COVERING IRAN  —  Yesterday, we linked to a shocking report in Canada's National Post to the effect that a statute regulating clothing in Iran, which was passed two years ago by Iran's Majlis or Parliament, has now been cleared to go into effect.  As described by the National Post …

Iraqi Parliament Approves New Cabinet  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's parliament approved a national unity government Saturday, achieving a goal Washington hopes will reduce violence so U.S. forces can eventually go home.  But as the legislators met, a series of attacks killed at least 27 people and wounded dozens.

McCain Gets Cantankerous Reception at Commencement  —  NEW YORK (AP) — Senator John McCain of Arizona received a cantankerous reception during his appearance at the New School commencement Friday, where dozens of faculty members and students turned their backs and raised signs in protest …

Four Guantanamo detainees attempt suicide  —  Inmates at the US "war on terror" detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba tried to prevent US forces from helping one of four detainees who tried to commit suicide, a spokesman said.  —  One inmate tried to hang himself and three others took overdoses on Thursday.

Growing Number of GOP Seats In Doubt  —  VIRGINIA BEACH, May 19 — When some of the country's top political handicappers drew up their charts of vulnerable House incumbents at the beginning of this year, Rep. Thelma D. Drake (R-Va.) was not among them.  Now she is.

Some Ships Get Coast Guard Tip Before Searches  —  LONG BEACH, Calif. — Under intense pressure from shipping companies concerned about costly delays, the Coast Guard is tipping off some large commercial ships about security searches that had been a surprise, according to high-ranking Coast Guard officials.

Americans don't like President Bush personally much anymore, either  —  WASHINGTON - It's not just the way he's doing his job.  Americans apparently don't like President Bush personally much anymore, either.  —  A drop in his personal popularity, as measured by several public polls …

Big Love at the Expo Center  —  I've had some stranger nights covering politics, but not many.  I have never seen a group of people as elated to lose 2-1 as the Ned Lamont supporters nor a winning side as lifeless and frozen-faced as the Lieberman crowd when Friday night's votes were counted.

Do women want a sex-drive drug?  —  If you could take a drug to become aroused — not just to facilitate the hydraulics of arousal, as Viagra and other vascular sex aids do, but to actually make you horny — would you?  —  I ask because MSNBC is reporting today that New Jersey-based Palatin Technologies …

DO YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?  —  Pat yourselves on the backs, you tolerant liberal bastards.  —  This is hardly  —  the first  —  time  —  liberals  —  have  —  made Asian whore ping-pong ball jokes  —  about me.  —  But Wonkette has now mainstreamed it.  And I'm sick of it.

New Face, Old Evasion  —  AT THE SENATE intelligence committee hearing Thursday on Gen. Michael V. Hayden's nomination to head the CIA, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) asked the nominee a simple question: Is "waterboarding" an acceptable interrogation technique?

A new low in political advertising?  —  We don't spend a lot of time writing about party primaries for state legislative races, but we're going to have to make an exception this time.  In the run for the Republican nomination for California's 25th Assembly District, one candidate is claiming …

U.S. Should Close Prison in Cuba, U.N. Panel Says  —  UNITED NATIONS, May 19 — An important United Nations panel roundly criticized the United States on Friday for its treatment of terrorism suspects, and called for shutting down the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Anti-Anti-Americanism  —  Dealing with the crazy world after Iraq.  —  National Review Online  —  How does the United States deal with a corrupt world in which we are blamed even for the good we do, while others are praised when they do wrong or remain indifferent to suffering?

Requests for Corporate Data Multiply  —  Businesses Juggle Law-Enforcement Demands  —  For Information About Customers, Suppliers  —  WASHINGTON — Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, law enforcement efforts to secure corporate information about clients and suppliers have reached …