Pelosi 'will ensure' Murtha win, Murtha ally says  —  House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will ensure that Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) wins his race for majority leader, a key Murtha ally said Monday night.  —  "She will ensure that they [the Murtha camp] win.

Plutonium found in Iran waste facility  —  VIENNA, Austria - International Atomic Energy experts have found unexplained plutonium and highly enriched uranium traces in a nuclear waste facility in Iran and have asked Tehran for an explanation, an IAEA report said Tuesday.

The Media Are the Enemy  —  You're not going to believe this one.  —  All our suspicions about mainstream media slanting and distorting the news from the Middle East are confirmed in a bombshell of a post by Bruno Stevens, at the Lightstalkers pro photographers' forum: The Lebanon 'garbage dump' story: complete explanation.

Dated Kerry, Married Dean  —  Who won the election for Democrats last week?  Apportion a large measure of credit to the national environment and to Republican mistakes.  Give the Democratic grassroots, who cultivated candidates, knocked on doors and raised money for people and causes ignored (at first) by the national party.

The Karl Rove crush … My favorite article from the just-completed campaign season appeared in the October 9 issue of Time, in which Mike Allen and James Carney wrote a detailed piece about why Republicans were not worried about the upcoming elections.  "The G.O.P.'s Secret Weapon," read the bold headline.

Dozens Are Kidnapped at College Office in Baghdad  —  Several dozen employees of a university office were kidnapped here today, in a methodical daylight raid that prompted the minister of higher education to berate Parliament and threaten to shut the nation's universities until security improves.

Former President Bush Blames 'Bloggers' for 'Ugly' Political Climate  —  Last night on Fox News, former President George H.W. Bush said the current political climate has "gotten so adversarial that it's ugly."  Asked to offer an explanation for why there is this "incivility," Bush pinned the blame on bloggers.

Mo. Panel's Report Links Immigration To Abortion  —  A Republican-led legislative panel says in a new report on illegal immigration that abortion is partly to blame because it is causing a shortage of American workers.  —  The report from the state House Special Committee on Immigration Reform …

The Military Commissions Act in action  —  The Bush administration's treatment of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri ought to be shocking and horrifying.  Instead, it is now not only depressingly familiar, but also something that is formally sanctioned by the U.S. Congress.

Lott running for whip post  —  After keeping his plans close to the vest since Election Day, Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) formally declared his bid for minority whip on Monday evening.  —  Lott had refrained from openly discussing his intentions for the whip race even after GOP Conference …

Update: In FL-13, Court Battle Begins As Counting Continues  —  Lawyers for Democratic House candidate Christine Jennings threw down the gauntlet yesterday, asking a state court to secure electronic voting machines and data used in the election.  —  The move would preserve the equipment …

Rubin's Tax Gambit  —  Raising taxes in a housing slump isn't the smartest policy.  —  That was fast.  A mere two days after Democrats capture Congress claiming they wouldn't raise taxes, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin tells them they should do so anyway.