Dismissed CIA Officer Denies Leak Role  —  Official Says Agency Is Not Asserting She Told of Secret Prisons  —  A lawyer representing fired CIA officer Mary O. McCarthy said yesterday that his client did not leak any classified information and did not disclose to Washington Post reporter Dana Priest …

Sources: Tony Snow likely to take White House post  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sources close to the White House said Monday that Fox anchor Tony Snow is likely to accept the job as White House press secretary, succeeding Scott McClellan.  —  The sources said they expect him to announce his decision within the next few days.

Bush Orders Probe Into Gas Price Cheating  —  ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — President Bush is trying to calm Americans' outrage over soaring gas prices by ordering an investigation into whether the price of gasoline has been illegally manipulated, his spokesman said Monday.

Bush Says He Tried to Avoid War 'To The Max,' Explains How God Shapes His Foreign Policy  —  NEW YORK President Bush today said he had tried to avoid war with Iraq "diplomatically to the max."  —  Speaking to a business group in Irvine, Ca., he admitted mistakes were made in planning for the Iraq invasion …

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 presently are x'd out, although you can read them in the original post)...

I Am ALIVE  —  I am alive.  I'm far away from Dahab but the security situation is very tight where I am.  I had plans to go to Dahab though.  I called a friend who went back to Cairo from Dahab yesterday and he told me that two of his friends, who remained in Dahab, were injured in the attack.

Scalia's mistake  —  Special to The National Law Journal  —  Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is an opinionated guy.  I know.  I clerked for him four years ago.  Every once in a while, however, Scalia's love of intellectual engagement leads him to make a mistake.  He made one of these mistakes recently.

Hugh Hewitt's Odd Logic  —  If newspapers were less liberal they wouldn't be losing so many readers.  That's what conservative media activists have convinced themselves is behind the steady decline in American newspaper readership; a decline conservatives take great delight in.

Playing By The Rules  —  Republican style...  Is every Republican in Washington the emotional age of seven?  The rules require that some of the lesser teams get a chance to participate in the "playoffs" so the manly he-men who have shed their blood and sweat throughout the grueling season …

One Day, That Economy Ticket May Buy You a Place to Stand  —  The airlines have come up with a new answer to an old question: How many passengers can be squeezed into economy class?  —  A lot more, it turns out, especially if an idea still in the early stage should catch on: standing-room-only "seats."

President Discusses Comprehensive Immigration Reform  —  Fact Sheet: Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Securing Our Border  —  THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all.  Please be seated.  (Applause.)  Thanks for letting me come by.  Tom, thanks for the invitation.

Harvard author faces scrutiny  —  Novel compared with earlier book  —  A Harvard undergraduate who signed a book deal for reportedly $500,000 while still a freshman is facing allegations that portions of her newly published first novel closely resemble parts of a coming-of-age novel published by a New Jersey writer in 2001.

Democrats Beat Republicans in 2005 Fund-Raising on Wall Street  —  April 24 (Bloomberg) — Democrats outdid Republicans last year in attracting political donations from investment banks, brokerages and fund managers for the first time since 1994, helped by support from hedge funds and companies such as Merrill Lynch & Co.

Shiite Militias Move Into Oil-Rich Kirkuk, Even as Kurds Dig In  —  Control of Iraqi City Has Long Been in Dispute  —  KIRKUK, Iraq — Hundreds of Shiite Muslim militiamen have deployed in recent weeks to this restive city — widely considered the most likely flash point for an Iraqi civil war …

PRO-TALIBAN SPEECH CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED, CRITICISMS OF HOMOSEXUALITY UNPROTECTED: Here's an excerpt from Judge Reinhardt's short dissent in Lavine v. Blaine School Dist.  (Jan. 2002); Judge Reinhardt was taking the view that a school improperly disciplined a student for writing a poem with a violent theme: