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Political Web, page A1 … for 11:55 AM ET, December 24, 2005
Current Politics Page     Also:   Tech

Top Items:

New York Times:
Spy Agency Mined Vast Data Trove, Officials Report  —  WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 - The National Security Agency has traced and analyzed large volumes of telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the United States as part of the eavesdropping program that President Bush approved …
RELATED ITEMS:
Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
They're Not Going To Stop  —  The NY Times escalates its war …
Kevin Drum / The Washington Monthly:   MORE ON THE NSA PROGRAM....James Risen and Eric Lichtblau provide …
Washington Post:
Alito Urged Wiretap Immunity  —  Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. once argued that the nation's top law enforcement official deserves blanket protection from lawsuits when acting in the name of national security, even when those actions involve the illegal wiretapping of American citizens, documents released yesterday show.
Discussion: The Sideshow
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New York Times:
Alito's Zeal for Presidential Power  —  With the Bush administration claiming sweeping and often legally baseless authority to detain and spy on people, judges play a crucial role in underscoring the limits of presidential power.  When the Senate begins hearings next month on Judge Samuel Alito …
New York Times:
Alito Memo in '84 Favored Immunity for Top Officials  —  The attorney general should be immune from lawsuits for ordering wiretaps of Americans without permission from a court, Samuel A. Alito Jr., President Bush's Supreme Court nominee, wrote in a memorandum in 1984 as a government lawyer in the Reagan administration.
Donna Cassata / Associated Press:   Alito Argued to Overturn Roe in 1985 Memo
Steven Greenhouse / New York Times:
Transit Strike Reflects Nationwide Pension Woes  —  Fast-rising pension costs for government employees - the issue that helped set off this week's transit strike in New York City - are a problem confronting cities, counties and states nationwide, causing many budgetary experts to predict …
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Ellen Knickmeyer / Washington Post:
U.S. Airstrikes Take Toll on Civilians  —  Eyewitnesses Cite Scores Killed in Marine Offensive in Western Iraq  —  RAMADI, Iraq — U.S. Marine airstrikes targeting insurgents sheltering in Iraqi residential neighborhoods are killing civilians as well as guerrillas along the Euphrates River …
MSNBC:
Slacker Friday  —  A new Think Again column: 'Humility' is Front Page News, here.  —  The strike is over, leaving at least 123 reasons to be glad you live here, or wish you did, beginning with this one. 74.3 percent of New Yorkers voted against Bush.  In Manhattan, the number was 81.7 percent.
Jim Robbins / The Corner on National Review Online:
MORE WARRANT-LESS WORK  —  Generally speaking, can law enforcement authorities use nuclear detection devices against someone's house without a warrant?  This question is at root of the latest "no warrant" controversy.  Readers would do well to examine the Supreme Court case Illinois v. Caballes, decided earlier this year.
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Reuters:
Saddam denounces White House 'liars'  —  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein denounced American leaders as liars at a turbulent court hearing on Thursday and his once feared intelligence chief abused prosecutors before threatening to walk out.  —  The former Iraqi president, on trial for his life …
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Jamie Wilson / Guardian:
Stars turn backs on America's troops in Iraq  —  · Danger and anti-war stance keep celebrities away  —  · Shows now depend on Christian hip-hop groups  —  During world war two American troops away from home for Christmas were entertained by Marlene Dietrich, Bing Crosby and the Marx Brothers.
Discussion: The Officers' Club
James Gordon Meek / NY Daily News:
Al Qaeda fiend targeted Bush  —  WASHINGTON - Before he was captured last spring, Osama Bin Laden's top operational commander was solely focused on killing President Bush and Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharaff, the Daily News has learned.  —  The capture last May of Al Qaeda's No. 3 leader …
David Ignatius / Washington Post:
Slogging and Blogging Through Iraq  —  A Marine blogger who calls himself Captain B is describing the scruffy four-foot Christmas tree at his base in Anbar province, west of Baghdad: "Lacking ornaments for the most part, we used bullets, cigars, Marlboro packs and other things we like and hung them on the tree.
Discussion: Milblogging.com
Charlie Savage / Boston Globe:
Wiretaps said to sift all overseas contacts  —  Vast US effort seen on eavesdropping  —  WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency, in carrying out President Bush's order to intercept the international phone calls and e-mails of Americans suspected of links to Al Qaeda …
Discussion: Daily Kos
RELATED ITEM:
Charlie Savage / Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Spy net may pull in all U.S. calls overseas
Discussion: The All Spin Zone
Wall Street Journal:
A Holiday in Wartime  —  Writing from his position in Iraq, Capt. Noah Hanners says he and his troops will have no choice on Christmas Day but to carry out the normal yet dangerous tasks of an army at war.  Still, Capt. Hanners is thinking about marking the holiday in his own quiet way …
Discussion: Austin Bay Blog and QandO
Peggy Noonan / Opinion Journal:
One Cheer for the MSM  —  The media may be biased, but even they support the troops.  —  We all criticize the mainstream media, regularly and with reason.  More and more and day by day the MSM is showing us that its response to the popularity of conservative media and the rise …
Janice Turner / Times of London:
Why real men don't need kiwi fruit  —  THERE IS AN ADVERTISING campaign for L'Oréal that puzzled me at first.  Next to a picture of a late-20s Paul Newmanish guy, the caption reads: "You think you look the business?  She thinks you look overworked."
James Taranto / Opinion Journal:
Best of the Web  —  Cease-Fire's Greetings  —  While we weren't looking, apparently they resolved the "war over Christmas."  Christmas will be this Sunday, and Monday, Dec. 26, will be a "holiday."  Fine by us—we'll see you Tuesday.  —  Better Read Than Ted
RELATED ITEM:
Jeff Goldstein / protein wisdom:
About that U Mass Dartmouth student "targeted" by Homeland Security for reading Mao
Discussion: Right Wing Nut House
BBC:
Killing of Iraq Kurds 'genocide'  —  A court in The Hague has ruled that the killing of thousands of Kurds in Iraq in the 1980s was an act of genocide.  —  The ruling came in the case of Dutch trader Frans van Anraat, who was given a 15-year sentence for selling chemicals to Saddam Hussein's regime.
Discussion: PoliBlog and Mediacrity
Kevin Drum / The Washington Monthly:
MEME OF FOURS....Via Roy, here's another silly but (as usual) oddly compelling internet list meme:  —  Four jobs you've had in your life: Radio Shack manager, technical writer, product manager, VP of marketing.  —  Four movies you could watch over and over: Star Wars, Office Space, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Wizard of Oz.
Discussion: Yellow Dog Blog
RELATED ITEM:
Digby / Hullabaloo:   Meme of Fours  —  Kevin passes the torch of this new meme …

