memeorandum: Shut Up and Read — Byline's back on the E&P Jamil articles … (jules crittenden)

10:15 AM ET, January 6, 2007

Top Items:

Pelosi: 43% Have Favorable Opinion of New House Speaker — Forty-three percent (43%) of Americans have a favorable opinion concerning the nation's new Speaker of the House. The first woman to serve in that role, Nancy Pelosi (D) earns favorable reviews from 45% of women and 41% of men.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Wake up America, SevenStripes.com and Blue Crab Boulevard

Eugene Volokh / The Volokh Conspiracy:

HALF THE STORY: Don Surber notes, quoting a correspondent: … Well, that's half the numbers. Filling in the other half (which, to Surber's credit, is linked from his post), we see that Bush is at 45% job approval and 54% disapproval, while Pelosi is at 43% favorable and 39% unfavorable.

Don Surber:

Don't quit the day job, Nancy — An e-mail from Mark Eichenlaub at the Reign of Terror: … D'oh! Another guy not falling for our lies. — UPDATE: Instapundit and Volokh Conspiracy have why things are not as close as they appear. — Volokh said their disapproval figures are 54% …

Discussion: The RBC, Dr. Sanity, The World Wide Rant and Wake up America

Tom Siebert / MediaPost Publications:

Media Critic's Blog Shuttered After Disney Complains — IN THE LATEST SKIRMISH BETWEEN big media and a blogger, The Walt Disney Company has succeeded in shutting down the Web site "Spocko's Brain." — On the site, blogger and media critic "Spocko" took issue with on-air comments …

TRex / Firedoglake:

Late Nite FDL: Spocko vs. The Rat — Evenin', fellow firedogs! Tonight I'm going to attempt to get us all up to speed about a situation that I suspect we're going to be hearing a lot about in the near future. This story was brought to my attention by ¡El Gato Negro!. — Where to begin?

Discussion: skippy the bush kangaroo

Aj Kandy / A.J. Kandy:

Bad Brand Stewardship: The Mouse and KSFO — ABC/Disney are tarnishing their own brand by lending their legal muscle to rabidly right-wing San Francisco talk affiliate KSFO. In doing so, they've also enraged the blogosphere with their shut-down of a critical blog that was hosting clips …

Discussion: Dependable Renegade and Whiskey Fire

Fox News:

PELOSI ELECTED SPEAKER, FIRST WOMAN TO LEAD HOUSE — WASHINGTON — In an historic vote lawmakers on Thursday formally named California Rep. Nancy Pelosi as the first female speaker of the House, making her next in the presidential line of succession after the vice president.

Discussion: unfutz

Tom Curry / MSNBC:
McCain calls for substantial, sustained surge

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Reaction, Sister Toldjah, Hullabaloo, Macsmind, jules crittenden, Taylor Marsh, Brilliant at Breakfast, PrairiePundit, The Democratic Daily, speaker.gov and Human Events

David Stout / New York Times:
Top Democrats Oppose More Troops in Iraq

Discussion: TalkLeft, On Deadline and DownWithTyranny!

Bill Brubaker / Washington Post:
Democrats Urge Bush Not to Increase Troops in Iraq

Discussion: Reason Magazine and Daily Kos

Timothy J. Burger / Time:

Where Does Negroponte Leave Intelligence? — When John Negroponte was nominated to the position of Director of National Intelligence (DNI) almost two years ago, the smooth-talking career diplomat described his new post as "vital to the protection of our country" and one that …

Time:
Behind Negroponte's Move

Discussion: Times of London and Hot Air

Newsweek:
The Next Top Spy

Discussion: Daimnation!

Associated Press:

Army asks dead to sign up for another hitch … WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army said Friday it would apologize to the families of about 275 officers killed or wounded in action who were mistakenly sent letters urging them to return to active duty. — The letters were sent a few days after Christmas …

Discussion: the talking dog and All Spin Zone

Hassan M. Fattah / New York Times:

Images of Hanging Make Hussein a Martyr to Many — In the week since Saddam Hussein was hanged in an execution steeped in sectarian overtones, his public image in the Arab world, formerly that of a convicted dictator, has undergone a resurgence of admiration and awe.

