Andrew Card Resigns as White House Chief of Staff  —  White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. plans to announce his resignation this morning after nearly 5-1/2 years as President Bush's top aide and will be replaced by Joshua B. Bolten, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, a senior administration official said.

U.S. Officials Defend Raid Following Shiite Backlash  —  Accounts of Deadly Attack Diverge Sharply  —  BAGHDAD, March 27 — Facing a scathing backlash from Shiite Muslim leaders a day after a deadly U.S.-Iraqi raid in Baghdad, U.S. military officials defended the mission Monday, saying it was a …

Decency to 'Those People'  —  Half a million people poured into the streets of Los Angeles on Saturday to protest the various Republican-sponsored proposals in Congress that would demonize illegal immigrants.  Hundreds marched yesterday in Detroit, which, last I checked, is nowhere near the Mexican border.

A Maverick No More?  —  In April 2004 I put in a call to John McCain's office to see if he would respond to a group of House Republicans who had attacked his fellow Vietnam veteran John Kerry.  —  In a preview of coming assaults, the Republicans accused Kerry of, among other things …

Off the Record, Bush Makes Media Inroads  —  Private Sessions Rare for Administration  —  As he defends his Iraq policy with a public campaign of speeches and a recent news conference, President Bush also has been waging a private campaign that has included off-the-record sessions with White House reporters, sources said yesterday.

The fictitious Kyl/Graham "floor debate"  —  By Anonymous Liberal  —  Today the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.  The Court will be called upon to determine—among other things—whether a provision in last year's Detainee Treatment Act ("DTA") …

Now "We Credit Blogs we Know" - AP Part II  —  Following up on my blog post regarding the AP, in which I discussed their rather less than ethical sourcing policies, John Byrne at Raw has written an article providing more details about the AP's problem sourcing.  —  Here are some parts of John's article on this:

Update 21: Christian Convert Vanishes After Release  —  An Afghan man who had faced the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity quickly vanished Tuesday after he was released from prison, apparently out of fear for his life with Muslim clerics still demanding his death.

Only 47 percent of Israeli voters cast ballots thus far  —  As of 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, only 47 percent of Israel's five million eligible voters had turned out at Israel's 8,000 polling stations to cast their ballots.  The figure is the lowest in election history for the same hour …

Citizen Action Steps: Phase Two  —  UPDATE: Keith in Orlando (who for some reason has become the stamp chosen one) received another missive: … I've verified the above with the stamp company.  You have to be certain to type in SPRING (in all caps) to get the discount.  Thanks everyone and thanks to Keith!

Scalia's Recusal Sought in Key Detainee Case  —  Retired Officers Say Justice's Impartiality Is in Question After Remarks on Combatants  —  On the eve of oral argument in a key Supreme Court case on the rights of alleged terrorists, a group of retired U.S. generals and admirals …

Enemy of Our Enemy  —  BUSH administration defenders, right-wing bloggers and neoconservative publications are crowing about Iraqi documents newly released by the Pentagon that, they say, prove that Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein were in league.  —  Even though the 9/11 commission found no …

Black Marriage  —  I'm no expert on marriage (its benefits or detriments) or children or women or black people; my impressions are based on almost four decades of interaction with and observation of marriage and children and women and black people.  —  This post will addresses the well-linked article …

ISSUES &  —  INSIGHTS  —  Religion Of Peace?  —  War On Terror: In the wake of the cartoon jihad and mosque-on-mosque violence in Iraq, most Americans now think Islam has more violent believers than any other faith.  Yet many still view it as a "peaceful religion."

Avoiding attacking suspected terrorist mastermind  —  Abu Musab Zarqawi blamed for more than 700 killings in Iraq … With Tuesday's attacks, Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant with ties to al-Qaida, is now blamed for more than 700 terrorist killings in Iraq.

Document: ISGZ-2004-028179  —  In the Name of God the Most Compassionate The Most Merciful  —  The respectful Mr Director of the Apparatus  —  Subject: The Frenchman Le Floch and the German Dieter Holzer  —  In the date of 10/1/2003 the two mentioned above arrived to the country in visit …

What to Make of This?  —  I really don't know what to make of this: … When I was in High school, if I could have organized it, I would have walked out protesting anything if it meant not being in class.  I don't know how much these High School walkouts really reflect opinions regarding immigration …

Appeals Court rules against McDermott in taped call dispute  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal appeals court ruled today that Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., violated federal law by turning over an illegally taped telephone call to reporters nearly a decade ago.

Interpol says Al Qaeda preparing for biological warfare  —  Ronald Noble, secretary-general of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), told a conference in Singapore that captured terrorist suspects have admitted that their groups are plotting potential biological attacks.

State Dept. Offers Record Pay in 2 Hot Spots  —  To help recruit U.S. government civilians for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, the State Department has boosted the pay allowances for both hardship and danger to the highest levels ever granted, department officials said.

Rumsfeld Marks 9/11 Crash Site With Medallion Given to Troops  —  SHANKSVILLE, Pa., March 27 — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld gazed across a rolling meadow on Monday, its grass yellow in late winter's grip, and toward the stand of hemlock trees marking the area where Flight 93 crashed on Sept. 11, 2001.

How Stupid are the US Media?!?!  —  Open letter to CNN and other mainstream US media outlets:  —  1. The vast majority of Hispanics/Latinos in the U.S. (75 percent of us) were born and raised here, including many of us who have roots here that predate the arrival of the pilgrims.