Top Items:
William Branigin / Washington Post:
Bush Defends Domestic Spying — Deputy National Intelligence Chief Says Program Allows Better Terrorist Tracking — President Bush and the nation's deputy national intelligence chief today defended the legality of a controversial domestic spying program, describing it as a vital tool …
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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:
TalkLeft, The Washington Monthly, AMERICAN FUTURE, The Carpetbagger Report and The Heretik
Jennifer Loven / Associated Press:
Bush Calls Surveillance Legal, Necessary — MANHATTAN, Kansas - President Bush pushed back Monday at critics of his once-secret domestic spying effort, saying it should be termed a "terrorist surveillance program" and contending it has the backing of legal experts, key lawmakers and the Supreme Court.
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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David Stout / New York Times:Justices Ask Court to Reconsider Campaign Finance Case
Discussion:
ACSBlog
MB Williams / Wampum:
The 2005 Koufax Awards: Most Deserving of Wider Recognition — This is the hardest of the nomination posts to compile, one reason I chose to do it early this year - hopefully you'll all feel sorry enough for me that you'll send much Pinot Noir and pad thai (well, maybe not together …
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.
Discussion:
RightWinged.com, Kesher Talk, Norwegianity, WuzzaDem, Solomonia, Ed Driscoll.com and Silent Running
Beth Duff-Brown / Associated Press:
Polls Predict Conservative Win in Canada — OTTAWA (AP) - Canadians voted Monday in an election that could dramatically change the country's political landscape with most polls predicting victory for Stephen Harper's Conservatives - a result that would likely push Canada to the right and lead to improved ties with the U.S.
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Toni Locy / Associated Press:
Libby Wants to Use Classified Evidence — WASHINGTON - Lawyers for a former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday made their first request to use classified evidence at his trial, launching a highly secretive court process that could bog down the case.
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James Glanz / New York Times:
Iraq Rebuilding Badly Hobbled, U.S. Report Finds — The first official history of the $25 billion American reconstruction effort in Iraq depicts a program hobbled from the outset by gross understaffing, a lack of technical expertise, bureaucratic infighting, secrecy and constantly increasing security costs …
Joanne Kenen / Reuters:
Lawmakers seek review of eavesdropping rules — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. surveillance laws should be reviewed and possibly rewritten to allow the type of eavesdropping that U.S. President George W. Bush has been criticized for authorizing, lawmakers from both parties said on Sunday.
White House:
President Discusses Global War on Terror at Kansas State University — THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for the warm welcome. Thanks for inviting me here to give the Landon Lecture. For those students who are here, I want you to know I can remember what it was like to sit through lectures. (Laughter.)
austinbay.net:
Oh, Canada/with some thoughts on the Canadian military — Over the weekend wire and blog reports I read said the race between the Conservatives and Liberals had tightened. Apparently voters in the Maritimes are particularly vulnerable to allegations that those "Conservatives out West" are dangerous folks, almost Americans.
Michelle Malkin:
THE AMAZON.COM REVIEW CESSPOOL — Much has been made of the rabid Left's online swarm that shut down the Washington Post's blog comment section. The comments seemed comparatively tame to me. Maybe I'll copy off Chapter 6 of Unhinged and send it off to the WaPo ombudsman and her editors to help them feel better.
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Special Report: Many States Shift Democratic During 2005 — Rhode Island, Delaware most Democratic; Utah, Wyoming most Republican — PRINCETON, NJ — An analysis of Gallup Poll data from 2005 shows that the Democratic Party made gains in party identification among the American public.
Sabrina Tavernise / New York Times:
Abduction of U.S. Reporter Underscores Risks in Iraq — BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 22 - The tools of her trade were a notebook, pen, Islamic head covering and Arabic name to pass unnoticed through Iraqi streets. — Together with an interpreter and a driver, Jill Carroll, a 28-year-old American journalist …
Abbas Raza / 3quarksdaily:
MONDAY MUSING: A MORAL DEGENERACY — One of the few vices I have always had an extreme aversion and almost allergic reaction to is gambling in all its multifarious incarnations. So much so, that I have never even learned to play a single card game, because they are all somehow indissolubly …
Time:
When George Met Jack — White House aides deny the President knew lobbyist Abramoff, but unpublished photos shown to TIME suggest there's more to the story — As details poured out about the illegal and unseemly activities of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, White House officials sought …
Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:
Canadian Election Live Blog — 6:30 - I'm off to a late start, thanks to a last-moment emergency at work. Now that I'm home, the First Mate has me fixed up with dinner and I'll be eating while blogging. (Excuse typos for a while, IOW.) We're still two hours ahead of poll closings in Canada, and I'm a bit behind on my e-mail.
Fox News:
U.N. Procurement Scandal: A 'Culture of Impunity' — UNITED NATIONS — How bad is the still expanding scandal in the United Nations' multi-billion-dollar procurement division? Based on a still-secret internal investigation, the answer is: for the U.N., it is just as bad as the gigantic Oil-for-Food debacle — or maybe worse.
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 …
