"DO THE RIGHT THING!  SHOW MOHAMMED"  —  ***Update: Stephen Spruiell reports at The Media Blog..."I just got off the phone with a Comedy Central spokesman.  I asked him about last night's episode of South Park in which, at a moment right before the prophet Mohammed was supposed to make a cameo …

Iran's Nuclear Progress  —  MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD continues to help the Bush administration's effort to convince the U.N. Security Council that more concerted action is needed to stop Iran's nuclear program.  His loud announcement yesterday that Iran had succeeded in enriching uranium confirmed recent warnings …

The slow-motion trap  —  His presidency was built on secrecy and, we now know, on lies.  The more Bush struggles to free himself, the more his past deceptions bind him.  —  Print EmailFont: S / S+ / S++  —  At a press conference in the White House on Oct. 6, 2003, President Bush …

White House Decries Report on Iraqi Trailers  —  The Bush administration yesterday denounced a Washington Post report that questioned the handling of postwar intelligence on alleged Iraqi biological weapons labs.  A White House spokesman acknowledged that President Bush's assertions …

The Minority Maker  —  The clever GOP strategy for defeat in November.  —  If Republicans lose control of Congress in November, they might want to look back at last Thursday as the day it was lost.  That's when the big spenders among House Republicans blew up a deal between the leadership …

Troops in Support Of the War  —  Earlier this year there was a town hall meeting on the Iraq war, sponsored by Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), with the participation of such antiwar organizations as CodePink and MoveOn.org.  The event also featured Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), a former Marine who had become an outspoken critic of the war.

On Cheney, Rumsfeld order, US outsourcing special ops, intelligence to Iraq terror group, intelligence officials say  —  The Pentagon is bypassing official US intelligence channels and turning to a dangerous and unruly cast of characters in order to create strife in Iran in preparation …

Librarians Win as U.S. Relents on Secrecy Law  —  After fighting ferociously for months, federal prosecutors relented yesterday and agreed to allow a Connecticut library group to identify itself as the recipient of a secret F.B.I. demand for records in a counterterrorism investigation.

Pakistan Strikes at High Value Target  —  Yesterday's helicopter attack in North Waziristan is directed at Mohsin Matawalli Atwa, one of the architechs of the 1998 attacks on the U.S. Embassies in Eastern Africa  —  Yesterday's assault on a suspected Taliban/al-Qaeda position in North Waziristan …

Protests backfire!  —  Zogby poll: National demonstrations by illegal aliens have negative impact  —  Recent images of seas of illegal aliens marching in cities across the U.S. are having a far greater negative than positive impact on the foreigners' cause, according to a new poll.

At the Immigration Rally  —  Having an open heart doesn't mean supporting open borders.  —  I love immigrants.  That's not important or relevant, but it's where I start.  I love them so much I often have the impulse to kiss their hands.  I am not kidding.  I love them because they are brave.

Anger, apology over "Condoleezza" quiz  —  Bellevue Community College President Jean Floten apologized Wednesday at an emotional open-campus meeting called after students complained about what they said was a racially offensive math question used on a practice test.

America's Secret Police?  —  Intelligence experts warn that a proposal to merge two Pentagon intelligence units could create an ominous new agency.  —  April 12, 2006 - A threatened turf grab by a controversial Pentagon intelligence unit is causing concern among both privacy experts and some of the Defense Department's own personnel.

The Euston Manifesto  —  It started with some like-minded progressives meeting in a London pub.  Disenchanted with what they saw as the wrong-headed thinking of the anti-war movement, they began to talk of a new left movement.  By Norman Geras and Nick Cohen

Coalition Launches 'Operation Mountain Lion' in Afghanistan  —  WASHINGTON, April 12, 2006 - Coalition forces, in cooperation with the Afghan National Army, began "Operation Mountain Lion" yesterday to establish security, deter the re-emergence of terrorism, and enhance the sovereignty of Afghanistan, military officials reported today.

Poll: Sinking Perceptions Of Islam  —  (CBS) Although Americans believe they are better informed about Islam than they were five years ago, a new CBS News poll finds fewer than one in five say their impression of the religion is favorable.  —  Forty-five percent of respondents queried April 6 …

Terrorists' Web Chatter Shows Concern About Internet Privacy  —  Groups Advise Members on Anonymity, Avoiding Intercepts  —  Terrorist groups, which for years have used the Internet and its various tools to organize and communicate, are paying more attention to addressing security …