memeorandum @ 2:50 PM ET, March 7, 2006

2:50 PM ET, March 7, 2006

RELATED ITEMS:

New York Times:
Shiites Try to Block Start of Parliament Amid New Violence

Discussion: TAPPED

Edward Wong / New York Times:
U.S. Takes Steps to Reduce Shiite Domination in Iraqi Military

Discussion: IntoxiNation and Outside The Beltway

Carl Hulse / New York Times:

House Conservatives Prepare Austere Alternative Budget — WASHINGTON, March 6 — With Congress heading into a politically perilous budget season, influential House conservatives plan this week to propose an austere alternative spending plan that would pare more than $650 billion over five years …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Sister Toldjah, Right Wing News, Air America Radio and Hugh Hewitt

Somini Sengupta / New York Times:

Bombings in India Raise Fear of Sectarian Violence — NEW DELHI, March 7 — A series of apparently coordinated bombs went off in the ancient Hindu holy city of Benares in eastern India this evening, raising the specter of sectarian violence. — The first bomb exploded at the Sankat Mochan temple shortly …

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, WILLisms.com, On Deadline and The Politburo Diktat

Nicholas Wade / New York Times:

Still Evolving, Human Genes Tell New Story — Providing the strongest evidence yet that humans are still evolving, researchers have detected some 700 regions of the human genome where genes appear to have been reshaped by natural selection, a principal force of evolution, within the last 5,000 to 15,000 years.

Discussion: The Poor Man Institute, Secular Blasphemy and Tim Worstall

Peter Baker / Washington Post:

Bush Weaves Rug Story Into Many an Occasion — President Uses His Oval Office Floor Covering as a Metaphor for Optimism and Leadership — Nothing says power like the Oval Office. The paintings of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The bust of Dwight D. Eisenhower. The desk used by both Roosevelts.

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt, Demagogue and Brendan Nyhan

Monica Davey / New York Times:

South Dakota Bans Abortion, Setting Up a Battle — Gov. Michael Rounds of South Dakota signed into law the nation's most sweeping state abortion ban on Monday, an intentional provocation meant to set up a direct legal challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 United States Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal.

Discussion: Associated Press, La Shawn Barber's Corner, Captain's Quarters, The Carpetbagger Report, QandO, Balloon Juice, Althouse, The Rude Pundit, Alternate Brain and The Heretik

Reuters:

Iran faces consequences in nuclear dispute: Cheney —Text+WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran will not be allowed to have nuclear weapons and faces "meaningful consequences" if it persists in defying the international community, Vice President Dick Cheney said on Tuesday.

Discussion: Once Upon a Time, WTF Is It Now?? and Riehl World View

Mark Finkelstein / NewsBusters.org:

Lauer for the Defense: Matt Asks Colorado Teacher "Were You Set Up?" — Turns out the real culprit in the Colorado kerfluffle over the teacher who compared Pres. Bush to Hitler is . . . the student who complained about it. Just ask Matt Lauer. — Interviewing teacher Jay Bennish this morning …

Discussion: Generation Why?, Expose the Left, Conservative Thinking and Church and State

Richard Savill / Telegraph:

Vicar who can't forgive steps down from pulpit — A vicar whose daughter was killed in the London bombings has resigned because she finds it hard to forgive the men who carried out the suicide attacks. — The Rev Julie Nicholson, priest-in-charge of St Aidan with St George church, Bristol …

Discussion: Midwest Conservative Journal and Austin Bay Blog

Washington Post:

Now Repeal the Ban — THE SUPREME Court's unanimous decision yesterday upholding the Solomon Amendment is no surprise. It offers the correct answer to the legal question the case posed: Can the government deny federal money to universities that, in protest of the military's discrimination …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Bark Bark Woof Woof, The Washington Monthly and Eschaton