memeorandum: CONNECT THE DOTS — Der Spiegel has interesting information … (Hindrocket/Power Line)

Hagel is calling it quits — WORLD-HERALD BUREAU, COPYRIGHT 2007 OMAHA WORLD-HERALD — WASHINGTON - Chuck Hagel will announce Monday that he is retiring from the U.S. Senate and will not run for president next year, people close to the Nebraska Republican said Friday.

Discussion: The Fix, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, The Carpetbagger Report, Wake up America, The Caucus, Riehl World View, Booman Tribune, TPM Election Central, TIME, Senate 2008 Guru, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, No More Mister Nice Blog, Blue Crab Boulevard, JammieWearingFool, Daily Pundit, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Don Surber and Swing State Project

David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:

Hagel to Retire at End of Term, Aides Say — Senator Chuck Hagel, the Nebraska Republican and outspoken critic of the Iraq war who had been mulling a run for president, will retire at the end of his term in early 2009 and drop his bid for the White House, aides said today.

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker

Gabriel Schoenfeld / Weekly Standard:

The CIA Examines Itself — The results aren't pretty. — Who is to blame for the intelligence disaster of September 11? The sixth anniversary of the attacks is upon us, and the finger-pointing continues unabated. Last month the CIA reluctantly made public a summary of a 2005 report prepared …

Discussion: Power Line, The Strata-Sphere and Riehl World View

Jennifer Parker / Political Radar:

Thompson Calls bin Laden "Symbolic"; Draws GOP Fire — ABC News' Bret Hovell and Jennifer Parker report: Former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., has only been an official Republican presidential candidate for a day. But his comments are already drawing fire from his GOP rivals.

Discussion: Wake up America, Right Wing Nut House, The Moderate Voice, Taylor Marsh, skippy the bush kangaroo and Patterico's Pontifications

Brent Baker / NewsBusters.org:

Olbermann Likens bin Laden's 'Rant Without a Point' to Hannity, Crankiness to Bozell — In what he no doubt considered cutting edge humor, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann on Friday night contended that Sean Hannity, just like Osama bin Laden, "rants without making a specific threat or point," …

Discussion: New York Post, Hot Air, The Radio Equalizer and Riehl World View

Newsweek:
Osama Tape Adds to Pre-9/11 Jitters

Discussion: The Dilbert Blog, Connecting.the.Dots, The Detroit Times, Liberal Values and skippy the bush kangaroo

George Packer / New Yorker:

PLANNING FOR DEFEAT — How should we withdraw from Iraq? … An Iraqi whom I will call Ahmed lives in Saidiya, an area in south Baghdad where, in the nineteen-eighties, the regime of Saddam Hussein built large houses for well-connected Army officers, most of them Sunnis.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and Talking Points Memo

Bassem Mroue / Associated Press:
Bombing in Baghdad's Sadr City kills 12

Discussion: Sweetness & Light

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Sunnis Return To Iraqi Assembly

Discussion: The Van Der Galiën Gazette

Erik Kirschbaum / Reuters:

German suspects had deadline for attacks-report — BERLIN (Reuters) - Three suspected Islamist militants who were planning to attack American targets in Germany had orders to act by Sept. 15 and knew police were hot on their trail before their arrest, a magazine said on Saturday.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters

Hindrocket / Power Line:

CONNECT THE DOTS — Der Spiegel has interesting information about the terror bust in Germany; as usual, however, you have to read between the lines: … So al Qaeda's top leaders were anxious to precipitate an attack on Americans by September 15. Why? That's the date on which General Petraeus will deliver his report to Congress.

Matthias Küntzel / Weekly Standard:

Jew-Hatred and Jihad — The Nazi roots of the 9/11 attack. — The idea of using suicide pilots to obliterate the skyscrapers of Manhattan originated in 1940s Berlin. "In the latter stages of the war, I never saw Hitler so beside himself as when, as if in a delirium …

Discussion: Power Line and Atlas Shrugs

Bill Richardson / Washington Post:

Why We Should Exit Iraq Now — Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards have suggested that there is little difference among us on Iraq. This is not true: I am the only leading Democratic candidate committed to getting all our troops out and doing so quickly.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Liberal Values, skippy the bush kangaroo, DownWithTyranny!, The Glittering Eye, The Atlantic Online, Eschaton and Daily Kos

Tony Woodlief / Opinion Journal:

Don't Suffer the Little Children — A father of four explains the realist approach to parenting. — Another school year has sprung itself upon us, which is always an occasion for my wife, a former Detroit public-school teacher, and me to remind ourselves why we home-school.

Guardian:

Melting ice cap triggering earthquakes — The Greenland ice cap is melting so quickly that it is triggering earthquakes as pieces of ice several cubic kilometres in size break off. — Scientists monitoring events this summer say the acceleration could be catastrophic in terms of sea-level rise …

Discussion: Corrente

Donna Goodison / Boston Herald:

Bar-exam flunker quits suit over gay-wed question — A Boston man has asked a federal court to dismiss his lawsuit in which he claimed that his refusal to answer a Massachusetts bar exam question related to gay marriage caused him to fail the test. — Stephen Dunne, 30 …

Discussion: Wizbang

Wall Street Journal:

What Made Norman Hsu Run? — He charmed friends, investors and politicians. But behind lurked failures, a kidnapping and lawsuits — At a New York restaurant overlooking Central Park in April 2006, the governor of Pennsylvania sat down to dinner with about a dozen Democratic supporters.

Discussion: Suitably Flip, Blue Crab Boulevard, Gateway Pundit, The Belmont Club and A Blog For All

Jamiecnn / CNN Political Ticker:

Schwarzenegger challenges Republicans — (CNN)-Arnold Schwarzenegger says his party is losing numbers, and it is time to welcome independents and centrists to the ranks of the California Republican party. — "In movie terms, we are dying at the box office. We are not filling the seats," the California governor said.

Discussion: Say Anything

Kimberly Strassel / Townhall.com:

Feinstein Should Be Thrown Out Of The Senate Right Now — How could anyone take Feinstein at her word ever again? Does she care about the troops? She wants to bring them home, care for them, and make life pretty. On her website, she states her goals on Iraq: — Iraq: U.S. forces were sent to Iraq as liberators.

Kimberley Strassel / Real Clear Politics:
Feinstein's $4 Bn Beverly Hills Earmark

Discussion: Betsy's Page and michellemalkin.com

Henry / Crooked Timber:

Again, the magic of markets — This FT piece on GWB's magical market pony plan for preventing mortgage foreclosures by handing the problem over to "an opaque part of the financial system normally associated with moves to evict families from their homes" is tough and on-target.

Discussion: The RBC and The Atlantic Online

Eoin Callan / Financial Times: Economists fear wave of evictions on way in US