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 …

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 …

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.

As schools struggle, ends don't always meet  —  Rich districts do fundraisers, poor districts do without  —  Parents resort to fundraisers to boost teacher salaries, buy library books and even replace classroom doors.  —  Bond elections once reserved for new schools or fancy stadiums …

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 …

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 …

'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.

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.

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 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).

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.

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?

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 …

Late Nite FDL: Is The Country Catching On?  —  I watched the 60 Minutes segment tonight on the Niger uranium intelligence and thought it was very much of a piece with the Rolling Stone Worst President In History cover — a simple, direct narrative that will reach millions of Americans and let them know that they have been duped.

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.