Bush would send troops inside Pakistan to catch bin Laden  —  NEW YORK (CNN) — President Bush said Wednesday he would order U.S. forces to go after Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan if he received good intelligence on the fugitive al Qaeda leader's location.  —  "Absolutely," Bush said.

Allen's Mother Revealed Jewish Heritage to Him Last Month  —  Henrietta "Etty" Allen said Wednesday that she concealed her upbringing as a Jew in North Africa from her children, including Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), until a conversation across the dining room table in late August.

Vitriolic Chavez Offers Discounted Oil To NYC Poor  —  LIVE: Venezuelan President Chavez Speaks In Harlem  —  (CBS) NEW YORK Now that Hugo Chavez has finished his anti-American rants at the U.N., he's beginning a program of rewards for America's poor.  The Venezuelan president …

Libya's travesty  —  Six medical workers in Libya face execution.  It is not too late for scientists to speak up on their behalf.  —  Imagine that five American nurses and a British doctor have been detained and tortured in a Libyan prison since 1999, and that a Libyan prosecutor called …

Poll Finds Most Americans Displeased With Congress  —  With the midterm elections less than seven weeks away, Americans have an overwhelmingly negative view of the Republican-controlled Congress, with substantial majorities saying that they disapprove of the job it is doing and that its members …

Klobuchar aide loses job for viewing leaked Kennedy ad  —  Communications director was asked to resign after watching an unreleased Kennedy ad on the Web.  —  A high-level staffer on Amy Klobuchar's U.S. Senate campaign has lost her job and the DFLer's race against Republican Mark Kennedy …

Texas Candidate Accused of Racist Crack  —  Gubernatorial candidate and professional wiseacre Kinky Friedman was accused Wednesday of making another racially offensive remark _ this time in a year-old interview in which he said sexual predators should be thrown in prison and forced to "listen to a Negro talking to himself."

Matthews: 'I Have Been...Against This Bulls**t War From The Beginning'  —  This morning on Imus, MSNBC's Chris Matthews blasted the media for not covering the Iraq war.  Matthews said that while people are still fighting and dying the Iraq, war "has been taken off television, and Bush must love it."

MIKE GETS HALFWAY RADICAL  —  PROBLEMATIC ANTI-POVERTY PLAN  —  MAYOR Bloomberg has broken the most fiercely guarded taboo in the poverty industry.  Unfortunately, his own solution to long-term poverty is worse than the ones he proposes to supplant.  —  The mayor wants to start paying …

Keep Away the Vote  —  One of the cornerstones of the Republican Party's strategy for winning elections these days is voter suppression, intentionally putting up barriers between eligible voters and the ballot box.  The House of Representatives took a shameful step in this direction yesterday …

Bill O'Reilly Calls Himself 'T-Warrior'  —  The Culture War: No-Spinmeister Divides America Into Two Camps  —  For 10 years, five nights a week, Bill O'Reilly's "No-Spin Zone" — has perfected a formula of confrontation, taking no prisoners along the way.  —  Watch "20/20," Friday Night at 10

Justice Dept. Amends Remark on Torture Case  —  In an embarrassing turnabout, the Department of Justice backed away Wednesday from a denial by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales of responsibility for the treatment of a Canadian who was seized by American authorities in 2002.

False Claims About Body Armor  —  A new group falsely accuses Republicans of voting against body armor for troops.  Both sides have misled the public about this issue.  —  Summary  —  A new ad claims Republican Sen. George Allen of Virginia "voted against giving our troops" modern body armor.

Independence Days  —  American politics reached a critical turn last week.  The revolt of several Republican senators against President Bush's insistence on a free hand in treating terrorist detainees signaled the emergence of an independent force in elections and government.

Ehrlich Wants Paper Ballots For Nov. Vote  —  State Election Chief Says Staff Toiling to Fix Electronic Glitches  —  A week after the primary election was plagued by human error and technical glitches, Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) called yesterday for the state to scrap …

Suits Say U.S. Impeded Audits for Oil Leases  —  Four government auditors who monitor leases for oil and gas on federal property say the Interior Department suppressed their efforts to recover millions of dollars from companies they said were cheating the government.

HUD staff told to favor allies  —  Exclusive: Inquiry finds no proof aides heeded Jackson's urgings  —  WASHINGTON - Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson urged top aides to take contractors' politics into account when handing out grants and deals, an internal department review has found …

CIA 'refused to operate' secret jails  —  The Bush administration had to empty its secret prisons and transfer terror suspects to the military-run detention centre at Guantánamo this month in part because CIA interrogators had refused to carry out further interrogations and run the secret facilities …