Right-wing Racism and the Moderate Voice  —  There's a discussion over at The Moderate Voice about whether the Jill Carroll affair damages the credibility of bloggers.  I find this discussion irritating, because it cuts to a basic problem with the nonpartisan new media blog pontificators …

Frist Is Treading a Perilous Path Leading to 2008  —  WASHINGTON, April 2 — History does not bode well for Bill Frist, and he knows it.  —  "Coming into this job, everybody said if you, in your future, ever want to consider running for president of the United States, people said, 'Do not do it …

Ivory Tower Stonewall  —  A 9/11 survivor asks Yale to explain why it admitted the Taliban Man.  —  Katherine Bailey and her sister, Margaret Pothier, have a bone to pick with Yale President Richard Levin over his university's admission of a former Taliban official as a student.

U.S. Plan to Build Iraq Clinics Falters  —  Contractor Will Try to Finish 20 of 142 Sites  —  BAGHDAD — A reconstruction contract for the building of 142 primary health centers across Iraq is running out of money, after two years and roughly $200 million, with no more than 20 clinics …

White House shake-up to continue?  —  Sources: Press spokesman, treasury chief may be next  —  CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) — Presidential press secretary Scott McClellan and Treasury Secretary John Snow could be next in a shake-up in the Bush administration, according to White House and GOP sources.

Cynthia McKinney: The New Face of the Left?  —  Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of Georgia made news last week when she allegedly, as WXIA-TV in Atlanta reported, "punched a Capitol police officer on Wednesday afternoon after he mistakenly pursued her for failing to pass through a metal detector."

Iraq's Premier Is Asked to Quit as Shiites Split  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 2 — Iraq's dominant Shiite political bloc fractured Sunday when its most powerful faction publicly demanded that the incumbent Shiite prime minister resign over his inability to form a unified government.

WHAT'S THE PLAN?....Glenn Reynolds suggests today that George Bush's difficulties are not so much with the people who were fair weather supporters of the war from the start, but rather with the people who were its most fervent fans: … Like most slogan-driven hawks, however …

The Daily Muck  —  Federal prosecutors are moving up the food chain to Tom DeLay, as signified by Tony Rudy's plea agreement Friday.  Roll Call notes that Rudy, a former DeLay aide, shares his lawyer with former colleague Ed Buckham, who Rudy's plea implicates.  "They were Batman and Robin.

Iran Says It Test-Fired Underwater Missile  —  TEHRAN, April 2 — Iran said Sunday that it had test-fired what it described as a sonar-evading underwater missile just two days after it announced that it had fired a new missile that could carry multiple warheads and evade radar systems.

Prosecution of Midwife Casts Light on Home Births  —  BLOOMINGTON, Ind., March 29 — Angela Hendrix-Petry gave birth to her daughter Chloe by candlelight in her bedroom here in the early morning of March 12, with a thunderstorm raging outside and her family and midwife huddled around her.

A Dark Day Revisited  —  Five years later, Hollywood is betting that America is ready for films about what happened on 9/11.  Are we?  —  April 10, 2006 issue - If movie trailers are supposed to cause a reaction, the preview for "United 93" more than succeeds.

Growth in federal spending unchecked  —  WASHINGTON — Federal spending is outstripping economic growth at a rate unseen in more than half a century, provoking some conservatives to complain that government under Republican control has gotten too big.  —  The federal government …

Iraq Violence Kills at Least 50; 6 U.S. Personnel Reported Dead  —  BAGHDAD, April 2 — At least 50 people were killed Sunday in Iraq in a catalogue of violence that included a mortar attack, military firefights, roadside bombings and other explosions.  —  In addition, the U.S. military reported …

The Next Step: The Yale Corporation  —  Yale has refused to acknowledge that its decision to admit an official of the Taliban, a brutal, nightmarish regime with which America is still at war, was a drastic mistake in judgment.  —  The damage done to Yale's reputation may be irreparable.

Let Cooler Heads Prevail  —  So, "the debate is over."  Time magazine says so.  Last week's cover story exhorted readers to "Be Worried.  Be Very Worried," and ABC News concurred in several stories.  So did Montana's governor, speaking on ABC.  And there was polling about global warming, gathered by Time and ABC in collaboration.