Progressive Messaging Wins: Tester, Angelides, Winograd, and Bilbray?  —  Brian Bilbray ran to the left of Francine Busby.  I know it sounds weird, but he did.  That he won on a progressive platform is biggest story of the night.  Busby's loss was a loss no matter how it's spun …

Supporters lose in gay marriage ban vote  —  WASHINGTON - The Senate on Wednesday rejected a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, dealing a defeat to President Bush and Republicans who hoped to use the measure to energize conservative voters on Election Day.

Hillary lashes out at Ann Coulter  —  WASHINGTON - New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton lashed out at Ann Coulter for a "vicious, mean-spirited attack" on a group of outspoken 9/11 widows, whom the right-wing television pundit described as "self-obsessed" and enjoying their husbands' deaths.

Official of U.N. Says Americans Undermine It With Criticism  —  UNITED NATIONS, June 6 — Secretary General Kofi Annan's deputy assailed the United States on Tuesday for withholding support from the United Nations, encouraging its harshest detractors and undermining an institution that he said Washington needed more than it would admit.

Officer at Fort Lewis calls Iraq war illegal, refuses order to go  —  In a rare case of officer dissent, a Fort Lewis Army lieutenant has refused orders to head out to Iraq this month to lead troops in what he believes is an illegal war of occupation.  —  1st Lt. Ehren Watada's Stryker brigade …

Retirement Account of DeLay's Wife Traced  —  With Disclosure, Family's Known Benefits From Ties With Lobbyist Exceed $490,000  —  A registered lobbyist opened a retirement account in the late 1990s for the wife of then-House Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and contributed thousands of dollars …

A SMEAR YOU CAN'T TAKE BACK  —  The London Times is getting praise for issuing an apology over falsely captioning an April 2005 picture of fishermen executed at a Haditha, Iraq stadium by insurgents as depicting victims of Marines in the Nov. 19 incident still under investigation—which I reported over the weekend.

Voters reject Prop.  82  —  California voters soundly rejected Proposition 82 Tuesday, crushing the hopes of early childhood education advocates who hoped to make universal preschool public policy in the nation's most populous state.  —  Throughout much of the evening …

Louisiana Governor Plans to Sign Anti-Abortion Law  —  BATON ROUGE, La., June 6 — Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco's office said Tuesday that she would shortly sign into law a strict ban on abortion that would permit abortion only in the case where a woman's life was threatened by pregnancy.

S. J. Res. 1: Marriage Protection Amendment  —  AP reports: … Technically, the Senate didn't reject it.  All that happened was that a cloture motion failed.  Yet, setting aside that minor point, why should this vote - or even passage of the amendment - "energize conservative voters"?

Data Theft Affected Most in Military  —  Social Security numbers and other personal information for as many as 2.2 million U.S. military personnel — including nearly 80 percent of the active-duty force — were among the data stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs analyst last month …

Self-Loathing and the Denial of Terrorism  —  You're an enlightened world citizen.  Your T-shirt says "9/11 was an inside job."  You're pretty sure we're living in a fascist state, that President Bush taps the Dixie Chicks' phones, Christian abortion clinic bombers outnumber jihadis …