Top Items:
Carrie Johnson / Washington Post:
Holder to Appoint Prosecutor to Investigate CIA Terror Interrogations — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has decided to appoint a prosecutor to examine nearly a dozen cases in which CIA interrogators and contractors may have violated anti-torture laws and other statutes …
Discussion:
Power Line, United States Department …, The Huffington Post, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Weekly Standard, Michelle Malkin, The Hill, Truthdig, Ben Smith's Blog, Neptunus Lex, Ta-Nehisi Coates, BREITBART.COM, The Washington Independent, Guardian, Hullabaloo, Balkinization, Emptywheel, SquareState.net, Law Blog, Gawker, CNN, Gateway Pundit, The Plum Line, Macsmind, The Jawa Report, TPMMuckraker, Daily Kos, Salon and The Corner on National …
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ABCNEWS:
Obama White House v. CIA; Panetta Threatened to Quit — Tensions Lead to CIA Director's “Screaming Match” at the White House — A “profanity-laced screaming match” at the White House involving CIA Director Leon Panetta, and the expected release today of another damning internal investigation …
Spencer Ackerman / The Washington Independent:
The 2004 CIA Inspector General Report on Torture — Classified for years — and still heavily redacted — here is former CIA Inspector General John Helgerson's 2004 report into the CIA's Bush-era interrogations operations. The ACLU sued to obtain the controversial report …
David Johnston / New York Times:
Justice Dept. Report Advises Pursuing C.I.A. Abuse Cases — WASHINGTON — The Justice Department's ethics office has recommended reversing the Bush administration and reopening nearly a dozen prisoner-abuse cases, potentially exposing Central Intelligence Agency employees and contractors …
Leon E. Panetta / Fox News:
RAW DATA: Panetta Letter to CIA Staff on Release of Interrogation Report — CIA Director Leon Panetta sent the following note to the agency's workforce Monday on the release of a report on interrogation practices. — FOXNews.com — Message from the Director: Release of Material on Past Detention Practices
Discussion:
Reuters
New York Times:
Rendition of Terror Suspects to Continue Under Obama — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will continue the Bush administration's practice of sending terror suspects to third countries for detention and interrogation, but will monitor their treatment to ensure they are not tortured, administration officials said on Monday.
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
CIA Will Release Torture Docs Cheney Requested; Will Also Release Report On Torture's “Effectiveness” — This had been expected, and I've confirmed it: The CIA today will release the two documents Dick Cheney requested this spring that he claims will prove torture worked.
Discussion:
TPMMuckraker, Congress Matters, The Atlantic Politics Channel and The Washington Independent
Spencer Ackerman / The Washington Independent:
Obtained: The CIA Documents Dick Cheney Says Vindicate Torture
Obtained: The CIA Documents Dick Cheney Says Vindicate Torture
Discussion:
Emptywheel
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Eric Holder announces investigation based on Abu Ghraib model
Eric Holder announces investigation based on Abu Ghraib model
Discussion:
The Daily Dish
Matthew Vadum / American Spectator:
Obama's Plan to Desecrate 9/11 — The Obama White House is behind a cynical, coldly calculated political effort to erase the meaning of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks from the American psyche and convert Sept. 11 into a day of leftist celebration and statist idolatry.
Michael S. Steele / Washington Post:
GOP Would Protect Health Care for Seniors — Americans are engaged in a critical debate over reforming our health-care system. While Republicans believe that reforms are necessary, President Obama's plan for a government-run health-care system is the wrong prescription.
Discussion:
Barack Obama Experiment, Wall Street Journal, Think Progress, Matthew Yglesias, Cato @ Liberty, Swampland, ABCNEWS, Media Matters Action Network, Boston Globe, Daily Kos, Ben Smith's Blog, The Corner on National …, Reason, NOW! Blog, Indecision Forever, Hot Air, Angry Bear, Atlantic Correspondents, Wonk Room, The Treatment, NewsBusters.org, Obsidian Wings, Salon, Washington Monthly and The Plum Line
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Jim Seckler / Mohave Daily News:
Franks goes on the attack — Congressman critical of Obama's policies — KINGMAN - A big, boisterous crowd largely supported an Arizona Congressman, who lambasted the Democratic president and his policies. — Rep. Trent Franks, a Republican representing Arizona's 2nd Congressional District …
Discussion:
Think Progress, The Washington Independent, Hot Air, Congress Matters and Washington Monthly
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Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
Franks: ‘Ridiculous’ O won't produce long-form certificate
Franks: ‘Ridiculous’ O won't produce long-form certificate
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog
David Neiwert / Crooks and Liars:
Now the Birthers are demanding to know: Was Obama circumcised? — The General digs up the, ah, hot tip: … Anyone remember how Republicans wound up obsessing over Bill Clinton's Johnson, ad nauseam, even on TV? I remember Ann Coulter speculating over Paula Jones' claims about the shape …
Rich Calder / New York Post:
BERNIE ‘DYING’ IN JAIL — ‘20 PILLS FOR CANCER’ — Bernie Madoff had little to lose by confessing to masterminding the world's biggest Ponzi scheme — he's dying of cancer, sources told The Post. — Madoff, who is serving 150 years at a North Carolina federal lockup after pleading guilty …
Discussion:
Law Blog, Newsweek Blogs, Don Surber, DealBook, ChattahBox News Blog, Mediaite, Politics Daily, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Gawker, Gothamist, DailyFinance and Clusterstock
Susie Madrak / Crooks and Liars:
Now They Don't Even Pretend. Fox Fabricates ‘Death Book’ for Vets — [H/t Heather.] — Via Media Matters. This is even more shocking than the usual misleading Fox News coverage. This is an outright lie, manufactured by someone treated as credible by the rest of the media.
