Top Items:
Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:
Obama Might ‘Refine’ Iraq Timeline — Barack Obama in Fargo, N.D. (Photo: Jae C. Hong/Associated Press) — FARGO, N.D. - Senator Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot sustain a long-term military presence in Iraq, but added that he would be open to “refine my policies” …
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Mike Allen / The Politico:
Obama to ‘refine’ Iraq plan — Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Thursday backed off his firm promise to withdraw combat forces from Iraq immediately and instead said he could “refine” his plan after his trip to Baghdad later this month. — Earlier, a top Obama adviser had said that the senator is not “wedded” to a specific timeline.
Jonathan Weisman / The Trail:
Obama Softens on Iraq Withdrawal Timeline
Obama Softens on Iraq Withdrawal Timeline
Discussion:
Associated Press, Major Garrett's Bourbon Room, The American Mind and TPM Election Central
BBC:
Google must divulge YouTube log — Google must divulge the viewing habits of every user who has ever watched any video on YouTube, a US court has ruled. — The ruling comes as part of Google's legal battle with Viacom over allegations of copyright infringement.
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Kurt Opsahl / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
Court Ruling Will Expose Viewing Habits of YouTube Users — Yesterday, in the Viacom v. Google litigation, the federal court for the Southern District of New York ordered Google to produce to Viacom (over Google's objections): … The court's order grants Viacom's request and erroneously ignores …
Discussion:
Threat Level, Wampum, Reason Magazine, Stop The ACLU, Discourse.net, Wake up America, The Impolitic, Blogs of War and The Volokh Conspiracy
Matthew Yglesias:
I'm Worried — David Broder: … And yet here we are in 2008. And I don't think anyone can seriously dispute that the current President of the United States violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or any number of legal commitments to refrain from torture.
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Rasmussen Reports:
Election 2008: Montana Presidential Election — Montana: Obama Leads McCain By Five — Barack Obama is leading John McCain by five percentage points in Montana. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state shows Obama attracting 48% of the vote while McCain earns 43%.
Discussion:
The New Republic, TPM Election Central, Strange Bedfellows, FiveThirtyEight.com, Matthew Yglesias, Open Left, Reason Magazine, Left in the West, Publius Endures, Cliff Schecter, MyDD, Slog, Donklephant, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Political Machine, pandagon.net and The Carpetbagger Report
Douglas J. Feith / Wall Street Journal:
Why We Went to War in Iraq — A lot of poor commentary has framed the Iraq war as a conflict of “choice” rather than of “necessity.” In fact, President George W. Bush chose to remove Saddam Hussein from power because he concluded that doing so was necessary.
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The Al-Haramain ruling and the current Congress — (updated below) — A Bush-41-appointed Federal District Judge yesterday became the third judge — out of three who have ruled on the issue — to reject the Bush administration's claim that Article II entitles the President to override or ignore the provisions of FISA.
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Doyle McManus / Los Angeles Times:
A short but sweet gathering — Barack Obama's campaign and the Democratic National Committee are toying with a convention scheduling change that has been broached before in theory but never seriously considered: cutting the party's conclave in Denver short by one day to give Obama an extra …
Discussion:
The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Marc Ambinder, Hot Air, Redstate, The Trail, TIME.com and The Political Carnival
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Time:
Candidates' Vices: Craps and Poker — Over time he gave up the drinking bouts, but he never quite kicked the periodic yen for dice. In the past decade, he has played on Mississippi riverboats, on Indian land, in Caribbean craps pits and along the length of the Las Vegas Strip.
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ABC News:
Plasma, LCDs blamed for accelerating global warming — Audio: Flat screen TVs ‘contribute to global warming’ (The World Today) — A gas used in the making of flat screen televisions, nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), is being blamed for damaging the atmosphere and accelerating global warming.
Joe Rospars / my.barackobama.com:
Response from Barack on FISA and Discussion with Policy Staff — Barack is on the road today, but he wrote a response that he asked be posted on the blog. You'll find it below. — In addition, for the next 30 minutes or so, three members of our policy staff will be in the comments on this post to respond to any questions you have.
David Matthews / The Hill:
Philly radio station refuses to run Democratic ad — A Philadelphia news radio station has rejected a Democratic ad that features an impersonator of President Bush thanking GOP congressional candidates for supporting the “Big Oil” agenda. — Philadelphia KYW-AM Vice President …
Wall Street Journal:
McCain Allies Find Finance-Law Holes — Governors' Fund Recruits Big Donors; Bid to Catch Obama — Allies of Sen. John McCain have found new loopholes in the campaign-finance law he helped write — and they're using them to reel in huge contributions to help him compete with Sen. Barack Obama.
Discussion:
Newshoggers.com, Marc Ambinder, TPMMuckraker, MoJoBlog, Betsy's Page, BuzzFlash.org and Jonathan Martin's Blogs
Daniel J. Chacon / Rocky Mountain News:
‘She deceived us,’ mayor says about jazz singer — Opting for black anthem ‘a very bad decision,’ says City Council boss Hancock — Sen. Barack Obama said today a jazz singer's decision to sing the ‘Black National Anthem’ at Denver's State of the City speech this week was wrong.
Patricia Cohen / New York Times:
The '60s Begin to Fade as Liberal Professors Retire — MADISON, Wis. — When Michael Olneck was standing, arms linked with other protesters, singing “We Shall Not Be Moved” in front of Columbia University's library in 1968, Sara Goldrick-Rab had not yet been born.
Steve Doughty / Daily Mail:
Sharia law SHOULD be used in Britain, says UK's top judge — The most senior judge in England tonight gave his blessing to the use of sharia law to resolve disputes among Muslims. — Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips said that Islamic legal principles could be employed to deal with family …
Discussion:
Vodkapundit
CNN:
CNN Poll: Voters say both candidates likeable, flip-floppers — (CNN) - How do voters feel about the two major-party presidential candidates this year? — As the marathon 2008 campaign for the White House enters its final four months, a solid majority views both Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain favorably.