Today's MSM

From Eric Alterman's Blog, Altercation:

What else wasn't covered last week in between Brittney's thighs, Anna-Nicole's boobs, and David Geffen's canapés on thin wafers? Let's take 10 examples of stories that are unarguably more important to the future of the republic--and to virtually all Americans' lives--than the cotton-candied crapola that dominated news coverage:

Sy Hersh had yet another scoop in The New Yorker, this one revealing a strategic shift in U.S. foreign policy that potentially benefits our enemies. And the BBC revealed the U.S.'s contingency plans for an attack on Iran.
The federal government's plan to check flight passenger names against terrorist watch lists is five years behind schedule.
More news is emerging about U.S. Attorneys being replaced with GOP cronies in what Adam Cohen calls a "political purge." One ousted attorney seems intent on fighting back.
Vice President Dick Cheney was traveling in Southeast Asia pressuring Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and refusing to talk to the press except on an absurd "background" capacity that shamed everyone who participated in it and fooled no one who really cared. (It took a suicide bombing targeting the base Cheney was visiting to make front-page news.)
Habeas Corpus continued its slow death as the Military Commissions Act of 2006 was upheld in federal court
British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced his plans to bring 1,600 of his country's troops back from Iraq. U.S. government officials pretended that this somehow good news.
A top Republican fundraiser was indicted for financing terrorists.
Record numbers of Americans are living in extreme poverty--nearly 16 million.
House Democrats debated an Iraq policy linking further war funding to high standards for troop rest, training, and equipment, as a fractious Senate temporarily moved its focus to post-9/11 reforms.
And 14,000 National Guard troops are going back to Iraq early.

And now back to your regularly scheduled broadcast....This just in: Anna Nicole Smith is...still dead.