Top Items:
Pakistan Politics:
Musharraf Releases Highest Ranking Taliban Ever Captured — Parvez Musharraf needs more militants to militate against in order to affirm the presence of his totalitarian military in Pakistan's civilian sphere. As I noted in my article Pakistan, Prince of Denmark, this means that Musharraf …
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Newsweek.com:
While Pakistan Burns — If you think Musharraf's wrong to free jailed Taliban members while he busts dissidents, wait until you hear who's back on the loose. — Pakistani lawyers, human-rights activists and opposition-party members can scarcely ignore the irony of their situation …
New York Times:
Abdicate and Capitulate — It is extraordinary how President Bush has streamlined the Senate confirmation process. As we have seen most recently with the vote to confirm Michael Mukasey as attorney general, about all that is left of "advice and consent" is the "consent" part.
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Frank Rich / New York Times:
The Coup at Home — AS Gen. Pervez Musharraf arrested judges, lawyers and human-rights activists in Pakistan last week, our Senate was busy demonstrating its own civic mettle. Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein, liberal Democrats from America's two most highly populated blue states …
New York Times:
Clinton and Obama Duel Before Iowa Democrats — In back-to-back speeches Saturday before thousands of Iowa Democrats, Senator Barack Obama pointedly suggested that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was running a "poll-driven campaign" out of fear of what Republicans might say about her in a general election.
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Ben Smith / The Politico:
Clinton, Obama offer contrasting visions — Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama offered an arena full of Iowans a sharp choice between her fierce partisanship and his more conciliatory vision, between "turning up the heat on the Republicans" and "a nation healed."
New York Times:
This Is Your Brain on Politics — This article was written by Marco Iacoboni, Joshua Freedman and Jonas Kaplan of the University of California, Los Angeles, Semel Institute for Neuroscience; Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania …
Paul Krugman:
Innocent mistakes — So there's a campaign on to exonerate Ronald Reagan from the charge that he deliberately made use of Nixon's Southern strategy. When he went to Philadelphia, Mississippi, in 1980, the town where the civil rights workers had been murdered, and declared that …
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report
Patrick French / Daily Mail:
The surprising truth about Rage Boy, America's hated poster-boy of Islamic radicalism — Don't you hate Islamic Rage Boy? 'MoBlows', writing on the Jihad Watch website, certainly does. — "I just want to put my fist down his throat," he says. The 'boy' in question rose to prominence earlier …
Aaron Bruns / Cameron's Corner:
Another Question Planted by Team Hillary? — From Major Garrett, a Fox News Exclusive: — In a telephone interview with Fox, Geoffrey Mitchell, 32, says he was approached by an operative for the Clinton campaign to ask a planted question about standing up to President Bush on Iraq war funding.
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Major Garrett / Fox News:
Clinton Campaign Accused for the Second Time of Planting a Question …
Clinton Campaign Accused for the Second Time of Planting a Question …
Discussion:
The Stump, Captain's Quarters, Flopping Aces, JustOneMinute, The Swamp, Wake up America and Blue Crab Boulevard
Gareth Porter / Asia Times:
Spooks refuse to toe Cheney's line on Iran — WASHINGTON - The US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran has been held up for more than a year in an effort to force the intelligence community to remove dissenting judgments on the Iranian nuclear program.
Discussion:
MoJoBlog
Matthew Hickley / Daily Mail:
The uninvited guest: Chinese sub pops up in middle of U.S. Navy exercise, leaving military chiefs red-faced — When the U.S. Navy deploys a battle fleet on exercises, it takes the security of its aircraft carriers very seriously indeed. — At least a dozen warships provide a physical guard …
Eduardo Gallardo / Associated Press:
Spanish King Tells Chavez to "Shut Up" … SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - The king of Spain told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to "shut up" Saturday during a heated exchange at a summit of leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal. — Chavez, who called President Bush the "devil" …
Discussion:
The Van Der Galiën Gazette, BitsBlog, Death, Maggie's Farm, typicallyspanish.com, Blue Crab Boulevard and A NEWT ONE
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Annie Jacobsen / The Aviation Nation:
Police Report: American Airlines Flight 590 — Sources inside American Airlines tell me that the airline has no intention of settling last week's lawsuit filed in U.S. district court. David Al-Watan, Talal Cholagh, Ali Alzerej, Hassan Alzerej, Hussein Alsalih and Mohammad Al-Saedy are seeking …
Eli Kintisch / Science/AAAS:
Giving Climate Change a Kick — CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS—Top climate scientists have cautiously endorsed the need to study schemes to reverse global warming that involve directly tinkering with Earth's climate. Their position on geoengineering, which will likely be controversial …