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Time:
First Photo of Bush and Abramoff — White House had initially said there was no record of disgraced lobbyist at 2001 meeting … Just how close was the relationship between the White House and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff? The Bush Administration again faced questions about those ties …
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New York Times:
Photograph Shows Lobbyist at Bush Meeting With Legislators — President Bush shaking hands in 2001 with Chief Raul Garza of the Kickapoo tribe of Texas. In the background at left is the lobbyist Jack Abramoff; Karl Rove, the president's top adviser, is at the right.
Charles Hurt / Washington Times:
Carter allowed surveillance in 1977 — Former President Jimmy Carter, who publicly rebuked President Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program this week during the funeral of Coretta Scott King and at a campaign event, used similar surveillance against suspected spies.
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Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:
Carter Spied, And Then He Lied — Despite former President Jimmy Carter's pointed jabs at the Bush administration over the NSA surveillance program this past week, it turns out that Carter has more familiarity with warrantless eavesdropping than he let on. Today's Washington Times reports …
Al Franken / The Huffington Post:
Reflections on the Wellstone Memorial and the King Funeral — I think a little more perspective is needed when addressing the comparison that right-wing bloggers and now some mainstream journalists (Howard Kurtz) have been making between the Wellstone Memorial and the Coretta Scott King Funeral.
David Johnston / New York Times:
Inquiry Into Wiretapping Article Widens — WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 — Federal agents have interviewed officials at several of the country's law enforcement and national security agencies in a rapidly expanding criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding a New York Times article published …
Discussion:
The Strata-Sphere, MyDD, The Huffington Post, The American Thinker, Decision '08 and The Washington Monthly
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New York Times:
The Trust Gap — We can't think of a president who has gone to the American people more often than George W. Bush has to ask them to forget about things like democracy, judicial process and the balance of powers — and just trust him. We also can't think of a president who has deserved that trust less.
Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:
Silencing Bush critics with prison — I really believe that the significance of this article from today's New York Times cannot be overstated. In essence, while the President sits in the White House undisturbed after proudly announcing that he has been breaking the law and will continue to do so …
Discussion:
firedoglake
Philip Sherwell / Telegraph:
US prepares military blitz against Iran's nuclear sites — Strategists at the Pentagon are drawing up plans for devastating bombing raids backed by submarine-launched ballistic missile attacks against Iran's nuclear sites as a "last resort" to block Teheran's efforts to develop an atomic bomb.
Discussion:
The Left Coaster, Liberty Street, Seeing the Forest, The Strata-Sphere, Flopping Aces and Daily Kos
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Stephanie Simon / Los Angeles Times:
Their Own Version of a Big Bang — Those who believe in creationism — children and adults — are being taught to challenge evolution's tenets in an in-your-face way. — WAYNE, N.J. — Evangelist Ken Ham smiled at the 2,300 elementary students packed into pews, their faces rapt.
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Donald Sensing / One Hand Clapping:
Artistic courage redefined — Yehudit writes that since the cartoons and riots therefrom, … Quite so, but there is a problem: Muslims keep redefining what is objectionable. They "dumb down" offensiveness. Such as Valentine Cards: A radical Kashmiri Islamic group, Dukhtaran-e-Millat …
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Alan Cooperman / Washington Post:
Air Force Eases Rules on Religion — New Guidelines Reflect Evangelicals' Criticism, General Says — The Air Force, under pressure from evangelical Christian groups and members of Congress, softened its guidelines on religious expression yesterday to emphasize that superior officers …
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John Cole / Balloon Juice:Focus on the Family 1, Air Force Cadets 0
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report
Martin Kettle / Guardian:
When it was no longer sweet or noble to kill for the cause — In 1956, the mirror in which the left saw itself was shattered. But its self-deception lives on — If the great history lesson of the 20th century is that socialism does not work then the watershed event in that tragic enlightenment …
Juliet Macur / New York Times:
Healing, With New Limbs and Fragile Dreams — It was a victory for Lance Cpl. Matthew Schilling to walk into the upper gallery of the House of Representatives on Jan. 31 for the State of the Union address. He wore his dress blues and a prosthetic leg. Five months earlier …
Discussion:
THE NEWS BLOG
Nell Henderson / Washington Post:
Cheney Says New Unit Will Prove Tax Cuts Boost Revenue — Vice President Cheney said Thursday night that the verdict is in before the Bush administration's new tax analysis shop has even opened for business: Tax cuts boost federal government revenue. — That assertion won applause …
Discussion:
Suburban Guerrilla
Medium Lobster / Fafblog!:
Retroactive Terror Alert — By now you may have heard of the captured terrorist masterminds who nearly brought down Los Angeles's Library Tower with a set of exploding footwear, or Iyman Faris, who craftily plotted to collapse the Brooklyn Bridge with a blowtorch.
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Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:
More Words Of Political Healing From Ann Coulter (UPDATED) — This time she delivers some classic rage-based zingers about a chance she once had with Bill Clinton, Muslims, moderate Republicans and — our favorite — who to warn (and therefore not to warn) if tipped off that terrorists were going to hit the Supreme Court.
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