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House Drops Arctic Drilling From Bill — WASHINGTON - A solid phalanx of Republican moderates drove House GOP leaders to drop a hotly contested plan to open an Alaskan wilderness area to oil drilling as a sweeping budget bill headed toward a vote Thursday. — A plan to allow states to lift …
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House Shelves Alaska Drilling in Budget Fight — WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 - House Republican leaders were forced to jettison a plan for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska on Wednesday night to save a sweeping spending bill, a concession that came one day after the party suffered significant election loses.
Discussion:
Associated Press, WILLisms.com, Left in the West, Wonkette, The American Street and NewsBusters.org

LETTERS TO THE GOP — Reader reaction to the GOP cave-in on ANWR has been overwhelming. I'm reprinting just a small sample of letters that came in this morning from conservatives fed-up with Republican "leadership." — Update 1120am EST. I'll keep adding letters throughout the day.

Senator Seeks to Defer Probe of CIA Prison Leak
Discussion:
The Hill, Unclaimed Territory, The Carpetbagger Report, War and Piece and Los Angeles Times

Shocked Jordanians Protest Bombings in Their Capital — AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 10 - Thousands of Jordanians staged protests in the heart of the capital today against the terrorist bombings that killed 59 people and wounded about 100 when they ripped nearly simultaneously through three popular hotels on Wednesday night.
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Alito reviewed '95 case involving sister's firm — Questions persist about conflicts — WASHINGTON — Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., who said in 1990 that he would disqualify himself from cases involving his sister's law firm, was a member of an appeals court that reviewed a 1995 case …
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Democrats Press Court Designee Over Mutual Fund Case — WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 - Laying the groundwork for a possible strategy of attacking Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., Senate Democrats are ratcheting up their questions about the judge's failure to disqualify himself from a case involving Vanguard …

Indy Reporter Responds, Phosphorus 'Witness' Discredited, Racism in the Banlieue — One good sign that you've done well in a discussion is the descent by your counterpart into the realm of the ad hominem. If, at the same time, he ignores the substantive, factual points you've raised (e.g. …
Discussion:
Biased BBC, Natalie Solent, Mudville Gazette, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler and The Reaction
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Stupid Is As Stupid Blogs — No screaming eagle s**t, Kos and Steven D.:
Discussion:
Pandagon, protein wisdom, Daily Kos, Confederate Yankee, Instapundit.com and Rantingprofs

How Credible is Jeff Englehart?
Discussion:
The Daily Ablution, protein wisdom, RedState.org, Confederate Yankee, Obsidian Wings, Pandagon, The Talent Show and lgf

The Party of Sam's Club — THE PRESIDENCY OF GEORGE W. Bush has three years yet to run, but this season of scandal and disillusionment is an opportune moment for conservatives to start thinking seriously about the post-Bush era—and particularly how to fashion a domestic policy from the wreckage …
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Could I ever become a Democrat? — Here is a symposium on whether progressives can believe in economic growth as a primary value. The impetus is Gene Sperling's new and intelligent book The Pro-Growth Progressive. Here is a summary of the book. Here is a recent Sperling article.
Discussion:
The Washington Monthly

Dem's win in Va. gov race gives GOP a scare — House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and the House Republican campaign chairman, Rep. Tom Reynolds, were given a sobering warning last week by senior GOP political operatives. They were told that on Tuesday, Nov. 8, the Democrats were sure to win the governorship of Virginia.
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Stop This Amendment. — From the AP: … To repeat: this could come up for a vote tomorrow. TalkLeft has posted a pdf of the amendment. The relevant text: … This is seriously bad news. As best I can tell, it strips the courts of all power to hear any habeas motion from a detainee …
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Intelligence Probe Takes Shape — Senators Discuss Inquiry Into Administration Statements About Iraq — The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence yesterday worked out a tentative arrangement for pursuing its inquiry into how the Bush administration publicly portrayed the intelligence …

An Important Indictment — The flailing Bush presidency continues to spin off new compelling story lines almost daily; yesterday it was torture, today it's Bush as electoral albatross. It's almost inevitable that the media will let some fall by the wayside.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, CNN, The Heretik, The Sideshow, The Carpetbagger Report, The Mahablog, Brendan Nyhan, First Draft and Pam's House Blend

At the White House, Prizes for 14 Champs — Medal of Freedom Ceremony Shows Ali as Fast as Ever — Aretha Franklin was teary-eyed, Carol Burnett was teasing, Alan Greenspan was reliably taciturn, and "The Greatest of All Time" stole the show when President Bush bestowed the Medal of Freedom …
Discussion:
WTF Is It Now??

The Reporter's Last Take — In an Era of Anonymous Sources, Judy Miller Is a Cautionary Tale of the Times — NEW YORK Judy Miller's fumbling with the tape recorder. It's not even her tape recorder. — "This is off the record," she's saying, her voice high and nasal.

Down Syndrome Now Detectable In 1st Trimester — Earlier Diagnosis Allows More Time for Decisions — A first-trimester screening test can reliably identify fetuses likely to be born with Down syndrome, providing expectant women with that information much earlier in a pregnancy than current testing allows …