Bush approval rating hits new low  —  WASHINGTON — President Bush's approval rating has slumped to 31% in a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, the lowest of his presidency and a warning sign for Republicans in the November elections.  —  The survey of 1,013 adults, taken Friday through Sunday …

EXCLUSIVE: CIA Nominee Hayden Linked to MZM  —  While director of the National Security Agency, Gen. Michael V. Hayden contracted the services of a top executive at the company at the center of the Cunningham bribery scandal, according to two former employees of the company.

Atwar Bahjat Beheading Video a Hoax (Images / Video)  —  ****Jawa Report Exclusive****  —  A gruesome beheading video delivered to the Sunday Times purporting to be of slain journalist Atwar Bahjat is a hoax.  On Sunday, May 7th, the Times reported that they had received a low-quality video of Atwar Bahjat being slowly beheaded.

CIA No. 3, facing bribe probe, quits  —  WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) — CIA Director Porter Goss' No. 3 man at the agency, facing investigation as part of a congressional bribe probe, quit Monday, an official said.  —  Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the CIA's executive director, announced his resignation …

Peres says that Iran 'can also be wiped off the map'  —  TEHRAN, Iran  —  Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Monday in an interview to Reuters that "the president of Iran should remember that Iran can also be wiped off the map," Army Radio reported.  —  According to Peres …

Al Gore Might Yet Join 2008 Contenders  —  Former Vice President Keeps Mum  —  As His Movie Sparks Talk of a White House Run  —  First there was Clinton-Gore.  Could Clinton vs. Gore be next?  —  For former Vice President Al Gore, a rash of favorable publicity surrounding this month's opening …

Bush tells German paper he caught the largest fresh-water perch in world history  —  UPDATE: Our intrepid readers have discovered that the White House transcript says (or now says) that Bush referenced a bass and not a perch.  The question is whether the White House transcript said that initially …

Moussaoui asks for new trial  —  Less than a week after he was jailed for life over the September 11 attacks, Al-Qaeda plotter Zacarias Moussaoui submitted a motion asking to withdraw his guilty plea so he can have a new trial.  —  "Moussaoui wishes to withdraw his guilty plea because when he entered …

Newspaper Circulation Declines 2.6 Percent  —  Newspaper circulation fell 2.6 percent in the six-month period ending in March, according to data released Monday, as more people turned to the Internet and other media outlets for news and information.  —  The decline in average paid weekday circulation …

LEFT-WING LOONIES?....Jon Chait took a lot of abuse yesterday for writing a column that suggested it would be OK if Joe Lieberman won his primary race in Connecticut: … If you think that I have no desire to get into the middle of this infantile shouting match, you're absolutely right.

U.S. Immigration Debate Is a Road Well Traveled  —  NEW YORK — They were portrayed as a disreputable lot, the immigrant hordes of this great city.  —  The Germans refused for decades to give up their native tongue and raucous beer gardens.  The Irish of Hell's Kitchen brawled and clung to political sinecures.

Britain backs Palestinian trust fund  —  A PROPOSED trust fund for donors to pay overdue Palestinian salaries would undercut Hamas, not strengthen it, says a British document meant to increase pressure on the US to drop objections to the plan.  —  Britain circulated the memo on the proposal …

Mary Cheney's Step Forward  —  Mary Cheney's new book is out.  The author herself has been out as a lesbian for many years.  In fact, before her father ran for vice president, she was the marketing liaison to the gay and lesbian community for Coors Brewing Co. Now she has published a book …

New 'Mission' Opens Weaker Than Expected  —  LOS ANGELES, May 7 — Paramount Pictures and its leading star, Tom Cruise, failed to live up to expectations this weekend when "Mission: Impossible III" opened to weak numbers at the domestic box office despite a barrage of public appearances by Mr. Cruise to promote the film.

His Legacy and His Library Occupy Bush's Thoughts  —  WASHINGTON — President Bush had dinner last month on the Stanford University campus at the home of George P. Shultz, who was President Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, and the topic of conversation was not, as might be expected, the war in Iraq.

The Situation so far  —  First of all, Thank you so much for all of you who have sent out e-mails for Alaa's release already and thanks for all of the bloggers who linked .  God bless every single one of you.  We are currently working on getting banners made.  It shouldn't be long till we have them on display.

Mark Steyn: New coalition of willing needed in Darfur  —  Hollywood stars are naive to expect the UN to stop the bloodbath in Sudan  —  I SEE George Clooney and Angelina Jolie have discovered Darfur and are now demanding "action".  Good for them.  Hollywood hasn't shown this much interest …

Immigration: The Ugly Duckling Issue  —  We have become accustomed in the six years of the George W. Bush presidency to seeing issues split the parties and the nation down the middle, with almost all Republicans on one side and almost all Democrats on the other.

Republicans Set Aside Middle-Income Tax Cuts to Focus on Rich  —  Listen  —  May 8 (Bloomberg) — Republican lawmakers, facing the prospect that their power to cut taxes may soon be curbed, plan to extend breaks that mostly benefit the wealthy and Wall Street at the expense of reductions for middle-income households.