Republicans Sag in New Poll  —  Bush and Congress  —  Get Perilously Low Marks  —  As Gas Prices Rise  —  Rising gas prices have intensified discontent with Washington and handed Congress a frightening midterm election backdrop: a deeply pessimistic electorate, despite a robust economy.

The Jesus cartoons  —  Another American university tackles free speech, and everyone involved embarrasses themselves — except the conservatives.  A parable for our times.  —  World Net Daily broke the news yesterday that a far-left student newspaper at the University of Oregon — called …

AN ATTACK ON THE ROTC  —  The anti-military punks are at it again.  Reader Nora.  A. e-mailed me photos of vandalism yesterday at UNC-Chapel Hill's ROTC armory taken by her son, an ROTC cadet on campus:  —  This has got to stop.  (Hat tip: Sister Toldjah) Via the Raleigh News and Observer:

Tension Over Press Leaks  —  Government Has a Right to Keep Secrets — but Also a Duty to Be More Open  —  Two events in the past week have thrown the spotlight on the troubled relationship between the Bush administration and the news media, raising questions that are worrisome on both sides of the divide.

The Insurgency Continues  —  As part of its crack-down against insider "leaks," the CIA is reminding former employees about unauthorized contacts with the media.  According to various media accounts, several retired analysts and agents claim to have received letters from their former employer …

Prosecutors May Widen Congressional-Bribe Case  —  Cunningham Is Suspected  —  Of Asking for Prostitutes;  —  Were Others Involved?  —  Federal prosecutors are investigating whether two contractors implicated in the bribery of former Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham supplied him with prostitutes …

Senators to push for $100 gas rebate checks  —  Under proposal, every U.S. taxpayer would get one  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Every American taxpayer would get a $100 rebate check to offset the pain of higher pump prices for gasoline, under an amendment Senate Republicans hope to bring to a vote Thursday.

Kennedy faces fight on Cape Wind  —  Key lawmakers oppose his bid to block project  —  WASHINGTON — As record oil prices turn attention to the need for renewable fuels, momentum is building in Congress to buck Senator Edward M. Kennedy's bid to block the proposed Cape Cod wind energy project …

United 93  —  The filmmakers got it right.  —  The calendar says it's April 25, 2006.  At noon, my wife, Peggy, and I are walking around Battery Park—near the Tribeca area—in New York.  It is our first time.  The flowers are blooming; kids are fishing; people boarding the ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

The Gaping Hole In Rove's Defense  —  Yesterday, Karl Rove testified for almost four hours before a federal grand jury about his previous statements pertaining to the leak of an undercover CIA agent's identity.  Rove offered this stunning defense: … Rove wants the grand jury to believe …

Visit by Rumsfeld, Rice Sets Off Criticism in Iraq  —  Some leaders worry that the Americans' surprise trip could hurt talks on forming a government.  Analysts see an effort to shore up U.S. opinion.  —  BAGHDAD — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld paid …

Senate Panel Urge FEMA Dismantling  —  WASHINGTON, April 26 —The Federal Emergency Management Agency was so fundamentally dysfunctional during Hurricane Katrina that Congress should abolish it and create a new disaster response agency from scratch, according to a draft of bipartisan recommendations proposed by a Senate committee.

Solidarity without sentimentality  —  The power of one (woman) over history  —  But first, Tony Snow: The fun starts here and here and a few free comments from me, here on "Comment is Free."  (I'm not responsible for the "Yellow Snow" hed, for goodness sakes.)

Joe Klein's Turnip Day  —  Politics Lost: How American Democracy Was Trivialized by People Who Think You're Stupid, by Joe Klein.  Doubleday, 256 pages, $23.95.  —  Joe Klein is the flower of American political journalism, a sharp raconteur who shows traces of the gonzo style that was in vogue …

Pin Prick  —  Senator George Allen is the only person in Virginia who wears cowboy boots.  It's a warm and bright spring day in the swampy southeastern Virginia town of Wakefield, site of the annual Virginia political fest known as Shad Planking.  Once a whites-only event where state Democrats picked …

Judge Embeds a Puzzle in 'Da Vinci Code' Ruling  —  LONDON, April 26 — Justice Peter Smith's 71-page ruling in the recent "Da Vinci Code" copyright case here is notable for many things: the judge's occasional forays into literary criticism, his snippy remarks about witnesses on both sides …

Anatomy of the "thought" process of Bush defenders  —  (updated below with Glenn Reynolds & Hugh Hewitt book figures)  —  As much as anything else, Bush defenders are characterized by an increasingly absolutist refusal to recognize any facts which conflict with their political desires …