Top GOP Staffer Forced Out for Role in Page Scandal  —  Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz Report:  —  ABC News' Senior National Correspondent Jake Tapper reports that Kirk Fordham has resigned.  —  The chief of staff for Republican Congressman Tom Reynolds, Kirk Fordham …

Powell: Staying course in Iraq isn't enough  —  The United States and allies can not resolve the current sectarian violence in Iraq, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said today during a lecture in Minneapolis.  —  "Only the Iraqi people can resolve this," Powell said.

Republican integrity  —  Yesterday, the lead editorial of The Washington Times called for House Speaker Denny Hastert to resign his speakership immediately.  I am the editor of the editorial page.  Several loyal Republicans and conservatives around the country strongly disagreed with that judgment …

Banned on YouTube  —  Back in February, you may remember, I cobbled together a little mini-movie called "First, They Came" inspired by the Mohammed Cartoon riots.  It's a simple slideshow highlighting the victims of Islamic violence over the years.  We posted it at YouTube a while ago.  No problems.

Gunman Said He Molested Girls Long Ago  —  QUARRYVILLE, Pa. (AP) - Charles Carl Roberts IV started buying supplies for a siege six days before storming the one-room Amish school.  He made a checklist of what to bring.  He wrote out four suicide notes.  —  Carrying several guns …

Reuters/Zogby Poll: Dems Hold Leads in Races for Key House GOP Seats as Republicans grapple with sex scandal  —  Democrats hold leads in races for 11 out of 15 key Republican-held House seats, the first in a series of Reuters/Zogby tracking polls shows.  This sets the stage for a full-tilt battle …

R.W. Apple, a Times Journalist in Full, Dies at 71  —  R. W. Apple Jr., who in more than 40 years as a correspondent and editor at The New York Times wrote about war and revolution, politics and government, food and drink, and the revenge of living well from more than 100 countries, died early this morning in Washington.

Al-Qaida's Narrative of Doubt  —  Several declassified al-Qaida documents — one discovered after the June 2006 air strike that killed al-Qaida's Iraqi emir, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — strongly suggest al-Qaida's leaders fear they are losing the War on Terror.  —  On Sept. 18, Iraqi National …

Border Security, Job Market Leave Farms Short of Workers  —  Growers Frustrated by Delay in Agriculture Legislation  —  CLOVIS, Calif. — Bins of Granny Smith apples towered over two conveyor belts at P-R Farms' packing plant.  But only one belt moved.  P-R Farms, like farms up and down California …

U.S. Ruling Could Eliminate Union Eligibility for Millions  —  A federal labor agency Tuesday broadened its definition of who is a supervisor, in a ruling that could keep millions of skilled employees from joining unions and accelerate a decades-long decline in union membership.

W. Va. Lawmaker Embarasssed by Photos  —  CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A state senator said he is evaluating whether to continue his bid for a second term after a Charleston television station aired revealing pictures of him last week.  —  "My family has urged me not to withdraw from the election …

Green Party hopeful is out; win for Casey  —  By James O'Toole, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette  —  The prospect of a three-way U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania appeared all but over yesterday as the state Supreme Court rebuffed Green Party Senate candidate Carl Romanelli's bid to get on the November ballot.

'Neither Force Nor Will, But Merely Judgment'  —  Recently some leaders of the bench and bar — including, on this page last week, retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor — have decried what they describe as unprecedented threats to the independence of the judiciary.  I respectfully disagree.