Democrats Struggle To Seize Opportunity  —  News about GOP political corruption, inept hurricane response and chaos in Iraq has lifted Democrats' hopes of winning control of Congress this fall.  But seizing the opportunity has not been easy, as they found when they tried to unveil an agenda of their own.

South Dakota Bans Abortion, Setting Up a Battle  —  Gov. Michael Rounds of South Dakota signed into law the nation's most sweeping state abortion ban on Monday, an intentional provocation meant to set up a direct legal challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 United States Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal.

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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:

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?

The Today Show Becomes Matt Lauer's Geography Class  —  I honestly think MSM has given up on any attempt at objectivity.  They know their game is up, so they figure, "Why hide it?"  —  Such is the case this morning with Matt Lauer's rendition of an unbiased Katie Couric interview.

Shiites Try to Block Start of Parliament Amid New Violence  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 7 — The struggle to get the country's sclerotic political process inching forward ran into a new complication today, as Shiite politicians sought to block the new parliament from holding its first meeting on Sunday.

The Murder of Ilan Halimi  —  How many Jews are still living in France today?  Around 500,000.  The number is going down year after year.  Those who leave go mostly to Israel.  Some of them move to Canada or to the United States.  The larger part of those who stay in France are frightened and anxious.

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 …

Woman loses frozen embryos fight  —  A woman left infertile after cancer treatment cannot use her frozen embryos to have a baby, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled.  —  Natallie Evans started IVF treatment with her then partner Howard Johnston in 2001 but he withdrew consent for the embryos to be used after they split up.

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.

Bombings in India Raise Fear of Sectarian Violence  —  NEW DELHI, March 7 — A series of apparently coordinated bombs went off in the ancient Hindu holy city of Benares in eastern India this evening, raising the specter of sectarian violence.  —  The first bomb exploded at the Sankat Mochan temple shortly …