Justices, 6-3, Sidestep Ruling on Padilla Case  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from Jose Padilla, held as an enemy combatant without traditional legal rights for more than three years, sidestepping a challenge to Bush administration wartime detention powers.

SHIITES FINALLY SPLIT ON JAAFARI  —  Not that they already weren't, as Dawa party candidate and current Prime Minister Ibraham al-Jaafari only won by a single vote within the UIA due to backing by the Sadrists, but the barrier for removing him has been broken as several independent politicians …

2005 Koufax Awards —The Winners  —  I apologize for the delay in posting the winners.  We had a big turn out both in comments and in emails and a number of the categories had excruciatingly close races (one category had an exact tie, more on that below).  The voting was roughly evenly split between comments and email.

Jury Finds Moussaoui Eligible for Execution  —  ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 3 — A federal jury found today that Zacarias Moussaoui was responsible for at least some of the deaths that occurred in the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, meaning that he could be subject to the death penalty.

Democrats' Narrow Vision  —  You can look at the Democrats' national security plan, released last week, as simply a political shield, akin to the upgraded body armor they promise for U.S. troops.  —  The party remains traumatized by the failure of biography to protect Vietnam veterans Max Cleland …

UT professor says death is imminent  —  AUSTIN — A University of Texas professor says the Earth would be better off with 90 percent of the human population dead.  —  Â"Every one of you who gets to survive has to bury nine,Â" Eric Pianka cautioned students and guests at St. EdwardÂ's University on Friday.

Y is for Yahoo  —  THE HOUSE CAUCUS TO RETURN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY TO MINORITY STATUS—also known as the House Immigration Reform Caucus—held a press conference Thursday.  The GOP solons were upset.  The Senate Judiciary Committee had not followed the lead of the House in adopting an "enforcement only" immigration bill.

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.

Capitol police ask for arrest warrant for McKinney  —  Black leaders say McKinney victim of racial profiling  —  WASHINGTON — Capitol Hill police on Monday asked a federal prosecutor to approve an arrest warrant for Rep. Cynthia McKinney for her role in a scuffle with a police officer last week, the prosecutor's office confirmed.

Limbaugh called alleged Duke rape victim a "ho[ ]" … During the March 31 broadcast of his national syndicated radio program, Rush Limbaugh referred to the alleged victim of a rape by members of the Duke University lacrosse team as a "ho[]."  During an on-air discussion with a caller …

A Gadfly With Buzz  —  MSNBC's Olbermann, Exercising the Right  —  Night after night, President Bush is being kicked, punched, slapped, poked, stomped and otherwise disrespected in one small corner of the cable television world.  —  And Keith Olbermann doesn't deny it has been good for ratings.

Apostates from Islam  —  THE NEWS THAT, DESPITE the Afghan parliament's last-minute attempts to prevent him from leaving, Abdul Rahman has been given asylum in Italy has drawn a global sigh of relief.  But now is not the time to forget the issue.  The case of Rahman—an Afghan Christian tried …

A Plan to End Child Poverty  —  Britain's Initiative Has Helped 700,000 Kids.  Why Don't We Have a Goal, Too?  —  For anyone interested in reducing child poverty, there was heartening bad news out of Britain last month.  In 1999 the Blair government introduced an initiative to end child poverty by 2020 …

The Bush-Cheney Era Ends Here  —  If Chuck Schumer can make his dream of a Democratic-controlled senate come true.  —  D  —  emocrats have a dream.  They dream that they will wake up on November 8 and that West Virginia senator Robert Byrd, the 88-year-old antiwar firebrand …