Hey Democrats, Why Win?  —  DEMOCRATS are all but breaking out the Champagne.  Republicans are divided and disheartened; President Bush's poll numbers seem to be in free fall.  Many Democrats are talking not only about victory in November but about what they will do once Congress is in their hands.

Critics Want Dutch Lawmaker Deported  —  AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born Dutch legislator who has championed the rights of Muslim women, is returning from a book tour to a firestorm for lying on her asylum application when she fled to the Netherlands in 1992 to escape an arranged marriage.

SNL: If Al Gore were President  —  SNL: If Al Gore were President  —  "Saturday Night Live," opened their show tonight with Al Gore addressing the nation as if he was the President of the United States.  Gore was focused and quite funny in this entertaining spoof of the current administration and their long range of failures.

McCain Reconnects With Liberty University  —  Senator May Have an Eye Toward 2008 as He Reaches Out to Religious Conservatives  —  LYNCHBURG, Va., May 13 — Six years after labeling the Rev. Jerry Falwell one of the political "agents of intolerance," Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) …

To connect the dots, you have to see the dots  —  Here are two news stories from the end of last week.  The first one you may have heard about.  As "The Today Show's" Matt Lauer put it:  —  "Does the government have your number?  This morning a shocking new report that the National Security Agency …

Frank Rich in 'NYT' Defends Newspapers, Rips 'Treason' in Washington  —  NEW YORK In his Sunday opinion column for The New York Times, Frank Rich, who returned from book leave just last week, shook off the cobwebs to launch a vigorous defense of newspapers — and an attack on the real "traitors," including top officials.

Report: Mentally ill troops forced into combat  —  Military not following own rules on deployment, paper says  —  HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) — U.S. military troops with severe psychological problems have been sent to Iraq or kept in combat, even when superiors have been aware of signs of mental illness …

ALL THE COOL KIDS ARE DOING IT — Drezner, McArdle, even Bainbridge — so I'll take the Atrios/Drum "are you a liberal" test, too.  The questions (in bold) and my answers appear below:  —  1) Repeal the estate tax repeal: I've never cared much about the Estate Tax, one way or another.  Score me a weak no.

BACK FROM IRAQ  —  Bad stuff happened in Iraq, stuff Adam Reuter doesn't want to talk about.  Not with his friends, not with the line cooks in the burger joint where he worked when he first came home or the tenants in the apartment complex he manages now.  —  He doesn't even want to talk …

Despite Political Pressure to Scale Back, Logistics Are Pinning Down U.S. in Iraq  —  WASHINGTON, May 13 — Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld regularly says he wants major troop withdrawals from Iraq, if possible this year.  But he rarely mentions the daunting challenges beyond …

Jail riots follow Brazil attacks  —  Riots have broken out in 18 prisons in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo after a wave of attacks on the streets left at least 30 people dead.  —  State officials said the riots were organised by the same criminal faction - the First Command of the Capital (PCC) - that carried out the attacks.

Memo to EU: we call it Islamic terrorism because it is terror inspired by Islam  —  The United Nations held 'World Press Freedom Day 2006' earlier this month.  I don't know why.  Maybe the UN realised that so many of its member states stifled press and other freedoms they needed encouragement to do better.

Bush Approval Rating Jumps Six Points  —  President Bush's job approval rating has jumped six points in the wake of a media barrage of criticism over his administration's telephone records collection program.  —  A Harris Interactive poll published in The Wall Street Journal Online on Friday …

Laura Bush doesn't believe bad polls  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - First lady Laura Bush said on Sunday she does not believe opinion polls showing her husband's approval ratings at record low levels.  —  Interviewed on Fox News Sunday, Laura Bush said she did not think people were losing confidence …

Avian Flu Wanes in Asian Nations It First Hit Hard  —  Even as it crops up in the far corners of Europe and Africa, the virulent bird flu that raised fears of a human pandemic has been largely snuffed out in the parts of Southeast Asia where it claimed its first and most numerous victims.