Pope 'deeply sorry' for reaction to comments … CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNN) — Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday said he was "deeply sorry" for the reaction to comments he made last week when he quoted from a 14th-century emperor regarding Muslims.  —  "These in fact were quotations from a medieval text …

Bush Untethered  —  Watching the president on Friday in the Rose Garden as he threatened to quit interrogating terrorists if Congress did not approve his detainee bill, we were struck by how often he acts as though there were not two sides to a debate.  We have lost count of the number …

The Path to Hysteria  —  My sin was to write a screenplay accurately depicting Bill Clinton's record on terrorism.  —  I am neither an activist, politician or partisan, nor an ideologue of any stripe.  What I am is a writer who takes his job very seriously, as do most of my colleagues …

Transcript for Sept. 17  —  MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: Only 51 days until the midterm elections.  The Democrats must gain six seats to take control of the U.S. Senate.  This morning, our Senate Debate series continues with another one of the most closely watched races of the year …

Narrow win for Swedish opposition  —  Sweden's centre-right opposition bloc has defeated the ruling Social Democrat party in the country's closest-fought general election for decades.  —  Moderate party leader Fredrik Reinfeldt declared victory as near-complete results gave him a 1% lead.

A very rushed post  —  Just outside Westminster Cathedral today...  I thought I'd refrain from posting anything substantial about this uproar about the Pope's speech, since I'm sure other bloggers can put things more eloquently than me.  ( here and here and here : "If the Pope does not appear …

Time for a Time-Out?  —  Will the GOP learn its lesson on pork?  —  If Republicans lose big in November, one reason will be their tardy response to public outrage over profligate spending.  The guilty pleas of former GOP Rep. Duke Cunningham and lobbyist Jack Abramoff prompted demands …

Major Problems At Polls Feared  —  Some Officials Say Voting Law Changes And New Technology Will Cause Trouble  —  An overhaul in how states and localities record votes and administer elections since the Florida recount battle six years ago has created conditions that could trigger a repeat …

Iraqi Tribes to Join Forces to Fight Insurgents  —  More than two-dozen tribes from Iraq's volatile Sunni Arab-dominated province west of Baghdad have agreed to join forces and fight Al Qaeda insurgents and other foreign-backed "terrorists," an influential tribal leader said today.

Spending database bill marks new era  —  The Washington DC Examiner Newspaper, The Examiner  —  WASHINGTON - President Bush will soon sign the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act co-sponsored by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK, and Sen. Barack Obama, D-IL to establish a google-like Internet database of most federal spending.

In Politics, Aim for the Heart, Not the Head  —  In 1935, researchers from Columbia University fanned out around the city of Allentown, Pa., and handed out leaflets ahead of local and state elections.  What residents did not know was that they were part of an experiment in political persuasion …

BUSH BASHING PIG HITS MADISON SQUARE GARDEN  —  ROGER WATERS [PINK FLOYD] CONCERT TOUR HITS NORTH AMERICA AND NYC WITH FLYING PIGS, URGING DEM VOTES IN ELECTION, 'IMPEACH BUSH' WRITTEN ON REAR OF PIG FLOATING OVER AUDIENCE... One concertgoer writes: 'Seeing Bush's name written across the pig's arse made me howl'... The pig had graffiti.

Bid to Stockpile Bioterror Drugs Stymied by Setbacks  —  The last of the anthrax-laced letters was still making its way through the mail in late 2001 when top Bush administration officials reached an obvious conclusion: the nation desperately needed to expand its medical stockpile to prepare for another biological attack.

Coverage of 9/11 anniversary was too wimpy  —  A lot of the 9/11 anniversary coverage struck me as distastefully tasteful.  On the morning of Sept. 12, I was pumping gas just off I-91 in Vermont and picked up the Valley News.  Its lead headline covered the annual roll call of the dead …

NEWSWEEK "Isikoffed" the Gonzales Memo  —  Since Christopher Hitchens is correcting old Dowdified quotes, I thought I'd correct one myself.  This one, from a 2004 NEWSWEEK article, is a major Dowdification — in my view, every bit as egregious as Dowd's original.  What's more, it's still influencing lefties even today.

"Bella" wins top Toronto Film Festival award  —  TORONTO (Reuters) - "Bella," a romantic drama by Mexican director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde, won the top award at the Toronto Film Festival on Saturday, while the contentious "Death of a President" took home a critics' prize.

Goodnight, Ladies  —  SOMETIMES you see a man with a short haircut, athletic build and a military bearing, and you think to yourself, "I bet that man is a Marine."  —  With Major Pain, there is no question.  You know he is a Marine.  —  Which makes him an ideal wingman for me when it's …