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Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Bush Presses Editors on Security — President Bush has been summoning newspaper editors lately in an effort to prevent publication of stories he considers damaging to national security. — The efforts have failed, but the rare White House sessions with the executive editors of The Washington Post …
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Steven R. Weisman / New York Times:
Powell Speaks Out on Domestic Spy Program — WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 - Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said on Sunday that it would not have been "that hard" for President Bush to obtain warrants for eavesdropping on domestic telephone and Internet activity, but that he saw "nothing wrong" with the decision not to do so.
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Peter Slevin / Washington Post:
Scholar Stands by Post-9/11 Writings On Torture, Domestic Eavesdropping — Former Justice Official Says He Was Interpreting Law, Not Making Policy — John Yoo knows the epithets of the libertarians, the liberals and the lefties. Widely considered the intellectual architect …
Sabrina Tavernise / New York Times:
Shiites Decline Sunni Bid for More Iraq Parliament Seats — Baghdad, IRAQ, Dec. 25 - Sunni Arab political leaders asked the main Shiite political block today to give them 10 Shiite seats in the new parliament in an early attempt to defuse tensions over the results of last week's election.
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Washington Post:
Bloggers, Money Now Weapons in Information War — U.S. Recruits Advocates to the Front, Pays Iraqi TV Stations for Coverage — BAGHDAD — Retired soldier Bill Roggio was a computer technician living in New Jersey less than two months ago when a Marine officer half a world away made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
MSNBC:
Transcript for December 25 — MR. TIM RUSSERT: And on this Christmas morning, we have a very special program. We'll talk about the biggest news stories of the year, and perhaps the stories that didn't receive enough attention. And we'll reflect on the ethical and legal challenges confronting the media.
Anne Gearan / Associated Press:
Analysis: Rice's Stock Is on the Rise — WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has become the most popular member of the Bush administration and a potential candidate to succeed her boss in the White House, even as Americans lose confidence in the president she serves and patience with the Iraq war she helped launch.
Gina Holland / Associated Press:
White House Aids Playboy Playmate in Court — WASHINGTON - Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith has an unusual bedfellow in the Supreme Court fight over her late husband's fortune: the Bush administration. — The administration's top Supreme Court lawyer filed arguments on Smith's behalf …
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Attytood
Eric Lipton / New York Times:
On Gulf Coast, Big Difference Between Corps and Private Cleanups — PASCAGOULA, Miss. - There is an eerie stillness here on Edgewood Avenue. Toys, broken glass and random pieces of furniture are strewn across yards. Not a single person is in sight. The only movement …
Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:
Travels with Cheney — The Vice President visits the front lines of the war on terror — On a cool December morning, Vice President Dick Cheney and U.S. ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad waited for their distinguished guests on the sidewalk outside of the ambassador's residence in the heart …
Michael Janofsky / New York Times:
Professors' Politics Draw Lawmakers Into the Fray — While attending a Pennsylvania Republican Party picnic, Jennie Mae Brown bumped into her state representative and started venting. — "How could this happen?" Ms. Brown asked Representative Gibson C. Armstrong two summers ago …
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Courts Criticize Judges' Handling of Asylum Cases — Federal appeals court judges around the nation have repeatedly excoriated immigration judges this year for what they call a pattern of biased and incoherent decisions in asylum cases. — In one decision last month, Richard A. Posner …
Robert Steinback / Miami Herald:
Fear destroys what bin Laden could not — One wonders if Osama bin Laden didn't win after all. He ruined the America that existed on 9/11. But he had help. — If, back in 2001, anyone had told me that four years after bin Laden's attack our president would admit that he broke U.S. law …
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Middle Earth Journal
New York Times:
Huge Rise Looms for Health Care in City's Budget — When the Metropolitan Transportation Authority proposed making new workers chip in more to its pension fund than current workers do, it was enough to send the union out on strike and bring the nation's largest mass-transit system to a halt for three days.
