Digital Lynch Mob  —  Two weeks ago I wrote about Al Gore's new movie on global warming.  I liked the film.  In response, I instantly got more than 1,000 e-mails, most of them praising Gore, some calling him the usual names and some concluding there was no such thing as global warming, if only because Gore said there was.

STYLE POINTS:  —  Over at Tapped, Greg Sargent has an interesting take on my post from earlier today.  He writes, "it was Chait who threw down the gauntlet first and set an 'uncivil' tone in the initial column."  —  Ah, I see.  So before I wrote my column last Sunday …

HUD secretary's blunt warning  —  Alphonso Jackson says deal was scuttled after contractor admits not liking Bush  —  Once the color barrier has been broken, minority contractors seeking government work may need to overcome the Bush barrier.  —  That's the message U.S. Housing …

WHO'S WINNING?  THEY SAY WE ARE  —  I missed this when it was released by Centcom, but our friend Ed Morrissey is on top of it: … This quote from a captured document, for example, supports Ed's characterization: … So the terrorists say we're winning in Iraq.  Why is this fact so little recognized in America?

OUR BORDER PATROL...OR MEXICO'S?  —  ***scroll for updates***  —  Who does the U.S. Border Patrol work for?  Apparently, not for us.  —  If you have high blood pressure, don't read on.  The Daily Bulletin reports: … To top it all off, Border Patrol agents are reportedly being told …

Optimistic, Democrats Debate the Party's Vision  —  WASHINGTON, May 8 — With Democrats increasingly optimistic about this year's midterm elections and the landscape for 2008, intellectuals in the center and on the left are debating how to sharpen the party's identity and present a clear alternative …

Flying robot attack "unstoppable": experts  —  It may sound like science fiction, but the prospect that suicide bombers and hijackers could be made redundant by flying robots is a real one, according to experts.  —  The technology for remote-controlled light aircraft is now highly advanced …

Iranian's Letter to Bush Emerges  —  In his letter to President Bush, Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, declared that Western-style democracy had failed and that the use of secret prisons in Europe and aspects of the war in Iraq could not be reconciled with Mr. Bush's Christian values.

The Best Little Whorehouse in Washington  —  AUSTIN, Texas—Of course I am above sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.  So serious a servant of the public interest am I, I can fogey with the best: On my better days, I make David Broder look like Page Six.  —  I don't care what anyone smoked 20 years ago …

Another Possible Bump to the Debt Ceiling  —  A $2.7 trillion budget plan pending before the House would raise the federal debt ceiling to nearly $10 trillion, less than two months after Congress last raised the federal government's borrowing limit.  —  The provision — buried on page 121 …

One Thing They Aren't: Maternal  —  Oh, mothers!  Dear noble, selfless, tender and ferocious defenders of progeny all across nature's phylogeny: How well you deserve our admiration as Mother's Day draws near, and how photogenically you grace the greeting cards that we thrifty offspring will send in lieu of a proper gift.

DUBYA'S DILEMMA  —  WHY SINKING POLLS NOW?  —  May 9, 2006 — THE great national experiment in cognitive dissonance continues.  —  It's been only a week since the revelation that economic growth in the first quarter of this year was nearly 5 percent - and about a week since reports of a significant jump in personal incomes.

Out and About  —  The Vice President's Daughter Tells The Inside Story in Her New Book.  But the Subject Is Politics.  —  NEW YORK  —  "Are the eyes too much?"  —  Mary Cheney is peering into the makeup artist's mirror in the early hours of the morning, getting "done" for her appearance on …

Angry Darfur Refugees Riot in Demand for U.N. Troops  —  KALMA CAMP, Sudan, May 8 — An African Union interpreter was hacked to death on Monday in this vast, squalid camp by a mob of angry demonstrators within hours of a visit from the top United Nations aid official.