memeorandum: U.S., Iraqis discuss Blackwater's status (Associated Press)

6:15 PM ET, October 14, 2007

Top Items:

The 'Good Germans' Among Us — "BUSH lies" doesn't cut it anymore. It's time to confront the darker reality that we are lying to ourselves. — Ten days ago The Times unearthed yet another round of secret Department of Justice memos countenancing torture.

Curt / Flopping Aces:

Hyperventilating Liberals On Torture — Frank Rich, the always hyperventilating liberal, is at it again today in this column inside the New York Times. As usual with most of the far left he calls Bush another Hitler, and the CIA his Gestapo. This time he also calls those Americans …

Discussion: The Agonist

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
A Mock Columnist, Amok

Discussion: The Sideshow, The Impolitic, Crooks and Liars, The Newshoggers, JammieWearingFool, PrairiePundit, Shakespeare's Sister, The American Street and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Washington Post:

Better Numbers — NEWS COVERAGE and debate about Iraq during the past couple of weeks have centered on the alleged abuses of private security firms like Blackwater USA. Getting such firms into a legal regime is vital, as we've said. But meanwhile, some seemingly important facts …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Long War Journal, The Jawa Report, Don Surber, Gateway Pundit, Redstate, Take Our Country Back, PrairiePundit, Macsmind, Outside The Beltway, Sweetness & Light and Wizbang

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

WaPo: Petraeus Was Right — The Washington Post's editorial board noticed something over the last few weeks that many of us have pointed out all along. They discover that General David Petraeus told the truth about the improving situation in Iraq. They have also found out that hardly …

Discussion: BitsBlog and Middle Earth Journal

Jillian / Sadly, No!:

This Must Be That "Compassionate Conservatism" We Keep Hearing About — First it was twelve year old boys, and now it's injured Iraqi war vets: … Of course, when you read the article, it's hard to see how someone could come to the conclusion that this vet is faking illness:

Discussion: Hullabaloo and The American Street

Washington Post:

A Wife's Battle — When Her Soldier Returned From Baghdad, Michelle Turner Picked Up the Burden of War — M ichelle Turner's husband sits in the recliner with the shades drawn. He washes down his Zoloft with Mountain Dew. On the phone in the other room, Michelle is pleading with the utility company to keep their power on.

Discussion: Macsmind, And Rightly So!, Flopping Aces and TIME: Swampland

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

The Beltway Establishment's contempt for the rule of law — The Washington Post's Editorial Page, in the establishment-defending form of Fred Hiatt, today became but the latest Beltway appendage to urge the enactment of a special law providing amnesty to our nation's poor, put-upon, lawbreaking telecoms:

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Shakespeare's Sister, Grasping Reality … and The American Street

Washington Post:
Surveillance Update — WHEN IT comes to updating the Foreign …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Carpetbagger Report, Corrente, TalkLeft and War and Piece

New York Times:
Spies, Lies and FISA

Discussion: Booman Tribune, The Strata-Sphere, The American Street and Mercury Rising

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Who Will Succeed Al Gore? — Seeing Al Gore so deservedly share the Nobel Peace Prize, it is impossible not to note the contrast in his leadership and that of George W. Bush. — Mr. Gore and Mr. Bush each faced a crucible moment. For Mr. Gore, it was winning the popular vote and having …

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Washington Post, Matt Ortega and The Atlantic Online

Steve Lytte / Sydney Morning Herald:
Gore gets a cold shoulder

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Macsmind, Daily Pundit and Wizbang

Jules Crittenden:
King Al the Green

Discussion: PrairiePundit and The Mahablog

George F. Will / Washington Post:

Code of Coercion — In 1943, the Supreme Court, affirming the right of Jehovah's Witnesses children to refuse to pledge allegiance to the U.S. flag in schools, declared: "No official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters of opinion …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, PrairiePundit and The Van Der Galiën Gazette

Brian Knowlton / New York Times:

Pelosi Vows to Push Ahead With Genocide Measure — The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, insisted today that she would bring to a vote a resolution condemning the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey nearly a century ago as genocide, even as a Turkish general warned that this could cause lasting damage …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Balloon Juice

C. Onur Ant / Associated Press:
Turkish general warns U.S. ties on ice

Discussion: The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Outside The Beltway and Death

Fox News:

Rush Limbaugh Earns Big Money From Senate Letter Chastising Him — WASHINGTON — A letter sent to Rush Limbaugh's boss demanding he be chastised for comments he made on the air about "phony soldiers" is now on the auction block, and the latest bid is a cool $41,400.

Discussion: Wake up America and Cliff Schecter

Carl Hulse / New York Times:

G.O.P. Lawmakers Voice Their Unease — There is concern among Republicans under attack on children's health insurance that the White House does not appreciate their political difficulties.

Discussion: The Politico, Firedoglake, The Next Hurrah, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Swing State Project, DownWithTyranny! and The Carpetbagger Report

John F. Burns / New York Times:

What Cats Know About War — IT was a bitterly cold night in the Baghdad winter of 2005, somewhere in the predawn hours before the staccato of suicide bombs and mortars and gunfire that are the daily orchestration of the war. Alone in my office in The Times's compound beside the Tigris River …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Laura Figueroa / MiamiHerald.com:

Candidate's oral-sex slogan is no laughing matter — A campaign slogan focusing on oral sex is creating a storm of controversy during Hialeah City Council election season. — AIM reprint — lfigueroa@MiamiHerald.com — Live in Hialeah? Like oral sex?