memeorandum: Bush Stands His Ground on Budget (Peter Baker/Washington Post)

2:25 PM ET, October 16, 2007

Top Items:

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.

NY Daily News:

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, Shakespeare's Sister and Mercury Rising

Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:

Progressive Talk Show Host Randi Rhodes Badly Beaten In Street Attack — Progressive talker Randi Rhodes, one of Air America's highest-rated talk show hosts, was badly beaten up in New York City while walking her dog in what press accounts so far suggest could be a mugging and what some …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, BitsBlog and The American Street

Think Progress:
ThinkFast: October 16, 2007 — During his townhall meeting …

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

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: PrairiePundit and RADAMISTO

Confederate Yankee:
Thanks For the History Lesson

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, The Atlantic Online, Balloon Juice and TBogg

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters: 'Knew' Being The Operative Word

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 — WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's spokesman acknowledged yesterday that he alerted reporters last week to questions bloggers raised about the financial circumstances of a 12-year-old boy Democrats had used to urge passage of an expanded children's health insurance program.

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

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: RealClearPolitics and Ezra Klein

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 and Cliff Schecter

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

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:
Six Degrees Of Your Privacy

Discussion: Ars Technica

Peter Baker / Washington Post:

Bush Stands His Ground on Budget — ROGERS, Ark., Oct. 15 — The White House and Congress are heading for what President Bush predicts will be a "fiscal showdown" at a time when the nation's financial health has actually improved for the moment.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, The Huffington Post, Centerfield and cab drollery

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

Zuzu / Feministe:

When is rape at gunpoint not rape? When it's "theft of services." — UPDATE 2: Mike in comments has provided a link to the Complaint form for the Pennsylvania Jucidial Conduct Board. Once again, be polite, and be sure to follow the instructions. Thanks.

Discussion: ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Balloon Juice, Group News Blog and Shakespeare's Sister

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