G.O.P. Senators and Bush Reach Wiretap Accord  —  WASHINGTON, March 7 — Moving to tamp down Democratic calls for an investigation of the administration's domestic eavesdropping program, Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Tuesday that they had reached agreement with the White House …

Rumsfeld Says Media Exaggerating Iraqi Civilian Deaths  —  Defense Secretary Suggests Misreporting Swaying Public Opinion  —  Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld today presented an upbeat report of the conflict in Iraq and said he agrees with the commander of the U.S.-led coalition …

Democrats' Data Mining Stirs an Intraparty Battle  —  With Private Effort on Voter Information, Ickes and Soros Challenge Dean and DNC  —  A group of well-connected Democrats led by a former top aide to Bill Clinton is raising millions of dollars to start a private firm that plans …

Cheney: Iran must not have nuclear weapons  —  Russia appears to close ranks with U.S. position  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday that Iran will not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and warned "the United States is keeping all options on the table in addressing the irresponsible conduct of the regime."

Congress Votes to Renew Patriot Act, With Changes  —  Congress voted yesterday to renew a four-year-old anti-terrorism law that makes it easier for federal agents to secretly obtain Americans' records and communications, even as some lawmakers warned that voters are growing increasingly concerned …

Never Even Thought About It  —  This updates the post below about whether women should be held legally liable for having an illegal abortion.  Apparently this video made the rounds some months ago (and I missed it) in which anti-abortion protesters are asked that very question.

Take the Fifth  —  South Dakota's invitation to snuff your embryo.  —  Monday morning, Gov. Mike Rounds signed into law a ban on nearly all abortions in South Dakota.  He called it a "direct challenge" to Roe v. Wade.  But the ban also poses a direct challenge to the pro-life movement …

At Conservative Forum on Bush, Everybody's a Critic  —  If the ancient political wisdom is correct that a charge unanswered is a charge agreed to, the Bush White House pleaded guilty yesterday at the Cato Institute to some extraordinary allegations.  —  "We did ask a few members …

Missed Tributes  —  Now for a few humble thoughts about the Oscars.  —  I did not see every second of it, but my wife did, and she joins me in noting that there was not one word of tribute, not one breath, to our fighting men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan or to their families or their widows or orphans.

Professors of Pretense  —  The institutional vanity and intellectual slovenliness of America's campus-based intelligentsia have made academia more peripheral to civic life than at any time since the 19th century.  On Monday its place at the periphery was underscored as the Supreme Court …

Elite Troops Get Expanded Role on Intelligence  —  WASHINGTON, March 7 — The military is placing small teams of Special Operations troops in a growing number of American embassies to gather intelligence on terrorists in unstable parts of the world and to prepare for potential missions to disrupt, capture or kill them.

More Sunni - al-Qaeda Divisions: The Real Civil War  —  Anbar tribes and tribes from the city of Hawijah oppose Zarqawi's jihad  —  Faced with the continued prospect of submitting to the brutality of al-Qaeda, Sunni tribal leaders continue to band together to fight the terrorists in their midst.