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How Petraeus Moved The Debate, Literally — How far has General David Petraeus moved the debate on Iraq? His testimony on the surge, and the effects of the surge itself, has made it much more difficult for Democrats to argue for withdrawal and defeat. In fact, at last night's debate …
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Outside The Beltway, Associated Press, Washington Monthly, Weekly Standard, Take Our Country Back, Confederate Yankee, Comments From Left Field, Middle Earth Journal, Wake up America, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Hot Air, michellemalkin.com, The Oxford Medievalist, The Swamp, Conservative Belle and The Caucus
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A Lack of Clarity — Thank you, Tim Russert, for dragging the truth from all the Democratic candidates about what "ending the war" actually means. We hear these words a lot, especially from Hillary Clinton, yet Russert's questioning at MSNBC's New Hampshire debate last night revealed …


Romney hits Dems on gay issue — Leading the way on an issue almost certain to be resurrected during the general election, Mitt Romney issued a statement this morning condemning the Democratic candidates for their refusal at last night's debate to rule out teaching about gay issues to second-graders.
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JustOneMinute

Saddam Risked His Life for WMD Secrets — The Washington Post reports on a story leaked to Spain's El Pais about a meeting between President Bush and the former Spanish president Jose Maria Aznar weeks ahead of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. It's interesting to note how Bush discusses Saddam's signals …
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Transcript Reveals Impeachable Offenses by Bush Re: Iraq War — El Pais published a transcript (reprinted at this link) of the conversation between George W. Bush, Jose Maria Aznar of Spain, and Condoleeza Rice held at Crawford before the Iraq War. Bush is typically bullheaded, impatient …
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ABCNEWS, NYT, The Washington Note, Wonkette, Eunomia, Take Our Country Back and AfterDowningStreet.org


Bin Laden may have just escaped U.S. forces — August mission in Tora Bora almost snared 'high value target' — A little more than a month ago, with the anniversary of Sept. 11 approaching and fears of a new al Qaeda attack rising, some U.S. intelligence and military analysts thought …

Obama's wife makes stop in Q-C — Michelle Obama, wife of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, had to cut her Wednesday visit to the Carriage Haus in downtown Davenport short. — Even though her husband and other Democratic candidates for president were debating one another in New Hampshire and Michelle …
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The Atlantic Online
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Betting on Iowa — The Quad City Times reports today …
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The Carpetbagger Report


Verizon Reverses Itself on Abortion Messages — Saying it had the right to block "controversial or unsavory" text messages, Verizon Wireless last week rejected a request from Naral Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group, to make Verizon's mobile network available for a text-message program.
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They "Have Our Backs", Or At Least Aren't Stabbing Us There — Following the condemnation of the MoveOn ad by the House and Senate the Mighty Kos of the Nutroots compiled a list of those Democrats who "we can trust to have our backs". All the rest, we are advised, are "a fair-weather friend, at best".
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Cadillac Tight

U.S. fire scatters crowd after Afghan bomb: witness — BATI KOT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - At least one U.S. soldier opened fire to scatter a crowd of civilians and police on Thursday after failed suicide bomb attacks on a U.S. military convoy, the U.S. military and witnesses said.
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GALLUP: Trust in Federal Government, On Nearly All Issues, Hits New Low — Even Less Than in Watergate Era — NEW YORK A new Gallup poll reveals that, as the organization puts it, Americans now "express less trust in the federal government than at any point in the past decade …

Scientists Feel Miscast in Film on Life's Origin — A few months ago, the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins received an e-mail message from a producer at Rampant Films inviting him to be interviewed for a documentary called "Crossroads." — The film, with Ben Stein, the actor …
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Reason Magazine, Slog, The Volokh Conspiracy, Pharyngula, Liberal Values and DefCon Blog

What are 'Hollywood values'? — If it's all about free love and hating America, how come there aren't many openly gay stars or pro-jihadi movies? If it's all about the almighty dollar, how come Hollyweirdos disproportionately back the party that wants to tax them more?

In a 9/11 Survival Tale, the Pieces Just Don't Fit — Tania Head's story, as shared over the years with reporters, students, friends and hundreds of visitors to ground zero, was a remarkable account of both life and death. — She had, she said, survived the terror attack …


Army is worn too thin, says general — Calls force not ready to meet new threats — Defense Secretary Robert Gates (left) and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Peter Pace at a Capitol Hill hearing yesterday. (MARK WILSON/GETTY IMAGES) — WASHINGTON - The Army's top officer …
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Think Progress, Beliefnet, Comments From Left Field, New York Times, The Democratic Daily and MSNBC


Fox's Bill O'Reilly Says His Stereotypes Taken Out of Context — Bill O'Reilly says he thought he was dispelling stereotypes when he told his radio audience last week about his recent trip to Harlem with the Rev. Al Sharpton. Instead, O'Reilly found himself yesterday fighting accusations of racial insensitivity.

Hate-Crime Provision Clears Senate — The Senate voted today to extend federal hate-crime protection to people victimized because of their sexuality, but it remained doubtful that the measure would ever become law. — By voice vote and without dissent, the senators attached the hate-crime provision …