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 …

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 …

Thousands of Israel Supporters Rally for Release of Kidnapped Soldiers  —  As world leaders convened for the second day of the United Nations General Assembly, tens of thousands of supporters of Israel gathered across the street from United Nations headquarters to protest President Ahmadinejad …

Ahmadinejad Prays for End of World in UN Speech  —  RUSH: Let me go back to Ahmadinejad, his speech last night.  First thing I saw was a couple of wire reports.  One from the Associated Press: Iran Tells UN Nuclear Program Peaceful.  I read the piece, and compared to what Ahmadinejad actually said, they leave it out!

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.

Ideals and Realities Clash In Bush 'Freedom Agenda'  —  At the United Nations lectern this week, President Bush hailed the spread of democracy.  "From Beirut to Baghdad," he said, "people are making the choice for freedom."  Yet even as he spoke, tanks were rolling through the streets …

U.S. public takes dim view of job Congress is doing  —  NEW YORK With less than seven weeks to go until the midterm elections, Americans have a distinctly negative view of the Republican-controlled Congress, with overwhelming majorities saying they disapprove of the job it is doing …

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."

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."

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.

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.

Assisted suicide bid for the depressed  —  Founder of Swiss clinic that helped 54 Britons to die wants the law widened beyond the terminally ill  —  BRITONS suffering from depression could soon be legally helped to die in Switzerland if a test case in the country's Supreme Court is successful next month.

Keith Olbermann and Jane Hamsher Discuss Politics and Blogs  —  Keith had Jane from Firedoglake on tonight to talk about the meeting last week with Bill Clinton and progressive bloggers, as well as Hillary's possible 2008 run.  —  Video -WMV Video - QT  —  It is good to see Bill Clinton …

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

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 …