Missing Fox News crew: Blogburst  —  ***scroll for updates...a TV critic attacks Fox News...***  —  Fox News Channel reporter Steve Centanni and freelance cameraman Olaf Wiig are still missing.  It has now been more than a week since their kidnapping at gunpoint in Gaza by unknown terrorists.

Iran ready for 'serious' nuclear talks  —  TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's top nuclear negotiator said Tuesday that Tehran was ready to enter "serious negotiations" over its disputed nuclear program but did not say whether it was willing to suspend uranium enrichment — the West's key demand.

Connecticut Groups Push to Remove Lieberman From Ballot  —  Critics of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's independent run to keep his job attacked on two fronts Monday, with one group asking an elections official to throw him out of the Democratic Party and a former rival calling on state officials to keep his name off the November ballot.

The Fertility Gap  —  Liberal politics will prove fruitless as long as liberals refuse to multiply.  —  The midterm election looms, and once again efforts begin afresh to increase voter participation.  It has become standard wisdom in American politics that voter turnout is synonymous …

Iran 'fires on Romanian oil rig'  —  BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A Romanian oil rig off the coast of Iran came under fire from an Iranian warship and was later occupied by Iranian troops, a company spokesman said.  —  The Iranians first fired into the air and then fired at the Orizont rig, said GSP spokesman Radu Petrescu.

Hezbollah sinks Australian warship  —  http://www.moqavemat.com - an Iran-based website run by the Hezbollah terrorist group - is running this picture (above) of what it claims is the Israeli ship it hit with a missile last month.  —  Now look at the Royal Australian Navy's picture below …

Point of No Return?  —  It is hard to think of a time when a nation — and a whole civilization — has drifted more futilely toward a bigger catastrophe than that looming over the United States and western civilization today.  —  Nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran and North Korea mean …

Educators Question Absence of Evolution From List of Majors Eligible for New Grants  —  Like a gap in the fossil record, evolutionary biology is missing from a list of majors that the U.S. Department of Education has deemed eligible for a new federal grant program designed to reward students majoring …

Washington Whispers  —  Don't laugh, but a loaner training kayak in the pool of the House of Representatives gym made the difference in President Bush's House victory for a pork-busting line-item veto.  "That's spot on," says Colorado Rep. Mark Udall, who helped talk 34 other Democrats into backing the measure 247 to 172.

Poll: GOP up after terror arrests  —  WASHINGTON — The arrest of terror suspects in London has helped buoy President Bush to his highest approval rating in six months and dampen Democratic congressional prospects to their lowest in a year.  —  In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday …

Thousands of Marines face involuntary recalls  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Marine Corps said Tuesday it has been authorized to recall thousands of Marines to active duty, primarily because of a shortage of volunteers for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.  —  Up to 2,500 Marines will be brought …

Obsessed Bin Laden wanted to kill Whitney Houston's husband  —  Terror mastermind Osama bin Laden is so obsessed with singer Whitney Houston he thought about killing her husband, Bobby Brown, it was claimed last night.  —  The suggestion is made by Sudanese poet and novelist Kola Boof …

How We Ended Welfare, Together  —  TEN years ago today I signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.  By then I had long been committed to welfare reform.  As a governor, I oversaw a workfare experiment in Arkansas in 1980 and represented the National Governors Association …

President on Another Planet  —  For a moment there, I was almost encouraged.  George W. Bush, the most resolutely incurious and inflexible of presidents, was reported last week to have been surprised at seeing Iraqi citizens — who ought to be grateful beneficiaries of the American occupation …