Qwest's Refusal of N.S.A. Query Is Explained  —  WASHINGTON, May 12 — The telecommunications company Qwest turned down requests by the National Security Agency for private telephone records because it concluded that doing so would violate federal privacy laws, a lawyer for the telephone company's former chief executive said today.

Polling hysteria and the NSA program  —  Somehow, The Washington Post — on the very same day most people learned about the new NSA data-collection program — managed to conduct a poll which purports to show that "63 percent of Americans said they found the NSA program to be an acceptable way to investigate terrorism."

ABC/WAPO ON NSA PHONE RECORDS  —  Did yesterday's USAToday story on the collection of domestic telephone records by the NSA do President George Bush a backhanded favor?  An overnight survey released earlier this morning by ABC News and the Washington Post suggests that it may be doing just that.

Bush to Address Nation Monday Night on Immigration  —  WASHINGTON — President Bush will address the nation on immigration reform Monday night from the Oval Office.  —  The White House said Friday that this is the first time it has requested network time for a presidential address on a specific domestic issue.

CIA Official's Home, Office Searched  —  WASHINGTON - Law enforcement officials executed search warrants Friday on the house and office of CIA's outgoing executive director as part of an investigation into corruption involving agency contracts, the FBI said.

Procreation Not Recreation  —  Make more babies.  That's the lesson drawn out of two interesting stories over the last couple days.  —  First, a story Wednesday that half the kids under 5 years old in this country are minorities.  By far, the greatest number are Hispanic.  —  Know what that means?