A Governing Philosophy Rebuffed  —  Ruling Emphasizes Constitutional Boundaries  —  For five years, President Bush waged war as he saw fit.  If intelligence officers needed to eavesdrop on overseas telephone calls without warrants, he authorized it.  If the military wanted to hold terrorism suspects without trial, he let it.

House Assails Media Report on Tracking of Finances  —  WASHINGTON, June 29 — The House of Representatives on Thursday condemned the recent disclosure of a classified program to track financial transactions and called on the media to cooperate in keeping such efforts secret.

Report: Mubarak demands Hamas be expelled from Syria  —  Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak demanded from his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad to deport the Syrian-based Hamas leadership unless it agrees to release kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, Palestinian sources said on Friday.

Bin Laden hails slain al-Zarqawi as 'lion'  —  CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden defended attacks by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi against civilians in Iraq, purportedly saying in a taped Web message Friday that the slain al-Qaida in Iraq leader was acting under orders to kill anyone who backs American forces.

Fit and Unfit to Print  —  What are the obligations of the press in wartime? … So wrote the great legal scholar, Alexander Bickel, about the duties of the press in his 1975 collection of essays "The Morality of Consent."  We like to re-read Bickel to get our Constitutional bearings …

Lawmakers: NSA database incomplete  —  WASHINGTON — Members of the House and Senate intelligence committees confirm that the National Security Agency has compiled a massive database of domestic phone call records.  But some lawmakers also say that cooperation by the nation's telecommunication companies …

The Geneva Convention for a Non-State Entity  —  Today's Supreme Court ruling seems to me a remarkable point in the development of a kind of quasi-sovereignty for non-state organizations.  —  Were there to develop an Anti-Qaeda force, a private military to pursue Al Qaeda and win the war on its own terms …

A Spat Over Iraq Revealed On Tape  —  Rice and Russian Caught Bickering At Private Lunch  —  MOSCOW, June 29 — The official State Department version is that "there was absolutely no friction whatsoever" between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during …

Sensitive Subject In The Senate  —  Lieberman's Colleagues In Awkward Position  —  WASHINGTON — Want to see a Democratic senator squirm?  Don't ask about Iraq or gasoline prices.  Ask about Joe Lieberman.  —  They edge toward the door, duck into the elevator, scoot down the hall to avoid the question …

Senate to Consider Stem Cell Proposals  —  Fertility Patients Could Donate Embryos  —  Senate leaders from both parties agreed yesterday to schedule a vote on a package of bills that would loosen President Bush's five-year-old restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research.

Superman eschews longtime patriot act  —  Nevermind Superman's sexual orientation.  Here's another identity-related question that is likely to spark controversy as the Man of Steel soars into theaters nationwide this Fourth of July weekend in Warner Bros.  Pictures' "Superman Returns": Is Superman still American?

Comeback talk creates Lott buzz  —  The prospect of former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) returning to leadership next year is creating more and more buzz on and off Capitol Hill, Republican insiders say.  —  The higher volume of talk has been fueled partly by his former aides …

MICRO-WAVE or MACRO-WAVE?  —  The Four T's of the 2006 battle for the House  —  Just how perilously close are Republicans to losing their congressional majority in 2006?  The way several independent observers and Democrats are talking and acting these days, you might guess the GOP's demise was all but a done deal.