Rove Is Using Threat of Loss to Stir G.O.P.  —  WASHINGTON, May 5 — To anyone who doubts the stakes for the White House in this year's midterm Congressional elections, consider that Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the Democrat who would become chairman of the Judiciary Committee …

Republicans Fault a Top Pick to Lead the C.I.A.  —  WASHINGTON, May 7 — Senior Republican lawmakers on Sunday criticized the probable choice of Gen. Michael V. Hayden to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, voicing concerns about his ties to a controversial eavesdropping program …

On One Of Iraq's Top Journalists Being Beheaded (UPDATED)  —  The barbaric terrorists beheadings that go beyond most definitions of murder in terms of their brutality have continued in Iraq.  —  WARNING: This Times Online piece about the merciless on-camera butchery of Atwar Bahjat …

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 …

There's Something Truly You-Know-What About This Story  —  Bush claims he caught a 7 1/2 pound perch in his very own lake.  —  Yeah, right.  Gotta picture?  But just for the sake of argument, let's say it's true (but see below).  He really did catch that large a fish and that was his happiest moment in five years.

It's Checks and Balances, Mr. Russert  —  It's not every day a Congressman from Detroit has his name mentioned on, not one, but two Sunday morning news shows.  —  First, on ABC's This Week, I was taken to task by none other than the soon-to-be-ex-Congressman Tom DeLay.

"KILLIN' PIGS AIN'T KOSHER, SARGE!"  "CAN THE WISE LIP, SLIBBERBERG!"  Andrew Klavan wants Hollywood (conservative for "somebody else") to make movies that praise our War Against Whatchamacallit: … I really don't see what the problem is.  The Fightin' Keyboarders have a film unit — put them on the job.

Just One of Those Mysteries... For Snow's First Day  —  The CIA director is forced out after a year and the White House gives no reason at all for it.  What will the new press secretary do when asked for an explanation that was glaringly absent on Friday?  Monday is Snow's first day on the job.

Jimmy Carter: Punishing the innocent is a crime  —  Jimmy Carter International Herald Tribune  —  Innocent Palestinian people are being treated like animals, with the presumption that they are guilty of some crime.  Because they voted for candidates who are members of Hamas …

The Enemy Within  —  Democrats may not be able to win the House, but Republicans could lose it.  —  Ken Mehlman is the unflappable efficiency expert who chairs the Republican National Committee.  Because he's not known for histrionics, his warning last week to GOP congressional staffers …

The USDA on Iraq: Everything's Coming Up Rosy  —  Career appointees at the Department of Agriculture were stunned last week to receive e-mailed instructions that include Bush administration "talking points" — saying things such as "President Bush has a clear strategy for victory in Iraq" — in every speech they give for the department.

"Real Conservatism Has Never Been Tried"  —  That has a kind of familiar ring to it doesn't it?  Get used to this new permutation of a very old trope.  It's about to enter the lexicon.  Predictably, like the Trotskyites about whom the fathers of the modern conservative movement obsessed …

A journey into the most savage war in the world  —  My travels in the Democratic Vacuum of Congo  —  This is the story of the deadliest war since Adolf Hitler's armies marched across Europe.  It is a war that has not ended.  But is also the story of a trail of blood that leads directly to you …

Don't let the left defeat Lieberman  —  The last thing the Democratic cause needs is martyrdom for the sanctimonious senator from Connecticut.  —  WATCHING the left wing of the Democratic Party trying to take down Joe Lieberman has been a deeply confusing experience for me.

Iran Threatens to Pull Out of Nuke Treaty  —  TEHRAN, Iran - Iran renewed its threats to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty on Sunday, with its president saying sanctions would be "meaningless" and its parliament seeking to put a final end to unannounced inspections of its nuclear facilities.

Cupid's Broken Arrow  —  Performance Anxiety and Substance Abuse Figure Into the Increase in Reports of Impotence on Campus  —  Adam Skrodzki, a tall, redheaded senior at the University of Maryland, bench-presses a respectable 280 pounds.  He fights fires in Howard County as a volunteer …

Many Youths Disregard Their Virginity Pledges, Harvard Study Says  —  According to interviews, more than half have sex within a year.  But one pro-abstinence group disputes the findings.  —  BOSTON — Virginity pledges, in which young people vow to abstain from sex until marriage …