Video: Chavez flips out at the UN; Update: Did Chavez say "insh'allah" at his presser?  —  Not to be outdone by his pal Ahmadinejad last night, el presidente's having a full-blown meltdown at the podium before the General Assembly as I write this, shrieking about Bush being "the devil" and hollering "Yankee imperialists go home."

Muslim violence  —  AS SHE LAY dying in a Mogadishu hospital, Sister Leonella forgave her killers.  She had lived in Africa for almost four decades and could speak fluent Somali, but her last words were murmured in Italian, her mother tongue.  ``Perdono, perdono," she whispered.  I forgive, I forgive.

Frist Blames Democratic Minority for Do-Nothing Congress, Gets Spanked  —  How did Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) commemorate Constitution and Citizenship Day, when he returned to the Senate floor on Monday?  In an odd twist of logic, he blamed the minority party for how little work has been done in the 109th Congress.

Roger Waters: The Pink in Floyd  —  For the second time in my life, I'm writing a column about Pink Floyd.  More specifically, the man I have always considered to be the brains of the band: Roger Waters.  The first time I wrote about him was 26-years ago when I was a high school senior at C.B. West …

Allen tells of his Jewish heritage  —  He acknowledges he knew of his lineage when faulting a reporter for her question  —  U.S. Sen. George Allen, R-Va., yesterday acknowledged his Jewish ancestry, a day after angrily ducking a question about possible Jewish forebears in a debate with his Democratic challenger.

Attractive Models  —  Via Jeremy Freese, a paper by Alan Gerber and Neil Malhotra called "Can political science literatures be believed?  A study of publication bias in the APSR and the AJPS."  Here's the main finding.  —  When you run a bog-standard regression, you typically …

The U.S. vs. Iran  —  One side is playing for real, the other only for time.  —  The Iranian government continues to enrich uranium despite Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's generous package of incentives—and in defiance of the U.N.'s Aug. 31 deadline.  Still, European officials hold out hope for the success of diplomacy.

McAuliffe to join Clinton  —  Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe has told business associates and Democratic donors that he will chair Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-N.Y.) presidential campaign next year, according to several Democratic sources.

Six Questions for Dr. Emile A. Nakhleh on the CIA and the Iraq War  —  Recently retired head of key CIA unit calls for Iraq "exit strategy"; says there was "no evidence" of Saddam-bin Laden links … 1. In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, administration officials claimed that Saddam Hussein's regime …

Washington Blade Parts Ways With Jeff Gannon  —  Following Executive Editor Chris Crain's departure from The Washington Blade, the paper chose Kevin Naff as his replacement this week.  One of Naff's first decisions was to sever ties with columnist Jeff Gannon.  —  We spoke with Naff:

Hezbollah cracked the code  —  Technology likely supplied by Iran allowed guerrillas to stop Israeli tank assaults  —  AITA SHAAB, Lebanon — Hezbollah guerrillas were able to hack into Israeli radio communications during last month's battles in south Lebanon, an intelligence breakthrough …

Vietnam double-agent Pham Xuan An dies  —  HANOI, Vietnam - Pham Xuan An, who led a remarkable and perilous double life as a communist spy and a respected reporter for Western news organizations during the Vietnam War, died Wednesday at age 79.  —  An, who suffered from emphysema …

Mark Warner: About Those Tax Cuts...  Ex-VA Gov. Mark Warner (D) wants you to know: he thinks the Bush tax cuts for the richest Americans, enacted during an expensive war and with rising federal budget deficits, were "morally wrong and economically wrong" and that he would indeed support their repeal.

Georgia Law Requiring Voters to Show Photo ID Is Thrown Out  —  Judge Says Some Would Be Disenfranchised; State Plans Appeal  —  A state judge yesterday rejected a Georgia law requiring voters to show government-issued photo identification, writing in his decision, "This cannot be."

Life Is Better; It Isn't Better.  Which Is It?  —  When the first snow falls on the North Shore of Chicago this winter, Robert Gordon will take his Toro snow blower out of the garage and think about how lucky he is not to be using a shovel.  Mr. Gordon is 66 years old and evidently quite healthy …