Divided House rejects Iraq pullout date  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Friday rejected a timetable for pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq, culminating a fiercely partisan debate between Republicans and Democrats feeling the public's apprehension about war and the onrushing midterm campaign season.

Vietnam, Watergate and Rove  —  Left-wing nostalgia dies hard, but can it survive the events of this week?  —  It has been a tough 10 days for those who see current events through the prisms of Vietnam and Watergate.  First, the Democrats failed to win a breakthrough victory …

Top court upholds no-knock police search  —  WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court made it easier Thursday for police to barge into homes and seize evidence without knocking or waiting, a sign of the court's new conservatism with Samuel Alito on board.  —  The court, on a 5-4 vote …

Bill Gates, Version 2.0: Full-Time Philanthropist  —  Three decades after starting the most influential American technology company, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates said yesterday that he plans to step down from day-to-day work at the software giant to focus his energy full …

Who Is to Blame for Grief on a Beach?  —  It was another one of those pictures that goes instantly around the world.  A young Palestinian, wailing in wretched sorrow, grieving over her dead father, stepmother and five siblings who had been killed by an explosion on a Gaza beach.  Then came the blame.

Party Urges Jefferson To Leave Committee  —  House Democrats Vote Against Target of Probe  —  Democrats voted last night to strip Rep. William J. Jefferson (La.) of a plum committee assignment while he is embroiled in a federal bribery investigation.  —  The 99 to 58 vote followed weeks …

Only on The Colbert Report:  —  Only on The Colbert Report:  —  Westmoreland co-sponsors bill on the Ten Commandments and can't even name them  —  Colbert was priceless last night.  His guest was Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland and I guess he never heard of The Colbert Report before.

Al Qaeda in Iraq Died For Our Sins  —  June 16, 2006: Al Qaeda in Iraq has been virtually wiped out by the loss of an address book.  The death of al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi was not as important as the capture of his address book and other planning documents in the wake of the June 7th bombing.

'06 Race Focuses on the Suburbs, Inner and Outer  —  BELLEVUE, Wash., June 15 — In searching for any advantage in this year's Congressional elections, the two parties are focusing with increased intensity on those cul de sac jungles of tenuous political loyalties, the suburbs and exurbs.

Uranium from Africa: Who forged the bogus Iraq-Niger uranium sale "accord" and why?  —  I am pleased to report on an important development in the Nigergate story, based in part on collaborative sleuthing with investigative reporter Solomon Hughes from the British publication Private Eye.

Bring U.S. troops home by end of '06  —  Half of those whose names are inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial were lost after America's leaders knew our strategy would not succeed.  It was immoral then, and it is immoral now, to be quiet or equivocal in the face of such delusion.

"WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD"  —  The obscene, abusive, unhinged jerk Keith Olbermann earns his own prize.  —  His book, "Worst Person in the World," is due out in September.  —  The "worst person" designation, he told a reporter last December, is "for somebody who's wrong and egregiously stupid and abusing their own position."

Maliki Aide Who Discussed Amnesty Leaves Job  —  Premier Disavows Remarks; Egyptian Seen Replacing Zarqawi  —  BAGHDAD, June 15 — Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office on Thursday accepted the resignation of an aide who had told a reporter that Maliki was considering a limited amnesty …