Nasrallah speaks, vows surprises  —  Hizbullah leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, spoke for the first Thursday since the beginning of the week, saying Hizbullah's entire infrastructure and leadership hierarchy were still intact and functional.  —  "I can confirm without exaggerating …

President Bush Addresses NAACP Annual Convention  —  Washington, D.C.  —  African American History  —  THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much.  (Applause.)  Thank you very much.  Bruce, thanks for your introduction.  Bruce is a polite guy — I thought what he was going to say, it's about time you showed up.

Bill Clinton to campaign for Lieberman in Waterbury  —  U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman is rolling out the big gun in his increasingly close primary battle with Greenwich Democrat Ned Lamont.  —  Former President Bill Clinton is slated to campaign on behalf of the three-term incumbent Monday in Waterbury …

Spanish PM in scarf scandal  —  Madrid - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has come under criticism for posing with a Palestinian scarf on his shoulders after accusing Israel of using force "abusively" to defend itself, press reports said on Thursday.

Iran leader asks Germany for help on Zionism  —  German government official says a letter written by Iranian President Ahmadinejad to German Chancellor Merkel asks her to help solve Palestinian problem, deal with Zionism.  Official says letter 'rather weird'

The Allure of the Tool Belt  —  THE evening he made the awkward toast, David Mager was not aware — not consciously, at least — that his longtime girlfriend was involved with the contractor.  As far as he was concerned, it was just a joke, a teasing reference to the amount …

U.S. Says Attacks in Iraq Up 40 Percent  —  Iraq's top Shiite cleric urged his followers Thursday to refrain from reprisal violence against Sunnis, his strongest call yet for an end to increasing sectarian bloodshed.  The statement by Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani came as U.S. military officials reported …

Pentagon OKs $6 bln in arms sales to Saudi Arabia  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration said on Thursday it approved the sale to Saudi Arabia of 24 UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters, radios, armoured vehicles and other military equipment worth more than $6 billion (3.25 billion pounds).

Bush to stem cell community: Drop dead  —  President's veto of embryonic research funding reflects incoherent policy  —  Arthur Caplan, Ph.D.  —  Arthur Caplan, Ph.D.  —  President Bush's embryonic stem cell policy began with lies and has now ended with one.

STOCHASTIC BLOGGING....I found myself uninspired by the news today and unable to find anything I felt like blogging about, so instead I played hooky for a couple of hours and went to see A Scanner Darkly.  It turned out to be — interesting.  And remarkably faithful to the book, too …

Marriott Hotels Ban Smoking In Rooms  —  Marriott International Inc., the nation's largest hotel chain, said yesterday that it will ban smoking in its nearly 400,000 hotel rooms in the United States and Canada, casting the decision as less about public health and more about taking care of the bottom line.

Joe Lieberman: Running Against Himself  —  Joe Lieberman's appropriation of the Rovian politics of projection in this race has been acute.  He's accused Ned Lamont being a flip-flopper on Iraq, when in fact it was Joe who voted for a permanent presence there and has now changed his mind.