memeorandum: Is this Pope John Paul II waving from beyond the grave? … (Nick Pisa/Daily Mail)

2:55 PM ET, October 16, 2007

Top Items:

Air America host Randi Rhodes wasn't mugged — Air America radio host Randi Rhodes is temporarily off the air, but claims she was brutally attacked near her Manhattan apartment are bogus, her lawyer and a police source said today. — Fellow host Jon Elliott claimed on the liberal radio network …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, michellemalkin.com, The Radio Equalizer, Hot Air, JammieWearingFool, Shakespeare's Sister and VodkaPundit

Barooosk / Talking Radio:

Randi Rhodes is the Victim of a Violent Attack — Updated on October 16 at 8:50 AM PDT. Update set in bold face italics — Randi Rhodes was mugged on Sunday night on 39th Street and Park Ave, nearby her Manhattan apartment, while she was walking her dog Simon.

Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:

Progressive Talk Show Host Randi Rhoden s Badly Beaten In Street Attack (UPDATED) — Progressive Talk Show Host Randi Rhoden Is Badly Beaten In Street Attack (UPDATED) — EDITOR'S NOTE: See our updated post above HERE since the New York Daily News is reporting that Rhodes was not mugged.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, BitsBlog and The American Street

Think Progress:

ThinkFast: October 16, 2007 — During his townhall meeting in Arkansas yesterday, "not a single questioner criticized" President Bush. With polls showing Bush's disapproval at record highs, the White House is staging "let-Bush-be-Bush events" in front of "friendly audiences" with "increasing frequency."

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press and No More Mister Nice Blog

Little Green Footballs: Air America Host Mugged, 'Right Wing Hate Machine' Instantly Blamed …

Washington Post:

The Real Iraq We Knew — Today marks five years since the authorization of military force in Iraq, setting Operation Iraqi Freedom in motion. Five years on, the Iraq war is as undermanned and under-resourced as it was from the start. And, five years on, Iraq is in shambles.

Looseheadprop / Firedoglake:

Breaking News: Hillary Pledges to End War "Immediately" Upon Taking Office — Every year I go to a fundraiser luncheon sponsored by group called Eleanor Roosevelt's Legacy Committee. It's a group that raises money, recruits and trains Democratic women candidates and give campaign grants to those running in New York.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Jawa Report, The Caucus, Group News Blog and The Sideshow

Jules Crittenden:

12 Captains — With an alarmingly poor grasp of political and military realities in Iraq and the United States weigh in with the following at the Washington Post: … It would be far quicker, cheaper and less politically traumatic to simple expand the military, and offer financial incentives to boost enlistment.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and PrairiePundit

Confederate Yankee:
Thanks For the History Lesson

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Gateway Pundit and The Atlantic Online

Greg Sargent / Horses Mouth:

McConnell Aide Acknowledges That He Tried To Spread Bogus Smear Of Graeme Frost — Check this out: An aide to GOP leader Mitch McConnell has acknowledged in an interview with Kentucky's Courier-Journal that he actively sought to alert reporters to the wingnut smearing of 12-year-old SCHIP posterkid Graeme Frost:

Discussion: Think Progress, Firedoglake, The Carpetbagger Report, Balloon Juice and Daily Kos

James R. Carroll / Courier-Journal:
McConnell aide shared blog tips

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Think Progress, Horses Mouth, Death, Wake up America, TIME: Swampland, Washington Post and Balloon Juice

Nick Pisa / Daily Mail:

Is this Pope John Paul II waving from beyond the grave? Vatican TV director says yes — This fiery figure is being hailed as Pope John Paul II making an appearance beyond the grave. — The image, said by believers to show the Holy Father with his right hand raised in blessing …

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister, The Newshoggers and Cliff Schecter

Los Angeles Times:

Retirement season hits GOP hard — PACKING UP: Rep. Ray LaHood, shown in 2005, is to retire next year. "I don't like being in the minority," he said. "It's not that much fun, and the prospects for the future don't look that good." — In 2008, Republicans look certain to be defending …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Reaction, Cliff Schecter, The Democratic Daily, Left in the West and Shakespeare's Sister

David Brooks / New York Times:
A Still, Small Voice

Discussion: skippy the bush kangaroo, The Corner, Brian Beutler, bustardblog and JoeTrippi.com

The Atlantic Online:

Putin and Iran — Vladimir Putin's warnings against military action against Iran deserve to be taken very seriously. Since we're not contemplating actually conquering Iran and trying to occupy its territory, people need to understand that the post-strike diplomatic environment …

Nazila Fathi / New York Times:
In Iran, Putin Warns Against Military Action

Discussion: Reuters, RealClearPolitics, The Van Der Galiën Gazette and Ezra Klein

Media Matters for America:

Limbaugh says he told journalist writing story on him: "[W]e're going to find out where your kids go to school" — During the October 15 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh claimed to have "once" participated in the kind of "destructive reporting and behavior" that, according to him, reporters "dish out."

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:

Verizon Says It Turned Over Data Without Court Orders — Firm's Letter to Lawmakers Details Government Requests — Verizon Communications, the nation's second-largest telecom company, told congressional investigators that it has provided customers' telephone records to federal authorities …

Discussion: Threat Level, Shakespeare's Sister, The Carpetbagger Report, Comments from Left Field, AMERICAblog, The Swamp, cab drollery, The Heretik, Agitprop, Salon, Rook's Rant, Prairie Weather, Kiko's House and Unqualified Offerings

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:
Six Degrees Of Your Privacy

Discussion: Ars Technica

Thomas Sowell / Real Clear Politics:

Sabotage in Wartime — With all the problems facing this country, both in Iraq and at home, why is Congress spending time trying to pass a resolution condemning the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire nearly a century ago? — Make no mistake about it, that massacre of hundreds of thousands …

Discussion: New York Sun, HazZzMat, Hot Air, BitsBlog, Gateway Pundit, The Newshoggers, Power Line, PrairiePundit and Dr. Sanity

blogs.wsj.com:

Bob Jones Dean Endorses ... Romney! — Michael M. Phillips reports on the presidential race. — A top official at Bob Jones University, the Evangelical Christian school with a history of anti-Mormon rhetoric, plans to throw his weight behind Mormon presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.

Discussion: New York Times, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Facing South, The Atlantic Online, Taegan Goddard's …, The Carpetbagger Report, PoliBlog (TM), Townhall.com and Washington Monthly

Paula Newton / CNN:

Defiant artist draws Prophet Mohammed — HOGANAS, Sweden (CNN) — Swedish artist Lars Vilks says all he's doing is taking a stand in the name of artistic expression. But because of that stand, on this afternoon he's lying low — on the ground, in fact — looking for bombs under his car.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, iowahawk and Hot Air