memeorandum: Cuban FM dispels rumors about Castro (The Age)

12:55 AM ET, August 25, 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: Hot Air, Perez Hilton, A Blog For All, Blog P.I., The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Associated Press, Wonkette, The Jawa Report, Stop The ACLU, The American Pundit, Blue Crab Boulevard, JammieWearingFool, Jules Crittenden, Sister Toldjah, The Big Blog, 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: Pajamas Media, GINA COBB, Government Bytes, Perez Hilton and Truthdig

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 and RADAMISTO

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

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

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

Discussion: National Review Online, Middle Earth Journal, The New Republic, The Carpetbagger Report and Washington Post

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?

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

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, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Jules Crittenden, TigerHawk, Don Surber and Liberal Values

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

Discussion: Open Left, Washington Wire and Outside The Beltway

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, Prairie Weather, Taylor Marsh, Talking Points Memo and War and Piece

Megan Greenwell / Washington Post:
3 Secular Iraqis in Cabinet to Formally Resign

Discussion: Daily Kos and Prairie Weather

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

Discussion: The Blotter, TPMmuckraker, Think Progress, Make Them Accountable, Center for Media and Democracy, Political Punch, The Sideshow, Outside The Beltway, Salon, The Liberal Avenger, The Carpetbagger Report, D-Day, On Deadline and Prairie Weather

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: The Carpetbagger Report, D-Day, Daily Kos and democracyarsenal.org

White House: Press Gaggle by Gordon Johndroe

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 …

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Isn't Robert Fisk A Journalist?

Discussion: Hot Air and TigerHawk

ESPN:

Vick suspended indefinitely by NFL — NEW YORK —The NFL has suspended Falcons quarterback Michael Vick indefinitely without pay following his admission of guilt in a dogfighting scheme. — On Friday, Vick filed his plea agreement in federal court admitting to conspiracy in a dogfighting ring …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Daily Whim, The Reaction, Hot Air, Ed Driscoll.com and The American Mind

Justin Rood Reports / The Blotter:

Congress: For Plane That Won't Fly, $63 Mil Is Enough — Justin Rood Reports: — Millions of dollars later, Congress has effectively killed a military plane program the Pentagon repeatedly rejected, and which never had a successful flight. — The $63 million Congress poured …

Discussion: Think Progress, The Rachel Maddow Show, TPMmuckraker and D-Day

Howie Klein / Firedoglake:

Blue America Has Another Jerry McNerney Moment — Jerry McNerney's election to Congress was an outstanding success for local grassroots activists and for the national and local netroots. He was one of the top recipients of donations from Blue America in 2006.

Discussion: Calitics and Booman Tribune

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.

Discussion: My Left Wing