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 …

President Hugo Chavez Delivers Remarks at the U.N. General Assembly  —  SPEAKER: HUGO CHAVEZ, PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA  —  CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): ... over our heads.  I had considered reading from this book, but for the sake of time, I shall just leave it as a recommendation.  It reads easily.

GOP Downsizes Immigration Reform To 700 Mile Fence  —  Do you need any more proof than this that (1) immigration reform has become a train-wreck issue for the GOP and (2) Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has been the perhaps the weakest Senate Majority Leader in decades?

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.

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.

Bombshell: ABC independently confirms success of CIA "torture" tactics  —  Ace e-mailed me the instant this finished airing on O'Reilly with the subject header "must record".  He was right, as you'll see.  —  Anti-"torture" absolutists like Sullivan adamantly deny that harsh tactics produce reliable information.

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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …