Tangled Webb  —  Cognitive dissonance in Virginia. … Yowie.  We don't often hear rude talk like that up here in Arlington, Virginia, straight across the river from Washington, D.C. Here the leafy, winding streets are lined with Priuses and Volvos and the bumper stickers say "Visualize World Peace" and "Goddess Power."

Letterman vs. O'Reilly...Round Two...Fight!  —  David Letterman didn't try to hide the fact last night that he just plain doesn't like Bill O'Reilly.  He wasted no time bashing FOX News and doing what few people can do — ridiculing O'Reillys ratings (Letterman's audience is more than 2x as large .)

Furor Over Cheney Remark on Tactics for Terror Suspects  —  The White House found itself fending off questions on Friday about what Vice President Dick Cheney meant when he agreed with a talk-radio host that there was nothing wrong with dunking a terrorism suspect in water if it saved lives.

Muslim cleric linked with terror groups  —  ASIO warned authorities 20 years ago that Sheik Taj al-Din Al-hilaly could inflame communal violence in Australia.  —  Court judgments show ASIO initially believed the controversial mufti posed a risk to the community because of his alleged propensity to cause or promote violence.

Biden, calling Iraq 'rathole' backs Courtney and Lamont, but says he won't campaign against Lieberman  —  U.S. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Delaware Democrat and a leading critic of President Bush and the war in Iraq, on Friday backed Vernon Democrat Joseph D. Courtney in his rematch with U.S. Rep. Robert R. Simmons, R-2nd District.

Too Little, Too Late?  —  President Bush made a big show this week of reevaluating his Iraq policy.  It made a difference-but only with his base and only at the margins.  The new NEWSWEEK poll finds likely voters still favoring the Democrats.  —  Marl Wilson / Getty Images  —  Change in the Air?

Power  —  I can't recommend Jon Chait's new article on the failure of pro-growth economics highly enough.  It's not merely the best, but possibly the only, primer on why the current economic moment seems so unsettled, the once-discredited labor-liberals so ascendant, and the Clinton crowd so quiet.

Clarifying myself on Rush and MJ Fox - UPDATED  —  Filed under: It's all about me!  Me!  ME!, The Fourth Estate, Medical, TV/Pop Culture/Music, Election 2006  —  Yesterday I wrote this post and crossposted it at Captains Quarters Blog where Ed Morrissey (showing precisely the sort …

In Clean Politics, Flesh Is Pressed, Then Sanitized  —  Campaigns are filthy.  Not only in terms of last-minute smears and dirty tricks.  But also as in germs, parasites and all the bacterial unpleasantness that is spread around through so much glad-handing and flesh-pressing.

Ongoing 'intifada' in France has injured 2,500 police in 2006  —  This might have dropped below the radar, but Al Qaida and its allies are literally battling the Crusaders every day in Europe.  And so far, Europe isn't doing so well.  —  "We are in a state of civil war, orchestrated by radical Islamists …

Greg Mankiw: For Higher Gas Taxes  —  Greg Mankiw goes on the offensive against the the letters the Wall Street Journal editorial page chooses to publish: … I think most most muembers of Group 4 believe that Greg Mankiw's Pigovian taxes on gasoline and other carbon emissions would be a good thing …

Al-Qaeda warns Canada  —  Quit Afghan mission or endure attack like 9/11, threat says  —  OTTAWA - An al-Qaeda strategist has warned Canada to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan or face terrorist attacks similar to 9/11, Madrid and the London transit bombings.

Exclusive: Former Employee Says Gibbons Knew of Her Illegal Status  —  Congressman and gubernatorial candidate Jim Gibbons is facing more tough questions on a whole new issue.  These questions revolve around an illegal immigrant whom Gibbons and his wife Dawn employed as their housekeeper and babysitter.

Robert Fisk: Mystery of Israel's secret uranium bomb  —  Alarm over radioactive legacy left by attack on Lebanon  —  Did Israel use a secret new uranium-based weapon in southern Lebanon this summer in the 34-day assault that cost more than 1,300 Lebanese lives, most of them civilians?

Ethics Report on Foley Not Expected Before Elections  —  The House ethics committee has all but wrapped up the investigative phase of its probe into the actions of former representative Mark Foley, informing key witnesses that they will not be summoned back for more questioning, lawyers in the case said yesterday.