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.

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.

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.

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.) …

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

Fired Officer Believed CIA Lied to Congress  —  Friends Say McCarthy Learned of Denials About Detainees' Treatment  —  A senior CIA official, meeting with Senate staff in a secure room of the Capitol last June, promised repeatedly that the agency did not violate or seek to violate …

Why Qwest Hung Up On NSA  —  Former CEO Believed Handing Over Call Data Violated Privacy, Telecom Act  —  (CBS/AP) AT&T Corp., Verizon Communications Inc., and BellSouth Corp. began sharing records of tens of millions of their customers' phone calls with the NSA shortly after the 2001 terror attacks, according to USA Today.

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 …

CAN THEY HEAR YOU NOW?  —  The eavesdropping accusations against Bu$hCo are piling up fast.  First, we learned of the Terrorist Surveillance Program™ - al Qaeda only, if you believe the Dear Leaker, who says he's not trolling for anything except perch.

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.

Military Plans Tests in Search for an Alternative to Oil-Based Fuel  —  WASHINGTON, May 13 — When an F-16 lights up its afterburners, it consumes nearly 28 gallons of fuel per minute.  No wonder, then, that of all the fuel the United States government uses each year, the Air Force accounts for more than half.

My Non-Conversation With Robert Luskin  —  As TalkLeft readers know, I try to stick to analyzing news rather than breaking news.  I'm just not that kind of journalist.  But Jason Leopold's article today reporting Rove has been indicted was filled with such unique detail (analysis here) I wanted to know if it was true.

Hot-Seat Confirmation for CIA  —  Intelligence experts warn that a proposal to merge two Pentagon intelligence units could create an ominous new agency.  —  •  —  Court documents in the Moussaoui hearing cast doubts on his '20th hijacker' claim and provide fresh information about Al Qaeda's plans for another 9/11-style attack.

Enough is Enough  —  The Bush administration's disdain for the rule of law is becoming so readily apparent that, at some point, I suspect that even most conservatives will throw up their hands and say 'enough is enough.' This administration has claimed the right to detain U.S. citizens indefinitely without any due process whatsoever.