Top Items:
New York Times:
Bloomberg Severs G.O.P. Ties, Fueling Talk of '08 Bid — Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced Tuesday that he was dropping his Republican affiliation, a step that could clear the way for him to make an independent bid for the presidency. — The announcement was released during …
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Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
N.Y. Mayor Bloomberg Leaves GOP — Move Fuels Speculation About Independent Bid for the White House — New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg abruptly left the Republican Party yesterday, declaring himself free of a "rigid adherence" to ideology and stoking speculation that he will use …
Ben Smith / The Politico:
Billion-dollar elephant inches toward run — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg revealed Monday that he has ended his marriage of convenience with the Republican Party, thrusting himself firmly onto the national stage as a potential independent candidate for president - a billion-dollar elephant in the room of presidential politics.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Bush Will Pair Veto With New Cell Initiative — President Bush will issue an executive order intended to encourage scientific advances in regenerative medicine, according to senior White House officials who said Mr. Bush would announce the initiative on Wednesday, just as he vetoes a measure promoting embryonic stem cell research.
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Michael Cook / TCS Daily:
Will a Disruptive Technology Mothball Therapeutic Cloning?
Will a Disruptive Technology Mothball Therapeutic Cloning?
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Clayton Cramer's BLOG
Quinnipiac University News and Events:
June 20, 2007 - Clinton Tops Giuliani, Bloomberg In New York State, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Thompson Tops McCain Among Republicans — In a hypothetical all-New York presidential race, Sen. Hillary Clinton wins with 43 percent of voters statewide, followed by former …
Byron York / National Review:
Hillary Clinton Booed Again — Sen. Hillary Clinton was booed again this morning at the Take Back America conference, sponsored by the lefty activist group Campaign for America's Future here in Washington. At this same conference last year, Sen. Clinton was booed for her position on the war in Iraq.
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The Huffington Post
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Ryan Lizza / The New Republic:
RICHARDSON'S LATEST: — Yesterday at the Take Back America conference Bill Richardson attacked his Democratic primary opponents for supporting recent legislation on Iraq. Said Richardson: … What is the nefarious legislation Richardson's opponents supported?
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report, Taegan Goddard's …, The Atlantic Online, Transterrestrial Musings and Hot Air
Los Angeles Times:
Passports, answers in high demand — Travelers and lawmakers are asking why officials weren't ready for the rush caused by post-9/11 regulations. — Desperate to obtain their U.S. passports, world travelers have been flying to Seattle, where the passport office is considered one of the nation's most efficient.
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National Lampoon Humor Network:
National Lampoon's 72 Virgins — Two idiot college students unwittingly join an Al Qaeda cell in order to get the 72 virgins promised to terrorists when they die. From the makers of Animal House, Van Wilder, and the Vacation movies. Join the Jihad at NationalLampoon.com!
Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:
U.S. Seeks to Block Exits for Iraq Insurgents — In more than four years in Iraq, American forces have been confounded by insurgents who have often slipped away only to fight another day. The war in Iraq has been likened to the arcade game of whack-a-mole, where as soon as you knock down one mole another pops up.
David Weigel / Reason Magazine:
A Spoiler Passes the Torch — Last night New York Mayor (and noted ubermensch) Michael Bloomberg skunked his GOP registration card and became an independent, presumably setting up a 2008 run for president. As luck would have it I had talked with 1996/2000/2004 Green Party/independent …
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The Atlantic Online, Time, CNN Political Ticker, Washington Post and Lawyers, Guns and Money
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Ladies and Gentlemen, Digby — From the Take Back America conference — Joe Wilson, Digby, Rick Perlstein. — No Trackbacks to "Ladies and Gentlemen, Digby" — dakine01 says: … SeamusD says: … Joe Klein's conscience says: … Jane Hamsher says:
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny!, Blue Gal, The American Street, Shakesville, The Sideshow and NO QUARTER
Ahmed Yousef / New York Times:
What Hamas Wants — THE events in Gaza over the last few days have been described in the West as a coup. In essence, they have been the opposite. Eighteen months ago, our Hamas Party won the Palestinian parliamentary elections and entered office under Prime Minister Ismail Haniya …
The Politico:
Edwards looks to N.H. to stay alive — John Edwards, battling signs he may be left behind by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, is seeking to reinvigorate his candidacy with a new focus on New Hampshire and a renewed emphasis on his populist "two Americas" message, advisers say.
Alex Spillius / Telegraph:
Two for the price of one, if Hillary wins — If Americans elect Hillary Clinton as president next year they will also be re-electing her husband Bill, according to the author of a new biography of the former First Lady. — Carl Bernstein, one of the reporters who broke the Watergate scandal …
Danny Kemp / Agence France Presse:
Muslims hold new protests against Rushdie knighthood — ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Anger mounted in the Muslim world Wednesday over Britain's knighthood for novelist Salman Rushdie, with protests spreading to Malaysia for the first time and fresh demonstrations in Pakistan.
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs
Matthew Yglesias / Guardian:
How to lose Afghanistan — Air strikes against a counter-insurgency should be a last resort. But the US is undertaking them - and creating more enemies. — A headline like Seven afghan children killed in US-led airstrike, which I read in Monday's New York Times, can't help but make you angry.
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The Atlantic Online
Emmanuel Sivan / Haaretz:
Thus are reports about the Mideast generated — A friend of mine, a Lebanese journalist, tells the following story: — Three years ago, when his country was under Syrian control, he was stopped at a surprise Syrian roadblock north of Beirut. A strong-looking mustachioed officer asked to see his papers.
Steve Herman / Associated Press:
Simulation finds 9/11 fireproofing key — INDIANAPOLIS - A computer simulation of the 2001 World Trade Center attacks supports a federal agency's findings that the initial impact from the hijacked airplanes stripped away crucial fireproofing material and that the weakened towers collapsed under their own weight.