memeorandum: Fed bends rules to help two big banks (Peter Eavis/Fortune)

10:15 PM ET, August 24, 2007

Top Items:

BREAKING: FIDEL CASTRO IS DEAD — My cellphone has not stopped ringing for the past ten minutes. Various sources inform that an announcement will come within the next few minutes from the Cuban government on Cuban TV and media. Stay tuned and we'll see if we've been manipulated once again …

Discussion: Blog P.I., Perez Hilton, Hot Air, A Blog For All, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Wonkette, The Jawa Report, Sister Toldjah, The American Pundit, JammieWearingFool, The Big Blog, Blue Crab Boulevard, The American Mind and Hog On Ice

WTVJ-TV:

Cuba Foreign Minister Says Castro Health Rumors Untrue — 4 p.m. Update — U.S. Senior officials said that while there are reports on setbacks in Fidel Castro's health, there are no indications that his death is imminent. — Nothing unusual has been reported from Havana.

Discussion: GINA COBB, Government Bytes, Truthdig and Perez Hilton

The Age:

Cuban FM dispels rumors about Castro — Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque today said President Fidel Castro was still recovering from his operation last year and was keeping busy, having personally instructed him on his visit to Brazil. — While attending the Forum …

Discussion: The American Pundit

Perez Hilton: The Truth Will Come Out — We stand by our story 100%.

Chris Christoff / Detroit Free Press:

Hoekstra says Iraq democracy strategy is doomed to fail — EAST LANSING - The U.S. effort to install a democracy in Iraq within three to five years was a flawed strategy with little chance of succeeding, U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra said Friday. — The Holland Republican said the Iraq government needs …

Discussion: The Newshoggers

Thom Shanker / New York Times:

Number of Iraqis Held by U.S. Is Swelling — The number of detainees held by the American-led military coalition in Iraq has swelled by 50 percent under the troop increase ordered by President Bush, with the inmate population growing from 16,000 in February to 24,500 today, according to American military officers in Iraq.

Discussion: On Deadline and Booman Tribune

Dan Froomkin / Washington Post:
The Lost Year — A new national intelligence estimate concludes …

Discussion: Brilliant at Breakfast and New York Times

Matt / Think Progress:
Kristol: Let's 'Stretch Our Army And Marines' For 'Another Year Or So' In Iraq

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, About.com U.S. Politics, FP Passport, Consortiumnews.com, Northwest Progressive …, Riehl World View, CNN, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, DownWithTyranny!, National Review and Watching Those We Chose

Faiz / thinkprogress.org:
Is The Prospect Of Withdrawal Responsible For The Modest Security Gains In Iraq?

Discussion: The Next Hurrah, Northwest Progressive …, Ezra Klein and Hot Air

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
THE ANBAR AWAKENING....Josh Patashnik has other problems …

Discussion: Middle Earth Journal, The Carpetbagger Report and Washington Post

National Review Online:
Editors: The Democrats Counsel of Despair

Discussion: Wake up America and The New Republic

Geoff Earle / New York Post:

HILL: TERROR WOULD BE GOP BOOST — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday raised the prospect of a terror attack before next year's election, warning that it could boost the GOP's efforts to hold on to the White House. — Discussing the possibility of a new nightmare assault while campaigning …

The Atlantic Online:

Policy Failure: Good for the GOP? — This is, I think, a disaster: … Two points in response. The first is that I think the Democrat best positioned to deal with GOP political mobilization in a post-attack environment is going to be the one who isn't reflexively inclined …

Discussion: Open Left, Needlenose, Shakespeare's Sister, D-Day, Talking Points Memo, TIME: Swampland, Ezra Klein, Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Corrente and democracyarsenal.org

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters: Politicizing Terror — One of the accusations commonly tossed …

Janine Zacharia / Bloomberg:

Brzezinski Embraces Obama Over Clinton for President — Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) — Zbigniew Brzezinski, one of the most influential foreign-policy experts in the Democratic Party, threw his support behind Barack Obama's presidential candidacy, saying the Illinois senator has a better global grasp than his chief rival, Hillary Clinton.