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The Note:
Feingold to Obama: Announce Withdrawal Timetable from Afghanistan — ABC News' David Chalian Reports: — The Obama administration has been keenly aware of discontent among many in its liberal base with regard to its Afghanistan policy and an expected request for additional troops following …
Discussion:
Think Progress
Los Angeles Times:
Healthcare insurers get upper hand — Obama's overhaul fight is being won by the industry, experts say. The end result may be a financial ‘bonanza.’ — Reporting from Washington - Lashed by liberals and threatened with more government regulation, the insurance industry nevertheless rallied …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Wall Street Journal, Open Left, D-Day, MyDD, BuzzFlash.org and Daily Kos
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
All the President's Zombies — The debate over the “public option” in health care has been dismaying in many ways. Perhaps the most depressing aspect for progressives, however, has been the extent to which opponents of greater choice in health care have gained traction — in Congress …
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny!, AmSpecBlog, Right Wing News, The Confluence, Left in the West, Firedoglake and Media Blog on National …
Michael C. Moynihan / Reason:
Oberleutnant Beck ist Arguing With Ze Idiots! — Barnes & Noble has posted the cover of Glenn Beck's forthcoming book, Arguing With Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government, which appears to show the weepy cable yapper striking his best Werner Klemperer pose and, for some unexplained reason …
Ross Douthat / New York Times:
Don't Blame Obama — Throughout the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama's most loyal constituencies were the national press corps and the left wing of the Democratic Party. — Those on the left loved him because they thought he was one of them. They tolerated all the happy talk about bipartisanship …
Discussion:
Cato Institute, No More Mister Nice Blog, D-Day, PoliGazette, The Corner on National … and Crooks and Liars
Dana Goldstein / American Prospect:
AMERICAN JEWISH PHILANTHROPIST USES THE “A” WORD. — This is relatively huge: Jewish uber-philanthropist Edgar Bronfman — one of the main funders behind the Birthright Israel program, which sends young American Jews to Israel to develop their Zionist sympathies — has come out in the Huffington Post …
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
New Ad Targets Palin's Facebook Supporters, Tells Them She's A Liar — Hard to say if this'll work, but nothing else has killed the death panel lie, so why not try this? — Americans United For Change, the labor-backed White House ally, is attempting a new one: Running an ad on Facebook …
Discussion:
Mediaite
Kos / Daily Kos:
TN-05: Natives aren't happy with Blue Dog Jim Cooper — Seriously, cue up a primary challenger. — Research 2000 poll of the Tennessee 5th Congressional District for Daily Kos. 8/17-19. Likely voters. MoE 4% (no trend lines) — Favorable Unfavorable — Jim Cooper 47 41
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Nashville Scene, Scorecard's Blog, TalkLeft, DownWithTyranny!, MoJo Blog Posts, Think Progress, AMERICAblog News, SquareState.net and TPMDC
Detroit Free Press:
$10B aimed at union retirees — Provision called welfare by some, not enough by others — WASHINGTON — Antilabor forces say it's welfare for the UAW and Democrats' union allies. Labor supporters say it falls short of what's needed as tens of thousands of union members are pushed …
Mickey Kaus / Kausfiles:
If Not Health Care, What? — The idea of postponing health care reform—until, say, the economy improves— doesn't seem appealing to many Democrats now. ** But it might soon. The problem, as Michael Goodwin's recent column points out, is that the issues waiting in the wings …
Associated Press:
Veterans Affairs mistakenly tells 1,200 they have Lou Gehrig's, a fatal neurological disease — CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — At least 1,200 veterans across the country have been mistakenly told by the Veterans Administration that they suffer from a fatal neurological disease.
Discussion:
Mudville Gazette
Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
Pentagon Hires Controversial Firm To Screen Whether Embedded Reporters Wrote ‘Positive’ Stories — Stars and Stripes reports that the Pentagon has hired The Rendon Group to screen journalists seeking to embed with U.S. forces. Specifically, the contractor will examine whether these reporters gave …