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More Items:

Knight Ridder:
Iraqi court disqualifies prominent Sunni candidates
Tom Paine / Silent Running:
Podcast assaults Christmas, insults pretty much everyone... |
Ritholtz / The Big Picture:
Barron's: Investigate a possible impeachable offense
Crooks and Liars:
Novak: There never were WMD's
Discussion: Think Progress
Crooks and Liars:
Novak: What are you guilty of?
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:
Bush Gains Haven't Helped Republicans
Discussion: Alternate Brain
Teresa Heinz Kerry / Forward:
The Outrageous Silence of George W. Bush
Discussion: Betsy's Page and lgf
Robert Burns / Associated Press:
Bush Scaling Back Troop Levels in Iraq
Discussion: ACSBlog and The Belmont Club

Earlier Picks:

Jason / Generation Why?:
The Value of MSM
Henry / Crooked Timber:
Wonkery or Wankery?  —  Kevin Drum reads this Washington Monthly …
The Nation:
This Page Available Only to Nation Subscribers
Discussion: Sirotablog
Kristen Mack / Houston Chronicle:
Sanchez looks to make run for county treasurer seat
David Espo / Associated Press:
Analysis: Democrats Win Some Fights
Discussion: AMERICAblog
Associated Press:
Daschle: Congress Didn't OK Spying Authority
James Wolcott:
NIPS AHOY!  —  Sometimes the most satisfying instigations are inadvertent.
Discussion: Cathy's World and Atlas Shrugs
 
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