Morning copy 01.30.2006

ABC News in Iraq

Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt sustained severe injuries from an improvised explosive device in Iraq, New York Times.

State of the Union

Boston Globe: Bush to address use of alternate energy sources.

Baltimore Sun: Familiar motifs, not bold policy, expected in Bush speech.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Health is likely the focus for Bush.

Bloomberg News: Bush Will Use `Bully Pulpit' in Bid to Recover From 2005 Damage.

Los Angeles Times: Bush Sets Sights Lower This Time.

Hamas

The European Union is calling for Hamas to "embrace peace efforts," Guardian. Israel seeks to isolate Hamas leaders, Washington Post. Condoleezza Rice says the United States will not send financial aid to a Hamas government, Boston Globe.

Sunday talk shows

Senator Chuck Hagel says that Bush should explain the domestic spying to program, A.P. via ABC News. For a q&a breakdown of this policy, see today's Houston Chronicle.

There was a noteworthy consensus that Bush should just release the Abramoff photos, Los Angeles Times.

Senator(s) Obama (and Biden) were critical of John Kerry's filibuster tactic, A.P. via Chicago Tribune.

Hugo Chavez

New Hampshire Governor John Lynch (Democrat) has contacted Hugo Chavez about low cost oil for New Hampshire's poor, Manchester Union Leader.

Katrina

More FEMA woes, resulting in hundreds of trucks not used and search teams not deployed, A.P. via the Boston Globe.

Promotions

The Los Angeles Times:

WASHINGTON — Struggling to retain enough officers to lead its forces, the Army has begun to dramatically increase the number of soldiers it promotes, raising fears within the service that wartime strains are diluting the quality of the officer corps.

Last year, the Army promoted 97% of all eligible captains to the rank of major, Pentagon data show. That was up from a historical average of 70% to 80%

Morality votes

The Christian Science Monitor:

It's unusual for a controversial economic issue to be fought on moral grounds. But ACORN, a public advocacy group, has been winning a higher "living wage" for workers in state after state, city after city, by appealing to voters' sense of justice.

"It's probably the best [argument] we have," says Jen Kern, director of ACORN's Living Wage Resource Center. A decent income is a moral matter of "fairness," she says. Those who "play by the rules of the game should be able to support themselves by their work."

Dick Armey

John Fund from OpinionJournal:

Mr. Armey, a former economics professor, vividly recalls the House leadership meeting in late 2001 that prompted his decision to retire. Afterwards he returned to his office and wrote down his summary of how he saw the GOP Congress behaving: "We come to this town and we do things we ought not to be doing in order to stay in the majority so we can do things we ought to be doing that we never get around to doing." A few weeks later the man who was a chief drafter of the 1994 Contract with America announced he was leaving office.