GOP House Panel Votes to Block Ports Deal  —  WASHINGTON - In a congressional election-year repudiation of President Bush, a House panel dominated by Republicans voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to block a Dubai-owned firm from taking control of some U.S port operations.  Democrats clamored for a vote in the Senate, too.

Suspect: Church fires started as 'joke'  —  Three Birmingham college students arrested, charged  —  BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (CNN) — Three Birmingham college students were arrested and charged Wednesday in connection with a string of Alabama church fires that is described in court papers as a joke that "got out of hand," authorities said.

Official Says Shiite Party Suppressed Body Count  —  BAGHDAD, March 8 — Days after the bombing of a Shiite shrine unleashed a wave of retaliatory killings of Sunnis, the leading Shiite party in Iraq's governing coalition directed the Health Ministry to stop tabulating execution-style shootings …

Agency  —  Digby leads us to this fascinating exchange between Tweety and Pat Toomey: … I really can't figure out why they can't answer this question.  Is it simply recognition of the political reality that punishing pregnant women for this stuff won't go down or is that they really are denying women the agency of their actions?

Thousands of Port Truckers Go Unscreened, Yet Many Have Criminal Records  —  WASHINGTON, March 7, 2006 — In Washington today, House Republicans vowed to defy President Bush's effort to have a Dubai company take over six major U.S. ports.  But ABC News has learned about a port threat from within …

Defending All Your Ground  —  Back to the great health care debate.  This is a good post from Kevin Drum, but it concedes rather too much.  It's true, as Kevin says, that Canada and the UK aren't the best examples of national health care policy and that using them as examples of government- financed health care are a bit unfair.

TX-28: Post mortem  —  The bottom line: we helped a campaign that was the walking dead and gave it new life, pumped in resources, and made it competitive.  We did much to even the playing field even if ultimately we came up tantalizingly short.  —  And yeah, I know "tantalizingly short" …

Negative Perception Of Islam Increasing  —  Poll Numbers in U.S. Higher Than in 2001  —  As the war in Iraq grinds into its fourth year, a growing proportion of Americans are expressing unfavorable views of Islam, and a majority now say that Muslims are disproportionately prone to violence …

SHAPED CHARGES  —  We've already noted the media's recent selective quoting of General George Casey, commanding general of the Multinational Forces in Iraq.  This past weekend another fine example of the technique played out on national television.  —  First, take a look at General Casey's …

TX 22: DeLay More Vulnerable Than Ever Following Primary  —  Tom DeLay and his partisans are hailing his primary victory Tuesday as a landslide and vindication from his constituents that the Texas Republican's legal and ethical problems are behind him.  —  But the primary result …

Ariz. Governor Orders Troops to Border  —  Gov. Janet Napolitano on Wednesday ordered more National Guardsmen posted at the Mexican border to help stop illegal immigrants and curb related crimes.  —  National Guard troops have worked at the border since 1988, but Napolitano signed …

U.S.: Iran remarks 'provocative'  —  VIENNA, Austria (CNN) — The United States has dismissed Iran's comments that it can inflict "harm and pain" on Washington for its role in pushing for U.N. Security Council action over Tehran's refusal to halt its nuclear program.

Eyeing '08, Sen. McCain courts K St.  —  Good-government advocacy groups working on lobbying reform say their longtime ally Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has played a smaller leadership role on the issue than they had expected.  —  McCain's lower-than-hoped-for profile on the sensitive subject coincides …

Gordon Parks, a Master of the Camera, Dies at 93  —  Gordon Parks, the photographer, filmmaker, writer and composer who used his prodigious, largely self-taught talents to chronicle the African-American experience and to retell his own personal history, died yesterday at his home in Manhattan.