Top Items:
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Strike Two — For Barack Obama, it was strike two. And this one was a right-down-the-middle question from a YouTuber in Monday night's South Carolina debate: "Would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, in Washington or anywhere else …
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The Corner:
Hazleton, Pa. — A federal judge has ruled in favor of the ACLU against Hazleton, Pa., saying that the city's immigration-control ordinances are "unconstitutional," whatever that's supposed to mean this week. My research director was called as a witness by attorneys for the city …
Discussion:
Day In, Day Out
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Amy Lorentzen / Associated Press:
Romney: Americans angry with Iraq war — ADEL, Iowa - Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said Friday that the country is angry over the lack of progress in the Iraq war, a stinging assessment of the Bush administration's handling of the conflict from a Republican candidate.
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Jose Antonio Vargas / Washington Post:
But Don't Ask Him on YouTube... Four days after the Democratic debate …
But Don't Ask Him on YouTube... Four days after the Democratic debate …
Discussion:
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Opinion Journal:
Wiretap Debacle — How politics has gutted the terrorist surveillance program. — The U.S. homeland hasn't been struck by terrorists since September 11, and one reason may be more aggressive intelligence policies. So Americans should be alarmed that one of the best intelligence tools …
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Washington Post:
FBI Chief Disputes Gonzales On Spying — FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III yesterday contradicted the sworn testimony of his boss, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, by telling Congress that a prominent warrantless surveillance program was the subject of a dramatic legal debate within the Bush administration.
Eugene Robinson / Washington Post:
Bedtime for Gonzo — It's way past bedtime for Gonzo.
Bedtime for Gonzo — It's way past bedtime for Gonzo.
Discussion:
New York Times, The Corner, The Moderate Voice, The Heretik, Crooks and Liars, Firedoglake, DownWithTyranny! and The Caucus
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Army Private Discloses He Is New Republic's Baghdad Diarist — The New Republic's anonymous "Baghdad Diarist" identified himself yesterday as Scott Thomas Beauchamp, an Army private in Iraq, and disputed as "maddening" accusations that he had invented his accounts of cruelty by American soldiers.
Los Angeles Times:
U.S. drops Baghdad electricity reports — The daily length of time that residents have power has dropped. The figure is considered a key indicator of quality of life. — WASHINGTON — washington — As the Bush administration struggles to convince lawmakers that its Iraq war strategy is working …
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Matt / thinkprogress.org:
Novak's heaven: A 'place where there are no blogs.' — "I'm 76 years old, and pretty soon I'm going to a place where there are no blogs," said conservative pundit Robert Novak at an American Spectator breakfast on Thursday morning. Speaking of the land beyond, Novak added …
Discussion:
The Next Hurrah
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Examiner:
Novak Tome Could Have Been 'Bible Length' — Columnist Robert Novak said Thursday morning that the draft manuscript of his recently released autobiography, "Bob Novak and the Deathly Hallows" ... er, sorry, "The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington" (can't get Harry Potter out of our heads), ran to about 1,400 pages.
Michael Gerson / Washington Post:
The Kind Of Village It Takes — Recent books and studies seem to indicate disturbing sexual trends among evangelical Christians. And this time we're not talking about their pastors or political leaders. The new attention is on evangelical teenagers, who reportedly start sex earlier than their mainline Protestant peers.
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Spencer Ackerman / TPMmuckraker:
Today's Must Read — Was Pat Tillman murdered? — Stunning as it is to contemplate, the Associated Press obtained Pentagon documents through the Freedom of Information Act showing that investigators looked into whether the athlete-turned-soldier might have been deliberately killed in 2004 …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times
Michael Burleigh / Times of London:
Lawyers sap our will to combat terrorism — We lack the toughness of our European neighbours — Many jihadis seek to create a global caliphate, ruled by Sharia. At best, Christians, Hindus, and Jews would live in a state of submission tantamount to second-class citizenship.
Discussion:
Tim Worstall
Guardian:
Violence won't work: how author of 'jihadists' bible' stirred up a storm — Revisionist message from prison cell shakes al-Qaida colleagues — Ian Black Cairo — The assassination of the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1981 by Islamic militants, a key moment in the development of jihadist groups.
Colleen Jenkins / St. Petersburg Times:
Freed man still in limbo … Mark O'Hara clutches his only belongings, his legal papers, as he uses a borrowed cell phone Wednesday in an attempt to get a ride home to Dunedin from the Orient Road Jail in Tampa. — Times] — TAMPA - Mark O'Hara left jail without handcuffs Wednesday …
Mark Murray / MSNBC:
FOX PRODUCER JOINS TEAM FRED — From NBC's Mike Viqueira — The word spreading all over Capitol Hill today is that longtime Fox senior congressional producer Jim Mills is leaving his booth on the House side to join the Fred Thompson quasi-campaign as spokesman.
David E. Sanger / New York Times:
U.S. Announces Nuclear Exception for India — Three years after President Bush urged global rules to stop additional nations from making nuclear fuel, the State Department today announced that the administration is carving out an exception for India, in a last-ditch effort to seal a civilian nuclear deal between the countries.