memeorandum: Alcee Hastings and the Glories of Conventional Wisdom (Glenn Greenwald/Unclaimed Territory)

1:05 AM ET, November 29, 2006

Top Items:

Pelosi Passes on Hastings, Harman for House Intel Chair — House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has decided against naming either Reps. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), the senior Democrat on the House intelligence committee, or Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), the panel's No. 2 Democrat …

Discussion: The Corner, Redstate, The Reaction, Decision '08 and QandO

Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:

Alcee Hastings and the Glories of Conventional Wisdom — (updated below) — Stephen Bainbridge responded to yesterday's post I wrote about the media's vapid and inaccurate reporting regarding Nancy Pelosi's selection for House Intelligence Committee Chair.

Discussion: Think Progress, Redstate, Professor Bainbridge's Journal and UNCoRRELATED

Reuters:

Pelosi rejects Hastings bid to head committee —Text+WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida, impeached as a federal judge in 1989 on corruption charges, dropped his bid under pressure on Tuesday to chair a congressional panel designed to help protect America's security, a party aide said.

Discussion: Roger L. Simon, Don Surber, Outside The Beltway, Media Lies and Blogs for Bush

Lesley Clark / The State:
Hastings not likely to lead House Intelligence Committee

Discussion: Hot Air, Sister Toldjah, Macsmind and Townhall.com Blog's …

Katherine Shrader / Associated Press:
Pelosi passes Hastings for Intel chair

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard

Michelle Malkin:

Burning Six update: The AP responds (to USA Today); update: and now, a new AP account — ***scroll for updates... (fyi, my gmail is still down. if you are trying to reach me, use this temporary address: malkinblog-at-yahoo.com)...see below for AP tinfoil hat editorializing...plus …

Discussion: Townhall.com Blog's …, Power Line, CBS News, UNCoRRELATED, BizzyBlog, The Jawa Report and PrairiePundit

Steven R. Hurst / Associated Press:

Witnesses detail immolation attack on six Sunnis in Baghdad last week — BAGHDAD — The attack on the small Mustafa Sunni mosque began as worshippers were finishing Friday midday prayers. About 50 unarmed men, many in black uniforms and some wearing ski masks, walked through the district chanting …

Discussion: Hot Air, The American Street, Bookworm Room, The Huffington Post and Oliver Willis

Mark Memmott / On Deadline:
AP, U.S. military spar over atrocities report

Discussion: Democracy Project, Unqualified Offerings, BizzyBlog, Romenesko, Wake up America and Michelle Malkin

New York Times:

Bush Blames Al Qaeda for Wave of Iraq Violence — President Bush today said Al Qaeda was to blame for the rising wave of sectarian violence in Iraq, which he refused to label a civil war. Mr. Bush said he would press Iraq's prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, during meetings in Jordan later …

Discussion: White House, Talking Points Memo, James Wolcott's Blog, Andrew Sullivan, The Sundries Shack, Wake up America, The Moderate Voice, A Tiny Revolution, War and Piece and Don Surber

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:
Bush Adviser's Memo Cites Doubts About Iraqi Leader

Discussion: War and Piece and Political Animal

Washington Post:
Bush Pledges Continued U.S. Presence in Iraq

Discussion: WAHU-TV, The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, Prairie Weather, The Glittering Eye, The Heretik, AMERICAblog, Middle Earth Journal, f a t c a t politics, Right Wing Nut House, The Democratic Daily and PrairiePundit

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:

Washington Post equals White House propaganda on Iraq — This is an unbelievable segment which shows how screwed up the Washington Post is. Dana Priest says that The Washington Post doesn't label the incredible amount of violence in Iraq a "civil war" because government officials won't.

Discussion: CBS News, Firedoglake, TAPPED, Media Blog and Democrats.com

MSNBC:
NBC label of civil war at odds with White House

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG and Balloon Juice

Ahmed Rashid / Telegraph:

Accept defeat by Taliban, Pakistan tells Nato — Senior Pakistani officials are urging Nato countries to accept the Taliban and work towards a new coalition government in Kabul that might exclude the Afghan president Hamid Karzai. — Pakistan's foreign minister, Khurshid Kasuri …

Discussion: The Fourth Rail, The Blotter, Don Surber, Bill's Bites, Hot Air and AMERICAN FUTURE

White House:
President Bush Discusses NATO Alliance During Visit to Latvia

Discussion: Political Animal and Unqualified Offerings

Glenn Harlan Reynolds / Popular Mechanics:

SWAT Overkill: The Danger of a Paramilitary Police Force — In a guest editorial, law professor and instupundit.com blogger Glenn Reynolds argues that overagressive tactics and surplus military gear have turned some police units into a dangerous menace. — SOLDIERS AND POLICE are supposed to be different.

