Bush 'Taken Aback' by Musharraf Comment  —  President Bush said today he was surprised by reports that a former top State Department official threatened heavy U.S. bombing of Pakistan if it did not cooperate with the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks …

War price on U.S. lives equal to 9/11  —  WASHINGTON - Now the death toll is 9/11 times two.  U.S. military deaths from Iraq and Afghanistan now match those of the most devastating terrorist attack in America's history, the trigger for what came next.  Add casualties from chasing terrorists elsewhere …

Amnesty International 'Deeply Disturbed' by New Detainee Legislation  —  Contact: Sharon Singh of Amnesty International USA, 202-544-0200 ext. 289  —  WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 /U.S. Newswire/ — Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA's executive director, issued the following statement in response …

Clinton In Red-Faced Rage Over Suggestion He Spared Bin Ladin  —  Wow.  —  The man simply lies.  It is a breathtakingly stupid and mendacious claim that rightwingers, as he calls us, actually opposed his weak single effort to get bin Ladin.  Throughout the late nineties …

Nasrallah: No army in the world can disarm Hezbollah  —  By Haaretz Service and News Agencies  —  In his first public appearance since the start of his group's war with Israel, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said Friday that "no army in the world" would be able to disarm his group …

'Democrats Offer a New Direction'  —  We need a Democratic Congress to fight the war on terror — and to end the war on America's families.  Republican policies of the last five years have damaged our economy and failed Americans.  Democrats believe strengthening the middle class is essential …

Top Republican Aids Lieberman Fundraiser  —  WASHINGTON — A prominent Republican who chairs I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's legal defense fund co-hosted a fundraiser Wednesday for Sen. Joe Lieberman, who is running for re-election as an independent after losing the Democratic primary.

Bill O'Reilly's enemies list, available in hardback for $26  —  "My goal," Bill O'Reilly writes in the introduction to his latest book, Culture Warrior, which is published by Random House's Broadway Books imprint and will go on sale September 25, "is to expose and defeat people who have the power to do you great harm.

A Scholar Is Alive, Actually, and Hungry for Debate  —  At a news conference after his spirited address to the United Nations on Wednesday, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela expressed one regret: not having met that icon of the American left, the linguist Noam Chomsky, before his death.

President Clinton blasts Chris Wallace  —  I got us a rough transcript of Bill Clinton smacking down Chris Wallace as he tried to sandbag him over Bin Ladin that I reported on earlier today along with Duncan: Drudge is linking to a Youtube teaser video that looks to me purposefully out of sync …

Navy retires F-14, the coolest of cold warriors  —  VIRGINIA BEACH — Today the Navy holsters the F-14 Tomcat, the top gun in its Cold War arsenal and one of the most recognizable warplanes in history.  —  Maintenance costs for the F-14 have soared, and its replacement, the F/A-18 Super Hornet …

Tolerance: A Two-Way Street  —  WASHINGTON — Religious fanatics, regardless of what name they give their jealous god, invariably have one thing in common: no sense of humor.  Particularly about themselves.  It's hard to imagine Torquemada taking a joke well.  —  Today's Islamists seem to have not even a sense of irony.

Norwegian police foil plot to behead Israeli ambassador  —  Four men suspected in connection with an attack on an Oslo synagogue are also accused of plotting to blow up the U.S. and Israeli embassies and decapitating the Israeli ambassador to Norway, media reports said Friday.

USA Today hypes gas price-approval link  —  A USA Today article yesterday made some exaggerated claims about the effect of gasoline prices on President Bush's approval ratings: … The problem, however, is that Henwood's analysis is not correct, nor is he a statistician as Page's lede implies …

AZ Republic, FactCheck.org lobbed misleading claims in attempt to debunk Vote Vets ad criticizing Allen … In recent days, both The Arizona Republic editorial page and the website FactCheck.org have attacked as "deceitful" and "just plain wrong" a television advertisement …

Probe Finds Jackson Urged Favoritism in HUD Contracts  —  An inspector general's report charges that top U.S. housing official Alphonso Jackson urged staff members to favor friends of President Bush when awarding Department of Housing and Urban Development contracts.

Pakistanis protest, cleric says Pope should be crucified  —  ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Hundreds of Pakistani Islamists held street protests to condemn Pope Benedict XVI for remarks they regard as anti-Islamic, with one leader saying the pontiff should be crucified.  —  Demonstrators Friday poured …

Ahmadinejad and the Council on Foreign Relations  —  Wednesday night Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met in a private session with the Council on Foreign Relations, much to the outrage of Rick Santorum — who sent them a letter — and other conservatives.