THREE YEARS LATER: IT'S STILL NEWS!  —  Today's New York Times page-one, joint-byline story by David Sanger and David Johnston is "Bush ordered declassification, official says."  The story of course refers to the declassification and release of the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimage consensus "key judgments" in July 2003.

France to replace youth job law  —  French President Jacques Chirac has announced that the new youth employment law that sparked weeks of sometimes violent protests will be scrapped.  —  He said it would be replaced by other measures to tackle youth unemployment.

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 …

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 …

Why Iraq Was a Mistake  —  A military insider sounds off against the war and the "zealots" who pushed it  —  Two senior military officers are known to have challenged Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the planning of the Iraq war.  Army General Eric Shinseki publicly dissented and found himself marginalized.

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 …

DeLay looks to worthy successor  —  Departing Rep. Tom DeLay, Texas Republican, says any of three colleagues could some day assume his role as leader of conservatives in the House.  —  Asked who might be the House's "next Tom DeLay," the former majority leader, once considered …

CEO pay soars in 2005 as a select group break the $100 million mark  —  Even after a decade of sharply rising CEO pay, 2005 proved a watershed for a select group of executives.  Their paydays — or potential paydays — broke $100 million.  —  Led by Capital One Financial's Richard Fairbank …

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 …

Behind Gossip, There's Often a Relationship  —  Jared Paul Stern has been in New York newspapers for 12 years, most of them working for Richard Johnson, the editor of the Page Six gossip column at The New York Post.  While Mr. Johnson has never been accused of anything like trying to shake …

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.

Balkin on Wills on JC  —  An interesting post by Jack Balkin today, itself referring to an op-ed by Garry Wills in the New York Times.  Wills argues against the institutionalization of Jesus in politics — against the tendency to recruit him as "a campaign aide."

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.

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.

Polls: Berlusconi trailing challenger in Italy vote  —  Conservative premier is seeking third term; leftist Prodi is ex-ECU president  —  ROME - Center-left leader Romano Prodi looks set to beat Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Italy's general election, winning a majority in both houses of parliament …