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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Bill Clinton warns against wide torture approval  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton joined a chorus of critics of Bush administration proposals for treating suspected terrorists, saying it would be unnecessary and wrong to give broad approval to torture.

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!

Hamid Mir On Glenn Beck Show  —  Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir was on both the Glenn Beck radio and t.v. shows today.  —  Sandcrawler crewmembers are (hopefully) working on getting some audio.  If we can't do it, you can subscribe to Beck's Insider thingie for a month for a measly 7 bucks to hear it.

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.

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."

The NY Times, Keeping Hope Alive  —  The NY Times headlines great news for the Democrats! … Dead Tree readers of a liberal persuasion get even more encouragement in this version, (sub heds not on-line): … The Democrats are going to party like its 1994!  Adam Nagourney and Janet Elder return to this in the second paragraph:

The Pope Was Right  —  In his controversial speech last week, Benedict set forth a bold agenda for the civilized world.  —  IN A BRILLIANT lecture at the University of Regensburg last week, Pope Benedict XVI made three crucial points that are now in danger of being lost in the polemics …

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 …

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.

Bush and GOP Making Gains Among Voters  —  The turnaround is a sign that the election battle in November could be fierce.  But history shows Democrats remain poised to claim seats.  —  WASHINGTON — President Bush's approval rating has reached its highest level since January …

House judiciary panel pulls off victory on military tribunal bill  —  On the verge of a major political defeat, House Judiciary Committee Republicans scrambled to find missing panel members in order to successfully send a White House-backed military-tribunals bill to the floor.

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 …

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."

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.

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 …

John Murtha: Meet the New Boss. . .  Washington has witnessed a storm of "pay-to-play" corruption scandals in Congress over the last year, both admitted and alleged.  And on the campaign trail congressional Democrats are charging the GOP with creating a "culture of corruption" on their watch.

House bill to require voter ID  —  The House yesterday passed legislation that would require voters to show a valid photo identification in federal elections over the overwhelming objections of Democrats who compared the bill to segregation-era measures aimed at disenfranchising Southern blacks.