Dubai Port Company to Divest Itself of American Holdings  —  The United Arab Emirates company that was attempting to take over management operations at six U.S. ports announced today that it will divest itself of all American interests.  —  The announcement appears to head off a major confrontation …

North American opinion Research Inc. replies to Vcrisis  —  Julio Makarem and Ricardo Valbuena have published today a two page communiqué in Venezuela's most read newspaper Ultimas Noticias (see below).  In it they accuse me, among other things, of being part, together with Gustavo Coronel …

$25,000 to Lobby Group Is Tied to Access to Bush  —  WASHINGTON, March 9 — The chief of an Indian tribe represented by the lobbyist Jack Abramoff was admitted to a meeting with President Bush in 2001 days after the tribe paid a prominent conservative lobbying group $25,000 at Mr. Abramoff's direction …

First round Koufax 2005 voting ending soon!  —  As of Sunday, the polls for the first round of Koufax voting will have been open for a week.  Since most nomination posts have been up for weeks for preview, I imagine that's sufficient time for most nominees to wage their campaigns and direct their troops to vote appropriately.

Kos/Krempasky to Congress: Pass HR 1606  —  Markos and I have sent a letter to every Member of the House this morning - urging them to pass HR 1606 as soon as possible.  While there is a promising proposal from the Center for Democracy & Technology floating about - it's imperative …

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 …

Report posits that Chris Matthews has accepted hefty speaking fees from conservative groups  —  A new report advanced to RAW STORY Thursday suggests that Chris Matthews, the star of the Sunday talk show circuit's Hardball, has accepted hefty speaking fees from an array of conservative trade associations.

Zarqawi Was Here  —  BIARA, IRAQ - The PUK's Minister of the Interior ordered 20 heavily armed Peshmerga soldiers to go with me to the borderland mountain village of Biara.  For years the village was occupied by Ansar Al Islam, the Kurdish-Arab-Persian branch of Al Qaeda in Northern Iraq.

REWRITING VERY RECENT HISTORY  —  This is basically a dog-bites-man story; the Washington Post reports on its poll showing that a growing number of Americans express disapproval of Islam, and a majority now say there are more violent extremists among Muslims than other religions.

Woman sues for alleged firing over talk show bumper sticker  —  VISTA —  A San Diego County woman is suing her former employer, accusing her manager of firing her on the spot when she saw the woman's car had a bumper sticker advertising a progressive talk radio station.

Moral Imperative  —  Over the last 25 years, liberalism has lost both its good name and its sway over politics.  But it is liberalism's loss of imagination that is most disheartening.  Since President Clinton's health care plan unraveled in 1994—a debacle that this magazine, regrettably …