Secrets of the CIA  —  A former colleague says the fired Mary McCarthy 'categorically denies' being the source of the leak on agency renditions.  —  April 24, 2006 - A former CIA officer who was sacked last week after allegedly confessing to leaking secrets has denied she was the source …

Police: Many casualties in Egyptian resort blasts  —  Three explosions rocked the Sinai resort city of Dahab on Monday night leaving at least 100 dead and wounded, according to the doctor who runs Egypt's rescue squad in the peninsula.  —  Dr. Said Essa said he was headed to the scene of the blasts …

Bush's approval ratings slide to new low  —  Poll: Only one-third say he's handling his job well  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush's approval ratings have sunk to a personal low, with only a third of Americans saying they approve of the way he is handling his job, a national poll released Monday said.

Transcript: Bin Laden accuses West  —  The following is an edited translation of an audiotape attributed to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, parts of which were aired by Aljazeera on April 23, 2006.  (It is not known where or when the recording was made.)  —  Praise be to Allah …

The Dumbest Thing I Have Ever Read on the Internets  —  A rightie named Thomas Bray has come up with the most tortured, desperate, sophomoric howl of flaming ignorance yet known to mankind to excuse George W. Bush's mishandling of Iraq.  Get this: … Let's take these claims one at a time.

Warily, Iraqis Investing Hope in New Leaders  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 23 — On the cusp of their first permanent government since the American-led invasion, Iraqis are not exactly celebrating.  Rather, they seem to be gritting their teeth and clinging grimly to the battered hope for democracy …

Iraq war contractors ordered to end abuses  —  Tribune series detailed undocumented pipeline of foreign workers into Iraq, and abuses perpetrated along the way.  —  WASHINGTON — The top U.S. commander in Iraq has ordered sweeping changes for privatized military support operations …

INTRODUCING HOT AIR  —  I'm excited to introduce you today to Hot Air—a conservative Internet broadcast network I founded with a team of multi-talented bloggers.  (Press release here.)  —  Internet video is booming.  Apple's iTunes store has sold a gazillion videos since its debut.

A Religious Push Against Gay Unions  —  WASHINGTON, April 23 — About 50 prominent religious leaders, including seven Roman Catholic cardinals and about a half-dozen archbishops, have signed a petition in support of a constitutional amendment blocking same-sex marriage.

An Experiment in Journalism  —  I went to the Middle East for six months so I could expand my freelance writing portfolio.  But I found, after a few months, there may be a better way forward than publishing disconnected dispatches here and there for low pay.  —  The mainstream media is an industry in decline.

Dissident President  —  George W. Bush has the courage to speak out for freedom.  —  There are two distinct marks of a dissident.  First, dissidents are fired by ideas and stay true to them no matter the consequences.  Second, they generally believe that betraying those ideas would constitute the greatest of moral failures.

Islamist protest in N.Y. - 'Mushroom cloud on way'  —  Rally at Israeli consulate features pictures of Muslim flags flying over White House  —  A New York rally by the Islamic Thinkers Society outside the Israeli consulate yesterday featured chants of "The mushroom cloud is on its way!

Paperless news is doing just fine  —  Newspapers are dying.  This isn't an ideological statement or a heartfelt wish, just a simple observation.  Horse-drawn carriages yielded to cars, and steamships and ocean liners yielded to airplanes.  Consumers prefer efficiency, and the market cannot be denied.

The Sad Case Of Andrea Clarke  —  Yesterday, as I was perusing the Democratic Underground, I ran across a very troubling story.  I'm reposting it here, so that you can read it just as I did last night (the phone numbers present are x'd out, although you can read them in the original post)...

2006: What About the Senate?  —  The recent election talk from our pundit class has been about the chances of a Democratic takeover of the House.  Many expect this.  I am open to this possibility; however, as I have written in the past, I think the data favors a Republican retention.