1. Afghan Source: The U.S. Has Offered the Taliban Control in Return for Quiet 15 hours ago   permalink

Www.thememriblog.org

An Afghan source in Kabul reports that U.S. Ambassador in Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry is holding secret talks with Taliban elements headed by the movement's foreign minister, Ahmad Mutawakil, at a secret location in Kabul. According to the source, the U.S. has offered the Taliban control of the Kandahar, Helmand, Oruzgan, Kunar and Nuristan ...

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Www.telegraph.co.uk
THREATSWATCH: Whispers Of Surrender In Afghanistan?… Taliban's Afghan allies tell Barack Obama: 'Cut us a deal and we'll ditch al-Qaeda'   —  President Barack Obama's review of strategy in Afghanistan means America will end up making a deal with the Taliban, and tolerating warlords, to end the fighting.

Www.csmonitor.com
Pakistan to US: Don't surge in Afghanistan, talk to Taliban   —  Pakistan contradicts US Gen. McChrystal's strategy of pulling back from Afghanistan borders, and disagrees with the strategy of a surge to defeat the Taliban.

2. New documents: White House scrambled to justify AmeriCorps firing after the fact 7 hours ago   permalink

New documents: White House scrambled to justify AmeriCorps firing after the fact
Www.washingtonexaminer.com

Just hours after Sen. Charles Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa released a report Friday on their investigation into the abrupt firing of AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin, the Obama White House gave the lawmakers a trove of new, previously-withheld documents on the affair. It was a twist on the now-familiar White House late-Friday release ...

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Michellemalkin.com
Friday document drop reveals insight into Americorps IG firing The indelible whiteness of MSNBC   —  MSNBC host Chris Matthews, MSNBC reporter Norah O’Donnell, and MSNBC guest Joan Walsh shamelessly played the race card against Sarah Palin and her book-buying audience last week.

Little Green Footballs
White House Announces New Science Education Initiatives   —  President Obama’s scheme to indoctrinate America’s children is proceeding apace, with new initiatives to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics: White House Pushes Science and Math Education . To improve science and mathematics education for American children, the White House is recruiting Elmo and Big Bird, video ...

3. NYT Policy on Illegally Acquired Documents">NYT Policy on Illegally Acquired Documents 7 hours ago   permalink

Volokh.com

The NYT’s environmental blog, Dot Earth, covered the disclosure of e-mails and other files from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit, noted that the files are available on various other website, but did not reproduce any files on its site.  As Andrew Revkin explained in the post:

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Lachlan Markay / NewsBusters.org
Andrew Revkin Spins ‘ClimateGate’ Story WaPo: Climate Schemers 'Under Attack' By Skeptics Who Dare to Question   —  The release of internal emails from Britain's University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit shows scientists plotting to ostracize and marginalize other researchers who question their assumptions on anthropogenic global warming. Yet the Washington Post finds that such a strategy is but a natural reaction to attacks on these scientists by ...

Www.weeklystandard.com
NYTimes: We Won't Publish "Statements that Were Never Intended for the Public Eye."   —  With the release of hundreds of emails by scientists advocates of global warming showing obvious and entirely inappropriate collusion by the authors -- including attempts to suppress dissent, to punish journals that publish peer-reviewed studies casting doubt on global warming, and to manipulate data to bolster their own arguments -- even the New ...

4. ACORN San Diego office dumps 20k docs in dumpster Amid Calif. AG Investigation 2 hours ago   permalink

ACORN San Diego office dumps 20k docs in dumpster Amid Calif. AG Investigation
Biggovernment.com

On October 1st, 2009 California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced that an investigation had been opened into ACORN’s activities in California, resulting from undercover videos showing employees seemingly offering to assist the undercover film makers with human smuggling, child prostitution and even tax advice to boot.

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5. US Media Ignores Obama’s Muffed Japan Visit 2 hours ago   permalink

US Media Ignores Obama’s Muffed Japan Visit
Biggovernment.com

The Japanese media has reported that Obama’s recent state visit to their island nation was a big failure, but the U.S. media is mum on the mess that Team Obama made in Japan. He made multiple diplomatic gaffs and this is quite aside from the absurdly low bow that the incompetent president perpetrated upon greeting the Japanese Emperor ...

