Top Items:
Sudarsan Raghavan / Washington Post:
Iraq's Sadr Overhauls His Tactics — NAJAF, Iraq — The movement of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has embarked on one of its most dramatic tactical shifts since the beginning of the war. — The 33-year-old populist is reaching out to a broad array of Sunni leaders, from politicians to insurgents …
Discussion:
Informed Comment, The Newshoggers, Unqualified Offerings, Talking Points Memo and The Atlantic Online
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Greg Miller / Los Angeles Times:
Influx of Al Qaeda, money into Pakistan is seen — U.S. officials say the terrorist network's command base is increasingly being funded by cash coming out of Iraq. — WASHINGTON — A major CIA effort launched last year to hunt down Osama bin Laden has produced no significant leads on his whereabouts …
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Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
GETTING OUT....Greg Miller of the LA Times reports today that the CIA deployed about 50 additional agents in Pakistan last year as part of a plan to replace the agents who were yanked out of Afghanistan in 2002 to help prepare for the war with Iraq. The goal was to reinvigorate the search …
Think Progress:
Specter: Gonzales Will Likely Resign Before No Confidence Vote — Last week, Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) called on the Senate to hold a no-confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. — The White House and its conservative allies quickly derided the vote …
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Richard Schickel / Los Angeles Times:
Not everybody's a critic — Sure, anyone with a blog can express an opinion about a book, but true criticism is more than just an opinion. — THE MOST grating words I've read in a newspaper recently were in a New York Times report on the shrinkage of book reviewing in many of the nation's leading newspapers.
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Jerry Seper / Washington Times:
Border agents hit illegals bill — The leadership of all 11,000 nonsupervisory U.S. Border Patrol agents yesterday criticized an immigration compromise by senators and the Bush administration as "piecemeal" legislation that invites future terrorist attacks and fails to secure the nation's borders.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
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Michael Kranish / Boston Globe:
Bush removes provision requiring back taxes from illegal immigrants
Bush removes provision requiring back taxes from illegal immigrants
Discussion:
Obsidian Wings, JOSHUAPUNDIT, QandO, Slate, Cadillac Tight, Hot Air and Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
Rick Weiss / Washington Post:
Tainted Chinese Imports Common — Dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical.
Salena Zito / PittsburghLIVE.com:
Fred's watershed? — TRIBUNE-REVIEW — On the day of the first Southern-state Republican debate on the Fox News Channel, one undeclared GOP candidate performed a media leapfrog. — With the help of one 38-second video clip and a great sense of humor, Fred Thompson …
Bryan Burrough / New York Times:
Or No Conspiracy? — I have no idea what book wears the crown of longest nonfiction title ever published. Whoever holds the record, it is about to be challenged by Vincent Bugliosi, whose new work, "Reclaiming History," a cellular-level re-examination of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, clocks in at 1,612 pages.
The Big Trunk / Power Line:
"F*** YOU": THE INSIDE STORY — John McCain's eruption at fellow conservative Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is an incident that reverberates on several levels. It renews lingering doubts about whether McCain possesses proper temperament to be President. It also raises serious questions …
Discussion:
Townhall.com
Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
Gingrich Assails 'Radical Secularism' — In Speech, Ex-Speaker Praises Falwell, Offers No Hints About His Political Plans — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich decried a "growing culture of radical secularism" Saturday morning as he hailed the life of Liberty University's late founder …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Carpetbagger Report, Liberal Values, TPMCafe blogs and Rising Hegemon
Des Moines Register:
Mitt Romney leads Republicans — Mitt Romney has sprinted ahead of presidential competitors John McCain and Rudy Giuliani in a new Iowa Poll of likely Republican caucus participants. — The Des Moines Register poll shows Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, is the top choice of 30 percent …
Charles Ornstein / Los Angeles Times:
Tale of last 90 minutes of woman's life — County officials express dismay at the events surrounding the recent controversial death at King-Harbor hospital. One nurse has resigned. — In the emergency room at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, Edith Isabel Rodriguez was seen as a complainer.
Telegraph:
US surge is failing, says UK's Iraq envoy — The "troop surge" by American soldiers in Iraq is not working, one of Britain's senior military officials in Baghdad has said. — In a pessimistic assessment of the strategy designed to pull Iraq back from all-out civil war, Alastair Campbell …
Mark Steyn / National Review:
Re: Why doesn't this surprise me? — Mark, I always thought the requirement in last year's bill was pretty sweet: You had to pay two out of three years' back taxes. Most legal Americans would love that deal: Pay any two years of tax and we'll give you the third for free!
David S. Broder / Washington Post:
Western Allies In the Twilight — The two wounded warriors stood side by side in the sunshine of the White House Rose Garden. Tony Blair and George Bush, partners in a transatlantic alliance that has come a cropper in Iraq, tried to shield each other from the slings and arrows of two nations' reporters.
Associated Press:
Pelosi backs Murtha in spending dispute — WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) is defending a close Democratic ally whom Republicans want to reprimand for threatening a GOP lawmaker's spending projects. — Pelosi, D-Calif., said she had "no idea what actually happened" …