Top Items:
Mike Allen / The Politico:
WashPost offers access: $25,000+ — For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post has offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to “those powerful few”: Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and — at first — even the paper's own reporters and editors.
Discussion:
Politics Daily, Ben Smith's Blog, Michael Calderone's Blog, Ideas Special Report, TalkLeft, Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, Sister Toldjah, pandagon.net, Right Wing News, Reason, RedState, Prairie Weather, Townhall.com, Felix Salmon, Ezra Klein, NewsBusters.org, The Political Carnival, FishBowlDC, Outside The Beltway, Swampland, The Washington Independent and Patterico's Pontifications
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
WASH. POST SELLING ACCESS?.... It's hardly a secret that newspapers …
WASH. POST SELLING ACCESS?.... It's hardly a secret that newspapers …
Discussion:
Michael Calderone's Blog
CNSNews:
Helen Thomas: Not Even Nixon Tried to Control the Media Like Obama — (CNSNews.com) - Following a testy exchange during today's briefing with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas told CNSNews.com that not even Richard Nixon tried to control …
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Washington Post:
U.S.: American Soldier Captured in Afghanistan — A U.S. soldier missing from his base in eastern Afghanistan since Tuesday is believed to have been captured by Taliban militants, the military said Thursday. — In a statement issued from U.S. military headquarters in Kabul, officials said …
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CNN:
Taliban capture U.S. soldier — KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) — A U.S. soldier has been captured by militants in Afghanistan, the U.S. military and the Taliban said Thursday. — The unidentified soldier has been missing since Tuesday. U.S. forces are exhausting all resources to find the soldier, the military said.
Clif LeBlanc / The State:
39 trips for Sanford with no security in '09 — EXCLUSIVE: Governor's secret trip prompts scrutiny — Gov. Mark Sanford left the Governor's Mansion without a security escort, 38 times in 2008. In the first six months of this year, he left the mansion without security, 39 times.
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David Saltonstall / NY Daily News:
Blubbering Love Gov. Mark Sanford tears up again over ‘soul mate’ Maria Belen Chapur
Blubbering Love Gov. Mark Sanford tears up again over ‘soul mate’ Maria Belen Chapur
Discussion:
Real Clear Politics
Jack Healy / New York Times:
Job Losses Rise in June as Unemployment Reaches 9.5% — The pace of job losses quickened in June after slowing just a month earlier, casting a shadow over the Obama administration's attempts to stanch months of declines in the labor market. — The American economy shed 467,000 jobs last month …
Discussion:
The Jawa Report, The Moderate Voice, Matthew Yglesias, The Huffington Post, Atlantic Correspondents, The Washington Note, Bloomberg, Washington Monthly, Economix, The Campaign Spot, Daily Kos, Don Surber, Associated Press, Clusterstock, Gateway Pundit, Taylor Marsh, DailyFinance, Calculated Risk, Wonkette, The Strata-Sphere, NPR Blogs, AmSpecBlog and The Reaction
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John_Merritt / CBS News:
Palin E-mails Show Infighting With Staff — Exclusive: Spat Over Todd Palin's Membership In Secessionist Party Was Major Distraction On Critical Day In '08 Campaign … Internal campaign e-mails exchanged three weeks before Election Day offer a rare look at just how frustrated …
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David Espo / Associated Press:
New Dem health plan has public option, lower cost — WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats on a key Senate Committee outlined a revised and far less costly health care plan Wednesday night that includes a government-run insurance option and an annual fee on employers who do not offer coverage to their workers.
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John R. Bolton / Washington Post:
Time for an Israeli Strike? — With Iran's hard-line mullahs and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unmistakably back in control, Israel's decision of whether to use military force against Tehran's nuclear weapons program is more urgent than ever. — Iran's nuclear threat was never …
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Barney Frank: Let's spend TARP profits before taxpayers can get them — When President Obama announced on June 9 that some financial institutions would be allowed to repay Troubled Asset Relief Program dollars, he said the massively expensive TARP bailout had made money for the federal government.
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Quinnipiac University:
Cracks In Obama Facade As Disapproval Grows, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; But Voter Outlook On Economy, Nation Improve — President Barack Obama's first five months in office have seen his job approval remain stable overall - currently at a politically healthy 57 - 33 percent …
Laurie Goodstein / New York Times:
U.S. Nuns Facing Vatican Scrutiny — The Vatican is quietly conducting two sweeping investigations of American nuns, a development that has startled and dismayed nuns who fear they are the targets of a doctrinal inquisition. — Nuns were the often-unsung workers who helped build …
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Black Reporters on the Beat of Michelle Obama — While Michelle Obama was meeting with doctors and patients at the Upper Cardozo Health Center, nearly two dozen journalists stood behind a white rope in a small room upstairs, most finally growing so tired during the hour-long wait that they sat on the floor.
Heather Timmons / New York Times:
Indian Court Overturns Gay Sex Ban — NEW DELHI —In a landmark ruling Thursday that could usher in an era of greater freedom for gays and lesbians in India, New Delhi's highest court decriminalized homosexuality. — “Discrimination is antithesis of equality,” Delhi High Court judges wrote …
Wall Street Journal:
Congress's Travel Tab Swells — Spending on Taxpayer-Funded Trips Rises Tenfold; From Italy to the Galápagos — WASHINGTON — Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows …
Discussion:
Think Progress, Townhall.com, The Caucus, RedState, JONATHAN TURLEY, Gateway Pundit and FP Passport
SPLCenter.org:
Terror from the Right — 75 plots, conspiracies and racist rampages since Oklahoma City … What follows is a detailed listing of major terrorist plots and racist rampages that have emerged from the American radical right in the years since Oklahoma City.
Sara A. Carter / Washington Times:
EXCLUSIVE: Taliban buying children for suicide bombers — Pakistan's top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, is buying children as young as 7 to serve as suicide bombers in the growing spate of attacks against Pakistani, Afghan and U.S. targets, U.S. Defense Department and Pakistani officials say.
Jonathan D. Glater / New York Times:
Finding Debt a Bigger Hurdle Than Bar Exam — All his life, Robert Bowman wanted to be a lawyer. He overcame a troubled childhood, a tragic accident that nearly cost him a leg and a debilitating Jet Ski collision. — He put himself through community college, worked and borrowed heavily …
Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Saddam Hussein Said WMD Talk Helped Him Look Strong to Iran — Saddam Hussein told an FBI interviewer before he was hanged that he allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction because he was worried about appearing weak to Iran, according to declassified accounts of the interviews released yesterday.