Top Items:
Jack Fowler / The Corner:
Praise for Liberal Fascism — Charles Murray declares: “'It is my argument that American liberalism is a totalitarian political religion,' Jonah Goldberg writes near the beginning of Liberal Fascism. My first reaction was that he is engaging in partisan hyperbole. That turned out to be wrong.
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James Wolcott / James Wolcott's Blog:
The Goldberg Variations — Jonah Goldberg's colleagues over at NRO's Corner continue the holiday spirit by passing on scraps of praise for his misshapen troll of a book, Liberal Fascism: From Jackboots to Joy Behar, to buck up his morale for the mockery and abuse waiting ahead.
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Hillary Edges Out Oprah as Most Admired Woman in '07 — PRINCETON, NJ — For the sixth year in a row, President George W. Bush is the most admired man and Sen. Hillary Clinton the most admired woman in Gallup's annual survey. But neither winner had a very decisive win this year …
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Karl / protein wisdom:
Andrew Sullivan: Tenaciously Behind the Curve — Via Memeorandum, I discovered that Andrew Sullivan is recommending the equally clueless Juan Cole's “Top Ten Myths about Iraq 2007″: … Sullivan then quotes Cole: “Among the primary effects of the ‘surge’ has been to turn Baghdad …
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The Australian:
Tsunami aid ‘spent on politics’ — THREE years after Australians donated $400 million to rebuild Asian lives devastated by the 2004 tsunami, aid groups are under attack for spending much of the money on social and political engineering. — A survey by The Australian of the contributions …
Discussion:
Secular Blasphemy, Australian Politics, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, JammieWearingFool and Hot Air
Miss Mannered / My Left Wing:
Goodbye, Cruel Jews — I did not come to this site to fight in the Jew Wars. — I came to join with MSOC, in her words, to rage against the lying of the right, against injustice and cruelty. Instead, I found injustice, cruelty and hate directed at me. — I left, then, earlier this year …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Little Green Footballs, The Jawa Report, Done With Mirrors, Neptunus Lex, GINA COBB, Daily Kos and Gateway Pundit
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David Roberts / Gristmill:
Solar cheaper than coal and falling — Let me be the last in the greenosphere to note that Nanosolar has shipped its first panels, and it's no exaggeration to say that this moment will likely be seen as a historical turning point. — For a taste of the breathless anticipation around Nanosolar …
Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
Obama ups the ante in Iowa — MASON CITY, Iowa — One week before Iowans gather for the first-in-the-nation caucus, Sen. Barack Obama said Wednesday that his message of change has already been “vindicated." — Obama made the declaration at the outset of a critical final push in Iowa …
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Huckabee still gives paid speeches — Breaking with tradition for presidential candidates, Mike Huckabee is continuing to accept paid speaking engagements in the thick of his insurgent presidential campaign, although churches get a break from his usual fee of up to $25,000.
Blake Fleetwood / The Huffington Post:
Exclusive - Bill Clinton: “We Need To Stay in Iraq to Protect the Kurds From The Turks” — This is America's nightmare. — Just before Christmas, Turkish warplanes (F-16s made in the USA) and helicopter gunships bombed 200 Kurdish targets in northern Iraq, killing 150 people …
Laurie Kellman / Associated Press:
Senate meets briefly to block Bush — WASHINGTON - The House was quiet as a mouse the day after Christmas. But across the Capitol, the Senate was operating in an unusually efficient manner in its ongoing power struggle with President Bush. — A nine-second session gaveled in and out by Sen. Jim Webb …
Discussion:
The Democratic Daily
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Favorite quotes of 2007 — One of the few things I dislike more than end-of-the-year “looking back” lists is the incessant chatter and worthless speculation over the upcoming primaries. But that chatter and speculation is inundating everything. Thus, I offer some of my favorite quotes of 2007:
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
At 60% of Total, Texas is Bucking Execution Trend — This year's death penalty bombshells — a de facto national moratorium, a state abolition and the smallest number of executions in more than a decade — have masked what may be the most significant and lasting development.
Hans Bader / OpenMarket.org:
Diversity Training Backfires — Employers pay a lot of money for diversity training and sexual harassment training, but often the training backfires and blows up in the face of the employer that paid for it. In Hartman v. Pena (1995), the Federal Aviation Administration got sued …