Discussion: New York Times, Don Surber and Liberal Values

PewResearch.org:
A Study in Contrasts: Clinton and Guiliani

Discussion: Washington Wire, Outside The Beltway and Open Left

Spencer Ackerman / TPMmuckraker:

Allawi's Muscle: The CIA-Controlled Iraqi National Intelligence Service — Alleged billion dollar thief Hazem Shaalan isn't Ayad Allawi's only infamous friend. Allawi is also a close ally of the head of Iraq's largest intelligence service — a man who takes his billions from Washington, not Baghdad.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Taylor Marsh, Talking Points Memo, War and Piece, Prairie Weather and Associated Press

Christina Davidson / iraqslogger.com:
Fmr Bush Iraq Envoy Helping Undermine Maliki

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, Make Them Accountable, Salon, Political Punch, The Sideshow, Center for Media and Democracy, The Liberal Avenger, D-Day, On Deadline, Rising Hegemon and New York Times

Justin Rood Reports / The Blotter:
Iraqi With CIA Ties Hires D.C. Lobby Firm

Discussion: Outside The Beltway and The Carpetbagger Report

Faiz / Think Progress:

White House Moving The Goal Posts On Escalation, Drops Demands For Iraqi Political Reconciliation — When President Bush announced the escalation on January 10, 2007, he claimed the purpose of adding more troops into Iraq's civil war was to enable political reconciliation:

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Daily Kos, D-Day and democracyarsenal.org

White House: Press Gaggle by Gordon Johndroe

Robert Naiman / The Huffington Post:

Another Iraq-Vietnam Link: Many Killed By U.S. War — I was quite delighted that President Bush brought up the topic of the relationship between the U.S. war in Iraq and the U.S. war in Vietnam. I was about to bring up the subject myself. — Just Foreign Policy has been working to put …

Byron York / The Corner: "The Aftermath of Saigon's Fall Is Rarely Dealt With At All."

Brian Baird / Seattle Times:

Our troops have earned more time — The invasion of Iraq may be one of the worst foreign-policy mistakes in the history of our nation. As tragic and costly as that mistake has been, a precipitous or premature withdrawal of our forces now has the potential to turn the initial errors …

Discussion: Don Surber, Northwest Progressive …, TPMCafe blogs, Wake up America, Liberty Street, Gay Patriot, neo-neocon, The Influence Peddler, Flopping Aces, Blue Crab Boulevard, Weekly Standard, Say Anything, Macsmind, Associated Press, michellemalkin.com and Political Radar

The Independent:

Robert Fisk: Even I question the 'truth' about 9/11 — Each time I lecture abroad on the Middle East, there is always someone in the audience - just one - whom I call the "raver". Apologies here to all the men and women who come to my talks with bright and pertinent questions …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters

Josh Kraushaar / The Politico:

Liberal blogger targets 'Bush Dog' Dems — A leading liberal blogger has declared political war against centrist Democrats - the latest move in an intensifying show of dissatisfaction with the Democratic Congress by the once-friendly blogosphere. — Matt Stoller, who blogs …

Discussion: ArchPundit, Booman Tribune, The Reaction, Liberty Pundit, The American Street and Ian Schwartz

Peter Eavis / Fortune:

Fed bends rules to help two big banks — If the Federal Reserve is waiving a fundamental principle in banking regulation, the credit crunch must still be sapping the strength of America's biggest banks. Fortune's Peter Eavis documents an unusual Fed move.

The Raw Story:

CIA said to step up operations against Iran as hawks seek to tie Iraq bombs to Tehran — In an effort to build congressional and Pentagon support for military options against Iran, the Bush administration has shifted from its earlier strategy of building a case based on an alleged Iranian …

Discussion: Pandagon, The American Street and At-Largely