Top Items:
Massimo Calabresi / Time:
How Bush's AG Pick Irritates the Right — If the administration was trying to avoid a fight with the left over the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales' replacement as Attorney General, they may have succeeded with the nomination of former New York district judge, Michael Mukasey.
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The Corner:
Meeting Mukasey — I wasn't going to post anything else on Mukasey, but come on guys and gals, there are gapping holes in what we know about him, and his supporters aren't helping matters. Ed Whelen, a good friend who I admire deeply, tells us not to worry about Schumer and Aron's support for him.
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Getting At 'The Truth' — We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you an important development from the media world. — Ron Brownstein has been a fixture at the Los Angeles Times for nearly two decades, an influential political reporter and talking head who delves into policy as well as campaign strategy.
Spencer Ackerman / tpmmuckraker.com:
Iraqis Order Blackwater out of Iraq — But Will It Leave? — Following a Baghdad shootout yesterday that left at least nine civilians dead, security-contractor giant Blackwater will no longer be permitted to operate in Iraq, according to the Iraqi Interior Ministry.
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Larry Johnson / NO QUARTER:
The Iraq Blackwater Test — Depending on whether the Blackwater security firm stays in Iraq will inform us whether Prime Minister Maliki has any power or is just a U.S. puppet. My money is on the puppet. Over the weekend Blackwater contractors escorting a State Department/US Embassy Baghdad convoy got into a shoot out.
CNN:
Blackwater Security banned from Iraq — BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Iraq's Interior Ministry has revoked the license of Blackwater USA, an American security firm whose contractors are blamed for a Sunday gunbattle in Baghdad that left eight civilians dead. — Sunday's firefight took place near Nusoor Square …
Beth Fouhy / Associated Press:
Clinton calls for universal health care — DES MOINES, Iowa - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton called for universal health care on Monday, plunging back into the bruising political battle she famously waged and lost as first lady on an issue that looms large in the 2008 presidential race.
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Garrett Therolf / Los Angeles Times:
Chemerinsky to return as UC Irvine law dean — UC Irvine Chancellor Michael V. Drake and Erwin Chemerinsky have reached an agreement that will return the liberal legal scholar to the dean's post at the university's law school, sources told The Times this morning.
Discussion:
Eschaton, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, The RBC, The Sideshow, Calitics, Abovethelaw.com and LA Observed
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In From the Cold:
New Details (and Lingering Questions) — Israeli Air Force F-15Is (GlobalSecurity.org) — Sunday's U.K. Times provided tantalizing details of Israel's recent airstrike against that Syrian nuclear facility. — Based on reporting from the Middle East and Washington …
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National / Homeland Security National Terror Alert:
School Terror Threat - "Jihad Boom" Postcards With Threatening Cartoon Sent To Nine Schools … Investigators released the postcards with the threatening drawings on them Monday in hopes of generating leads in the case. Officials said that the postcards are made up of various and traditional themes …
Discussion:
WKMG-TV, The Jawa Report, The Moderate Voice, Wake up America, Atlas Shrugs and Jihad Watch
ABCNEWS:
ACLU Backs Sen. Larry Craig — Senator Accused of Soliciting Sex Has an Unlikely Ally in American Civil Liberties Union — Idaho's Republican Senator Larry Craig reads a statement to the media Monday afternoon, Aug. 28, 2007, in Boise, Idaho. He read a statement and took no questions during …
The Corner:
So long, white boy — So reads the headline on this article from Salon, which argues that the Democrats should end-and in fact already are ending-any efforts to court the white male vote. Well, Salon's headline certainly gets the message across, doesn't it?
Washington Post:
Crocker Blasts Refugee Process — Iraqis Could Wait 2 Years for Entry, Ambassador Says — The U.S. ambassador to Iraq warned that it may take the U.S. government as long as two years to process and admit nearly 10,000 Iraqi refugees referred by the United Nations for resettlement to the United States …
Discussion:
New York Times, Hullabaloo, The Impolitic, The Newshoggers, MoJoBlog, FP Passport, Prairie Weather and Truthdig
Brian Faughnan / Weekly Standard:
Democratic Iraq Amendment to Put More Stress on Troops — If Congress is in session, then Congressional Democrats must be working on a way to end the Iraq war. — This week the stage is the Senate, which is taking up the defense authorization bill. The first amendments to be considered …
Discussion:
CQ.com
Brent Budowsky / The Hill:
Bob Gates or Bob McNamara? Gen. Petraeus or Gen. Westmoreland? — In his book about the failures of the Vietnam War, Dereliction of Duty, H.R. McMaster writes of how the delusion and hubris of President Lyndon Johnson, combined with the failures in judgment
Discussion:
Make Them Accountable
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Why Do Republicans Want to Punish the Troops for George Bush's Failures? — Glenn Greenwald's piece on the Kagan family is such a concise, elegant, tight portrait of everything that is wrong with the warmongers who lead this country and dominate our political discourse that it almost makes your teeth hurt.