memeorandum: Verizon Says It Turned Over Data Without Court Orders (Ellen Nakashima/Washington Post)

10:50 AM ET, October 16, 2007

Top Items:

Randi Rhodes is the Victim of a Violent Attack — Randi Rhodes was mugged on Sunday night on 39th Street and Park Ave, nearby her Manhattan apartment, while she was walking her dog Simon. — According to Air America Radio late night host Jon Elliott, Rhodes was beaten up pretty badly …

Discussion: Think Progress, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Gawker, Wizbang, Taylor Marsh, CANNONFIRE, Greatscat!, skippy the bush kangaroo, VodkaPundit and State of the Day

Washington Post:

The Real Iraq We Knew — Today marks five years since the authorization of military force in Iraq, setting Operation Iraqi Freedom in motion. Five years on, the Iraq war is as undermanned and under-resourced as it was from the start. And, five years on, Iraq is in shambles.

Discussion: BitsBlog, Main and Central, INTEL DUMP, PrairiePundit, All Spin Zone, Confederate Yankee, Middle Earth Journal, Yahoo! News, TIME: Swampland, Daily Kos, The Atlantic Online, Balloon Juice, Brilliant at Breakfast, The American Street and Angry Bear

Jules Crittenden:

12 Captains — With an alarmingly poor grasp of political and military realities in Iraq and the United States weigh in with the following at the Washington Post: … It would be far quicker, cheaper and less politically traumatic to simple expand the military, and offer financial incentives to boost enlistment.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and RADAMISTO

Los Angeles Times:

Retirement season hits GOP hard — PACKING UP: Rep. Ray LaHood, shown in 2005, is to retire next year. "I don't like being in the minority," he said. "It's not that much fun, and the prospects for the future don't look that good." — In 2008, Republicans look certain to be defending …

Discussion: Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Reaction, Bark Bark Woof Woof and Left in the West

David Brooks / New York Times:

A Still, Small Voice — A few weeks ago, I interviewed Deborah Pryce, the Republican congresswoman, in her Washington office. There was a doll propped up against a windowsill, and I wanted to ask her if it had belonged to her daughter, who died of cancer at age 9 in 1999.

Discussion: The Corner, Brian Beutler and JoeTrippi.com

Bill Schneider / CNN:
Retirements may put House out of GOP's reach

Discussion: The Newshoggers

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:

Verizon Says It Turned Over Data Without Court Orders — Firm's Letter to Lawmakers Details Government Requests — Verizon Communications, the nation's second-largest telecom company, told congressional investigators that it has provided customers' telephone records to federal authorities …

Discussion: AMERICAblog, The Carpetbagger Report, Comments from Left Field, Unqualified Offerings, Kiko's House, Shakespeare's Sister, cab drollery, Connecting.the.Dots, Rook's Rant, Prairie Weather, Salon, TalkLeft, The Next Hurrah, Balloon Juice and Macsmind

Nick Pisa / Daily Mail:

Is this Pope John Paul II waving from beyond the grave? Vatican TV director says yes — This fiery figure is being hailed as Pope John Paul II making an appearance beyond the grave. — The image, said by believers to show the Holy Father with his right hand raised in blessing …

Discussion: Cliff Schecter, The World Wide Rant and Truthdig

Thomas Sowell / Real Clear Politics:

Sabotage in Wartime — With all the problems facing this country, both in Iraq and at home, why is Congress spending time trying to pass a resolution condemning the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire nearly a century ago? — Make no mistake about it, that massacre of hundreds of thousands …

Discussion: Power Line, BitsBlog, Dr. Sanity, Gateway Pundit, PrairiePundit and TigerHawk

USA Today:

Poll: Mixed feelings on kids' health insurance — WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans trust Democrats to handle the issue of children's health insurance more than President Bush, but they agree with the president that government aid should be targeted to low-income families, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows.

USA Today:
House Republicans feel heat in wake of SCHIP veto

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, Kiko's House, Baltimore Sun, Daily Kos and Los Angeles Times

Huffington Post:

Launched! Fox Biz Network Goes Live (With Bloopers) — Will it change business television as we know it? Will it hammer CNBC into the ground? Will it make synergistic use of the Wall Street Journal and the pretty smiles of young, nubile anchorwomen around the clock?

Discussion: TIME, TVNewser, Inside Cable News, Gawker, News Hounds and Media Blog

Alessandra Stanley / New York Times:
A Perky Debut for the Fox Business Network

Discussion: Romenesko

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

GOP targeting Clinton on phone-call snooping — Republicans plan to seize on an allegation from the 1992 presidential campaign to tarnish Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) on the red-hot issue of government surveillance. — Government surveillance will be at the forefront of the political debate …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier, MSNBC, Guardian, The Atlantic Online, Betsy's Page, Wizbang, Sweetness & Light, JammieWearingFool, The Jawa Report, Redstate, Stop The ACLU, Assorted Babble and PrairiePundit

Logan Murphy / Crooks and Liars:

Frost Parents Talk About The Right's Jihad Against Their Son On Countdown — In their first television interview since Michelle Malkin, Rush Limbaugh and others on the right decided to crucify their 12 year old son and swiftboat their family, the parents of Graeme Frost sat down and talked with Keith Olbermann tonight on Countdown.

Discussion: pw pub, The Carpetbagger Report, Daily Kos, Group News Blog, Suburban Guerrilla, MSNBC, Shakespeare's Sister, Whiskey Fire, The American Street, Feministe and Greatscat!

Guardian:

The making of the Muslim left — Muslim leftism is the only way to ensure that Islam's individualist revolution doesn't take an even darker turn than it already has. — I went to a government school in the American south where I had constant interaction with religious supremacists.

Discussion: The Opinionator, Dean's World and Donklephant

blogs.wsj.com:

Thanks, But No Thanks for $9.11 Checks — Susan Davis reports on the presidential race. — The third quarter disclosure reports out today indicate that Rudy Giuliani's campaign is actively returning checks in denominations that are tied to the 9/11 terrorist attacks …

Discussion: Conservative Belle, Hot Air and Attytood

Washington Post / The Trail:
Giuliani Spends Big Bucks for Posh Hotels

Discussion: MSNBC and TalkLeft

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Politico Playbook: $38,777 for FedEx — Good Tuesday morning. Senator McCain, who yesterday reported -$94,447 cash on hand for the primary, is on a media blitz that will include a call to Tavis Smiley's radio show and a couple of cable interviews. — Gov. Romney has a new TV ad about killing the death tax.

Discussion: Booman Tribune and mediabistro.com

blogs.wsj.com:

Bob Jones Dean Endorses ... Romney! — Michael M. Phillips reports on the presidential race. — A top official at Bob Jones University, the Evangelical Christian school with a history of anti-Mormon rhetoric, plans to throw his weight behind Mormon presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.

Discussion: New York Times, The Atlantic Online, The Carpetbagger Report, Townhall.com and Washington Monthly