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Political Web, page A1 … for 5:35 PM ET, December 24, 2005
Current Politics Page     Also:   Tech

Top Items:

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 …
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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.
New York Times:
Alito Memo in '84 Favored Immunity for Top Officials
Donna Cassata / Associated Press:   Alito Argued to Overturn Roe in 1985 Memo
RELATED ITEMS:
Kevin Drum / The Washington Monthly:
MORE ON THE NSA PROGRAM....James Risen and Eric Lichtblau provide some additional technical information about the NSA's domestic spying operation today: … This is interesting stuff, and it sounds like pretty useful stuff to me, too.  This program and this technology might very well be important elements in the fight against al-Qaeda.
Thomas G. Donlan / online.barrons.com:
Unwarranted Executive Power  —  The pursuit of terrorism does not authorize the president to make up new laws  —  AS THE YEAR WAS DRAWING TO A CLOSE, we picked up our New York Times and learned that the Bush administration has been fighting terrorism by intercepting communications in America without warrants.
Discussion: The Left Coaster
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Matt Stoller / MyDD:
Barron's Calls for Impeachment Hearings on Wiretapping
Discussion: AMERICAblog
Daily Kos:   Merry Christmas from Barron's
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 …
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Bradley Graham / Washington Post:
Military Confirms Surge in Airstrikes  —  U.S. airstrikes in Iraq have surged this fall, jumping to nearly five times the average monthly rate earlier in the year, according to U.S. military figures.  —  Until the end of August, U.S. warplanes were conducting about 25 strikes a month.
Discussion: Eric Umansky and Needlenose
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.
Jonathan Saltzman / Boston Globe:
Student's tall tale revealed  —  Confesses fabricating US surveillance story  —  It rocketed across the Internet a week ago, a startling newspaper report that agents from the US Department of Homeland Security had visited a student at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth …
Knight Ridder:
Iraqi court disqualifies prominent Sunni candidates  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq - An Iraqi court has ruled that some of the most prominent Sunni Muslims who were elected to parliament last week won't be allowed to serve because officials suspect that they were high-ranking members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.
Jack Straw / Times of London:
Have a little faith in the 'C' word  —  I don't know where the idea about offending other faiths by using 'Christmas' came from, but it's mad  —  THE CHRISTMAS CARD I sent out as Blackburn's MP is a proper one.  It was designed by Anna Souroullas (Year 3 of Holy Souls RC Primary School) …
Discussion: One Hand Clapping
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
Washington Post:
U.S. Monitored Muslim Sites Across Nation for Radiation  —  Clandestine FBI and Energy Department teams have monitored private property in the United States for signs of radiation without warrants, U.S. officials said yesterday.  —  Officials said the monitoring, which intensified after the Sept. 11 …
Discussion: Macsmind
Kevin Drum / The Washington Monthly:
PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNIONS....This single paragraph from the New York Times does a pretty good job of encapsulating the mixed feeling a lot of people probably have about public employee unions: … An average salary of $55,000 a year?  That's fine.  Sure, it's pretty good money, but my guess is that most people are OK with it anyway.
RELATED ITEM:
Steven Greenhouse / New York Times:
Transit Strike Reflects Nationwide Pension Woes
Discussion: Greg's Opinion and Daily Blog
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

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More Items:

David Boaz / Reason:
The Bridges are Back  —  Alaska's Congressional delegation celebrates the Season of Taking
Mohammed / IRAQ THE MODEL:
More on election results crisis; Talabani has an initiative.
Discussion: Gateway Pundit
Benjamin Wallace-Wells / The Washington Monthly:
KOS CORRECTION... After we put up an online link yesterday …
Discussion: MyDD, Coyote Blog and QandO
New York Times:
The President and the Rule of Law (7 Letters)
Discussion: AmbivaBlog
Charles Duhigg / Los Angeles Times:
Pricing of Music Downloads Is Probed
James Taranto / Opinion Journal:
Best of the Web
Tom Paine / Silent Running:
Podcast assaults Christmas, insults pretty much everyone... |
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:
Bush Gains Haven't Helped Republicans
Discussion: Alternate Brain

Earlier Picks:

Charlie Savage / Boston Globe:
Wiretaps said to sift all overseas contacts
Discussion: Defense Tech and Daily Kos
Teresa Heinz Kerry / Forward:
The Outrageous Silence of George W. Bush
Discussion: Betsy's Page and lgf
Janice Turner / Times of London:
Why real men don't need kiwi fruit
James Gordon Meek / NY Daily News:
Al Qaeda fiend targeted Bush
David Ignatius / Washington Post:
Slogging and Blogging Through Iraq
Discussion: Milblogging.com
 
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