Top Items:
New York Times:
Mining of Data Prompted Fight Over Spying — A 2004 dispute over the National Security Agency's secret surveillance program that led top Justice Department officials to threaten resignation involved computer searches through massive electronic databases, according to current and former officials briefed on the program.
RELATED:
New York Times:
Mr. Gonzales's Never-Ending Story — President Bush often insists he has to be the decider — ignoring Congress and the public when it comes to the tough matters on war, terrorism and torture, even deciding whether an ordinary man in Florida should be allowed to let his wife die with dignity.
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Not that he... NYT: IMPEACH GONZALES — Not that he should be fired. The Times editorial in tomorrow's paper says he should be impeached if Paul Clement, who for a complicated set of reasons is acting AG in this matter, doesn't appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Gonzales' numerous and increasingly overlapping bad acts.
Discussion:
The RBC
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
As you can... DATA MINING — As you can see, we now have the first hint of what was at the center of the Ashcroft hospital room showdown. According to the New York Times, what the White House calls the 'terrorist surveillance [i.e., warrantless wiretap] program' originally included some sort of largescale data mining.
Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
I Guess He Should Have Just Burned A Flag — This will make for a fascinating prosecution: … Well, if had burned an American flag the issues would be clear. If he had put a crucifix in a glass of urine, it would have been art. — On the other hand, a book in a toilet, regardless of the book …
RELATED:
The Age:
Freed Guantanamo inmates take up arms — AT LEAST 30 former Guantanamo Bay detainees have been killed or recaptured after taking up arms against allied forces following their release. — They have been discovered mostly in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but not in Iraq, a US Defence Department spokesman told The Age yesterday.
baldilocks:
A New Kind of "Chickenhawk" — When I said yesterday that most of Beauchamp's defenders had sense enough to steer clear of the milbloggers, I had no idea that Columbia Journalism Review's Paul McLeary had run out into the open, bare-a** naked. … (Emphasis mine.)
Peter Beaumont / Observer:
Amputations bring new crisis to Iraq — Iraq is facing a hidden healthcare and social crisis over the soaring number of amputations, largely of lower limbs, necessitated by the daily explosions and violence gripping the country. — In the north of Iraq, the Red Crescent Society …
Discussion:
Cliff Schecter
Garry Kasparov / Opinion Journal:
Don Putin — To understand today's Russia, read "The Godfather." — When Vladimir Putin took power in Russia in 2000, the burning question was: "Who is Putin?" It has now changed to: "What is the nature of Putin's Russia?" This regime has been remarkably consistent in its behavior …
Discussion:
The Volokh Conspiracy
Steve Benen / Talking Points Memo:
In reviewing Ian... CONFLATING ALL OUR ENEMIES INTO ONE — In reviewing Ian Shapiro's new book, Containment: Rebuilding a Strategy Against Global Terror, Samantha Powers emphasizes a point that has been completely lost on Republican presidential candidates (and the man they hope to replace):
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
RELATED:
Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:DIVIDE AND CONQUER....In a review/essay critiquing both the phraseology …
Discussion:
TPMCafe blogs
Paul Simons / Times of London:
Musharraf risks civil war as he invades the Al-Qaeda badlands — Pakistan's president takes on the Islamic militants who have set up a rogue state on his country's wild north — IN North Waziristan, the wild border land that America hopes will be Osama Bin Laden's graveyard …
Washington Post:
Bush Aide Blocked Report — A surgeon general's report in 2006 that called on Americans to help tackle global health problems has been kept from the public by a Bush political appointee without any background or expertise in medicine or public health, chiefly because the report did not promote …
Discussion:
The Gun Toting Liberal™
Ray Massey / Daily Mail:
Arab princesses kicked off British Airways plane to jeers and whistles after refusing to sit next to male strangers — Three Arab princesses were thrown off a packed British Airways flight after refusing to sit next to male passengers they didn't know. — The dispute - in which the three princesses …
Damien McElroy / Telegraph:
Iraqi leader tells Bush: Get Gen Petraeus out — Relations between the top United States general in Iraq and Nouri al-Maliki, the country's prime minister, are so bad that the Iraqi leader made a direct appeal for his removal to President George W Bush. — Although the call was rejected …
Washington Post:
Fewer See Balance in High Court Decisions — Growing Numbers In Poll Say Bench Is 'Too Conservative' — About half of the public thinks the Supreme Court is generally balanced in its decisions, but a growing number of Americans say the court has become "too conservative" …
Benjamin Nugent / New York Times:
Who's a Nerd, Anyway? — What is a nerd? Mary Bucholtz, a linguist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has been working on the question for the last 12 years. She has gone to high schools and colleges, mainly in California, and asked students from different crowds …
Discussion:
Unqualified Offerings
The Atlantic Online:
"Partisan" — On top of whatever else has been said, Anne-Marie Slaughter's Post op-ed seems to involve an odd definition of "partisan" … Say what you will about this stuff, but none of it is partisan. Bolton was, after all, perfectly correct to say that the deal Nick Burns struck …
RELATED:
Output Producer, CA — 
China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — 
Senior Assignment Editor, DC — 
Breaking News Editor, Tokyo — 
Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — 
Reporter - Ottawa Bureau — 
Local Government Reporter, IA — 
Research Director, CA — 
Immigration Enforcement Reporter — 
Presque Island Reporter, ME — 
Contributing Parks Ed. - SW, CA — 
AI Content Editor, WA — 
Legislative Reporter, TN — 
Editorial Assistant, Remote US — 
Elon Musk Reporter, NY or CA — 
Government & Politics Editor, WA — 
Business & GA Reporter. VT — 
Sports Reporter, WA — 
Energy Reporter, TX — 
Senior Reporter, SC — 
Trade & Climate Correspondent, DC — 
Reporter, WI — 
Political Newsletter Writer, CO — 
Jackson Reporter, MS — 
Music Editor, AZ — 
Breaking News Reporter, NV — 
Fearless Reporter/Producer, IA — 
Reporter II - Technology, Remote — 
Editor, Remote US — 
City Reporter, WA — 
Executive Editor, OR — 
Education & Budget Reporter, CA — 
Senior Writer/Editor, FL — 
Media Editor, Remote — 