Discussion: Unqualified Offerings

Patrik Jonsson / Christian Science Monitor: After Atlanta raid tragedy, new scrutiny of police tactics

Linda Deutsch / Associated Press:

Judge strikes down Bush on terror groups — LOS ANGELES - A federal judge struck down President Bush's authority to designate groups as terrorists, saying his post-Sept. 11 executive order was unconstitutionally vague, according to a ruling released Tuesday.

Discussion: PoliPundit.com, Michelle Malkin and CorrenteWire

Emily Heil / The Hill:

Son also rises in testy Webb-Bush exchange — President Bush has pledged to work with the new Democratic majorities in Congress, but he has already gotten off on the wrong foot with Jim Webb, whose surprise victory over Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) tipped the Senate to the Democrats.

Discussion: Political Insider and Wonkette

Lesley Clark / Miami Herald:

Congressman calls Miami a `Third World country' — WASHINGTON - Rep. Tom Tancredo, the leader of the anti-illegal immigration faction in the U.S. House, spent a recent weekend at The Breakers in Palm Beach. — Ninety miles to the south, he found a symbol to bolster his belief …

Discussion: Reason Magazine, The American Street, Oliver Willis, Right Wing News and The Political Pit Bull

Dennis Prager / Townhall.com:

America, Not Keith Ellison, decides what book a congressman takes his oath on — Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, has announced that he will not take his oath of office on the Bible, but on the bible of Islam, the Koran.

Discussion: Lean Left, The Mahablog, Minnesota Monitor, No More Mister Nice Blog, Taylor Marsh, Tammy Bruce, Outside The Beltway and Secular Blasphemy

Politics Central:

THE GLENN AND HELEN SHOW: ORSON SCOTT CARD ON EMPIRE AND DIVISION IN AMERICAN POLITICS — Most people agree that political divisions have gotten worse in recent years. Orson Scott Card's new novel Empire looks at whether and how those divisions might lead to an American civil war in the near future.

Discussion: Hot Air, Ed Driscoll.com, Bloggernacle Times and The World Wide Rant

Jonathan Karl / ABCNEWS:

EXCLUSIVE: Pentagon Considers Moving Troops From al-Anbar Province to Baghdad — Major Strategic Shift Considered to Secure Iraqi Capital — ABC News has learned that Pentagon officials are considering a major strategic shift in Iraq, to move U.S. forces out of the dangerous Sunni-dominated …

Discussion: The Fourth Rail, Informed Comment, Hot Air, INDCJournal, Blogs of War and Media Lies

Fox News:

JUDGE ORDERS TREASURY DEPARTMENT TO MAKE PAPER MONEY RECOGNIZABLE TO BLIND PEOPLE — WASHINGTON — American paper money represents an unfair impediment to the blind, and the Treasury Department must come up with new U.S. currency to help the visually impaired use cash, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Discussion: Y.A.C.R.W.B, Blue Crab Boulevard, Outside The Beltway and Stop The ACLU

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Video: Carter blames Israel for failure of roadmap, denies he's anti-Israel; Update: Carter says Shalit kidnapping "probably" a mistake — As usual when the sage of Plains turns up on TV, it's an embarrassment of outraged riches. Here you'll find him bestowing the Carter seal of approval …

Discussion: A Blog For All, Bill's Bites, Israel Matzav and Soccer Dad

Jon Boyle / Reuters:

French police the target in urban guerrilla war — PARIS (Reuters) - Stoned, beaten and insulted, their vehicles torched by crowds of hostile youths, French police say they face an urban guerrilla war when they enter the run-down neighborhoods that ring the major cities.

Discussion: A Blog For All

Brian C. Ledbetter / snapped shot:

Cheerleading for the Terrorists — The media, in all of its glory, wholeheartedly participating in the celebration of a new weapon designed to kill Jews: — More details will follow shortly, as soon as I have the time. I hope to track down the news articles attached to this event …

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs, Blue Crab Boulevard and Wake up America