memeorandum

Political Web, page A1 … for 11:55 AM ET, December 23, 2005
Current Politics Page     Also:   Tech

Top Items:

Tom Daschle / Washington Post:
Power We Didn't Grant  —  In the face of mounting questions about news stories saying that President Bush approved a program to wiretap American citizens without getting warrants, the White House argues that Congress granted it authority for such surveillance in the 2001 legislation authorizing the use of force against al Qaeda.
RELATED ITEMS:
Barton Gellman / Washington Post:
Daschle: Congress Denied Bush War Powers in U.S.  —  The Bush administration requested, and Congress rejected, war-making authority "in the United States" in negotiations over the joint resolution passed days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to an opinion article …
Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:
Daschle: Democrats Clueless On 9/12, Too
Discussion: Say Anything and The Mahablog
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Impeachment Nonsense  —  2005 was already the year of the demagogue …
New York Times:
Postponing Debate, Congress Extends Terror Law 5 Weeks  —  WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 - In a frantic finish before adjourning for the year, Congress extended on Thursday the broad antiterrorism bill known as the USA Patriot Act by five weeks after the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee balked at a longer extension.
RELATED ITEMS:
New York Times:
House Approves 5-Week Extension of Patriot Act
Discussion: Decision '08 and CorrenteWire
Washington Post:
House Passes One-Month Extension of Patriot Act
Discussion: Discourse.net and The Heretik
New York Times:
Workers Choose to Come Back and Talk  —  Thousands of New York City transit workers put down their picket signs and streamed into bus depots and railyards last night to restart the nation's largest transit system, after leaders of their union agreed to a tentative framework for a new contract …
Discussion: the talking dog
RELATED ITEM:
Dafna Linzer / Washington Post:
GOP Blocks Action on Senate Intelligence Authorization Bill  —  Senate Republicans late Wednesday blocked the authorization bill that guides the country's intelligence programs.  It was the first time in 27 years that the bill had failed to pass before the end of the calendar year.
Edward Cody / Washington Post:
China Vows Peaceful Use Of Its Power  —  White Paper Tries to Ease Fears of Growing Strength  —  BEIJING, Dec. 22 — The Chinese government, responding to doubts in the United States and neighboring Asian countries, made what it called a "solemn promise" Thursday that its growing power will never become a threat to other nations.
Discussion: The Peking Duck
RELATED ITEM:
Asia Times:   China: We're just big, warm and cuddly
New York Times:
Mr. Cheney's Imperial Presidency  —  George W. Bush has quipped several times during his political career that it would be so much easier to govern in a dictatorship.  Apparently he never told his vice president that this was a joke.  —  Virtually from the time he chose himself …
Tim Golden / New York Times:
A Midlevel Aide Had a Big Role in Terror Policy  —  Moments after planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, lawyers in the Justice Department's elite Office of Legal Counsel began crowding into the office of one of the agency's newest deputies, John C. Yoo, to watch the horror unfold on his television set.
Discussion: The Rude Pundit
Toni Locy / Associated Press:
Bush Administration Defends Spying Program  —  WASHINGTON - The Bush administration formally defended its domestic spying program in a letter to Congress late Thursday saying the nation's security outweighs privacy concerns of individuals who are monitored.  —  In a letter to the chairs …
Discussion: The Left Coaster and AMERICAblog
RELATED ITEM:
Jack Kelly / realclearpolitics.com:
The Valerie Plame Precedent
Karen Travers / ABCNEWS:
Cheney's iPod Takes Top Priority on Extended Flight  —  Reporters Wait to File Stories as VP's MP3 Player Charges  —  WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2005 — After a four-day overseas trip that took him to four countries in the Middle East, Vice President Dick Cheney really wanted to get his iPod charged …
Washington Post:
Brown's Turf Wars Sapped FEMA's Strength  —  Director Who Came to Symbolize Incompetence in Katrina Predicted Agency Would Fail  —  On Sept. 15, 2003, one of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's deputies lobbed a bureaucratic hand grenade across his desk.
Discussion: The Mahablog and Greg's Opinion
Robert Burns / Associated Press:
Rumsfeld Says U.S. to Cut Iraq Troop Levels  —  FALLUJAH, Iraq - Just days after Iraq's elections, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Friday announced the first of what is likely to be a series of U.S. combat troop drawdowns in Iraq in 2006.  —  Rumsfeld, addressing U.S. troops …
Josh White / Washington Post:
Unable to End 'Unlawful' Detention, Judge Says  —  A federal judge in Washington ruled yesterday that the continued detention of two ethnic Uighurs at the U.S. prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is "unlawful," but he decided he had no authority to order their release.
Mark / Decision '08:
The Wonderful World of Kos  —  Lots of buzz (just check out Memeorandum) over this Washington Monthly profile of our ol' buddy Markos Moulitsas Zuniga.  Some highlights and lowlights: … Psbbbbtt!  Patently false; 3.7 million visitors a week is not really 3.7 million visitors …
RELATED ITEM:
Gateway Pundit:
At 0 & 15... Daily Kos Says "It's All About Winning"
New York Times:
Jury Rules Wal-Mart Must Pay $172 Million Over Meal Breaks  —  BERKELEY, Calif., Dec. 22 - A California jury on Thursday ordered Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, to pay $172 million in damages for failing to provide meal breaks to nearly 116,000 hourly workers as required under state law.
Michael Powell / Washington Post:
Advocates of 'Intelligent Design' Vow to Continue Despite Ruling  —  A federal judge's ruling in Pennsylvania that "intelligent design" is religious fundamentalism dressed in the raiment of science has wounded a politically influential movement.  —  "It was a real disappointment," …

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More Items:

Douglas Jehl / New York Times:
Among Those Told of Program, Few Objected
Brian McGuire / New York Sun:
Senate Democrats Soften Iran Resolution
Duncan Gardham / Telegraph:
Muslim planned revenge attack on hero soldier
Discussion: USS Neverdock
Peter Daou / The Huffington Post:
How Far Will Bush Supporters Go?
Maura Reynolds / Los Angeles Times:
Cheney Defends Domestic Spying
James Bone / Times of London:
Oil-for-Food questions UN has still not answered . . .
Amy Wellborn / National Review:
A Sword Will Pierce Your Heart

Earlier Picks:

Rachel Sylvester / Telegraph:
Letwin: We will redistribute wealth
Media Matters for America:
Toensing "called in" …
Lawrence Kudlow / Human Events:
2005 Man of the Year: Rep. Mike Pence
William M. Arkin / Early Warning:
The Pentagon Breaks the Law
Edward M. Kennedy / Boston Globe:
On wiretapping, Bush isn't listening to the Constitution
Ben Macintyre / Times of London:
Mullahs versus the bloggers
Laura / War and Piece:
Where Are the Arrests?  —  Perhaps I'm a little slow …
 
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