Oriana Fallaci, R.I.P., and the Religion of Perpetual Outrage  —  Deeply saddening news at the end of this 9/11 anniversary week.  The outspoken lioness Oriana Fallaci has died of cancer: … She refused to candycoat her criticisms of Islam.  She refused to submit to jihadi thugs.

An Unexpected Collision Over Detainees  —  President Bush and Congressional Republicans spent the last 10 days laying the foundation for a titanic pre-election struggle over national security, and now they have one.  But the fight playing out this week on Capitol Hill is not what they had in mind.

Ohio Congressman Is Said to Agree to Plead Guilty  —  Representative Bob Ney, Republican of Ohio, has agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges related to his dealings with the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff, lawyers and others with knowledge of the investigation said Thursday.

Report: Latest al-Qaeda tape makes France a target  —  Deputy group leader Ayman al-Zawahiri urged militant Algerian Islamist group to punish 'crusader nation,' even though it vehemently opposes US-led war in Iraq, newspaper says  —  Deputy al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has urged …

The Tehran Calculus  —  In his televised Sept. 11 address, President Bush said that we must not "leave our children to face a Middle East overrun by terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons."  There's only one such current candidate: Iran.

Who The Terror Apologists Support  —  Some of you may be familiar with a group called the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR.  This is a group that describes itself as the "Muslim NAACP."  Some of its leaders stood by President Bush and Colin Powell as those men spoke …

Oil Prices  —  Two years ago -as oil prices began to rise- two friends of mine in the industry said to look for a dramatic climb in prices but "over the long term" (a decade? fifteen years?) look for oil to settle in a zone of $40 to $55 a barrel.  When oil reached $70 a barrel I thought about that "zone."

House Votes To Disclose Earmarks  —  The House voted yesterday to shed more light on narrow-interest tax and spending legislation called earmarks, an incremental step toward openness that ended the prospect for a more sweeping overhaul of federal lobbying laws this year.

Va. Senate Race Goes Negative on 1979 Essay  —  Women Didn't Belong At Annapolis, Webb Said  —  Virginia's U.S. Senate race turned nasty Wednesday as Republican Sen. George Allen launched a character attack on his Democratic opponent's past views toward women in combat …

Prompt, free access to argument transcripts  —  The Supreme Court will begin making available, without charge, the transcripts of oral arguments, on the same day that an argument has been held, the Court announced Thursday.  This is one of the most important innovations, in terms of public access …

Attacks on Yemen oil plants kill 5  —  SAN`A, Yemen - Suicide bombers tried to strike two oil facilities in Yemen with explosives-packed cars, but authorities foiled the attacks and four bombers and a security guard were killed, the government said Friday.  —  The attempts came ahead …

US outraged as Pakistan frees Taliban fighters  —  Pakistan's credibility as a leading ally in the war on terrorism was called into question last night when it emerged that President Pervez Musharraf's government had authorised the release from jail of thousands of Taliban fighters caught fighting coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Sen. Reid: The Specter bill will NOT be enacted.  Period.  —  (updated below)  —  Sen. Harry Reid participated in a conference call with a dozen or so bloggers this afternoon.  For the first question, I asked him about the Specter bill — specifically, what the Democrats' strategy …