Is a Dem Also Holding Up the Porkbusting Bill?  —  There's a loose thread to this "secret hold" story, and it bothers us.  —  By this morning, the dogged persistence of hundreds of bloggers and blogreaders garnered denials from 98 senators saying they did not hold up the Coburn/Obama spending transparency database bill.

PRESIDENT BUSH 'ASSASSINATED' IN NEW TV DOCUDRAMA  —  This is the dramatic moment when President George Bush is gunned down by a sniper after a public address at a hotel, in a gripping new docudrama soon to be aired on TV.  —  Set around October 2007, President Bush is assassinated as he leaves the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago.

State on Verge of Greenhouse Gas Restrictions  —  The Senate votes to slash emissions 25%, the first such action in the nation.  Business groups are angry, but the governor is on board.  —  SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders agreed Wednesday on a plan to cut …

Bolton: U.N. must now focus on sanctions  —  UNITED NATIONS - Iran has left no doubt it intends to seek nuclear weapons now that it has violated a U.N. Security Council deadline to suspend uranium enrichment, and the council must now be ready to impose sanctions, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Thursday.

Lieberman, Lamont Head to Washington  —  WASHINGTON — Rivalry or not, the Senate is big enough for Joe Lieberman and Ned Lamont.  —  For now.  —  Congress returns for business Tuesday, and Lieberman, the Democrat now running as an independent, will be back for committee assignments, defense legislation and perhaps party meetings.

We're Not Winning This War  —  Despite Some Notable Achievements, New Thinking Is Needed on the Home Front and Abroad  —  Are we winning the war?  The first question to ask is, what war?  The Bush administration continues to muddle a national understanding of the conflict we are in by calling it the "war on terror."

Pentagon sees risk in troops' loan debt  —  'Payday' lenders prey on military, report says  —  As many as one in five members of the armed services are being preyed on by loan centers set up near military bases that can charge cash-strapped military families interest of 400% or more, a new Pentagon report has found.

Pinocchio and friends converted to Islam  —  Malcolm Moore in Antalya  —  Pinocchio, Tom Sawyer and other characters have been converted to Islam in new versions of 100 classic stories on the Turkish school curriculum.  —  "Give me some bread, for Allah's sake," Pinocchio says to Geppetto …

Rumsfeld's Four Questions  —  THE SECRETARY'S GHASTLY SPEECH TO THE AMERICAN LEGION.  —  The fifth anniversary of 9/11 looms before us, and it's hard to say which artifact is gloomier: the awful memory of the attack itself (especially to those of us who witnessed the towers crumbling) …

No Day at the Beach  —  Bloggers Struggle With What to Do About Vacation  —  A banner stripped across the top of the Daily Dish declares that the popular Web log's host, Andrew Sullivan, has "gone fishing."  Mr. Sullivan declared a two-week vacation and opted to leave his political blog behind.

Bush Team Casts Foes as Defeatist  —  President Bush and his surrogates are launching a new campaign intended to rebuild support for the war in Iraq by accusing the opposition of aiming to appease terrorists and cut off funding for troops on the battlefield, charges that many Democrats say distort their stated positions.

Positive Press on Iraq Is Aim of U.S. Contract  —  U.S. military leaders in Baghdad have put out for bid a two-year, $20 million public relations contract that calls for extensive monitoring of U.S. and Middle Eastern media in an effort to promote more positive coverage of news from Iraq.

Gingrich: Powerful Pelosi 'would be a disaster'  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. - Ex-U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday that the thought of California Rep. Nancy Pelosi becoming the next leader of the House and being third in line to the presidency is frightening.

There Is Silence in the Streets; Where Have All the Protesters Gone?  —  It was almost painful the other night to hear Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young sing about a war whose purpose Americans never really understood, started by a president who didn't tell the truth and then waged the war ineptly.

Back to the Congressional Future  —  Let's think about how the Democrats would govern.  —  With a little more than two months to go before midterm elections, the polls show Democrats well positioned to win the House after 12 years out of power.  So it's not too soon to consider who these Democrats are and how they would govern.

Cousin: Rampage driver became enraged after argument with mother  —  The arguments began over the weekend.  Omeed Popal begged his father for permission to return to Afghanistan to be with his new bride.  —  The tension heightened Tuesday morning when his mother, like his father, refused to let him go.

Ohio to Delay Destruction of Presidential Ballots  —  With paper ballots from the 2004 presidential election in Ohio scheduled to be destroyed next week, the secretary of state in Columbus, under pressure from critics, said yesterday that he would move to delay the destruction at least for several months.