Top Items:
Jeffrey H. Birnbaum / Washington Post:
Loophole in Lobbying Bill Leaves Wiggle Room — Lawmakers are about to bombard the American public with proposals that would crack down on lobbyists. Several prominent plans, including one outlined yesterday by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), would specifically ban meals and privately paid travel for lawmakers.
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Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
2002 Memo Doubted Uranium Sale Claim — WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 - A high-level intelligence assessment by the Bush administration concluded in early 2002 that the sale of uranium from Niger to Iraq was "unlikely" because of a host of economic, diplomatic and logistical obstacles …
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, Power Line, TAPPED, Rantingprofs, First Draft, Mia Culpa, Needlenose, Brilliant at Breakfast and Booman Tribune
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U.S. Newswire:
Leading Conservatives Call for Extensive Hearings on NSA Surveillance; Checks on Invasive Federal Powers Essential — Contact: Laura Brinker, 202-715-1540, for Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances, laura.brinker@dittus.com — WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 /U.S. Newswire …
James Webb / New York Times:
Purple Heartbreakers — IT should come as no surprise that an arch-conservative Web site is questioning whether Representative John Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has been critical of the war in Iraq, deserved the combat awards he received in Vietnam.
Deb Riechmann / Associated Press:
First Lady Assails Sen. Clinton for Remark — Laura Bush criticized Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday for suggesting that the Republican-controlled House is run like a plantation where dissenting voices are ignored. — "It think it's ridiculous _ it's a ridiculous comment," …
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Washington Post:
U.S. Journalist Shown as Hostage — Kidnappers in Iraq Threaten to Kill Her, Demanding Female Prisoners Be Freed — BAGHDAD, Jan. 17 — The captors of an American journalist kidnapped in Baghdad 10 days ago threatened to kill her in three days unless authorities freed all female prisoners in Iraq …
Discussion:
Rantingprofs, The Glittering Eye, The Heretik, Donklephant, Poynter Online and The Moderate Voice
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Robert F. Worth / New York Times:
Al Jazeera Shows Kidnapped U.S. Journalist — BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 17 - Looking pale and tired, a kidnapped American reporter, Jill Carroll, appeared in a silent videotape broadcast Tuesday by Al Jazeera television. The network said her captors had threatened to kill her if the United States does …
Discussion:
The Heretik
Los Angeles Times:
UCLA Alumni Group Is Tracking 'Radical' Faculty — A fledgling alumni group headed by a former campus Republican leader is offering students payments of up to $100 per class to provide information on instructors who are "abusive, one-sided or off-topic" in advocating political ideologies.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, The American Thinker, This Modern World, Feministe and Just a Bump in the Beltway
Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:
Update 15: White House Lobs Accusations at Gore — Former Vice President Al Gore and the White House traded accusations over national security Tuesday in a dispute that also pulled in President Bush's other presidential election rival, John Kerry. — At issue was Bush's secret domestic …
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Associated Press:
Supreme Court Steers Clear of First Abortion Case in 5 Years — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that a lower court was wrong to strike down New Hampshire abortion restrictions, steering clear of a major ruling on whether such laws place an undue burden on women.
ACLU:
Statement - Christopher Hitchens, NSA Lawsuit Client — Although I am named in this suit on my own behalf, I am motivated to join it by concerns well beyond my own. I have been frankly appalled by the discrepant and contradictory positions taken by the Administration in this matter.
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The Big Trunk / Power Line:THE BOOK OF RACHEL — Based on my junk mail, I would guess …
Discussion:
The Strata-Sphere
Thomas Ferraro / Reuters:
Senate Democrat backs Alito for US Supreme Court — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ben Nelson of Nebraska, a moderate voice in the U.S. Congress, on Tuesday became the first Senate Democrat to announce his support for conservative Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, who is expected to be confirmed later …
tcsdaily.com:
Wage Against the Machine — Over the weekend, you may have seen the New York Times Magazine article called "What is a Living Wage?". Apart from not quite managing to spot that a "living wage" is an extraordinarily bad idea economically, one that actually works to the detriment of low-paid workers …
Discussion:
Outside The Beltway, Stumbling and Mumbling, Workplace Prof Blog, Feministe, Hit and Run and Cafe Hayek
The WitList:
Tom DeLay Denies All Charges (As Told by Dr. Suess) — That Abramoff! — That Abramoff! — I do not like that Abramoff! — "Would you like to play some golf?" — I do not want to play some golf. — I do not want to, Abramoff. — "We could fly you there for free.
Ceci Connolly / Washington Post:
HHS Works to Fix Drug Plan Woes — Widespread Difficulties With New Medicare Benefit Reported — President Bush's top health advisers will fan out across the country this week to quell rising discontent with a new Medicare prescription drug benefit that has tens of thousands of elderly …
The Hill:
Larry David 'Curbs' talk of Cantor connection to show — In a profile of ascendant Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) in the Jewish Forward newspaper last week, the paper reprised part of a story it broke three years ago on the saga of a sandwich named after Cantor at Stacks, the short-lived kosher deli owned by Jack Abramoff.
