memeorandum: Liberals Going After Fox Advertisers (David Bauder/Associated Press)

9:35 PM ET, July 28, 2007

Top Items:

Mining of Data Prompted Fight Over Spying — A 2004 dispute over the National Security Agency's secret surveillance program that led top Justice Department officials to threaten resignation involved computer searches through massive electronic databases, according to current and former officials briefed on the program.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Power Line, Washington Monthly, Prairie Weather, The Next Hurrah, Booman Tribune and Brian Beutler

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

As you can... DATA MINING — As you can see, we now have the first hint of what was at the center of the Ashcroft hospital room showdown. According to the New York Times, what the White House calls the 'terrorist surveillance [i.e., warrantless wiretap] program' originally included some sort of wide scale data mining.

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:

Parsing Gonzales And Prepping For Greymail — The Captain does a good job presenting the White House talking points in defense of embattled AG Gonzales. And as he points out to his critics, he is reporting, not evaluating - attorneys, feel free to chime in.

Discussion: The Next Hurrah

New York Times:
Justice Dept. Lawyers Join Chorus Criticizing Gonzales

Discussion: Washington Post and TPMmuckraker

Steve Benen / Talking Points Memo:

In reviewing Ian... CONFLATING ALL OUR ENEMIES INTO ONE — In reviewing Ian Shapiro's new book, Containment: Rebuilding a Strategy Against Global Terror, Samantha Powers emphasizes a point that has been completely lost on Republican presidential candidates (and the man they hope to replace):

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Samantha Power / New York Times: Our War on Terror

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
DIVIDE AND CONQUER....In a review/essay critiquing both the phraseology …

Discussion: TPMCafe blogs

Anne-Marie Slaughter / Washington Post:

Partisans Gone Wild — A funny thing is happening in American politics: The fiercest battle is no longer between the left and the right but between partisanship and bipartisanship. The Bush administration, which has been notorious for playing to its hard-right base, has started reaching across the aisle …

Discussion: Unqualified Offerings, Eunomia, Wake up America, Hullabaloo, Booman Tribune, Sadly, No!, The Gun Toting Liberal™ and The Impolitic

The Atlantic Online:
"Partisan" — On top of whatever else has been said …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Eschaton and Sadly, No!

Jim Henley / Unqualified Offerings:
I Know When I'm Beat — The only honorable thing to do is admit …

Discussion: The Sideshow and TalkLeft

Newsday:

Hate-crime arrests in Quran desecrations at Pace University — NEW YORK (AP) _ A 23-year-old man was arrested Friday on hate-crime charges after he threw a Quran in a toilet at Pace University on two separate occasions, police said. — Stanislav Shmulevich of Brooklyn was arrested on charges …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, UrbanGrounds, Riehl World View, theneweditor.com, The Jawa Report and Jihad Watch

Little Green Footballs:
Outrage of the Week: Arrested for Desecrating a Koran

Discussion: CAIR, Hot Air and Gateway Pundit

Washington Post:

Fewer See Balance in High Court Decisions — Growing Numbers In Poll Say Bench Is 'Too Conservative' — About half of the public thinks the Supreme Court is generally balanced in its decisions, but a growing number of Americans say the court has become "too conservative" …

Discussion: Think Progress and The Politico

Mark Leibovich / New York Times:

In the '60s, a Future Candidate Poured Her Heart Out in Letters — They were high school friends from Park Ridge, Ill., both high achievers headed East to college. John Peavoy was a bookish film buff bound for Princeton, Hillary Rodham a driven, civic-minded Republican going off to Wellesley.

Discussion: Redstate, Shakespeare's Sister and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

David Bauder / Associated Press:

Liberals Going After Fox Advertisers — NEW YORK (AP) - Liberal activists are stepping up their campaign against Fox News Channel by pressuring advertisers not to patronize the network. — MoveOn.org, the Campaign for America's Future and liberal blogs like DailyKos.com are asking thousands …

Discussion: A Chequer-Board of Nights …, Scared Monkeys, Don Surber and Hot Air

Greg Mitchell / Editor and Publisher:

Press Reports: Another Apparent Iraq Vet Suicide — NEW YORK One of the least covered aspects of the fallout from the Iraq war is the rising toll of suicides, both near the battlefield and back home. — Latest official figures released by the Pentagon reveal at least 116 self-inflicted fatalities in Iraq.

Discussion: Think Progress and ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES

Steve B. / Educated Soldier:

Paradise: Baghdad... I am not sure if I should be excited about this but; recently, I have found myself waking each morning most anticipating two daily events: time spent in the gym or running and the authoring of this Blog. — In anticipation of writing tonight's post, I had developed two separate topic pieces.

Discussion: The Belmont Club

Ken Wheaton / AdAge:

MoveOn Gets Someone to Bite on Faux Fox Protest — Liberal Coalition Mimics Right-Wing Groups — Taking a page from Don Wildmon's American Family Association, MoveOn and other liberal groups are going after marketers who advertise on Fox News. And just like the AFA's claims that large portions …

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard and Riehl World View

Noam Scheiber / New York Times:

The Centrists Didn't Hold — NOT very long ago, the Democratic Leadership Council was a maker of presidents — or, at least, the maker of a president. In 1991, Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas, then the council's chairman, elucidated the "New Democrat" ethos and previewed the themes …

Discussion: Oliver Willis, TalkLeft, Liberal Values, The Huffington Post and The Glittering Eye

Faiz / Think Progress:

Soltz: Bush Needs To Resolve Whether Pat Tillman Was Killed For His Political Views — Yesterday, Iraq war veteran Jon Soltz wrote on ThinkProgress about Pat Tillman: "Was the man the White House used to promote the war ordered to be killed because he was becoming increasingly critical of the war in Iraq?"

Discussion: The Sideshow and The Huffington Post

Robin Wright / Washington Post:

U.S. Plans New Arms Sales to Gulf Allies — $20 Billion Deal Includes Weapons For Saudi Arabia — The Bush administration will announce next week a series of arms deals worth at least $20 billion to Saudi Arabia and five other oil-rich Persian Gulf states as well as new 10-year military aid packages …

Stephen Farrell / New York Times:

British Pullback in Iraq Presages Hurdles for U.S. — BASRA, Iraq — As American troop levels are peaking in Baghdad, British force levels are heading in the opposite direction as the troops prepare to withdraw completely from the city center of Basra, 300 miles to the south.

Discussion: Big Lizards and Prairie Weather

Jonathan D. Glater / New York Times:

Certain Degrees Now Cost More at Public Universities — Should an undergraduate studying business pay more than one studying psychology? Should a journalism degree cost more than one in literature? More and more public universities, confronting rising costs and lagging state support …

Discussion: Washington Monthly