France Surrenders!  —  It was only a matter of time...  The kids did not care for the new plan...  It had to go.  They were forced to take their fight to the streets.  (France-Echos)  —  After putting up a brave fight, France surrendered today to the young socialist thugs on the street.

Bush: Talk of Iran attack 'wild speculation'  —  Reports suggest U.S. contemplating nuclear strike against Tehran  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush on Monday dismissed as "wild speculation" reports that his administration has considered nuclear strikes against sites in Iran to prevent the nation from building nuclear weapons.

Dallas Protest AAR: No pics, I'm afraid, since the prostestors smashed my camera.  —  I decided last night to sleep on it before writing this.  If I had written about yesterday last night, my post would have been filled with epithets and not very coherent.  —  My camera is now scattered bits …

Berlusconi Overtakes Prodi in Italian Election (Update1)  —  April 10 (Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi overtook former European Commission President Romano Prodi in Italian elections and now leads in voting for both houses of parliament, projected results showed.

Bush's Job Approval Rating Continues to Swoon  —  Forty-Seven Percent of Americans 'Strongly' Disapprove of Handling of the Presidency  —  Political reversals at home and continued bad news from Iraq have dragged President Bush's standing with the public to a new low and boosted Democratic chances …

Surprise!  Fox News Ignores Page Six Extortion Story  —  Proving once again that the "News" in Fox News is not meant to be taken literally, the Rupert Murdoch-owned news channel has all but ignored the stunning story of the New York City gossip columnist who tried to extort nearly $250K …

Bush and Cheney Discussed Plame Prior to Leak  —  In early June 2003, Vice President Dick Cheney met with President Bush and told him that CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson was the wife of Iraq war critic Joseph Wilson and that she was responsible for sending him on a fact-finding mission …

Army surpassing year's retention goal by 15%  —  WASHINGTON — Two of every three eligible soldiers continue to re-enlist, putting the Army, which has endured most of the fighting in Iraq, ahead of its annual goal.  —  The Army was 15% ahead of its re-enlistment goal of 34,668 …

There IS a problem with global warming... it stopped in 1998  —  For many years now, human-caused climate change has been viewed as a large and urgent problem.  In truth, however, the biggest part of the problem is neither environmental nor scientific, but a self-created political fiasco.

'West Wing' Writers' Novel Way of Picking the President  —  Like many political campaigns, the presidential election depicted last night on "The West Wing" on NBC would have had a different ending had it been held four months ago.  —  But the reversal of fortune for Matt Santos …

Christians Sue for Right Not to Tolerate Policies  —  Many codes intended to protect gays from harassment are illegal, conservatives argue.  —  ATLANTA — Ruth Malhotra went to court last month for the right to be intolerant.  —  Malhotra says her Christian faith compels her to speak out against homosexuality.

Real Or Fake? … Thanks to digital technology, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the most photographed in history.  Photographers with digital cameras have provided, almost instantaneously, an enormous flood of accurate, dramatic, and even shocking images to people around the world.

MUSLIMS FOR OPEN BORDERS  —  Illegal alien protest in Detroit.  Sunday, April 9, 2006.  Second from right is guest speaker Dawud Walid, 34, of Detroit, executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations-Michigan.  —  March 27 illegal alien protest in Detroit.

Phone-Jamming Records Point to White House  —  WASHINGTON - Key figures in a phone-jamming scheme designed to keep New Hampshire Democrats from voting in 2002 had regular contact with the White House and Republican Party as the plan was unfolding, phone records introduced in criminal court show.

Back to Iraq - Part One  —  GALLIPOLI PENNINSULA, WESTERN TURKEY - My recent trip to Turkey wasn't my first, but my friend Sean LaFreniere - whom I flew from Beirut to Istanbul to meet - had never been there before.  So I let him decide our itinerary.  He wanted to see Gallipoli and Troy, even though Izmir has better ruins than Troy.

Lawyer: No DNA Match in Duke Gang Rape Case  —  DURHAM, N.C. — DNA testing failed to connect any members of the Duke University lacrosse team to the alleged rape of a stripper, attorneys for the athletes said Monday.  —  Citing DNA test results delivered by the state crime lab to police …

Christian Coalition Shrinks as Debt Grows  —  In an era when conservative Christians enjoy access and influence throughout the federal government, the organization that fueled their rise has fallen on hard times.  —  The once-mighty Christian Coalition, founded 17 years ago by the Rev. Pat Robertson …