memeorandum: Unveiled Threats — A Bush appointee's crude gambit on detainees' legal rights (Washington Post)

8:00 PM ET, January 12, 2007

Top Items:

David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:

Democrats in Senate Fail to Block Bill on Ethics — After campaigning for months on a promise to tighten ethics rules, Senate Democratic leaders tried unsuccessfully Thursday to block a measure that would shine a light on the shadowy practice of earmarking federal money for lawmakers' pet projects.

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, Sunlight Foundation blogs, Club for Growth, Citizens Blogging …, My Left Nutmeg, Media Blog, Booman Tribune, Decision '08 and JustOneMinute

Kasie Hunt / Associated Press:

Clock ticking on Dems' 100-hour agenda — WASHINGTON - The clock is ticking for House Democrats, but it's hard to tell what time it is. — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., was touting a plan to push six bills through a Democratic House in 100 hours or less as early as June of last year.

Discussion: Riehl World View

Charles Hurt / Washington Times:

GOP hits Pelosi's 'hypocrisy' on wage bill — House Republicans yesterday declared "something fishy" about the major tuna company in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco district being exempted from the minimum-wage increase that Democrats approved this week.

Discussion: New York Post, Don Surber, Iowa Voice, Sigmund, Carl and Alfred, WILLisms.com, Blogs for Bush, Gun Toting Liberal ™, Wake up America, The Autopsy, Right Wing News, A Blog For All, Clayton Cramer's BLOG, Outside The Beltway, Flopping Aces, Sister Toldjah, GOP Bloggers and PoliPundit.com

Jim Abrams / Associated Press:
Democrats fumble earmarks legislation

Discussion: The Jawa Report

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
An Opening for the Democrats

Discussion: Redstate and Balkinization

Fox News:

WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN BLASTS SEN. BOXER'S EXCHANGE WITH SECRETARY RICE — Jan. 11: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discusses U.S. policy in Iraq while testifying on Capitol Hill. — WASHINGTON — The White House fired back Friday at Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer's verbal slap …

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG, Riehl World View and The American Street

New York Post:

BOXER'S LOW BLOW — Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, an appalling scold from California, wasted no time yesterday in dragging the debate over Iraq about as low as it can go - attacking Secre tary of State Condoleezza Rice for being a childless woman. — Boxer was wholly in character for her party …

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Video: Boxer gets personal with Condi at Senate hearing; Update: "Great leap backward for feminism," says Snow — I don't recall the lack of fruit from Janet Reno's womb figuring heavily into scrutiny of Waco or l'affaire Elian, but that was a different time.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Sister Toldjah, The Caucus, Wizbang, Silent Running, Tammy Bruce, The Political Pit Bull, Ed Driscoll.com and Althouse

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Rice, a Uniter of the Divided

Discussion: The Caucus, Taylor Marsh, Wonkette and The Heretik

Lara Setrakian / ABCNEWS:

EXCLUSIVE: DA in Duke Rape Case Asks to Be Taken off Case — After Weeks of Criticism, District Attorney Mike Nifong Asked to Be Recused — ABC News Law & Justice Unit — District Attorney Mike Nifong has requested that he have himself removed from prosecuting the Duke Lacrosse rape investigation, ABC News has learned.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Durham-in-Wonderland, A Blog For All, Outside The Beltway, Ace of Spades HQ, Don Surber and LieStoppers

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Duke prof resigns committee posts over defendants' return to campus …

Discussion: Associated Press, protein wisdom and Gateway Pundit

CBS News:

Read more about the CBS News poll '08 Contenders Weigh In — Bush, visiting with troops at Fort Benning, Ga., cautioned that the troop increase "is not going to yield immediate results. It's going to take a while." — The president's plan, outlined in a prime-time address to the nation on Wednesday …

Discussion: rollingstone.com

MSNBC:
'Hardball with Chris Matthews' for Jan. 11

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:
The President's power to attack Iran

Discussion: Firedoglake, UPI, Unfogged, Left in the West, State of the Day, The Impolitic, Cato-at-liberty, The Moderate Voice and TPMCafe blogs

Washington Post:

Unveiled Threats — A Bush appointee's crude gambit on detainees' legal rights — MOST AMERICANS understand that legal representation for the accused is one of the core principles of the American way. Not, it seems, Cully Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs.

Discussion: Discourse.net, The Volokh Conspiracy, TalkLeft, Gun Toting Liberal ™, The Carpetbagger Report, Majikthise and Andrew Sullivan

Murray Waas / National Journal:

CIA Leak Probe: Inside The Grand Jury — Late in the morning of July 12, 2003, Vice President Dick Cheney stood atop a pier at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia awaiting the commissioning of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, a ship 20 stories high that took eight years to construct.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and TalkLeft

Josh Gerstein / New York Sun:
Curtain's Up As Libby Is Set for Trial

Discussion: Firedoglake

Amir Taheri / New York Post:

HOW IRAQIS SEE W'S NEW PLAN — GREAT RELIEF - AND SOME CONCERNS — 'A SIGH of relief! So one resident of Haifa Street, in the heart of Baghdad's badlands, reacted to the new plan to secure the Iraqi capital with the help of thousands of additional American troops.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, TPMmuckraker, Wonkette, Middle Earth Journal and Rising Hegemon

Jim Abrams / Associated Press:

Convicted lawmakers to lose pensions — WASHINGTON - Members of Congress convicted of serious crimes would lose their taxpayer-paid pensions, sometimes totaling more than $100,000 a year, under a measure unanimously approved by the Senate Friday. — The 87- vote to deprive lawbreaking lawmakers …

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, The Democratic Daily and All Spin Zone

San Diego Union-Tribune:

Lam is asked to step down — Job performance said to be behind White House firing — The Bush administration has quietly asked San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam, best known for her high-profile prosecutions of politicians and corporate executives, to resign her post, a law enforcement official said.

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, Abovethelaw.com, CANNONFIRE and War and Piece

Steve Clemons / The Washington Note:

Note from Flynt Leverett: Most Important Parts of Bush Speech About Iran — Not Iraq — I asked former CIA and Bush administration National Security Council senior official Flynt Leverett for a quick summary of his thoughts on President Bush's Address to the Nation.

Discussion: The Road to Surfdom, The Moderate Voice, Larisa Alexandrovna's …, CorrenteWire and NO QUARTER

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Fauxtography: DU blows the lid off Malkin photoshop! Update: Hook, line, and sinker at dKos — The flag's been photoshopped in!! The bottom of the stick isn't aligned with the top!! IT'S NOT A PHOTOGRAPH, IT'S A PAINTING!!! LMAO!!! — Two good reasons to believe it's real:

Discussion: democraticunderground.com, The Jawa Report and Ace of Spades HQ