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Scared Monkeys / Scared Monkeys
US Media Ignores Obama’s Muffed Japan Visit Did MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Just Say Obama was Making “Carteresque” Mistakes?   —  Does Barack Obama’s words no longer send a thrill up the leg of MSNBC media lap dog Chris Matthews? This Sunday on “The Chris Matthews Show” Matthews broke the cardinal rule of speaking about the Obamamessiah … he actually compared Obama to Jimmy Carter. Via News Busters, Chris Matthews called some of Obama’s recent ...

Mike / Mike
US Media Ignores Obama’s Muffed Japan Visit Health Care Bills Violate Obama's Principles & Campaign Promises   —  He promised to end the old Washington games yet plays along with health care gimmicks and lies!It's little more than a year now since Obama was elected. Plenty of time for the not so well informed...

6. Charles Martin's ClimateGate Primer 38 minutes ago   permalink

AMERICAN DIGEST

If you're still playing catch-up in the smoldering wreckage from the Holy Hand Grenade of hacking detonated in the Hadley CRU, a great place to start is Charlie Martin's succint and link-rich Global WarmingGate: What Does It Mean? Martin lays it out and sums it up with "It appears that the three scandals are: First, a real attempt by a small ...

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Pajamasmedia.com
Charles Martin's ClimateGate Primer Global WarmingGate: What Does It Mean?   —  See for example emails 1047388489, 1256765544, 1255352257, 1051190249, 1210367056, 1249503274, 1054756929, 1106322460, and 1132094873. Also see email 1139521913, in which the author discusses how the comments at RealClimate.org are moderated to prevent skeptical or critical comments from being published. RealClimate advertises itself as a ...

7. WEAR THE DECLINE 7 hours ago   permalink

WEAR THE DECLINE
Blogs.news.com.au

“What really annoys me about this whole thing," comments Chilly in Connecticut, “is that it’s been out there for 24 hours already, and I still can’t find anyplace to buy a Hide the Decline t-shirt.”

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8. Nontroversy Watch: CRU-Gate 54 minutes ago   permalink

Little Green Footballs

The Washington Post’s Andrew Freedman interviewed science historian Spencer Weart about the stolen climate science emails (known at the more hysterical blogs as the “ scandal of the century ”); Weart has a good perspective on the nontroversy . Andrew Freedman: What effects do you think this will have on public perceptions of ...

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Www.realclimate.org
The CRU hack: Context   —  This is a continuation of the last thread which is getting a little unwieldy. The emails cover a 13 year period in which many things happened, and very few people are up to speed on some of the long-buried issues. So to save some time, I’ve pulled a few bits out of the comment thread that shed some light on some of the context which is ...

9. Fox News ponders 'quality control' 1 hour ago   permalink

Steve Benen / Political Animal

FOX NEWS PONDERS 'QUALITY CONTROL'.... Over the last few weeks, Fox News has suffered some embarrassments that left even the partisan network feeling ill at ease. An incident occurred when Fox News combined footage of events to make it seem...

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Www.mediabistro.com
Fox News Management Fed Up by Mistakes   —  After a few footage mishaps at Fox News like their recent slip-up: "Fox News Uses Old Palin Footage," the higher ups at the network have had enough. In an email obtained by FishbowlDC, FNC management alerted the Newsroom that they were going to a "zero base" newscast production, defined in the memo...

10. Douthat: They Chose Celebrity 31 minutes ago   permalink

Douthat: They Chose Celebrity
Www.nytimes.com

Before the 2008 election, almost nobody outside Alaska and Arkansas had heard of Sarah Palin or Mike Huckabee. But in a long and crowded campaign season, they were the only Republican politicians who inspired any genuine enthusiasm.

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11. COOL PICTURES in the WSJ Photo Journal blog. 1 hour ago   permalink

COOL PICTURES in the WSJ Photo Journal blog.
Pajamasmedia.com

"Glenn also has a rather dry sense of humour, which I'm guessing not enough people pick up on." -- Andrea See

12. CRU Emails “may” be open to interpretation, but commented code by the programmer tells the real story 1 hour ago   permalink

CRU Emails “may” be open to interpretation, but commented code by the programmer tells the real story
Wattsupwiththat.com

In one leaked e-mail, the research center’s director, Phil Jones, writes to colleagues about graphs showing climate statistics over the last millennium. He alludes to a technique used by a fellow scientist to “hide the decline” in recent global temperatures. Some evidence appears to show a halt in a rise of global temperatures ...

