Top Items:
Washington Post:
The President's End Run — THE MOST detailed legal justification to date for the National Security Agency's warrantless domestic surveillance has emerged from the Bush administration, but the 42-page version isn't any more convincing than its shorter predecessors.
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John O'Neil / New York Times:
Intelligence Deputy Defends Surveillance Program — Gen. Michael V. Hayden, who led the National Security Agency when it began a program of warrantless wiretaps, vigorously defended the program today, but acknowledged that it depends on a lower standard of evidence than required by courts.
Discussion:
The Washington Monthly
Rick Hasen / Election Law:
BREAKING SUPREME COURT ELECTION LAW NEWS: SUPREME COURT UNANIMOUSLY REVERSES WISCONSIN CAMPAIGN FINANCE CASE, DENIES CERT IN KEY JUDICIAL ELECTIONS CASE, AND SETS ARGUMENT TIMES IN REMAINING CAMPAIGN FINANCE CASES — WRTL: Lyle Denniston reports on SCOTUSBlog: "The Supreme Court ruled on Monday …
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Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:
Court allows campaign finance challenges — The Supreme Court ruled on Monday, without dissent, that it has not barred all challenges to actual operation in practice of federal campaign finance restrictions. It ordered a lower court to reconsider an "as-applied" challenge by an anti-abortion group …
Discussion:
How Appealing
New York Times:
Judge Alito's Radical Views — If Judge Samuel Alito Jr.'s confirmation hearings lacked drama, apart from his wife's bizarrely over-covered crying jag, it is because they confirmed the obvious. Judge Alito is exactly the kind of legal thinker President Bush wants on the Supreme Court.
Anthony Phillips / This Is London:
George sinks to new low — First he shocked TV viewers and his colleagues by pretending to be a cat and lapping milk from Rula Lenska's hand. — Now George Galloway is set to attract further derision after performing a dance routine on Celebrity Big Brother - in a tight-fitting, red leotard.
Greg Myre / New York Times:
A Man Called Hitler Runs for a Seat He May Not Fill — JENIN, West Bank, Jan. 18 - The candidate's name is Jamal Abu Roub, but everyone here calls him Hitler because, well, that is the name he has answered to quite comfortably since he was a teenager. — Mr. Roub, 40, is a leader …
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Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
'Cheap Suitcase' Watch — Chris Matthews drew fire for "comparing" Michael Moore to Osama Bin Laden, and many on the left our howling for an apology. Will Mr. Matthews fold up like a cheap suitcase? We assume so, since, as a reliable Bush-basher, he long ago lost his audience on the right.
Discussion:
Done With Mirrors
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Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:
Canada's Day Of Reckoning — Canadians go to the polls today to select a new Parliament, and all indications show that they will bring in a new government for the first time in 13 years. As both the New York Times and the American Spectator surmise, the new Conservative government …
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Shelby Steele / Opinion Journal:
Hillary's Plantation — Hillary Clinton reveals her fear of Condi Rice. — Of course Hillary Clinton's recent claim that Republicans run the House of Representatives like a "plantation" was old-fashioned political and racial pandering. After all, she uttered this remark at what certainly …
John Hawkins / Right Wing News:
Right-Of-Center Bloggers Select The Most & Least Desired 2008 Republican Nominee (2006 Edition) — Right Wing News emailed more than 230 right-of-center bloggers and asked them to send us a ranked list 1-5 of the candidates that they would most like to take the Republican nomination for President …
Washington Post:
Ford to Cut Thousands of Jobs and Close 14 Factories — Ford Motor Co. announced today that it will cut as many as 30,000 jobs and shut down 14 factories to help reverse losses in its troubled North American automotive division. — The restructuring announcement came shortly after Ford reported …
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Ezra Klein / TAPPED:
A PRE-STATE OF THE UNION PRIMER. Another day, another detailed preview of George W. Bush's State of the Union health care proposals. This morning's iteration comes from the LA Times' Peter Gosselin, one of the best social policy reporters in the country. But even the best reporters …
Discussion:
The Washington Monthly, Angry Bear, Shakespeare's Sister, Talking Points Memo, Interesting Times and Ezra Klein
David Carr / New York Times:
Soothe the Blog and Reap the Whirlwind — LAST Thursday, Deborah Howell, the ombudsman for The Washington Post, posted a clarification on the newspaper's Web site after suggesting in her Sunday column that the lobbyist Jack Abramoff had made "substantial campaign contributions to both major parties."
Larry Margasak / Associated Press:
Workers Allege Halliburton Knew Their Water Was Foul — Troops and civilians at a U.S. military base in Iraq were exposed to contaminated water last year, and employees for the responsible contractor, Halliburton Co., could not get their company to inform camp residents, according to interviews and internal company documents.
Doug Struck / Washington Post:
Professionals Fleeing Iraq As Violence, Threats Persist — Exodus of Educated Elite Puts Rebuilding at Risk — BAGHDAD — The office of Iraq's most eminent cardiologist is padlocked. A handwritten sign is taped on his wooden door in the private clinic in Baghdad: Patients of Dr. Omar Kubasi should call him in Amman, Jordan.
Edmund L. Andrews / New York Times:
As Profits Soar, Companies Pay U.S. Less for Gas Rights — WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 - At a time when energy prices and industry profits are soaring, the federal government collected little more money last year than it did five years ago from the companies that extracted more than $60 billion …
Michael Valpy / Globe and Mail:
Tories poised for minority, final poll shows — Toronto — As Canada's 39th general election campaign came to a halt Sunday night, final polling numbers gave Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party a firm grip on minority government following Monday's vote.
Digby / Hullabaloo:
Killing Me Softly — I'm feeling down right now. I know I shouldn't. The fact that Tom DeLay has stepped down is such a huge victory for humanity all by itself that I should be dancing a jig for the next six months. But, I'm down in the dumps, mostly because I am watching George W. Bush repeat …
Kevin Russell / SCOTUSblog:
News and Analysis on Today's Decision in Katz — Today, the Court issued a 5-4 decision in Central Virginia Community College v. Katz, holding that States do not have sovereign immunity to suits by bankruptcy trustees seeking the return of preferential transfers under the federal bankruptcy act.
Jon Sarche / Associated Press:
Army Officer Found Guilty in Iraqi's Death — FORT CARSON, Colo. (AP) - An Army interrogator committed negligent homicide when he put a sleeping bag over an Iraqi general's head and sat on his chest as the man suffocated, a military jury found. — Attorneys for Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr …
Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
Politics Alleged In Voting Cases — Justice Officials Are Accused of Influence — The Justice Department's voting section, a small and usually obscure unit that enforces the Voting Rights Act and other federal election laws, has been thrust into the center of a growing debate …
Discussion:
The Stakeholder, Booman Tribune, Wonkette, THE BRAD BLOG, Norwegianity and Prairie Weather
