Purported bin Laden tape slams West for 'crusader-Zionist war'  —  (CNN) — Parts of an audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden aired Sunday on an Arabic-language TV network in which the al Qaeda leader attacks the West for cutting off funds to the Palestinian Hamas-led government and referred to a …

Why Isn't She in Cuffs?  —  There are countless questions that arise out of the CIA's dismissal of a prominent intelligence officer, Mary O. McCarthy (no relation), for leaking classified information to the media.  But one in particular springs to mind right now: Why isn't she in handcuffs?

Been there, done that  —  Talk of a U.S. strike on Iran is eerily reminiscent of the run-up to the Iraq war.  —  IRAN'S ANNOUNCEMENT that it has enriched a minute amount of uranium has unleashed urgent calls for a preventive U.S. airstrike from the same sources that earlier urged war on Iraq.

Is U.S. being transformed into a radical republic?  —  We Americans came not from a revolution but from an evolution.  —  That is in large part why our so-called revolution produced success while most throughout history did not.  We came as much from the Magna Carta as from our own doings …

John Kerry Was Against Leaking Before He Was For It  —  We should consider ourselves fortunate to live in John Kerry World.  Most of us thought that we would have lost the humorous inanity that the Senator and erstwhile presidential candidate brought us throughout 2004 …

Battling cancer — and Blue Cross  —  Unlike THE TYPICAL Blue Cross "valued member," as the annual letter on rate and benefit changes always calls us, I wasn't upset to learn that my monthly premium would increase by $50, to $395 a month, for me and my daughter.  —  That's because I'm not really a Blue Cross valued member.

Moves Signal Tighter Secrecy Within C.I.A.  —  WASHINGTON, April 23 — The crackdown on leaks at the Central Intelligence Agency that led to the dismissal of a veteran intelligence officer last week included a highly unusual polygraph examination for the agency's independent watchdog …

Bush's third term  —  IF PRESIDENT BUSH HOPES the "shake-up" of his administration initiated last week will re-energize his listless presidency, he's bound to be disappointed.  A far more audacious makeover is needed — one that sends Vice President Dick Cheney into early retirement.

A commemoration for the 70 000 that died under Chavez  —  Acuestate por la Vida,  —  commemorating the 70 000 deaths by violence in Venezuela in the last 6 years.  —  Since Hugo Chavez has become president in 1998, the toll of violent death from crime has been multiplied by three.

Fatah, Hamas Gunmen Clash in Gaza  —  GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Violent clashes and mass protests erupted Saturday across the West Bank and Gaza Strip between followers of the militant group Hamas and Fatah rivals, after a Hamas leader accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of treachery.

Border battler  —  Hillary wants to build a U.S.-Mexico fence first — and she's right  —  Apart from a well-chosen warning about criminalizing Jesus, Sen. Hillary Clinton hasn't waded too deeply into the details of the immigration mess.  Until now.  —  In an interview Friday …

The Three-Ring Circus Floats Some Trial Balloons  —  Shakes here...  Some Republicans are urging Bush to dump Cheney and replace him with Condi "if he is serious about presenting a new face to the jaded American public."  —  Well, that's certainly a big if, but okay, I'll play along.

'We would have been close even if 9/11 hadn't happened'  —  Tony Blair had just finished a video conference with George W. Bush when I arrived to meet him at Downing Street.  Their conversation, inevitably, had been mainly about Iraq.  "Every week, we have a video conference to catch up on things," he explained.

Nothing to fear but the climate change alarmists  —  Do you worry?  You look like you do.  Worrying is the way the responsible citizen of an advanced society demonstrates his virtue: He feels good by feeling bad.  —  But what to worry about?  Iranian nukes?

The Raging RINO's Are HERE!  —  *** last minute submissions coming in at the end (OK, I posted early, not their fault!)  Yep, my turn to host those rampaging RINOs (and man, do they leave a mess on the carpet).  So, without further delay, here are your RINOs with this weeks Raging topics (in the order I received them).

60 Minutes: CIA Official Reveals Bush, Cheney, Rice Were Personally Told Iraq Had No WMD in Fall 2002  —  Tonight on 60 Minutes, CIA analyst Tyler Drumheller revealed that in the fall of 2002, President Bush, Vice President Cheney, then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and others …

Honor in Discretion  —  Conduct unbecoming from retired generals.  —  One could say much to defend Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld against the recent attacks of half a dozen retired generals—that the indictments are either old ("not enough troops," a trope from April 2003) or vague …

OP-FOR RADIO STRIKES BACK  —  It's the MOAP: The mother of all podcasts!  Click here for the second installment of Op-for Radio!  —  In our second podcast, recorded from the 2006 Milblog Conference, John and I interview an all-star cast of milbloggers.... Matt and Uncle Jimbo from Blackfive, LT Smash, and Chuck from TC Overide.

The Missing Girls of Iraq  —  Sex trafficking, virtually nonexistent under Saddam Hussein, has resurfaced in Iraq.  TIME reports on a seldom-discussed epidemic: girls being kidnapped and sold to brothels  —  The man on the phone with the 14-year-old Iraqi girl called himself Sa'ad.