Top Items:
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:
Vice President Exempts His Office from the Requirements for Protecting Classified Information — The Oversight Committee has learned that over the objections of the National Archives, Vice President Cheney exempted his office from the presidential order that establishes government-wide procedures …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, Threat Level, Blast Off!, Donklephant, Secrecy News, All Spin Zone, Shakesville, Obsidian Wings, Macsmind, On Deadline, Salon, Hullabaloo, The Mahablog and The Moderate Voice
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Justin Rood Reports / The Blotter:
Cheney Power Grab: Says White House Rules Don't Apply to Him — Justin Rood Reports: — Vice President Dick Cheney has asserted his office is not a part of the executive branch of the U.S. government, and therefore not bound by a presidential order governing the protection of classified information …
Discussion:
Scholars and Rogues, The Democratic Daily, The Agonist, Truthdig, AMERICAblog, TIME: Swampland and A Spork in the Drawer
Jesse Lee / The Gavel:
Oversight Committee on the Vice President and Classified Information — From the Oversight and Government Reform Committee: … * Letter from National Archives to the Attorney General (pdf) — * Second Letter from National Archives to the Vice President's Office (pdf)
Marcus Mabry / Newsweek:
Poll: Bush hits lowest approval rating of presidency — President Bush registers the lowest approval rating of his presidency—making him the least popular president since Nixon—in the new NEWSWEEK Poll. — Iraq isn't the only issue dragging Bush's approval ratings down
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Associated Press:
White House near decision to close Guantanamo — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration is nearing a decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and move the terror suspects there to military prisons elsewhere, The Associated Press has learned.
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Mark Benjamin / Salon:
The CIA's torture teachers — Psychologists helped the CIA exploit a secret military program to develop brutal interrogation tactics — likely with the approval of the Bush White House. — A detainee is escorted by military police at Camp 4 of the maximum security prison Camp Delta …
Discussion:
The Next Hurrah
Bill Roggio / The Fourth Rail:
Operation Phantom Thunder: The Battle of Iraq — Baghdad and the Belts. Red bordered units identified as active in offensive operations. Click map to view. — A status update on the operations in the Baghdad Belts and beyond — Operation Phantom Thunder, the name of the overarching operation …
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Joe Klein / Time:
Turning on al-Qaeda in Baquba
Turning on al-Qaeda in Baquba
Discussion:
New York Times, Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, Confederate Yankee, The Strata-Sphere and FOB Tacoma
David Stout / New York Times:
Senate Approves Stricter Fuel Standards for Autos — The Senate voted this evening to raise fuel-economy requirements for cars and sport utility vehicles, demanding that they get 35 miles per gallon by 2020. — The lawmakers first announced their agreement on raising the standards …
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Faiz / Think Progress:
Breaking: Senate Judiciary Committee Authorizes Subpoenas For NSA Domestic Spying Documents — The Senate Judiciary Committee just voted 13-3 to authorize chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to issue subpoenas for documents related to the NSA warrantless surveillance program.
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report
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Geoffrey Wheatcroft / Slate:
RUSHDIE'S KNIGHTHOOD REIGNITES "SALMANOPHOBIA" AT HOME AND ABROAD. — "I am delighted for him," Ian McEwan said, when told that his friend and fellow novelist Salman Rushdie had been knighted. "He's a wonderful writer, and this sends a firm message to the book-burners and their appeasers."
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Scott McLemee / Jobs, News and Views …:
Mass Culture 2.0 — This month, Encyclopedia Britannica's blog is serializing a commentary on the cultural effects of Web 2.0. The author, Michael Gorman, is dean of library services at California State University at Fresno and a former president of the American Library Association.
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Roger Simon / The Politico:
Nader ponders run, calls Clinton 'coward' — Ralph Nader says he is seriously considering running for president in 2008 because he foresees another Tweedledum-Tweedledee election that offers little real choice to voters. — "You know the two parties are still converging …
Discussion:
Obsidian Wings, USA Today, Washington Post, Associated Press, Newsday, ProfessorBainbridge.com ®, QandO, Reason Magazine, The Gun Toting Liberal™, PrezVid, Althouse, The Mahablog, The Reaction, Outside The Beltway, Captain's Quarters, US News, culturekitchen, MSNBC, Liberal Values, The Carpetbagger Report, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Moderate Voice, Air America Radio, WTF Is It Now?? and Lawyers, Guns and Money
Max Blumenthal:
The Film Take Back America Took Back — As a result of the attention surrounding my film about the 2007 Conservative Political Action Conference-it was a YouTube hit-the liberal Campaign for America's Future asked me to produce a similar video about their annual conference, Take Back America (TBA), held in Washington.
Ulrike Putz / Spiegel Online:
A Visit to Fatah's Torture Chamber — A building formerly occupied by Fatah's intelligence service in Gaza was long notorious for torture and execution. Now Hamas is in control — and is letting former inmates visit the chamber of horrors. — The cells are small, perhaps six feet by six feet …
Deacon / Power Line:
WHERE BIAS AND CLUELESSNESS INTERSECT — MSNBC features a report on the campaign contributions by MSM journalists. The report is based on the public records of the Federal Election Commission. I doubt anyone will be surprised to learn that of the 144 journalists who made political contributions …
Discussion:
TIME, Captain's Quarters, Townhall.com, National Review, Clayton Cramer's BLOG and Reason Magazine
obama.senate.gov:
Obama Announces FY08 Federal Funding Requests — Discloses earmarks to improve government transparency — WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today announced that he had requested federal funding for the following projects, in the amounts designated by his constituents …
Carl Levin / Washington Post:
Lincoln's Example for Iraq — In his only term in Congress, Abraham Lincoln was an ardent opponent of the Mexican War. He introduced a series of resolutions that challenged President James Polk to show the "spot" of American soil on which Mexicans had spilled American blood …
Jonathan Singer / MyDD:
MyDD Interview with Nancy Pelosi — Yesterday morning, Wednesday June 20, I had the opportunity to sit down for a few minutes with the Speaker of the United States House, Nancy Pelosi. — During the interview, which immediately followed Speaker Pelosi's speech at the Take Back America conference …