Rice, in Baghdad, Insists That Iraqis Are 'Making Progress'  —  Wearing a helmet and a flak jacket and flanked by machine-gun-toting bodyguards to defend against insurgents, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came here Thursday, insisting that there were new signs of progress in Iraq …

House Ethics Panel to Subpoena Documents  —  WASHINGTON — The House ethics committee on Thursday launched an investigation of a congressional page sex scandal that has imperiled Republican election prospects, approving dozens of subpoenas for documents and testimony.

Oops, I Thought Matt Drudge Was the "Walter Cronkite of His Era"  —  Famous for doing the GOP's bidding by launching smear offensives against Democrats (see the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth), Matt Drudge this week became completely unglued over the widening Mark Foley scandal …

Kean calls for Hastert's resignation  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — New Jersey Republican Senate candidate Tom Kean Jr. on Friday called for House Speaker Dennis Hastert to resign over the congressional page cybersex scandal, making him the first major candidate in his party to do so.

Pelosi says she would drain GOP 'swamp'  —  WASHINGTON - Franklin Roosevelt had his first hundred days.  —  House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is thinking 100 hours, time enough, she says, to begin to "drain the swamp" after more than a decade of Republican rule.

Bush cites authority to bypass FEMA law  —  Signing statement is employed again  —  WASHINGTON — President Bush this week asserted that he has the executive authority to disobey a new law in which Congress has set minimum qualifications for future heads of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

In Border Fence's Path, Congressional Roadblocks  —  No sooner did Congress authorize construction of a 700-mile fence on the U.S.-Mexico border last week than lawmakers rushed to approve separate legislation that ensures it will never be built, at least not as advertised, according to Republican lawmakers and immigration experts.

From a List to a GOP Civil War?  —  Copies of The List (see below) have been sent by gay politicos to a variety of social conservative groups that look to the Republican Party to make their religious right dreams come true.  The recipients include the Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family …

Monologues dialogues.  —  David Brooks's column yesterday began this way (TimesSelect link): … Today, we get the letters to the editor.  Gotta defend the iconic monologues, you know.  The first letter says Brooks "misses a key point, and that is power":

White House aide to Rove resigns  —  WASHINGTON - A key aide to presidential political strategist Karl Rove resigned Friday after a congressional report listed hundreds of contacts between disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the White House.  —  Susan Ralston, special assistant to President Bush …

The Losing Momentum Fallacy  —  I've been writing about how the US and Al Queda are fighting on a meta-battlefield of serialization and parallelization since at least 2003.  The US is fundamentally trying to slow things down, occasionally biting where it chooses, chewing …

Race for Senate control tightens  —  WASHINGTON — Democrats are within striking distance of winning control of the Senate in the Nov. 7 elections, USA TODAY/Gallup Polls in six key states show as the campaigns head into their final month.  —  The number of Republican-held seats …

Kim's message: War is coming to US soil  —  Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say.  Please click here if you are interested in contributing.  —  The Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea announced on October 3 …

Charge: Charity Funds Diverted To Air America  —  Authorities Say Money Meant For Boys And Girls Club Went To Liberal Radio Network 'Air America'  —  (CBS/AP/DOI) NEW YORK Two former executives at a government-funded youth organization whose finances were scrutinized after it diverted money …

A Calamity For Gay Republicans  —  Less than 24 hours after Rep. Mark Foley resigned in disgrace, some 50 gay Republicans gathered at a friend's house in Virginia.  They were in a brittle mood.  Foley — one of their own, in terms of sexual orientation and party ID — had, by his misconduct …