Robert Kuttner / Boston Globe:

Get serious, Democrats — DEMOCRATS in Congress plan to restore pay-as-you-go budget rules. The rules preclude tax cuts, unless paid for by other tax increases or spending cuts. This is mostly a good idea — but unless Democrats get serious about repealing Bush's tax cuts for the rich …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and The Corner

Bill Roggio / The Fourth Rail:

Al-Qaeda, Islamic Courts gather the new Somali Jihad — Zawahiri, Islamist Courts lay the groundwork for the insurgency — While the Islamic Courts repeatedly denied any connection to al-Qaeda, the evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. Hassan Dahir Aweys, the 'spiritual leader' …

Discussion: garoweonline.com and PrairiePundit

Elizabeth A. Kennedy / Associated Press:
Somalia's Islamists vow to heed al-Qaida

Discussion: Voice of America, The Blotter and Blue Crab Boulevard

Reuters:

Cleric gunned down in Gaza after plea for calm — GAZA (Reuters) - Unidentified gunmen shot dead a Muslim cleric after he delivered a sermon in the Gaza Strip on Friday calling for an end to fierce factional fighting between Hamas and Fatah, hospital officials and local residents said.

Associated Press:
Critic of Hamas gunned down near mosque

Discussion: Secular Blasphemy

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:

A New Commander, in Step With the White House on Iraq — The selection of Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus to serve as the senior American commander in Iraq signals an important turn in United States strategy. — As a supporter of increased forces in Iraq, General Petraeus is expected …

Discussion: neo-neocon and PrairiePundit

Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit.com:

ARE TODAY'S ELECTRONIC GADGETS WORTH THE MONEY? USA Today says that some are and some aren't: … I'm going to be attending the Consumer Electronics Show myself, as part of the Popular Mechanics contingent — and yes, it was awfully nice of the PM folks to invite me along.

Discussion: USA Today

Ann Althouse / Althouse:
In which I annoy you once again with the asssertion that I'm a moderate.

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, The Reaction, TalkLeft and Transterrestrial Musings

Eugene Volokh / The Volokh Conspiracy:
TRUST TEST: Andrew Sullivan, InstaPundit, and Ann Althouse link …

Discussion: Althouse, StephenBainbridge.com and Daily Pundit

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:

Scarborough challenges O'Reilly to a debate — O'Reilly has been trashing NBC news lately because he's mad at Olbermann and doesn't want to say his name on the air. How does Billy get back at Keith? He says everybody hates George on NBC. I know, it's stupid.

Discussion: MSNBC

Pete Yost / Associated Press:

White House visitor records closed — WASHINGTON - The White House and the Secret Service quietly signed an agreement last spring in the midst of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal declaring that records identifying visitors to the White House are not open to the public.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Democratic Daily, The Carpetbagger Report, The RBC, TPMmuckraker, Donklephant, The Hill, Tennessee Guerilla Women, Prairie Weather and Shakespeare's Sister

Dan Froomkin / Washington Post:
Purge of the Unbelievers

Discussion: New York Times

Associated Press:

AP employee found shot to death in Iraq — BAGHDAD, Iraq - The body of an Associated Press employee was found shot in the back of the head Friday, six days after he was last seen by his family leaving for work. Ahmed Hadi Naji, 28, was the fourth AP staffer to die violently in the Iraq war …

Discussion: Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler and Patterico's Pontifications

Anne Flaherty / Associated Press:

Lawmakers criticize WH's Iraq troop plan — WASHINGTON - President Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq is running into trouble on Capitol Hill, with Republicans joining Democrats in raising eyebrows before the president even has a chance to make his case.

Discussion: CorrenteWire