items:

House Committee Authorizes Subpoena for Goodling — The House Judiciary Committee, by a vote of 32-6, just authorized a subpoena for Monica Goodling's testimony and an offer of immunity. — As former U.S. Attorney for New Mexico David Iglesias pointed out yesterday, Goodling should prove …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, The Next Hurrah, Real Cities, Norwegianity, The Carpetbagger Report, The Moderate Voice, Firedoglake, Prairie Weather, Shakesville and Michael P.F. van der Galiën

Associated Press:

Joint letter issued for Gonzales — And in case Gonzales thought the worst had passed with his punishing testimony last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the chairman and top Republican issued a new demand: Refresh the memory that Gonzales claimed had failed him 71 times during the seven-hour session.

Discussion: Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Comments From Left Field and Wonkette

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters: Subpoenaville — Democrats turned up the heat on the White House today …

Wall Street Journal:
Delays in Renzi Case Raise More Gonzales Questions

Discussion: The Corner, Talking Points Memo, Wampum, Think Progress, White House Watch, TPMmuckraker, NION, The Stakeholder, Middle Earth Journal, Daily Kos and DownWithTyranny!

Michael Roston / The Raw Story:
Leahy: The President said 'Heckuva Job, Gonzales

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!

Horses Mouth:

Oh, man. You won't be surprised to hear that Rupert Murdoch's New York Post is willing to stoop to extraordinary depths of dishonesty to smear Dems, but this one is quite remarkable. — Check out the rewrite that The Post has done on an AP story it ran today.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Associated Press, AMERICAblog, The BRAD BLOG and Oliver Willis

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters: The Five Myths Of Harry

Mark Murray / MSNBC:

Americans siding with Dems against Bush — NBC/WSJ poll: Skepticism on Iraq policies reflected in 2008 candidates — INTERACTIVE — A look at the democratic candidates and their performance on the campaign trail — Far-Out Americana — See photos of quirky landmarks that you sent in!

Discussion: Oliver Willis and Pollster

Kevin Drum / Political Animal:

LETTING RUDY WIN....Yesterday Rudy Giuliani said the country would be safer if it elects a Republican in 2008 — especially if that Republican is him: … My reaction: Yawn. Of course Rudy thinks the country would be safer with a Republican in charge. Presumably he also thinks the economy …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, The Caucus, Outside The Beltway, Liberal Values and Taylor Marsh

Michael J. Totten:

Meet the Iraqi Police in Kirkuk — This is the second in a two part article. Read Part One, Where Kurdistan Meets the Red Zone, here. Scroll down for video. — KIRKUK, IRAQ - Kirkuk, like Baghdad, is one of the most dangerous places in the world. Car bombs, suicide attacks, shootings …

Discussion: Hot Air and Roads to Iraq

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Why No One Wants An American Withdrawal

Discussion: The Newshoggers and Michael P.F. van der Galiën

Reuters:

Bin Laden overseeing Iraq, Afghanistan ops: Taliban — DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is orchestrating militants' operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a senior commander of Afghan Islamist group Taliban said in remarks broadcast on Wednesday.

Discussion: Hot Air, Jules Crittenden, The Strata-Sphere, Gateway Pundit and Middle Earth Journal

Aljazeera:
Taliban leader says Bin Laden alive

Discussion: TalkLeft

Noah Shachtman / Danger Room:

Longer Iraq Tours Good for "Army Stress," Pentagon Says — You have got to be kidding me. Check out this pure-propaganda pronouncement, from the Pentagon's official news organ, the "American Forces Press Service": … Yeah, yeah. Water is dry, ice is warm, and up is down, too.

Discussion: Unqualified Offerings, The Newshoggers, The Carpetbagger Report, AMERICAblog and toohotfortnr

Little Green Footballs:

Harvard: How the Media Partnered With Hezbollah — During Israel's war against Hizballah, at LGF we were continually outraged by the media's uncritical promulgation of terrorist propaganda, and their overwhelming bias against Israel. The barrage of staged and manipulated disinformation culminated …

Discussion: Democracy Project, The Jawa Report, Hot Air, Ace of Spades HQ, EU Referendum and NewsBusters.org

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

The Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch frauds — It is difficult to watch these clips from yesterday's House hearings investigating the absolute, deliberate lies regarding Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch fed to the American public by the U.S. military — with an eager and accommodating assist …

Discussion: Unqualified Offerings, Firedoglake, protein wisdom, Redstate, The American Street, News Hounds and PoliBlog (TM)

Maha / The Mahablog:
Why I Hate Righties — I know it's as common as ticks in Arkansas …

Discussion: Right Wing Nut House, Crooks and Liars and The Huffington Post

ABCNEWS:

Exclusive: O'Donnell Leaving 'The View' — Rosie O'Donnell Is Set to Announce Today Her Departure From 'The View' — Rosie O'Donnell is leaving "The View." ABC has been unable to come to a contractual agreement with "The View" co-host. As a result, her duties on the show will come to an end mid-June.

Marcus Baram / ABCNEWS:

The McGreevey Effect: Is Your Husband Gay? — Along With Jim McGreevey's Ex-Wife, There are Plenty of Women and Men Married to Gay Spouses — It sounds like the typical American family. — George, a 49-year-old market researcher, has been married for 28 years. He and his wife are proud of their two daughters.

Alex Leo / The Huffington Post:
How Does He Love He? Let Me Count the Ways

Discussion: Ace of Spades HQ

Associated Press:

Dow Closes Above 13,000 for First Time — Dow Ends Above 13,000 for First Time As Earnings Reports Push Stock Market to Historic Heights — NEW YORK (AP) — It looks like a cause for celebration: The Dow Jones industrial average surged from 12,000 to 13,000 in just six months.

Discussion: Ace of Spades HQ, Outside The Beltway and INSTAPUTZ

Media Matters for America:

Fox's Gibson: U.S. invasion "unmasked" Iraqis as "knuckle-dragging savages from the 10th century" — On the April 23 broadcast of his Fox News Radio show, John Gibson argued that the Iraqi people — whom he described as "knuckle-dragging savages from the 10th century" — are at "fault" for the situation in Iraq.

Discussion: Riehl World View

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:

Analysis: "Blackout" on campaign ads in doubt — With Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and Justice Antonin Scalia exhibiting considerable distaste for a key provision of federal campaign finance law, Congress' latest attempt to reduce the flow of corporate and union money …

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Reason Magazine and Ace of Spades HQ

Wonkette:

MICHELLE MALKIN: Malkin's Site Now Requires Adult ID Check — For just $4.95 per month billed discreetly to your credit card, you can watch the rest of this video. — Spastic Backyard Cheerleader Video [YouTube]

Discussion: Norwegianity

Digby / Hullabaloo:

Job Description: Lighting Rod — Greg Palast, who has been writing about the "voter fraud" fraud for years, writes an interesting piece today arguing that Gonzales is irrelevant to the deeper problem within the DOJ with respect to voting rights. — I was struck particularly by this:

Discussion: TPMmuckraker and Wot Is It Good 4