memeorandum: Rulings Clear Military Trial of a Detainee (New York Times)

9:30 AM ET, July 18, 2008

Top Items:

Michael Asher / DailyTech:

Myth of Consensus Explodes: APS Opens Global Warming Debate — “Considerable presence” of skeptics — The American Physical Society, an organization representing nearly 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on climate change and is now proclaiming that many of its members disbelieve in human-induced global warming.

Discussion: The Corner, Washington Monthly, JustOneMinute, Pirate's Cove, Hot Air, Wake up America, The News Buckit, Don Surber, www.redstate.com, Right Wing News, NewsBusters.org and CNN

David Evans / The Australian:

No smoking hot spot — I DEVOTED six years to carbon accounting, building models for the Australian Greenhouse Office. I am the rocket scientist who wrote the carbon accounting model (FullCAM) that measures Australia's compliance with the Kyoto Protocol, in the land use change and forestry sector.

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, TigerHawk, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, The Sundries Shack, Sadly, No! and EconLog

E. J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
Gore's Energy Oomph

Discussion: Democratic Strategist

Andrew C. Revkin / Dot Earth:
The (Annotated) Gore Energy Speech

Alexander Mooney / CNN:

Bush ‘a total failure,’ Pelosi says — (CNN) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called President Bush “a total failure” on Thursday, among the California Democrat's harshest assessments to date of the president. — “God bless him, bless his heart, president of the United States — a total failure …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, www.redstate.com, Don Surber, Buck Naked Politics, Confederate Yankee, The Sundries Shack, RAGGED THOTS, protein wisdom and StephenBainbridge.com

Jim Kuhnhenn / Associated Press:

DNC sets up independent operation to help Obama — WASHINGTON — The Democratic National Committee plans to target Republican John McCain and help Democrat Barack Obama with an independent ad campaign run by veteran Democratic strategist Jonathan Prince, Democrats familiar with the decision said Thursday.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs, Marc Ambinder and Balloon Juice

Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
The secret hidden within John McCain's campaign schedule

Discussion: The Dish Rag

Laurie Kellman / Associated Press:
House Speaker Pelosi calls Bush ‘a total failure’

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, TigerHawk and Macsmind

Carpetbagger / The Carpetbagger Report:
Maybe McCain should have ‘adopted’ a consistent position

Discussion: God-o-Meter and The RBC

New York Magazine:
Obama's Money Advantage Not Such an Advantage Anymore (UPDATED)

Discussion: protein wisdom, The Nation, Newsweek Blogs and Pajamas Media

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

Obama's Greatest Admirer — Barack Obama wants to speak at the Brandenburg Gate. He figures it would be a nice backdrop. The supporting cast — a cheering audience and a few fainting frauleins — would be a picturesque way to bolster his foreign policy credentials.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Hot Air, JustOneMinute, Sister Toldjah, alicublog, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Confluence and Soccer Dad

R. Jeffrey Smith / Washington Post:

Terrorism Funds May Let Brass Fly in Style — The Air Force's top leadership sought for three years to spend counterterrorism funds on “comfort capsules” to be installed on military planes that ferry senior officers and civilian leaders around the world, with at least four top generals involved …

Discussion: Blue Girl, Red State

James Risen / New York Times:

Electrical Risks at Bases in Iraq Worse Than Previously Said — WASHINGTON — Shoddy electrical work by private contractors on United States military bases in Iraq is widespread and dangerous, causing more deaths and injuries from fires and shocks than the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to internal Army documents.

Discussion: The Raw Story, Obsidian Wings and On Deadline

Elisabeth Bumiller / New York Times:

A Cast of 300 Advises Obama on Foreign Policy — WASHINGTON — Every day around 8 a.m., foreign policy aides at Senator Barack Obama's Chicago campaign headquarters send him two e-mails: a briefing on major world developments over the previous 24 hours and a set of questions …

Discussion: Commentary, Marc Ambinder, The New Republic, Buck Naked Politics, TIME.com, The Caucus, Blogs of War and MsUnderestimated

Newsweek:

An unusual new privilege claim shields Cheney in Plame probe. — The Bush administration today unveiled a set of novel and controversial legal arguments in refusing to disclose key details about Vice President Dick Cheney's role in the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Buck Naked Politics and Crooks and Liars

Dan Froomkin / Washington Post:
Mukasey the Obstructionist — Michael Mukasey has President Bush's back.

Discussion: Buck Naked Politics

Roxanne Roberts / Washington Post:

Tony Snow: Farewell To the Light Heart — ‘He Looked at the World in a Joyful Way’ — Yesterday's funeral for Tony Snow was a grand send-off: a Mass, a tribute by President Bush, and more than 1,000 mourners, including an all-star lineup of Washington's political and media elite.

Discussion: DCist

White House:
President Bush Attends Funeral Service for Tony Snow

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and Flopping Aces

Jennifer Parker / Political Radar:

Hearing-Gate Exposed! McCain Has Worse Afghanistan Hearing Record Than Obama — ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports from Capitol Hill: The McCain campaign criticism of Sen. Barack Obama's hearing record on Capitol Hill led us to put the shoe on the other foot.

Discussion: Spin Cycle, The Huffington Post, Political Punch, Crooks and Liars, TIME.com and Balloon Juice

David Streitfeld / New York Times:

As Price of Grain Rises, Catfish Farms Dry Up — LELAND, Miss. — Catfish farmers across the South, unable to cope with the soaring cost of corn and soybean feed, are draining their ponds. — “It's a dead business,” said John Dillard, who pioneered the commercial farming of catfish in the late 1960s.

Discussion: GregsOpinion.com

Alan Fram / Associated Press:

Poll: Obama backers are more excited than McCain's — WASHINGTON (AP) — John McCain is facing an excitement deficit. — While overall interest in the presidential campaign has swelled since last fall, backers of Barack Obama are more fired up and express more loyalty to their candidate than McCain's do …

David A. Lieb / Associated Press:

McCain gets Social Security but criticizes system — KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Although Republican presidential candidate John McCain has called Social Security “a disgrace,” he still cashes his own retirement check every month. — “I'm receiving the benefits, the system is broken and …

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, Macsmind, Hot Air, Balloon Juice and The Democratic Daily

Marisa Lagos / San Francisco Chronicle:

George W. Bush Sewage Plant plan is on ballot — (07-17) 14:57 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco voters will be asked to decide whether to name a city sewage plant in honor of President Bush, after a satiric measure qualified for the November ballot Thursday.

Discussion: TPM Election Central, Daily Kos, On Deadline and skippy the bush kangaroo

Avida Landau / Reuters:

Israel makes arrests in alleged plot against Bush — JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel accused six Arabs on Friday of trying to set up an al Qaeda cell in Israel and said one of them had proposed attacking helicopters used during a visit by President George W. Bush.