Top Items:
Richard Cohen / Washington Post:
Let This Leak Go — The best thing Patrick Fitzgerald could do for his country is get out of Washington, return to Chicago and prosecute some real criminals. As it is, all he has done so far is send Judith Miller of the New York Times to jail and repeatedly haul this or that administration high official …
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Jim VandeHei / Washington Post:
Times Reporter Testifies Again in CIA Leak Probe — New York Times reporter Judith Miller testified for a second time in the CIA leak case yesterday, providing new details about a previously undisclosed conversation she had with Vice President Cheney's chief of staff about the diplomat at the center of the 22-month investigation.
Robin Toner / New York Times:
Democrats See Dream of '06 Victory Taking Form — WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 - Suddenly, Democrats see a possibility in 2006 they have long dreamed of: a sweeping midterm election framed around what they describe as the simple choice of change with the Democrats or more of an unpopular status quo with the Republican majority.
Discussion:
The Washington Monthly, TAPPED, Sirotablog, PunditGuy, The Next Hurrah, NewsBusters.org, Taegan Goddard's …, BrothersJudd Blog and Althouse
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centcom.mil:
What Extremists Are Saying — We note seven critical themes from the Zawahiri-Zarqawi letter. The first four confirm al-Qaida's long-term strategy and core beliefs; the latter three reflect new information about how senior al-Qaida leader Zawahiri views developments in Iraq - and elsewhere - turning against them.
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Athena / Terrorism Unveiled:A BALANCING ACT OF TACT AND REBUKE
Discussion:
One Hand Clapping, Outside The Beltway, CALIFORNIA YANKEE, Dr. Sanity and Gateway Pundit
Washington Post:
SEC Issues Subpoena To Frist, Sources Say — Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has been subpoenaed to turn over personal records and documents as federal authorities step up a probe of his July sales of HCA Inc. stock, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Patridiot Watch, Balloon Juice, Bark Bark Woof Woof, TalkLeft, The Democratic Party and Eschaton
Washington Post:
Role of Religion Emerges as Issue — President Bush said yesterday that it was appropriate for the White House to invoke Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers's religion in making the case for her to skeptical conservatives, triggering a debate over what role, if any, her evangelical faith should play in the confirmation battle.
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Elisabeth Bumiller / New York Times:
Bush Criticized Over Emphasis on Religion of Nominee — WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 - President Bush prompted criticism from the right and the left on Wednesday after he said White House officials had told conservative supporters about the religious beliefs of his latest Supreme Court nominee …
John Fund / Opinion Journal:
How She Slipped Through — Harriet Miers's nomination resulted from a failed vetting process. — "There's a standard vetting process that we go through with all nominees." —White House spokesman Scott McClellan — "The president is very, very confident in his judgments about people, and he likes to reward loyalty."
Gateway Pundit:
Chechen Terrorists Attack City, Airport & School! — Chechen Terrorists Attack Russian City! — * At least 60 are reported killed in the clashes, including civilians! — * Putin orders a blockade on the city of Nalchik! — * Hostages reportedly taken at police station!
Discussion:
Daily Pundit
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Drudge Report:
HIDDEN TESTIMONY REIGNITES MIERS FIRES — The DRUDGE REPORT has obtained a copy of sworn testimony given by Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers in 1990 in which she said that she "wouldn't belong to the Federalist Society" - a conservative and libertarian lawyers' organization - because it was "politically charged."
Alia Ibrahim / Washington Post:
Syrian Official Found Dead — Interior Minister Was Questioned in U.N. Lebanon Probe — BEIRUT, Oct. 12 — Syria's interior minister was found dead Wednesday in his office in the Syrian capital, Damascus, in what the government described as a suicide. The death of Maj. Gen. Ghazi Kanaan came …
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Michael Mandel / Business Week:
A Nobel Letdown in Economics — Sure, the two game-theory experts who won merit the 2005 award. But their field is doing little to advance economics' progress — I like rationality as much as the next person. When I was in high school in Brooklyn in the 1970s, I laboriously worked …
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Jonathan Finer / Washington Post:
Iraq's Shiite Hub Awaits Its Day — Najaf Prepares to Endorse Charter, but Rifts Are Apparent — NAJAF, Iraq, Oct. 12 — Families gather in the festive streets after dark during the holy month of Ramadan, munching sweets after a day of fasting. Iraqi soldiers — who recently assumed control …
Washington Post:
For Miers, Proximity Meant Power — Longtime Bush Confidante Became Gatekeeper of Access to the President — In the days last November after he was elected to a second term, President Bush had chosen Alberto R. Gonzales as his next attorney general, and word was spreading …
Anthony Browne / Times of London:
Dutch unveil the toughest face in Europe with a ban on the burka — THE Netherlands is likely to become the first country in Europe to ban the burka, under government proposals that would bring in some of the toughest curbs on Muslim clothing in the world. — The country's hardline …
Katie Hafner / New York Times:
Treated for Illness, Then Lost in Labyrinth of Bills — Ellen Mayer's gastrointestinal cancer requires constant monitoring. Everything seems to need a justification, or a new authorization. At one point she considered stopping treatment because each test required so much paperwork.
Discussion:
Julien's List
Eric Lipton / New York Times:
$11 Million a Day Spent on Hotels for Storm Relief — WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 - Straining to meet President Bush's mid-October deadline to clear out shelters, the federal government has moved hundreds of thousands of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina into hotel rooms at a cost of about $11 million a night …
