Top Items:
Wall Street Journal:
Lawmakers Reach Deal To Expand Surveillance — WASHINGTON — After more than a year of partisan acrimony over government surveillance powers, Democratic and Republican leaders have agreed to a bipartisan deal that would be the most sweeping rewrite of spy powers in three decades.
Discussion:
ProPublica, Redstate, Obsidian Wings, Hot Air, TPMMuckraker, Wake up America, Emptywheel, War and Piece and The Carpetbagger Report
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Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
George Bush's latest powers, courtesy of the Democratic Congress — (updated below - Update II - Update III) — CQ reports (sub. req.) that “a final deal has been reached” on FISA and telecom amnesty and “the House is likely to take up the legislation Friday.” I've now just read a copy of the final “compromise” bill.
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Obama, telecoms and the Beltway system — (updated below - Update II) — As noted yesterday, Blue Dog Rep. John Barrow of Georgia has been one of the most enthusiastic enablers of the radical and lawless policies of the Bush administration. When running for re-election …
Discussion:
Emptywheel, protein wisdom, Firedoglake, Crooks and Liars, TalkLeft, Corrente, Hullabaloo, Booman Tribune and Redstate
TPM Election Central:
Obama Cuts Ad For Conservative Pro-War House Dem — Barack Obama has cut a radio spot for conservative Dem Rep. John Barrow of Georgia, who favors staying in Iraq and favors immunity for the telecom companies, and he's taking a beating from liberal bloggers over it.
ACLU:
ACLU Condemns FISA Deal, Declares Surveillance Bill Unconstitutional — Contact: (202) 675-2312 or media@dcaclu.org — Washington, DC - With news that a surveillance bill may be voted on in the House of Representatives as early as tomorrow, the American Civil Liberties Union sternly warned members against voting for the legislation.
Discussion:
CQ Politics
David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
THAT'S SOME COMPROMISE — Who really thinks that the White House and the telecoms would go along with this so-called “conditional immunity” that congressional Democrats have agreed to if they didn't think they could satisfy the condition? — All they must do is provide a federal district court judge with …
Mcjoan / Daily Kos:FISA Fight: Capitulation Reached
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, CQ.com, Emptywheel, ACLU Blog, The Seminal, unbossed.com and Daily Kos
Ed OKeefe / Political Punch:
Obama to Break Promise, Opt Out of Public Financing for General Election — In a web video to supporters — “the people who built this movement from the bottom up” — Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, announced this morning that he will not enter into the public financing system, despite a previous pledge to do so.
Discussion:
The Trail, Redstate, The Swamp, Firedoglake, The Corner, Philly.com, Associated Press, Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, THE GUN TOTING LIBERAL™, Salon, Democratic Strategist, John McCain Report blog, Swampland, Sweetness & Light, NO QUARTER, PoliBlog (TM), Don Surber, Wake up America, Sister Toldjah and alicublog
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New York Times:
Obama Opts Out of Public Financing for Campaign — WASHINGTON — Senator Barack Obama announced on Thursday that he would not participate in the public financing system for presidential campaigns. He argued that the system had collapsed, and would put him at a disadvantage running …
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Obama aide blames McCain on public-financing — Obama spokesman Bill Burton is blaming Senator John McCain's campaign for failing, he says, to negotiate in good faith on a course to public financing. — “In the past couple of weeks, our campaign counsels met and it was immediately clear …
Discussion:
Political Punch, The Swamp, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, MSNBC, TIME.com, TPM Election Central, Donklephant, Spin Cycle and Salon
Sam Graham-Felsen / Barack Obama:Video: Important Announcement from Barack
Discussion:
Opinion L.A., Donklephant, The Fix, Taylor Marsh, Progress Illinois and Jack and Jill Politics
Timothy P. Carney / Examiner:
Commentary - Bank of America PAC money behind Dodd's Countrywide loan — WASHINGTON (Map, News) - “We call it the ‘Bank of America bill on steroids.’” A House staffer told me that, demanding anonymity, but speaking on behalf of aides to GOP members of the House Financial Services Committee.
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Wall Street Journal:
Angelo's Angel — Give Senator Christopher Dodd credit for nerve. On Tuesday, the very day he finally admitted knowing that Countrywide Financial regarded him as a “special” customer, the Connecticut Democrat also announced that he was bringing to the Senate floor a housing bailout sure to help lenders like Countrywide.
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Obama: ‘Country I Love’ — This patriotic ad, in which Obama says he was raised with “values straight from the Kansas heartland,” is a reminder of the resources Obama will be able to put behind telling his own story his way, centered on the “deep and abiding faith in the country I love.”
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Republican Leader John Boehner:
Bombshell: House Democrats Call for Government Takeover of Oil Refineries — Should the Federal Government Run the Entire Oil Industry? Senior Dem Says: “To Me, That Sounds Like a Very Good Idea” — Two weeks ago, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) shocked many observers when she admitted …
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Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:Congress Reaches Deal on Wiretapping Bill
Discussion:
The Crypt's Blogs
Thomas W. Evans / New York Times:
Sue OPEC — THE president of the United States has the power to attack, and perhaps destroy, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the illegal cartel that has driven the price of oil over $130 per barrel. This can be accomplished without invasion or bombing. No special legislation is needed.
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Joe Klein / Time:
In with the Old — Barack Obama has never been shy about comparing himself to Abraham Lincoln. He did so when he announced his candidacy at the Illinois state capitol, where both he and Lincoln served in the legislature. “The life of a tall, gangly, self-made Springfield lawyer tells us …
Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:
Deals With Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back — BAGHDAD — Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Managing Globalization, Matthew Yglesias, Hullabaloo, The Swamp, Newshoggers.com, The Washington Independent, Wonk Room, TPMMuckraker, Redstate, Needlenose, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Facing South, War in Context, A Tiny Revolution, Bang the Drum, Obsidian Wings, Attackerman and The Carpetbagger Report
Chad Livengood / Springfield News-Leader:
McCain to voters: ‘I can give you some relief’ at the gas pump — PLASTER STUDENT UNION, MSU — Republican presidential candidate John McCain says a short-term suspension of the 18.5 cents federal gas tax on every gallon would help ease the pain consumers are feeling at the pump these days.
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Kathleen Kingsbury / Time:
Pregnancy Boom at Gloucester High — As summer vacation begins, 17 girls at Gloucester High School are expecting babies—more than four times the number of pregnancies the 1,200-student school had last year. Some adults dismissed the statistic as a blip. Others blamed hit movies like Juno …
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