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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

Lee Siegel As Robespierre  —  I didn't comment on Lee Siegel's claim that the blogosphere is "hard fascism with a Microsoft face", along with the follow-up post that made it clear that he really did mean to call us all fascists, on the grounds that calling people 'moron' or 'wanker' constitutes …

A Secret the Terrorists Already Knew  —  COUNTERTERRORISM has become a source of continuing domestic and international political controversy.  Much of it, like the role of the Iraq war in inspiring new terrorists, deserves analysis and debate.  Increasingly, however, many of the political …

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 …

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?

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.