Top Items:
Michael McAuliff / Mercury News:
Dubai company set to run U.S. ports has ties to administration — WASHINGTON - The Dubai firm that won Bush administration backing to run six U.S. ports has at least two ties to the White House. — One is Treasury Secretary John Snow, whose department heads the federal panel that signed off …
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Lesley Clark / Miami Herald:
Carter backs Bush's stand on seaport-operations deal — Former President Jimmy Carter downplayed criticism of White House support of an Arab-owned company's purchase of a major seaport-operations firm. — lclark@MiamiHerald.com — WASHINGTON - President Bush is taking a battering …
Financial Times:
Paranoia about Dubai ports deal is needless — The current furore in Washington about the takeover of P&O, the UK-based ports operator, by Dubai Ports World says more about the United States Congress than the United Arab Emirates. The bluster about national security conceals one of the uglier faces …
Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:Bipartisan Opposition Growing Over Arab Company Control Of U.S. Ports
John M. Broder / New York Times:
States Curbing Right to Seize Private Homes — In a rare display of unanimity that cuts across partisan and geographic lines, lawmakers in virtually every statehouse across the country are advancing bills and constitutional amendments to limit use of the government's power of eminent domain …
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, The Strata-Sphere, Althouse, Bring it On!, Hugh Hewitt, The Heretik, The American Thinker and Balloon Juice
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Charles Lane / Washington Post:
With Longevity on Court, Stevens's Center-Left Influence Has Grown — One day last summer, an unusual baseball practice took place at Bluemont Park in Arlington. A white-haired gentleman in owlish glasses tossed one pitch after another to a female catcher half his age, trying to hit the strike zone.
Gina Holland / Associated Press:
Justices to Weigh Late-Term Abortion Ban — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will consider the constitutionality of banning a type of late-term abortion, teeing up a contentious issue for a newly-constituted court already in a state of flux over privacy rights.
Christopher Hitchens / Slate:
Stand up for Denmark! — Why are we not defending our ally? — Put the case that we knew of a highly paranoid religious cult organization with a secretive leader. Now put the case that this cult, if criticized in the press, would take immediate revenge by kidnapping a child.
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Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit.com:
IN THE MAIL: Bruce Bartlett's Impostor : How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy, which seems to be setting off considerable discussion about the "end of conservatism." — Not being a conservative myself, I don't have a dog in this hunt, exactly.
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Jonathan D. Glater / New York Times:
To: Professor@University.edu Subject: Why It's All About Me — One student skipped class and then sent the professor an e-mail message asking for copies of her teaching notes. Another did not like her grade, and wrote a petulant message to the professor. Another explained that she was late …
Matt Singer / progressivestates.org:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — HELENA, MT - The Progressive Legislative Action Network (PLAN) today issued a report that exposes many of the conservative movement's methods of operation in state government and how progressives can deliver results. The organization also rolled out its website …
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Anne Penketh / Independent:
US threatens to cut aid to Iraq if new government is sectarian — The US and Britain are pressuring Iraq's dominant Shia community to relinquish two key ministries in negotiations for a new government, as the country was hit by a wave of bombings that killed at least 24 people.
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Associated Press:
Ex-Malasian Leader Says He Paid Abramoff — Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Monday that disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was paid $1.2 million to organize his 2002 meeting with President Bush, but denied the money came from the Malaysian government.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, TAPPED, Think Progress, The Reality-Based Community, Thoughts from Kansas, Daily Kos and Roger Ailes
Dulue Mbachu / Associated Press:
Anti-Muslim Riot in Nigeria Turns Deadly — LAGOS, Nigeria - Christian mobs rampaged through a southern Nigerian city Tuesday, burning mosques and killing several people in an outbreak of anti-Muslim violence that followed deadly protests against caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad over the weekend.
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Deb Riechmann / Associated Press:
Bush: U.S. on Verge of Energy Breakthrough — MILWAUKEE (AP) - Saying the nation is on the verge of technological breakthroughs that would "startle" most Americans, President Bush on Monday outlined his energy proposals to help wean the country off foreign oil.
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Jihad Watch, Gina Cobb, White House, Shakespeare's Sister, CALIFORNIA YANKEE, Mathew Gross and phronesisaical
Scott Shane / New York Times:
U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review — WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 — In a seven-year-old secret program at the National Archives, intelligence agencies have been removing from public access thousands of historical documents that were available for years, including some already published …
Steve Kiggins / thespectrum.com:
Hatch defends Bush's domestic surveillance — CEDAR CITY - Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, boldly defended President Bush's warrantless surveillance program and the war in Iraq on Saturday at an invitation-only luncheon with Iron County political and business leaders.
Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Administration Critics Chafe at State Dept. Shuffle — Merger Has Brought Appointees Into Conflict With Longtime Workers, Who Say They Are Sidelined — A State Department reorganization of analysts involved in preventing the spread of deadly weapons has spawned internal turmoil …
Thomas E. Ricks / Washington Post:
U.S. Counterinsurgency Academy Giving Officers a New Mind-Set — Course in Iraq Stresses the Cultural, Challenges the Conventional — TAJI, Iraq — If the U.S. effort in Iraq ultimately is successful, one reason may be the small school started recently on a military base here by Army …
Will Bunch / Philadelphia Daily News:
Santorum's mortgage raises interest — This article stems from an investigative piece that Daily News staff writer Will Bunch wrote on a freelance assignment for American Prospect, a national political magazine with a liberal bent. The entire 6,000-word story is slated to be available today …
Discussion:
tpmcafe.com, American Prospect, The Huffington Post, JABBS, WTF Is It Now?? and The Washington Monthly
Andrew Cochran / The Counterterrorism Blog:
New Arrests in Ohio for Support of Terrorists in Iraq (updated with indictment & press conference highlights) — Here is the full indictment (Acrobat file) courtesy of Steven Emerson's Investigative Project on Terrorism: — Download OhioIraqiSupportCase.pdf on new arrests of three men …
Discussion:
Reuters, The Strata-Sphere, Flopping Aces, FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog and The Political Pit Bull
Ronald D. Asmus / Washington Post:
Contain Iran: Admit Israel to NATO — The choice of how to respond to Iran's growing threat to the West in general and Israel in particular is not an easy one. One option is to try to stop Iran's nuclear program via an air and missile strike — but such a step is unlikely to work militarily and could have disastrous consequences.
Discussion:
Norwegianity, Decision '08, The Political Pit Bull, Daniel W. Drezner and BrothersJudd Blog
