Book Says Bush Ignored Urgent Warning on Iraq  —  The White House ignored an urgent warning in September 2003 from a top Iraq adviser who said that thousands of additional American troops were desperately needed to quell the insurgency there, according to a new book by Bob Woodward, the Washington Post reporter and author.

Democrats See Strength in Bucking Bush  —  The Democratic vote in the Senate on Thursday against legislation governing the treatment of terrorism suspects showed that party leaders believe that President Bush's power to wield national security as a political issue is seriously diminished.

Ugly Words  —  Past and present in the Virginia Senate race  —  DID REPUBLICAN Sen. George Allen use racial slurs years ago?  Did his Democratic challenger, James Webb?  Does it matter, in a race between two candidates with long public records and substantial differences on Iraq, health care, the economy and other critical issues?

Abramoff Put White House Contacts at 400  —  Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his colleagues billed their clients for more than 400 contacts with White House officials between 2001 and 2004, according to a report released yesterday by the House Government Reform Committee.

Oberstar Fails The Pork Test  —  The House has considered a new Coast Guard appropriation (HR 5681), but they did so under a suspension of the rules.  This parliamentary manuever allows Representatives to undermine the new rule just created that forces them to identify their earmarks in the Congressional Record.

UNIFIL confronts Israeli troops  —  U.N. peacekeeping forces in south Lebanon intervened for the first time Thursday with Israeli forces who arrested journalists in violation of Resolution 1701.  —  Israel has not completed its total withdrawal behind the Blue Line dividing the two countries …

Wonkette smears Michelle again  —  I make this mistake when I do "head transfer" photoshops, too.  You'd be surprised how hard it is to judge the size and how even minor adjustments to it can make the new image look absurd.  Whoever was responsible for the fake Michelle bikini shot shrunk …

Students Start Petition To Remove UNH Professor For 9/11 Views  —  Professor Says Government May Have Had Knowledge Of Attacks  —  DURHAM, N.H. — A small group of students has started a petition to remove a University of New Hampshire professor who believes that Bush administration officials planned …

Wildlife Waste Is Major Water Polluter, Studies Say  —  Does a bear leave its waste in the woods?  —  Of course.  So do geese, deer, muskrats, raccoons and other wild animals.  And now, such states as Virginia and Maryland have determined that this plays a significant role in water pollution.

Beltway Democrats are seriously flawed, but the election is still critically important  —  (updated below)  —  Now that the torture and detention bill will become law, it is necessary to focus on the political implications of what happened yesterday and, more broadly, what has been done …

Take UK troops out of Iraq, senior military told ministers  —  Army chiefs wanted to move forces to Afghanistan but were prevented for political reasons  —  Senior military officers have been pressing the government to withdraw British troops from Iraq and concentrate on what they now regard …

Media Anarchy Has Its Downside  —  We got freedom but lost standards.  —  We are talking past each other, the left and right in America.  I suppose we always did, but I'm noticing it more.  We have different intellectual styles (rather too emotive, arguably too linear), start with different assumptions, and recognize different data.

Iraqi Journalists Add Laws to List of Dangers  —  BAGHDAD — Ahmed al-Karbouli, a reporter for Baghdadiya TV in the violent city of Ramadi, did his best to ignore the death threats, right up until six armed men drilled him with bullets after midday prayers.  —  He was the fourth journalist killed …

Pirro & Pirro, a Partnership of Love, Power and Distrust  —  To hear Jeanine F. Pirro's supporters tell it, she is a wronged woman leg-shackled to a loser, an ambitious and effective wife brought low by her badly behaved husband, Albert.  —  Now her fears about his philandering have set off …

TNR'S CLINTON PROBLEM.  What is it that so infuriates the folks at The New Republic about the Clinton Global Initiative?  I mean, here you have an ex-president who could be spending his years playing rainmaker and hitting the links channeling his considerable energies and contacts …