Top Items:
Peter Hoekstra / Wall Street Journal:
Congress Knew About the Interrogations — Obama should release the memo on the attacks prevented. — Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair got it right last week when he noted how easy it is to condemn the enhanced interrogation program “on a bright sunny day in April 2009.”
Discussion:
The Strata-Sphere, Jules Crittenden, Macsmind, neo-neocon, Alas, a blog, Betsy's Page, Flopping Aces and QandO
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Scott Shane / New York Times:
At Core of Detainee Fight: Did Methods Stop Attacks? — WASHINGTON — Even the most exacting truth commission may have a hard time determining for certain whether brutal interrogations conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency helped keep the country safe.
Washington Post:
Top Bush Officials Approved of Harsh Interrogations as Early as Summer 2002 — Condoleezza Rice, John D. Ashcroft and other top Bush administration officials reviewed and approved as early as the summer of 2002 the CIA's use of harsh interrogation methods on detainees at secret prisons …
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Paul Bond / Hollywood Reporter:
Drama at GE shareholders meeting — ‘Open hostility’ toward execs over MSNBC's ‘leftward tilt’ — Things got testy Wednesday at the GE shareholders meeting courtesy of several complaints about political bias at its media division, NBC Universal. — Just don't expect to see the fireworks …
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, RedState, LGF 2.0 The Blogmocracy, NewsBusters.org, Moe Lane, Hot Air, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, TBogg and Pajamas Media
Ann Coulter / Yahoo! News:
NELL HUSBANDS MARTIN COULTER — A lot of people claim to be my No. 1 fan — God bless them — but my true No. 1 fan left this world last week. My mother quietly stopped breathing last Tuesday, as she slept peacefully, holding my hand. — She was the biggest fan of all of us — Father, me and my brothers John and Jim.
Discussion:
William K. Wolfrum Chronicles
CNN:
FDA to allow morning-after pill over the counter for 17-year-olds — WASHINGTON (CNN) — The “morning-after pill” will be available without a prescription to women 17 and older, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday. The minimum age has been 18.
Discussion:
pandagon.net, Outside The Beltway, Pundit & Pundette, Donklephant, HotMES and The Other McCain
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Gardiner Harris / New York Times:
F.D.A. Easing Access to ‘Morning After’ Pill
F.D.A. Easing Access to ‘Morning After’ Pill
Discussion:
Gothamist
The Huffington Post:
Shepard Smith Uncensored: “We Are America, We Do Not F**king Torture!” (VIDEO) — Update: scroll down for Smith's uncensored comments — Fox News viewers witnessed a rather incredible scene on Wednesday as anchor Shepard Smith and Fox contributor Judith Miller (of CIA leak infamy) …
Discussion:
Glenn Thrush's Blog, The Huffington Post, The Daily Dish, The Moderate Voice and Emptywheel
Patrick O'Connor / The Politico:
Conservative reps. want Napolitano out — House Republicans are calling on Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to step down or be fired in the wake of a controversial department memo that has sparked indignant battle cries from conservatives and some veterans.
Eric Tucker / Associated Press:
Ivy Leaguer ‘infiltrates’ Falwell's university — PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Kevin Roose managed to blend in during his single semester at Liberty University, attending lectures on the myth of evolution and the sin of homosexuality, and joining fellow students on a mission trip to evangelize partyers on spring break.
Liz Rappaport / Wall Street Journal:
Lewis Testifies U.S. Urged Silence on Deal — Bank of America Chief Says Bernanke, Paulson Barred Disclosure of Merrill Woes Because of Fears for Financial System — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and then-Treasury Department chief Henry Paulson pressured Bank of America Corp …
David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:
Pelosi Tells of a Briefing by Officials on Harman — WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that she had been briefed by the Bush administration “maybe three years ago” that Representative Jane Harman, Democrat of California, had been picked …
Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:
Search Me — The Supreme Court is neither hot nor bothered by strip searches. — When constitutional historians sit down someday to compile the definitive Supreme Court Concordance of Not Getting It, the entry directly next to Lilly Ledbetter ("Court fails utterly to understand realities …
Discussion:
Amygdala, Blog of Rights, Latest Open Salon Blog, pandagon.net, The XX Factor, Fausta's Blog, Betsy's Page and Feministing
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Tom Krisher / Associated Press:
Sources: GM to shut most US plants up to 9 weeks — AP Sources: GM to close most US factories for up to 9 weeks this summer to reduce inventory — Ford Motor Co. - , General Motors Corporation - , Honda Motor Co. Ltd. — DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Corp. is planning to temporarily close …
Jane Perlez / New York Times:
Taliban Seize Vital Pakistan Area Closer to the Capital — ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pushing deeper into Pakistan, Taliban militants have established effective control of a strategically important district just 70 miles from the capital, Islamabad, officials and residents said Wednesday.
Matt Corley / Think Progress:
Two Days After Defending Waterboarding, Lieberman Now Claims He's ‘Strongly Opposed’ To It — In a letter to President Obama today, Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) asked him to resist prosecuting Bush administration officials who wrote legal memos authorizing torture.
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Same As the Old Cheney — Lately Josh Marshall's been kicking around the question of how Dick Cheney, chief of staff to Gerald Ford and defense secretary to George H.W. Bush, turned into the Dick Cheney, sociopath and vice president, that we all know and despise. — This is an interesting question.
Josh Gerstein / Josh Gerstein's Blog:
Was Freddie pressured to toe Obama line? — Both the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal are reporting that Freddie Mac's Chief Financial Officer, David Kellermann, who was found dead Wednesday in an apparent suicide, was involved in recent months in a heated dispute with Freddie's regulator …
Ginger Thompson / New York Times:
Some Immigrants Who Lose Freedom Face Loss of Custody — CARTHAGE, Mo. — When immigration agents raided a poultry processing plant near here two years ago, they had no idea a little American boy named Carlos would be swept up in the operation. — One of the 136 illegal immigrants detained …
Discussion:
TalkLeft
Confederate Yankee:
Tarheel Fascism — 6 people, presumably students, have been arrested protesting Virgil Goode's speech against illegal immigration at UNC-Chapel Hill. They seem to be every bit as tolerant as the Carolina blue fascists that violently ended Tom Tancredo's attempted speech last week.
Discussion:
Daily Tar Heel, Michelle Malkin, The Other McCain, The League of Ordinary … and American Power
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
Torture: Who Was In The Key Meetings? — This newly declassified history comes courtesy of Sen. Jay Rockefeller and the Senate intelligence committee. It includes a bit of information about the post 2005 Office of Legal Counsel memoranda and provides independent confirmation for the disclosure …
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