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13. Newsweek Editor Admits: Health Care Bill a ‘Fiscal Fraud’ But ‘I’d Still Vote for It’ 3 hours ago   permalink

Newsweek Editor Admits: Health Care Bill a ‘Fiscal Fraud’ But ‘I’d Still Vote for It’
Rich Noyes / NewsBusters.org

Over the weekend, Newsweek assistant managing editor Evan Thomas offered an intriguing insight into the MSM’s approach to the liberal health care bill slowly rolling its way through the Democratic-controlled Congress. After conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer accurately pointed out how the Senate bill only pretends to be “deficit- ...

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Blogs.abcnews.com
Newsweek Editor Admits: Health Care Bill a ‘Fiscal Fraud’ But ‘I’d Still Vote for It’ Ben Nelson: No Health Care if No Change in Public Option and Abortion Funding   —  Reporting and analysis from ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent and "This Week" Host George Stephanopoulos George Stephanopoulos reports on events in politics, Congress and the White House for ABCNews, on the air and online. He interviews top newsmakers, discusses the events of the week and looks to the week ahead each Sunday on 'This Week.'

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute
Newsweek Editor Admits: Health Care Bill a ‘Fiscal Fraud’ But ‘I’d Still Vote for It’ Health Care Road Map   —  The Politico points out some of the landmines ahead. Robert Samuelson explains that in the political scuffle between youth and experience, bet on the AARP. Mickey Kaus fears neither asteroids nor Ezra Klein. Finally, legalize and tax. It's a gamechanger.

14. Something Wonderful: The Adventures of Lil Cthulhu 1 hour ago   permalink

AMERICAN DIGEST

"Want a child-friendly way to introduce your little one to the traditions of the Old Cult? Meet little Cthulhu, who lives in the magic city of R'lyeh with all his friends, as you and your child embark on a fun and educational journey through the world of the Great Old Ones, meeting all kinds of new buddies from the Necronomicon along the way, ...

15. Update: Katie Couric Celebrated Her First CBS Anchor Broadcast with a Dance of Gin 1 hour ago   permalink

Update: Katie Couric Celebrated Her First CBS Anchor Broadcast with a Dance of Gin
Gawker.com

We figured out where the photos of Katie Couric shaking her lovely lady humps were taken: at the after-party celebrating her debut as anchor of the CBS Evening News. That was the best possible answer.

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16. Newsweek 20/10 1 hour ago   permalink

Newsweek 20/10
2010.newsweek.com

Three thousand dollars a month is a lot to spend on pornography by any measure and in any era, but it’s a particularly egregious sum in the Internet Age, when there’s a no shortage of free porn readily available online, and even premium-quality new releases are available on the cheap. That Christie Brinkley was this man’s wife makes it ...

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17. NPR: The Internet is at Fault for Fort Hood Assassin 2 hours ago   permalink

NPR: The Internet is at Fault for Fort Hood Assassin
Warner Todd Huston / ACLU

-By Warner Todd Huston National Public Radio (NPR) has a bit of foolishness penned by Daniel Schorr that really shows how useless NPR really is. In an pristine example of Schorr’s great intellect, he’s decided that the Internet is responsible for Nidal Hasan’s murderous rampage at Fort Hood earlier in the month. Folks, this is ...

18. Scribe suspended from using Twitter for two weeks 2 hours ago   permalink

Blogs.knoxnews.com

ESPN.com columnist Bill Simmons is serving an ESPN-imposed two-week suspension from Twitter, Steve Krakauer writes. ESPN.com editor-in-chief Rob King wrote a blog post on ESPN.com explaining the suspension, saying it was in reference to a recent Simmons tweet regarding WEEI. -- More.

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19. If senators are worried about the polls... 3 hours ago   permalink

Steve Benen / Political Animal

IF SENATORS ARE WORRIED ABOUT THE POLLS.... Ideally, it'd be preferable if senators took the same attitude as Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and put the public's needs above possible political considerations. But that's not how the game is usually played...

20. Climategate, Coal Mine Deaths, Air Pollution and Coals assault on human health 3 hours ago   permalink

Nextbigfuture.com

It shows made biased and overly alarmist presentations of the climate data and worked to suppress the work of scientists who disagreed with global warming. It also shows attacks on the careers of scientists, journalist and editors who disagreed with global warming.

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