Sending a Message  —  Congress to courts: Get out of the war on terror.  —  During the bitter controversy over the military commission bill, which President Bush signed into law on Tuesday, most of the press and the professional punditry missed the big story.

Priest tells of Foley relationship  —  Then-altar boy may have found some things inappropriate  —  A Catholic priest told the Herald-Tribune on Wednesday about an intimate two-year relationship he had with former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley when the congressman was a teenage altar boy living in Lake Worth.

Iraq Was a Worthy Mistake  —  We know now that invading Iraq was the wrong decision, but that doesn't vindicate the antiwar crowd.  —  THERE'S A STRICT taboo in the column-writing business against recycling ideas.  So let me start with something fresh.  —  The Iraq war was a mistake.

New Laws and Machines May Spell Voting Woes  —  New electronic voting machines have arrived in Yolo County, Calif., but there is one hitch: the audio program for the visually impaired in some of them works only in Vietnamese.  —  "Talk about panic," said Freddy Oakley, the county's top election official.

Down the River  —  Riverbend posted today for the first time since early August.  As she explains: "Every time I felt the urge to write about Iraq, about the situation, I'd be filled with a certain hopelessness that can't be put into words and that I suspect other Iraqis feel also."

Rummy's Other Role  —  Don Rumsfeld is the shrewdest person in Washington.  He understands better than anyone that somebody has to be in line to take the blame when things go wrong.  So far he has been willing to do so.  But not much longer.  —  The drumbeat to get him out of the Pentagon has reached deafening proportions.

Audio: Clinton endorses "torture" in special cases; Update: World opinion opposes "torture"  —  Tonight?  Yesterday?  —  Last month, on NPR.  —  You didn't hear about it?  Neither did I. Nor did Captain Ed, who's worth reading in full: … Doesn't matter.

The Thin Green Line  —  WHAT THE LATEST VIOLENCE REVEALS ABOUT THE FAILED U.S. STRATEGY IN IRAQ.  —  Sectarian violence exploded in Iraq this weekend, with Shiite and Sunni militants openly battling for control of Balad and Duluiyah, two cities north of Baghdad.

How Qaeda Warned Its Operatives on Using Cell Phones  —  WASHINGTON — When an aspiring Al Qaeda terrorist is buying a cell phone, it's best that he purchase the chip inside the device under a phony name or from a black market vendor that does not sell the accompanying documentation.

Video shows snipers' chilling work in Iraq  —  (CNN) — Chilling scenes from a videotape made by insurgents show the work of snipers in Iraq, targeting and killing American troops, taking them down with a single bullet from a high-powered rifle.  —  The graphic video of 10 sniper attacks …

Bob Ney, Guilty but Still at Capitol  —  Representative Bob Ney of Ohio, center, wore his Congressional pin on his way to court last Friday.  When he left the court, the pin was gone.  —  Representative Bob Ney is headed to prison early next year after pleading guilty to charges of accepting tens …

"My Name is Rachel Corrie": handing out flyers outside the theater  —  Below is the report about handing out flyers on opening night of "My Name is Rachel Corrie" in NYC.  (More about the controversy surrounding the play.)  The action seems to have been very successful.

Good Girls Go Bad, for a Day  —  IN her thigh-highs and ruby miniskirt, Little Red Riding Hood does not appear to be en route to her grandmother's house.  And Goldilocks, in a snug bodice and platform heels, gives the impression she has been sleeping in everyone's bed.

US ARMY WATCHING BLOGS  —  Note: One reason that I wanted "The Blog of War" published was to preserve several excellent military blogger entries from blogs that were either shut down by the military or the author decided to shut down in order to avoid trouble with the military (The Questing Cat …

Balloon Juice Explodes … Really? … That was an older brother of mine, John.  He's dead and, yes, he was Gay.  You want to know how he died?  He died alone, probably of aids for all I know and probably in a San Francisco flop house living on the government's dime.

A Military Path to Citizenship  —  America is a land of immigrants.  Their spirit of resolve, adventure, hard work and devotion to an idea bigger than themselves has made this country great.  Whatever one thinks of the immigration debate today, particularly the problem of illegal immigrants …