NBC: CIA officer fired after admitting leak  —  Officer allegedly failed polygraph, admitted giving reporter information … MSNBC TV  —  WASHINGTON - In a rare occurrence, the CIA fired an officer who acknowledged giving classified information to a reporter, NBC News reported on Thursday.

Shiites Agree on Pick for Prime Minister  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 21 — Shiite leaders selected Jawad al-Maliki, a hard-line and outspoken Shiite leader, to replace the outgoing prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari.  The move could resolve a two-month-long political deadlock …

Lawyer: Rice Allegedly Leaked Defense Info  —  ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaked national defense information to a pro-Israel lobbyist in the same manner that landed a lower-level Pentagon official a 12-year prison sentence, the lobbyist's lawyer said Friday.

Back to Iraq Part VI - Smuggling My Way Out of Iraq  —  This is the sixth and final installment in a Back to Iraq series which is basically a single long essay.  Don't miss Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, and Part Five.  —  ZAKHO, IRAQ - Getting into Iraq was easy.

True Romance  —  Via Tristram Shandy I see that TIME's in-house faux liberal is at it again, this time giving Hugh Hewitt a private lap dance instead of dancing around the pole for everyone to see: … . And people wonder why liberals are popularly perceived as being cowards.

Senate Democrats Ahead in Cash Race  —  The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee continued to outpace the National Republican Senatorial Committee in fundraising, bringing in more contributions and finishing the quarter with twice as much money in the bank, according to Federal Election Commission reports released yesterday.

If Past Is Prologue, George Bush Is Becoming An Increasingly Dangerous President  —  President George W. Bush's presidency is a disaster - one that's still unfolding.  In a mid-2004 column, I argued that, at that point, Bush had already demonstrated that he possessed the least attractive …

KATHERINE HARRIS GIVES EVERYTHING SHE HAS TO YOUNG REPORTER  —  Scribe and friend-of-show Stephen Elliott snapped these photos while traveling with Katherine Harris this week.  Harris is fawning over Justin Richards of the University of Florida, Gainesville student newspaper.

Conrad Burns - Another Earmark to Remember  —  Another Conrad Burns earmark - maybe the best one yet.  —  Burns tried to push $20 million in federal funds to a company in which Ed Buckham, Tom DeLay's former chief of staff and a close associate of Jack Abramoff's, had a financial stake.

Emotional Wiring Different in Men and Women  —  Men and women are actually from the same planet, but scientists now have the first strong evidence that the emotional wiring of the sexes is fundamentally different.  —  An almond-shaped cluster of neurons that processes experiences such as fear …