Top Items:
Opinion Journal:
Bush and Libby — The commutation is a profile in non-courage. — President Bush's commutation late yesterday afternoon of the prison sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby will at least spare his former aide from 2 1/2 years in prison. But by failing to issue a full pardon …
RELATED:
CNN:
Bush commutes Libby's prison sentence — WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush on Monday spared I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby from prison, commuting the former White House aide's 30-month prison term. — The prison time was imposed after a federal court convicted Libby of perjury …
Discussion:
New York Times, Firedoglake, TPMmuckraker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, PoliBlog (TM), No More Mister Nice Blog, Jon Swift, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, Hot Air, The Heretik, The Poor Man Institute, At-Largely, Don Surber, The Raw Story, Right Wing Nut House, Thought Theater, The Moderate Voice, Cold Fury, Jules Crittenden, The Politico, Angry Bear, All Spin Zone, New York Times, Needlenose, QandO, TalkLeft, JustOneMinute, Kevin Sullivan, About U.S. Politics, Liberal Values, Ace of Spades HQ, Political Radar, Patterico's Pontifications, Political Insider, The Daily Whim, The American Mind, Captain's Quarters, Democratic National Committee, Economist's View, JURIST, Taylor Marsh, The BRAD BLOG, The Anonymous Liberal and The Impolitic
Michael Abramowitz / Washington Post:
A Decision Made Largely Alone — President Bush limited his deliberations over commuting the prison term of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to a few close aides, opting not to consult with the Justice Department and rebuffing efforts by friends to lobby on Libby's behalf, administration officials and people close to Bush said yesterday.
Washington Post:
Too Much Mercy — IN COMMUTING I. Lewis Libby's prison sentence yesterday, President Bush took the advice of, among others, William Otis, a former federal prosecutor who wrote on the opposite page last month that Mr. Libby should neither be pardoned nor sent to prison.
Discussion:
White House, TPMmuckraker, Democrats.com, Sadly, No!, Angry Bear, The Raw Story and The American Mind
New York Times:
Bush Spares Libby From 30-Month Prison Term — President Bush spared I. Lewis Libby Jr. from prison Monday, commuting his two-and-a-half-year sentence while leaving intact his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice in the C.I.A. leak case. — Mr. Bush's action …
Speaker Pelosi / The Gavel:
A Betrayal of Trust of the American People — The President's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence does not serve justice, condones criminal conduct, and is a betrayal of trust of the American people. — The President said he would hold accountable anyone involved in the Valerie Plame leak case.
Orin Kerr / The Volokh Conspiracy:
BUSH SETS LIBBY FREE: Wow, that was fast: President Bush set …
BUSH SETS LIBBY FREE: Wow, that was fast: President Bush set …
Discussion:
Power Line, CNN, The Corner, Sentencing Law and Policy, PoliBlog (TM), TPMmuckraker and Daily Kos
The Independent:
Terror plot hatched in British hospitals — A suspected secret cell of foreign militants, believed to be linked to al-Qa'ida and using British hospitals as cover, are being questioned over the terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow. — Five of the eight people under arrest last night are said to be doctors.
RELATED:
New York Times:
U.S. Says Iran Helped Iraqis Kill Five G.I.'s — Agents of Iran helped plan a January raid in Shiite holy city of Karbala in Iraq in which five American soldiers were killed by Islamic militants, an American military spokesman said Monday. The charge was the most specific allegation …
Susie / Suburban Guerrilla:
James Capozzola, 1962-2007 — Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, — Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, — Silence the pianos and with muffled drum — Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. — "Funeral Blues," W.H. Auden. — My friend Jim died this evening.
Wall Street Journal:
How Conservatives Enhanced Online Voice — Talk Radio Blends — With Blog Postings — To Boost Message — Political activism on the Internet — and in the so-called blogosphere, in particular — has long been considered a liberal stronghold. But conservative bloggers show increasing signs of their own coming of age.
Discussion:
The Caucus
RELATED:
Digby / Hullabaloo:
"A Man Like This" — I don't know about you, but I was quite moved by this part of Bush's commutation statement. In fact I almost cried: … He is compassionate after all, isn't he? Thirty months is just too excessive. Well, at least when it comes to the right kind of people: He has different plans for everyone else:
RELATED:
CBS News:
Al Qaeda In Iraq Behind U.K. Bomb Plot? — Sources Tell CBS News Suspects Recruited By Leader Of Terror Group's Iraq Branch — (CBS/AP) British intelligence services increasingly believe that the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow bare the fingerprints of al Qaeda in Iraq, CBS News has learned.
Byron Dziva / Telegraph:
Mugabe's 'inflation police' raid shopkeepers — Plain-clothes police sought to enforce Zimbabwe's new price controls by raiding shops yesterday as President Robert Mugabe's regime waged a desperate struggle against soaring inflation. — They roughed up shop owners and staff and arrested 20 businessmen.
Tom Hester Jr / Associated Press:
N.J. Confiscates 4 Tons of Pa. Fireworks — Amid continued fretting about a Pennsylvania law that allows New Jersey residents to buy fireworks that are illegal in the Garden State, New Jersey state police have confiscated nearly 8,000 pounds of fireworks ahead of Independence Day.
Kana Inagaki / Associated Press:
Japan's defense minister quits over A-bomb gaffe — TOKYO — Japan's defense minister resigned under an avalanche of criticism today for suggesting that the United States was justified in dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki because the attacks saved Japan from a Soviet invasion.
Discussion:
Jules Crittenden
Richard Cohen / Washington Post:
A Local Lesson That Democrats Fail — The eight Democratic presidential candidates assembled in Washington last week for another of their debates and talked, among other things, about public education. They all essentially agreed that it was underfunded — one system "for the wealthy, one for everybody else," as John Edwards put it.