Senate guest worker plan survives attack  —  Boxer, Alabama Republican fail to kill provision, but number of visas is reduced  —  Washington — Seldom do California's liberal Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer and Alabama's conservative Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions agree on anything.

Verizon Denies Turning Over Local Phone Data  —  Verizon, the country's second-largest phone company, said yesterday that it had not provided local phone records to the National Security Agency as part of efforts to compile a database of calling records to track terrorist activities.

Bush Is Now A Lame Duck  —  CBS' Meyer: Forget November, Forget '08; President Is Done  —  (CBS) This commentary was written by CBSNews.com's Dick Meyer.  —  The great impulse of the punditocracy right now is to look at President Bush's swelling problems with the public and his party …

Conservative Battle Fatique?  The "What If" Issue  —  More bad news for the GOP in today's edition of The Washington Post as 56 percent of the respondents to the latest Post/ABC News survey say they prefer Democrats in control of Congress.  —  There is a distinct, though not quite as deep …

'Earthquake in Pennsylvania'  —  TRIBUNE-REVIEW  —  Angry taxpayers on Tuesday tossed out the two Republican Senate leaders who helped engineer last year's legislative pay raise, an issue that apparently cost 15 House members their jobs, too.  —  Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer of Altoona …

Venezuela may sell U.S. jets to Iran, others  —  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's military is considering the possibility of selling its fleet of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to another country, perhaps Iran, a Venezuelan military official said Tuesday.

Albinos Condemn 'Da Vinci' Assassin  —  The notion of Christ as a family man is not the only raw nerve "The Da Vinci Code" has touched.  Albinos are bothered that one of their own has yet again been depicted as a villain.  —  Dan Brown's best seller begins its worldwide debut Wednesday …

INTERVIEW-US satirist Art Spiegelman tackles Danish cartoons  —  NEW YORK, May 16 (Reuters) - Controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad have been reprinted in a U.S. magazine with commentary by leading U.S. cartoonist Art Spiegelman, who offers what he calls a "fatwa bomb meter" to rate their offensiveness.

Paris suburb names street for cop-killer Abu-Jamal  —  As Philadelphians cope with another police slaying, news comes that a suburb of Paris has named a street for Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted of the 1981 murder of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.  —  Hundreds of supporters of Abu-Jamal attended …

The Parent Trap  —  Not long ago we worried about baby booms and overpopulation.  Now some people are worrying about a "Global Baby Bust."  Writing in Foreign Affairs, Phillip Longman says it's mostly because of economics: … He's clearly right about the economics.

Sherwood Survives  —  Rep. Don Sherwood (R-PA), his popularity weighed down by a messy extramartial affair, narrowly survived a primary challenge from a virtual unknown with a Democratic voting history.  —  With more than half of the vote counted, Sherwood led challenger Kathy Scott 56 percent to 44 percent.

Still Dodging Immigration's Truths  —  President Bush's immigration speech mostly missed the true nature of the problem.  We face two interconnected population issues.  One is aging; the other is immigration.  We aren't dealing sensibly with either, and as a result we face a future …

U.S. Secretly Backing Warlords in Somalia  —  More than a decade after U.S. troops withdrew from Somalia following a disastrous military intervention, officials of Somalia's interim government and some U.S. analysts of Africa policy say the United States has returned to the African country …

Disagree, don't destroy  —  While many (by "many" I am referring to those normal, non-political junkie types) think politics is dry and boring, there is actually lots of drama involved - especially recently.  I'm not even talking about bimbo eruptions, intern encounters, or escort services.

A Travesty of an "Investigation"  —  I have received the report of the Investigative Committee of the University of Colorado and consider it a travesty.  This "investigation" has all along been a pretext to punish me for engaging constitutionally-protected speech and, more generally …

Foster Quotes Eminem at Penn Graduation  —  PHILADELPHIA - You can add rapping to the list of Jodie Foster's talents.  The Oscar-winning actress spoke Monday at the University of Pennsylvania's commencement ceremonies, ending her address with the chorus of Eminem's "Lose Yourself" from …

Aksa Brigades threatens US, Europe  —  The Aksa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, on Monday threatened to strike at US and European interests in response to international sanctions on the Palestinian Authority.  —  The threat, the first of its kind, came as PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas …

At White House Briefing, Polish Replaces Testiness  —  Tony Snow said he didn't want to "hug the tar baby," and then he did just that by using the expression in his first televised White House press briefing yesterday.  —  The tar-covered doll that Br'er Fox used to ensnare Br'er Rabbit …

DHS Does About-Face In Backing Use of National Guard to Seal Border  —  In December of 2005, Fox News talking head Bill O'Reilly floated an unlikely — even brash — idea to the Homeland Security secretary to seal off the porous southwest border.  —  "Why don't you put the National Guard …

Tackling a Handful of Immigration Myths, Misnomers and Red Herrings  —  There's no topic hotter in the body politic right now than immigration.  —  Everywhere you turn, especially in the blogosphere, somebody has an opinion.  So, since illegal immigration is the topic du jour …