Top Items:
Jonathan S. Landay / Knight Ridder:
U.S. military pays Iraqis for positive news stories on war — WASHINGTON - U.S. Army officers have been secretly paying Iraqi journalists to produce upbeat newspaper, radio and television reports about American military operations and the conduct of the war in Iraq.
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BBC:
Miller 'sorry' for WMD inaccuracies — Judith Miller, the US journalist at the heart of the CIA leak probe, has apologised to her readers because her stories about WMD and Iraq turned out to be wrong. — The US journalist, who spent 85 days in prison over the summer before agreeing …
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Associated Press:
Iraq suicide blasts at lowest level in 7 months — U.S. military attributes decline to 'effectiveness of our operations' — BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military said Thursday that suicide bombings fell in November to their lowest level in seven months after joint U.S.-Iraqi operations west of the capital.
Associated Press:
Murtha Says Army Is 'Broken, Worn Out' — LATROBE, Pa. (AP) — Most U.S. troops will leave Iraq within a year, and the Army is "broken, worn out" and may not be able to meet future military threats to the country's security, Rep. John Murtha said. — Two weeks ago, Murtha created a storm …
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William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Pelosi's Disastrous Miscalculation — Today, Nancy Pelosi endorsed withdrawal from Iraq. Her statement is a political opportunity for the GOP. — Until now, it seemed to me more likely than not that Democrats would win back the House in 2006: Bush's numbers are bad …
Discussion:
The Washington Monthly, California Conservative, Crooks and Liars and Carol Platt Liebau
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PinkDome:
Texas Bloggers Recognize Representative Carter Casteel as Texan of the Year: Blogger Style — In the first effort by seventeen of the top political blogs in Texas, Representative Carter Casteel was selected as Texan of the Year. Each blog asked its readers for nominations and selected …
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Matt Stoller / MyDD:
The Role of Labor in a Political Campaign — The blogosphere isn't very conducive to discussing labor issues, mostly because blog readers probably don't belong to unions and don't know much about them. I know I didn't know anything about unions a few years ago. This can often blind us to important political developments.
Discussion:
NathanNewman.org
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Trevor / The Will to Exist:
Pulling out early and other lunacy … I watched Bush speaking on television last night. It was my first day off since arriving in theater one month ago. — Please, America, listen to the man. — The moment anyone puts a timetable on coalition forces leaving, we've lost the war.
Rick Richman / Jewish Current Issues:
Bush and Churchill's Mid-War Speeches — George W. Bush's extraordinary "Strategy for Victory" speech yesterday was a direct response to the crisis of confidence created from a combination of adverse developments in the war, incessant political attacks from Democrats, and the nonstop criticism of a hostile mainstream media.
Discussion:
AMERICAN FUTURE, Unclaimed Territory, THE CUNNING REALIST, The Corner on National … and Power Line
Dalton Conley / New York Times:
A Man's Right to Choose — MANY liberals who oppose Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s nomination to the Supreme Court focus on his (losing) position in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a 1991 case about a Pennsylvania law that would have required women seeking abortions to notify their husbands.
Craig Timberg / Washington Post:
South African Court Rules for Same-Sex Marriage — JOHANNESBURG Dec. 1 — South Africa's highest court ruled on Thursday that gays and lesbians have a right to marry, and it gave the national parliament one year to change the words "husband" and "wife" to "spouse" in its marital laws.
Garance Franke-Ruta / TAPPED:
EW. The women of Broadsheet have been having fun with some of the bizarre reactions to Maureen Dowd in the reader comments left on Amazon.com. One irate male reader, in particular, was emphatic about asserting that Dowd is past her "expiration date," repeating "WOMEN HAVE AN EXPIRATION DATE.
Bill Roggio / ThreatsWatch.Org:
The Sulemani — Airstrikes, a Meeting with Sheikhs, a Cache on the River and a Trip to Camp al-Qaim — HUSAYBAH, IRAQ: Thursday morning started off with strikes at undisclosed locations near the Syrian border by "the task force", presumably Task Force 626, the group assigned to hunt Zarqawi and the leaders of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
John Hawkins / Right Wing News:
The 10 Most Fascinating People In The Blogosphere For 2005 — Barbara Walters' list of the most fascinating people for 2005 came out and it was well, execrable. Camilla Parker Bowles? Tom Cruise? Kayne West? What a list! — But, if Barbara Walters could do a list that lame, why couldn't I do my own lame list — of bloggers?
Emily Kaiser / Reuters:
Majority says Wal-Mart bad for America: poll — CHICAGO (Reuters) - Some 56 percent of U.S. consumers think Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is bad for America, according to a Zogby International poll released on Thursday by one of the retailer's most vocal critics. — The national poll …
Reuters:
Iraqi rebels attack in Ramadi, seize some streets — RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - Masked militants attacked a U.S. base and a local government building with mortars and rockets in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on Thursday, before holding ground on central streets, residents said.
Digby / Hullabaloo:
"Cultural Discomfort" — The New Republic and The LA Times this week both feature articles about the Minutemen of Herndon, Virginia. The TNR piece is framed as a cautionary tale for liberals who think that the Minutemen are out of the mainstream: … Not really.
