The Bush lynch mob against the nation's free press  —  (updated below)  —  Any doubts about whether the Bush administration intends to imprison unfriendly journalists (defined as "journalists who fail to obey the Bush administration's orders about what to publish") were completely dispelled this weekend.

In the Senate, Covering Themselves in Old Glory  —  The Citizens Flag Alliance, a group pushing for the Senate this week to pass a flag-burning amendment to the Constitution, just reported an alarming, 33 percent increase in the number of flag-desecration incidents this year.

SOME INITIAL THOUGHTS ON THE VERMONT CAMPAIGN FINANCE DECISION  —  The decision in Randall v. Sorrell today is a monumental one, because it marks the first time that the two new Justices have considered a campaign finance case.  Though the decision is a defeat for Vermont …

Bush Says Report on Bank Data Was Disgraceful  —  WASHINGTON, June 26 — President Bush on Monday condemned as "disgraceful" the disclosure last week by The New York Times and other newspapers of a secret program to investigate and track terrorists that relies on a vast international database …

Bush ignores laws he inks, vexing Congress  —  WASHINGTON - A bill becomes the rule of the land when Congress passes it and the president signs it into law, right?  —  Not necessarily, according to the White House.  A law is not binding when a president issues a separate statement saying …

Steele's Donor List Stirs Racial Questions  —  The fundraiser thrown for Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele on Thursday night, while ordinary in most ways, struck some African American leaders as notable because of the host.  —  Unlike the dozens of high-dollar events across the country …

Our World: Israel's rude awakening  —  It is painful to watch Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni try to contend with the terrible outcome of the Palestinian terror strike against the IDF on Sunday morning.  —  They use so many fancy and angry words.

'Breathtaking' Waste and Fraud in Hurricane Aid  —  FEMA spends $250,000 a month to store about 10,000 empty mobile homes at an airfield in Hope, Ark.  —  WASHINGTON, June 26 — Among the many superlatives associated with Hurricane Katrina can now be added this one: it produced …

Making love in the White House is even better  —  Because he was the first Democrat to step up and say publicly last year that he's exploring running for president, we can assume that Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) is plenty interested in the office.  —  But like most other men, apparently there are things that interest him more.

Why we ran the bank story  —  The Times editor on the paper's decision to expose U.S. money monitoring.  —  MANY READERS have been sharply critical of our decision to publish an article Friday on the U.S. Treasury Department's program to secretly monitor worldwide money transfers in an effort to track terrorist financing.

When the Anchor Drops  —  Goodbye to Dan Rather.  He was a good man and served CBS for 44 years with distinction.  —  Television is a tough business.  When it's time to go, you go .  And if you don't go the way they want you to, they get very upset.  They tell the world …

Womb environment 'makes men gay'  —  A man's sexual orientation may be determined by conditions in the womb, according to a study.  —  Previous research had revealed the more older brothers a boy has, the more likely he is to be gay, but the reason for this phenomenon was unknown.

A Well-Known Political Blogger Is Hired by the Clinton Campaign  —  WASHINGTON, June 26 — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign has hired Peter Daou, one of the most prominent political bloggers in the nation, to help disseminate her message in a forum that has not always been that hospitable to her.

Some Insurgents Are Asking Iraq for Negotiations  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 26 — Several Sunni-led insurgent groups have approached the Iraqi government to try to start negotiations after the Iraqi prime minister's presentation on Sunday of a limited plan for reconciliation, a senior legislator from the prime minister's party said Monday.

Why is TNR protecting an dishonest source?  —  I have just received an e-mail from TNR editor Frank Foer which said they thought the apology is adequate and "they had nothing more to add".  It was bad enough they tacked on Gilliard-gate to their mistake on their reporting.

Top Democrat Finds F.D.A.'s Efforts Have Plunged  —  WASHINGTON, June 26 — A 15-month inquiry by a top House Democrat has found that enforcement of the nation's food and drug laws declined sharply during the first five years of the Bush administration.  —  For instance, the investigation found …

U.S. to Deploy Patriot Missiles In Japan to Counter North Korea  —  TOKYO, June 27 — The Pentagon is reportedly speeding up plans to deploy advanced Patriot interceptor missiles on U.S. bases in Japan for the first time, a countermeasure seen as a response to the increasing threat of North Korean missiles.