memeorandum: Karzai offers Taliban government office (Associated Press)

11:15 AM ET, September 30, 2007

Top Items:

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

9/11 Is Over — Not long ago, the satirical newspaper The Onion ran a fake news story that began like this: — "At a well-attended rally in front of his new ground zero headquarters Monday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani officially announced his plan to run for president of 9/11.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Eschaton, Stop The ACLU, Wizbang, the talking dog, The Strata-Sphere, The Oxford Medievalist, Conservative Belle, PrairiePundit, Middle Earth Journal, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, SWJ Blog, All Spin Zone, Corrente, If I Ran the Zoo and Thomas P.M. Barnett

Jules Crittenden:

Nation of Stupid — Tom Friedman: "9/11 has made us stupid." — Sure has made some people stupid, no question. Friedman is writing against Giuliani as the "9/11″ candidate, saying we need a 9/12 candidate. Which, as an attempt to be clever, is pretty stupid, too. 9/12, you'll recall, was the day after 9/11.

Discussion: Don Surber, BartBlog and JammieWearingFool

Steve Benen / Talking Points Memo:

McCain stumbles on religion — again — Perhaps the moral of the story is that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) would be far better off avoiding religion as a campaign issue. It's been dogging him for years, and his fall from grace continues. — In 2000, the Arizona senator gambled …

Discussion: Eschaton

Helen Kennedy / NY Daily News:

McCain: No Muslim president, U.S. better with Christian one — GOP presidential candidate John McCain says America is better off with a Christian President and he doesn't want a Muslim in the Oval Office. — "I admire the Islam. There's a lot of good principles in it," he said.

Discussion: The Right's Field, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Take Our Country Back, Jihad Watch, Liberal Values, The Gun Toting Liberal™, The Heretik, The American Street, Daily Kos and Little Green Footballs

Washington Post:

Bush's EPA Is Pursuing Fewer Polluters — Probes and Prosecutions Have Declined Sharply — The Environmental Protection Agency's pursuit of criminal cases against polluters has dropped off sharply during the Bush administration, with the number of prosecutions, new investigations …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Carpetbagger Report and Rook's Rant

Associated Press:

Report: Countrywide CEO Cashed Out — LA Times: Angelo Mozilo Cashed In $138 Million In Options Before Crash — (AP) Countrywide Financial Corp. Chairman and CEO Angelo Mozilo cashed in $138 million in stock options over the last year, switching his trading plans as the mortgage company went …

Orlando Patterson / New York Times:

Jena, O. J. and the Jailing of Black America — THE miscarriage of justice at Jena, La. — where five black high school students arrested for beating a white student were charged with attempted murder — and the resulting protest march tempts us to the view, expressed by several of the marchers …

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Frank Rich / New York Times:

Is Hillary Clinton the New Old Al Gore? — THE Democrats can't lose the White House in 2008, can they? — Some 13 months before Election Day, the race's dynamic seems immutable. Americans can't wait to evict the unpopular president and end his disastrous war.

Discussion: Ezra Klein and Bark Bark Woof Woof

Michael Roston / Huffington Post:

Major Romney Donors Lobby For Venezuelan Government-Linked Oil Company — On the campaign trail, Republican Mitt Romney has been harshly critical of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. But that hasn't stopped his campaign from taking donations from lobbyists who receive millions of dollars …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Democratic National Committee

Larry Neumeister / Associated Press:

NYC cabbies lose court battle over GPS — NEW YORK - A federal judge refused Friday to block a new city rule that requires taxi drivers to install global positioning systems and credit card machines in their cabs by Monday. — The drivers argue that the city overstepped its authority …

Telegraph:

Labour's secret plans to slash the Navy — Ministers have drawn up confidential proposals to slash the number of ships in the Royal Navy, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose. — The expected reductions follow a fierce row between Service chiefs and the Treasury over defence spending.

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard and PrairiePundit

Don Van Natta Jr / New York Times:

Big Coffers and a Rising Voice Lift a New Conservative Group — Freedom's Watch, a deep-pocketed conservative group led by two former senior White House officials, made an audacious debut in late August when it began a $15 million advertising campaign designed to maintain Congressional support …

Discussion: Simply Left Behind, Cliff Schecter, Hullabaloo, Blue Girl, Red State, WTF Is It Now?!?, The Atlantic Online and Wake up America

Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:

U.S. Kills a Leader Of Al-Qaeda in Iraq — A senior leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq responsible for bringing foreign fighters into the country and seizing and executing U.S. soldiers in 2006 was killed Monday in an American airstrike, the U.S. military said yesterday.

Discussion: Think Progress and Counterterrorism Blog

Brian Braiker / Newsweek:

Poll: Iowans Buck the 2008 CW — The top three Democratic presidential contenders are locked in a three-way race among likely Iowa caucus-goers, according to the latest NEWSWEEK Poll—while Romney leads his Republican rivals in the Hawkeye State. — Sen. Hillary Clinton holds a double-digit lead …

Discussion: Liberal Values, Taylor Marsh, TPM Election Central, Open Left, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

Thomas E. Ricks / Washington Post:
For a Democrat, Options in Iraq Could Be Few

Discussion: Power Line, PrairiePundit and The Caucus

Khaled Abu Toameh / Jerusalem Post:

Caught on tape: How a 16-year-old girl was lynched in Gaza — After more than 20 years in the business, and just when you think you've seen it all, there's always something that shocks you more than ever. — This time it's the brutal murder of a 16-year-old girl in the Gaza Strip.

Discussion: Roger L. Simon, Little Green Footballs, Gateway Pundit, Blue Crab Boulevard and Israel Matzav