Privately Funded Trips Add Up on Capitol Hill  —  Over 5 1/2 years, Republican and Democratic lawmakers accepted nearly $50 million in trips, often to resorts and exclusive locales, from corporations and groups seeking legislative favors, according to the most comprehensive study to date on the subject of congressional travel.

Bush Throws Support to Marriage Amendment; Senate Debate Begins  —  President Bush spoke today in support of the Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA) as debate began on the Senate floor for the second time in two years — with a vote to come this week.  —  In brief remarks at the White House …

Ex-President Wins in Peru in Stunning Comeback  —  LIMA, Peru, June 4 — Sixteen years after his presidency ended in economic collapse and heightened guerrilla violence, Alan García was elected president again on Sunday, completing one of Latin America's most astonishing political resurrections.

No Escaping Iraq Violence  —  Gunmen abduct more than 50 at a bus zone in Baghdad, where daily life can be torn apart without warning.  —  BAGHDAD — Clad in camouflage uniforms, the gunmen came peeling through the thick morning heat in police trucks.  They stopped at a downtown strip …

The Real Iraq  —  Spending time in the United States after a tour of Iraq can be a disorienting experience these days.  Within hours of arriving here, as I can attest from a recent visit, one is confronted with an image of Iraq that is unrecognizable.  It is created in several overlapping ways …

Fitzgerald, Scooter and Us  —  The special prosecutor wants to use our editorial as evidence.  Sorry. … Those words appeared in this column on July 17, 2003, under the headline "Yellowcake Remix."  Three years later they show we were right about Joe Wilson and his false allegation …

Court to Weigh Race as Factor in School Rolls  —  WASHINGTON, June 5 — The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to rule on what measures, if any, public school systems may use to maintain racial balance in individual schools.  —  The eventual decision on whether they can take race into account …

The wrong target  —  Terrorism, not America, is a real and present threat to our freedoms  —  Al-Haditha, a town on the Euphrates northwest of Baghdad, is still a place where fighters blend into the populace and literally use civilians as cover.  Coalition forces may shoot only when threatened …

In close SoCal race, Democrat's immigration remarks draw fire  —  CARLSBAD, Calif. - Republicans seized on Democrat Francine Busby's comments that sounded like encouragement for illegal aliens to help her campaign as the GOP sought an edge in the final hours of a surprisingly close House race.

Lieberman faces showdown over Iraq  —  MERIDEN, Connecticut (Reuters) - After years of ardent support for the Iraq war, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman (news, bio, voting record) could become that conflict's first big political casualty in a Democratic primary race fueled by rising anti-war anger.

Chill out over global warming  —  You'll often hear the left lecture about the importance of dissent in a free society.  —  Why not give it a whirl?  —  Start by challenging global warming hysteria next time you're at a LoDo cocktail party and see what happens.  —  Admittedly, I possess virtually no expertise in science.

Intelligence behind raid was wrong, officials say  —  Vikram Dodd, Sandra Laville and Richard Norton-Taylor  —  Senior counter-terrorism officials now believe that the intelligence that led to the raid on a family house last Friday in a search for a chemical device about to be used …

Another Terrorist Attack Coming Soon?  —  CBS News: U.S. Officials Believe Recent Incidents Point To An Imminent Threat  —  (CBS) U.S. officials believe Canadian arrests over the weekend and three recent domestic incidents in the United States are evidence the U.S. will soon be hit again by a terrorist attack.

Inside the Cult of Kos  —  What makes the political blogger so mesmerizing to his followers?  —  "If I cared what commenters said, I'd kill myself."  In the high-octane non-stop flame war that is the political blogosphere, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga knows how to get attention.  He's kidding, of course.

Ex-Official Testifies He Provided 'Insight and Advice' to Abramoff  —  WASHINGTON, June 5 — A former White House budget official acknowledged Monday that he had provided "a lot of insight and advice," including government information not available to the public, to the lobbyist Jack Abramoff in 2002.

Iraqis Believe Violence Will Abate, New Report Says  —  Pentagon Finds Hope Is Tied to New Government  —  Attacks and casualty levels against civilians and military personnel in Iraq have risen "substantially" since the December elections, but Iraqis have confidence the new Baghdad government …

Date With the Devil  —  Those Who Seek 'the Number of the Beast' Need Look No Further Than Today's Calendar  —  Satan's spawn are having a lucrative old time today.  The calendar says this is the 6th day of the 6th month of the millennium's 6th year.  —  According to the King James version …

The ties that bind 17 suspects?  —  SURYA BHATTACHARYA, NASREEN GULAMHUSEIN AND HEBA ALY  —  In investigators' offices, an intricate graph plotting the links between the 17 men and teens charged with being members of a homegrown terrorist cell covers at least one wall.

666 sucks sucks sucks  —  With its devilish "666" date-stamp, today should be hell, but if you crunch the numbers it's apparently more about hugs than human sacrifice.  —  For those of an apocalyptic bent, the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year is the ideal date for an anti-Christ …