Olmert, declaring victory, appeals to Abbas for peace talks  —  Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, declaring an election victory, appealed to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas early Wednesday to enter into negotiations over the permanent borders of Israel, but added that Israel …

Supreme Court Justices Question Law on Detainee Trials  —  WASHINGTON, March 28 — As the justices of the Supreme Court took their seats Tuesday morning to hear Osama bin Laden's former driver challenge the Bush administration's plan to try him before a military commission, one question …

The New Roman Lions  —  THE FIRST GENERATION OF CHRISTIANS faced severe persecution under the Roman Empire because of their refusal to bow down to the goddess Rome and the emperor.  For Abdul Rahman, a 41-year-old Afghani man who was charged with a capital offense last week for converting …

Bush Says Chief Of Staff Andrew Card Resigns  —  NEW YORK -  —  White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card has resigned.  —  President George W. Bush announced the resignation in a press conference Tuesday morning.  —  Card was not only a longtime friend of his boss, but had served …

The Secret of George Mason  —  What its Final Four basketball team and its unusual economics department have in common.  —  Unlike his neighbors, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, founding father George Mason has rarely gotten his props from historians and the public.

Democrats Pledge to 'Eliminate' Osama  —  WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats promise to "eliminate" Osama bin Laden and ensure a "responsible redeployment of U.S. forces" from Iraq in 2006 in an election-year national security policy statement.  —  In the position paper to be announced Wednesday …

RNC Memo Warns GOPers Not To Distance Themselves From Bush  —  Republican pollster Jan van Lohuizen, in a memo written for RNC chairman Ken Mehlman, warns that if members of Congress try to drive a wedge between themselves and Pres.  Bush, it'd be akin to adding weight to an anchor.

Testers Slip Radioactive Materials Over Borders  —  WASHINGTON, March 27 — Undercover Congressional investigators successfully smuggled into the United States enough radioactive material to make two dirty bombs, even after it set off alarms on radiation detectors installed at border checkpoints, a new report says.

Shiites Say U.S. Is Pressuring Iraqi Leader to Step Aside  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 28 — Senior Shiite politicians said today that the American ambassador has told Shiite officials to inform the Iraqi prime minister that President Bush does not want him to remain the country's leader in the next government.

"THE MIRACLE FISH OF ALLAH"  —  I kid you not: … LGF has a photo of the other fish:  —  Question: What if I draw a cartoon of the Allah and Mohammed fish and post it on my blog?  —  Update: You can watch video of the Allah fish at BareKnucklePolitics.

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:

US troops defend raid, say Iraqis faked "massacre"  —  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. commanders in Iraq on Monday accused powerful Shi'ite groups of moving the corpses of gunmen killed in battle to encourage accusations that U.S.-led troops massacred unarmed worshippers in a mosque.

Hillary too sexy to win back the White House, screen siren says  —  ACTOR Sharon Stone has warned Hillary Rodham Clinton to stay out of the 2008 US presidential race, saying the New York senator and former first lady is too sexy to win back the keys to the White House.

Q1 '06: MSNBC's Olbermann Beats CNN's Zahn & HLN's Grace In The Demo  —  In the first quarter of 2006, MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann beat CNN's Paula Zahn Now in the 25-54 demographic.  "This marks MSNBC's first quarterly primetime victory over CNN in the demo in almost five years …

MY GRANDMOTHER, CHARLSIE FARRIOR TEAL, DIED TODAY, at about noon.  It was sudden and quite unexpected; we'd all gone out to dinner Saturday and she seemed to be doing very well, but at 91, well I guess "sudden" isn't really the word.  —  Got the call from my mother and headed out there, cancelling my afternoon class.

Sean Hannity, Alec Baldwin, WABC, New York City  —  WABC MELTDOWN  —  Alec Baldwin And Sean Hannity In Radio Cockfight  —  After an ugly on-air meltdown between actor/ guest host Alec Baldwin and caller Sean Hannity Sunday evening, New York radio fans are wondering: was this a planned stunt?

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.

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 …