memeorandum: James Watson Retires After Racial Remarks (Cornelia Dean/New York Times)

6:05 PM ET, October 25, 2007

Top Items:

Beauchamp and the Rule of Second Chances — October 25, 2007 — Beauchamp and the Rule of Second Chances: Pass it Along — I'd known that General Petraeus was once accidentally shot in the chest, but I first heard the full story this summer in Baqubah, from an eyewitness whose account I wrote about in Second Chances.

Discussion: The Corner, The Newshoggers, Hot Air, Little Green Footballs, BLACKFIVE, Blue Crab Boulevard, Riehl World View, Roger L. Simon and Confederate Yankee

Greg Sargent / Horses Mouth:

Army Acknowledges Leaking Beauchamp Docs To Drudge, Promises Investigation — Updated below. — There's been a very interesting turn in the saga of The New Republic's "Baghdad Diarist," the American soldier in Iraq who's been accused of fabricating negative stories about U.S. troops and publishing them in the mag.

Discussion: National Review, Salon, Hot Air and Confederate Yankee

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Baghdad Diarist Was On Guard When Questioned by Editors

Bob Owens / Pajamas Media:
THE NEW REPUBLIC'S WILLFUL COVER-UP

Discussion: Captain's Quarters

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters: Yon: Beauchamp's Honor

Michael Cooper / The Caucus:

In His Words: Giuliani on Torture — DAVENPORT, Iowa — At a town hall meeting here last night, Rudolph W. Giuliani expanded upon his views of torture. Here is a transcript of the exchange. — Linda Gustitus, who is the president of a group called the National Religious Campaign Against Torture …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Newshoggers, The Carpetbagger Report, The Plank, The Atlantic Online, Think Progress, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Comments from Left Field, TalkLeft, DownWithTyranny!, Spin Cycle, The Heretik, No More Mister Nice Blog and TIME: Swampland

Salon:

Glenn Greenwald — Anonymous Liberal for Glenn Greenwald: Giuliani on torture — In his book, former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin described his experience being tortured by sleep deprivation at the hands of the KGB: … Here's U.S. presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, speaking at a town hall event in Iowa yesterday:

William J. Broad / New York Times:

Satellite Photos Show Cleansing of Syrian Site — New commercial satellite photos show that a Syrian site believed to have been attacked by Israel last month no longer bears any obvious traces of what some analysts said appeared to have been a partly built nuclear reactor.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Booman Tribune, Danger Room, QandO, A Blog For All and Prairie Weather

Col. David Hunt / Fox News:

America Could Have Killed Usama bin Laden — But Didn't — Because there is no shortage of things to yell about regarding the War on Terror, Iraq, Afghanistan, Homeland Security, and so on, deciding what to write about is always fun. — This week, I was going to yell about how the Bush …

Discussion: Hot Air, BLACKFIVE, Angry Bear, BuzzFlash.org, All Spin Zone, JammieWearingFool and Cliff Schecter

Nicole Belle / Crooks and Liars: Did The White House Miss A Chance To Catch OBL Again?

CNN:

GOP cries foul on timing of children's health vote — WASHINGTON (CNN) — House Republicans are fuming over Democrats' decision to hold the next vote on the State Children's Health Insurance Program on Thursday — when many Republicans will be in California as President Bush tours areas hit by wildfires.

Discussion: The Hill, Wake up America, Wonkette, Middle Earth Journal, Angry Bear, Cliff Schecter, The Rude Pundit and The Politico

Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:
House Democrats Set For Vote on New Version Of Children's Health Bill

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Central Sanity, The Moderate Voice, DownWithTyranny!, The American Street, Fact-esque, Daily Kos, The Carpetbagger Report and The Stakeholder

Cornelia Dean / New York Times:

'55 'Origin of Life' Paper Is Retracted — In January 1955, Homer Jacobson, a chemistry professor at Brooklyn College, published a paper called "Information, Reproduction and the Origin of Life" in American Scientist, the journal of Sigma Xi, the scientific honor society.

Discussion: Buck Naked Politics, Pharyngula and DefCon Blog

Andrew Sullivan / The Atlantic Online:

The Ron Paul Wars — RedState defends its decision to bar future posters from supporting Ron Paul: … I don't think I qualify as a Neo-Nazi or a Code Pink activist. Full Wired story here. But here's a simple message to Ron Paul supporters. You're welcome here.

Discussion: Wired News, Eunomia and The Van Der Galiën Gazette

Little Green Footballs:

Ted Rall: Only Idiots Die in Iraq, US IQ Soars — Here's a look into the squirmy, ugly mind of Ted Rall, whose latest cartoon about US troops in Iraq says: "Only idiots signed up; only idiots died. Back home, the average I.Q. soared." — (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, BitsBlog, Death, Tim Blair and The American Street

Washington Post:

Biden Stumbles in Interview — In an interview with The Washington Post's editorial board, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) asserted that he is more prepared to be president than any other candidate, disputed the notion that governors are better suited for the White House than senators and warned …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, MSNBC, Sweetness & Light, The Carpetbagger Report, Shakespeare's Sister and Wonkette

David Eggert / Associated Press:

Student hounds prof running for Congress — MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - A politically conservative student armed with a video camera and a Web site is trying to force a Democratic congressional candidate out of his teaching job at Central Michigan University. — Dennis Lennox, a 23-year-old junior …

Discussion: BartBlog, UrbanGrounds and The Van Der Galiën Gazette

Docweasel / docweaselblog:

Bobby Caina Calvan Blog : the entire post with comments preserved — UPDATE: Good gracious, blogging since '97 and my first Instalanche. Thank you Mr. Reynolds! Thank you AOSHQ and the lovely and talented Michelle Malkin as well. — The entire site is 404′d, and the comments were the sweetest plum!

Wonkette:

Larry Craig Scandal: EXCLUSIVE: "I Had Sex with Larry Craig!" — We've been having loads of fun with gay restroom goblin Larry Craig over the past couple of months, haven't we? What we've been missing, though, is an on-the-record account from a source willing to come forward and tell …

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, Chuck Adkins, The Sleuth, Agitprop and Gawker

Michael Rubin / The Corner:

Academic Freedom? — Yesterday, the University of Delaware asked Asaf Romirowsky to step down from an academic panel at the University of Delaware because another panelist, University of Delaware political scientist Muqtedar Khan, didn't want to share the podium with anyone who served in the Israeli Defense Forces.

Discussion: Israel Matzav