Why Al Qaeda Is Retreating From Iraq  —  April 30, 2006: Despite the many brickbats of the media, al Qaeda has been defeated in Iraq, and is now retreating to lick its wounds where it can.  If it can.  Just over four and a half years, al Qaeda has gone from being the dominant terrorist group …

Hiltzik Saga, The Denouement: Los Angeles Times Management Gets It A Little Right, A Little Wrong … The Los Angeles Times has disciplined sock-puppeteer columnist Michael Hiltzik.  —  For traditional media, his crime was pseudonymous posting.  That was the gist of most of the published stories …

Sharp Reaction to G.O.P. Plan on Gas Rebate  —  WASHINGTON, April 30 — The Senate Republican plan to mail $100 checks to voters to ease the burden of high gasoline prices is eliciting more scorn than gratitude from the very people it was intended to help.  —  Aides for several Republican …

Bush challenges hundreds of laws  —  President cites powers of his office  —  WASHINGTON — President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts …

American Nightmarez  —  If you want to see the difference between real political satire and the cheap imitation stuff, watch (or read) Stephen Colbert's merciless skewering of the Cheney administration and its media lapdogs, then go fork over your $10 and see the movie American Dreamz, which purports to do the same thing.

Divisions Cast Aside in Cry for Darfur  —  Clutching signs that read "Never Again," thousands of protesters from across religious and political divides descended on the Mall yesterday along with celebrities and politicians to urge President Bush to take stronger measures to end the violence …

A Sage in Christendom  —  A personal tribute to Bernard Lewis.  —  Bernard Lewis came to the New World in the nick of time.  Fate—or, more appropriately, history—decreed his American journey and the direction it would take.  The historian, who will turn 90 in a handful of days …

HARVARD LOVES A THUG  —  May 1, 2006 — HARVARD University has a bizarre idea of how to advance the education of its grads: Instruct them to bow down to North Ko rea's paranoid dictators and show proper "respect" for the Axis of Evil.  —  It's the ultimate in radical Stalinist chic …

Immigration Bill Lobbying Focuses on House Leaders  —  With Senate in Hand, Bush May Face a Skeptical GOP Base  —  President Bush's growing confidence that he will secure a victory on immigration runs in direct contrast to the House Republican leadership, which is prepared to block legislation …

Back on the Stand  —  Rove's latest trip to the grand jury leaves his fate in the Plame leak case as mysterious as ever.  —  May 8, 2006 issue - It was August 2004, and special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was zeroing in on I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby as the leaker in the Valerie Plame case.

FEATURE-Pakistani jihadi videos thrive on execution scenes  —  ISLAMABAD, April 30 (Reuters) - The movie salesman was selling jihad to the converted.  —  The buyers thronging his stall on the sidelines of a late-night rally in the Pakistani capital belonged to a crowd organised by a sectarian Sunni Muslim group.

Powell Forces Rice to Defend Iraq Planning  —  WASHINGTON - Just back from Baghdad and eager to discuss promising developments, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice found herself knocked off message Sunday, forced to defend prewar planning and troop levels against an unlikely critic …