Top Items:
CNN:
Deadline pulled from war funding bill … WASHINGTON (CNN) — Speaker Nancy Pelosi will present a plan to House Democrats for a war funding bill that won't include a timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq but will feature benchmarks with consequences, according to Democratic leadership aides.
Discussion:
Daily Kos, New York Times, Firedoglake, Election Central, TalkLeft, Oliver Willis and Gay Patriot
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Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Democrats Drop Troop Pullout Dates From Iraq Bill — Congressional Democrats relented today on their insistence that a war spending measure sought by President Bush also set a date for withdrawing troops from Iraq. The decision to back down, described by senior lawmakers and aides …
Laura Litvan / Bloomberg:
Lieberman, Sticking With Democrats for Now, Warns Them on Iraq — Senator Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, says his disagreement with the Democrats over the Iraq war won't prevent him from working with his former party. For now. — ``I hope the moment doesn't come that I feel …
Discussion:
GregsOpinion.com, The Impolitic, Sirotablog, The Strata-Sphere, Prairie Weather, Washington Monthly and Brian Beutler
Senator Russ Feingold / Daily Kos:
A Collapse for Democrats — I wanted to link to a couple really good posts that I've seen in the past few days about the Democrats' strategy on the Iraq supplemental spending bill. They drive home what a mistake it is to just give up and pass a supplemental that doesn't include language to stop the war:
Discussion:
Baltimore Sun, Crooks and Liars, Don Surber, Riehl World View, DownWithTyranny!, Taylor Marsh and TalkLeft
Jay Carney / TIME: Swampland:
Iraq Funding: Democrats Will Split. Pelosi to Vote No?
Iraq Funding: Democrats Will Split. Pelosi to Vote No?
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars
David Espo / Associated Press:
Agreement near on Iraq funding bill
Agreement near on Iraq funding bill
Discussion:
CNN Political Ticker, Pam's House Blend, The Carpetbagger Report, Brilliant at Breakfast, AMERICAblog, Op For and QandO
Pew Research Center:
Muslim Americans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream — War on Terror Concerns — The first-ever, nationwide, random sample survey of Muslim Americans finds them to be largely assimilated, happy with their lives, and moderate with respect to many of the issues that have divided Muslims and Westerners around the world.
Discussion:
Angry Bear, Dean's World, Atlas Shrugs, On Deadline, Abu Aardvark, The Gun Toting Liberal™, Little Green Footballs, TIME and Silflay Hraka
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Alan Fram / Associated Press:
Some US Muslims say suicide attacks OK — WASHINGTON - One in four younger U.S. Muslims said in a poll that suicide bombings to defend their religion are acceptable at least in some circumstances, though most Muslim Americans overwhelmingly reject the tactic and are critical of Islamic extremism and al-Qaida.
ABCNEWS:
Bomb Plot Thwarted at Falwell's Funeral — Student Arrested With Homemade Bombs, Three Other Suspects Sought — Even in death, the Rev. Jerry Falwell rouses the most volatile of emotions. — A small group of protesters gathered near the funeral services to criticize the man …
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The Blotter:
Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran — Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report: — The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.
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Stewart M. Powell / San Francisco Chronicle:
Bush could double force by Christmas — (05-22) 04:00 PDT Washington — The Bush administration is quietly on track to nearly double the number of combat troops in Iraq this year, an analysis of Pentagon deployment orders showed Monday. — The little-noticed second surge …
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Stewart M. Powell / Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
U.S. quietly, dramatically increasing Iraq troop levels — WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is quietly on track to nearly double the number of combat troops in Iraq this year, an analysis of Pentagon deployment orders showed Monday. — This "second surge" of troops in Iraq …
Discussion:
Firedoglake
Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
A SECOND SURGE?....I don't even remember where I first saw this now …
A SECOND SURGE?....I don't even remember where I first saw this now …
Discussion:
Bring it On!
Faiz / Think Progress:
Snow Slams Gore's Book, Says It Should Be 'Reprinted' Because It Calls Out Bush's 'Deception' — In his new book The Assault on Reason, Al Gore wrote that Bush's efforts to connect Iraq to 9/11 were an example of the administration's willful "deception" of the public:
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Scott Lemieux / American Prospect:
The group blog of The American Prospect — PRE-SUFFRAGETTE CITY. Jill Filipovic points us to this Times article about the new strategy to justify using state coercion to force women to carry pregnancies to term by claiming that women are too irrational to know what's good for them, and offers a modest proposal.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns and Money, Ezra Klein, Shakesville, Bring it On!, Brilliant at Breakfast, Dohiyi Mir and New York Times
Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:
Today's Must Read — OK, so you knew Duke Cunningham was dirty, but you didn't know that he was this dirty. — The Wrong Stuff: The Extraordinary Saga of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the Most Corrupt Congressman Ever Caught, the book about Cunningham by the reporters who brought him down, hits stores this coming Monday.
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Justin Rood Reports / The Blotter:
U.S. Government Gave Airtime to Terrorists, Official Admits — Justin Rood Reports: — Al Hurra television, the U.S. government's $63 million-a-year effort at public diplomacy broadcasting in the Middle East, is run by executives and officials who cannot speak Arabic, according to a senior official who oversees the program.
Daniel Friedman / Federal Times:
GSA chief violated Hatch Act, OSC report finds — An Office of Special Counsel report has found that General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal officials from partisan political activity while on the job, sources say.
Discussion:
Firedoglake