Democrats Stretch Lead in Vote for Congress  —  Fourteen-point Democratic lead is among the widest since 1994  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, conducted Feb. 28 to March 1, finds the Democrats holding a substantial lead over the Republicans as the party …

IRAQ: THE UNTOLD TRUTHS  —  AMONG the many positive stories you aren't being told about Iraq, the media ignored another big one last week: In the wake of the terrorist bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, it was the Iraqi army that kept the peace in the streets.

Now Repeal the Ban  —  THE SUPREME Court's unanimous decision yesterday upholding the Solomon Amendment is no surprise.  It offers the correct answer to the legal question the case posed: Can the government deny federal money to universities that, in protest of the military's discrimination …

Iran faces consequences in nuclear dispute: Cheney  —Text+WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran will not be allowed to have nuclear weapons and faces "meaningful consequences" if it persists in defying the international community, Vice President Dick Cheney said on Tuesday.

SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE....Ed Kilgore responds to my angry post about the DLC's wonkish 7-point healthcare plan with this: … Here's my guess: in private, I'll bet all of these gentlemen do acknowledge that a simple single-payer national healthcare plan is the best policy.

Envoy to Iraq Sees Threat of Wider War  —  He supports the White House view that an early pullout would backfire, but he is bleak about the Sunni-Shiite conflict and says it could spread.  —  BAGHDAD — The top U.S. envoy to Iraq said Monday that the 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime had opened a …

Getting A Clue-ney: Race & The Oscars  —  My post-Oscar update (#6) on George Clooney (see below) garnered a strong comment from "Cal." I thought I would put his statement and my response as a post, with some other views on the Oscars, race and the rise of Three Six Mafia.  —  First Cal, who starts quoting me:

Bush Weaves Rug Story Into Many an Occasion  —  President Uses His Oval Office Floor Covering as a Metaphor for Optimism and Leadership  —  Nothing says power like the Oval Office.  The paintings of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  The bust of Dwight D. Eisenhower.  The desk used by both Roosevelts.

Child Killing Law Challenged in South Dakota  —  Now this is worth blogging about.  —  Governor Mike Rounds is directly challenging the judge-made law known as Roe v. Wade by banning all abortions in South Dakota.  —  In case you were asleep during Social Studies classes, the Supreme Court …

8,000 desert during Iraq war  —  At least 8,000 members of the all-volunteer U.S. military have deserted since the Iraq war began, Pentagon records show, although the overall desertion rate has plunged since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.  —  Since fall 2003, 4,387 Army soldiers …

Unchristened Embryos, Destination: Hell  —  I brought up one of my favorite forced birth conundrums the other day, guaranteed to make wingnut "life begins at conception" heads explode.  If a fire breaks out in a fertility clinic and you can only save a petri dish with five blastulae or a two-year old child, which do you save?

From 'Three's Company' to two's a crowd  —  BEVERLY HILLS — Seventies icon Suzanne Somers was strolling into Vanity Fair's Oscar party at Morton's when she vanished in the Madonna glare.  —  Somers had just stepped onto the red carpet when a bloodcurdling cry erupted from the paparazzi behind the barricades.

Good night and get lost!  Chris Matthews exhumes McCarthy  —  One of our favorite titles for a CD is NPR's "Driveway Moments" — referring to stories so good you won't leave the car even when you've reached where you're going.  We'd like to release a CD of some of the things we hear …

Presenter: Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace  —  DoD News Briefing with Secretary Rumsfeld and Gen. Pace  —  SEC. RUMSFELD: Come on in, folks.  Good morning.  —  Last week I had the privilege of visiting the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library …

House Conservatives Prepare Austere Alternative Budget  —  WASHINGTON, March 6 — With Congress heading into a politically perilous budget season, influential House conservatives plan this week to propose an austere alternative spending plan that would pare more than $650 billion over five years …