At Least 145 Killed in Deadliest Attack Since Start of Iraq War  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — In the deadliest attack on a sectarian enclave since the beginning of the Iraq war, suspected Sunni-Arab militants used three suicide car bombs and two mortar rounds on the capital's Shiite Sadr City slum …

Anger Boils at Slain Official's Funeral in Lebanon  —  Hundreds of thousands of people poured into Lebanon's Martyrs Square today, transforming the funeral service of the slain government minister, Pierre Gemayel, into a political rally exposing the hatreds and schisms that have paralyzed …

A Thanksgiving Prayer for Dick Cheney's Heart — and a Few Other Favorite Things  —  I give thanks O Lord for Dick Cheney's Heart, that brave organ which has done its darn-tootin' best on four separate occasions to do what we can only dream about.  —  O Lord, give Dick Cheney's Heart …

A Bad Omen in Rumsfeld's Firing  —  Donald Rumsfeld, one week after his sacking as secretary of defense, was treated as a conquering hero, accorded one standing ovation after another at the conservative American Spectator magazine's annual dinner in Washington.

Ex-Russian spy dies in hospital  —  Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has died in hospital three weeks after apparently being poisoned in London.  —  University College Hospital, London, said Mr Litvinenko had died at 2121 GMT on Thursday and the cause of his condition was still being investigated.

Oh, Come ON, People  —  There is a principled, intellectually honest case to be made for increasing the security of America's borders.  Part of it is pretty obvious to those of us aware of the simple need to keep terrorists, criminals, and drugs out.  And, um, the freakin' Mexican Army.

Thanksgiving: the White House "Pardoning" Scandal  —  Here's an extra serving of hypocrisy for your Thanksgiving dinner.  —  I think we're all familiar with the big, flashy show that the White House puts on every year when the president pardons his Thanksgiving turkey.

Panel Calls for Big Changes in Medicaid  —  A federal advisory panel says that long-term care for aging baby boomers threatens to bankrupt Medicaid, and it recommends sweeping changes to rein in costs, including greater use of managed care for the sickest Medicaid recipients.

Balko Distorts the Facts In a Lengthy Screed About How He Doesn't Distort the Facts  —  Radley Balko has a lengthy screed about me today, which misstates my position in several respects regarding the Atlanta shooting involving the 92-year-old lady.  —  The nonsense starts right from the beginning:

HOW VIOLENT IS IRAQ?  —  I've written previously on the level of violence in Iraq, comparing it to murder rates in other times and places and to death rates that have been experienced in actual civil wars.  See here and here, for example.  My impression has been that violence in Iraq …

Hastert Scouts for House Role After 8 Years as Speaker  —  Speaker J. Dennis Hastert made history this year when he became the longest-serving Republican in that post.  Now he is about to go into the books again as one of the few House speakers, and the first in almost 50 years, to rejoin the rank and file.

Saudis need a mirror to see injustice  —  Luckily, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers isn't Jewish.  —  Or a woman.  Or gay.  —  The clown princes and oligarchs of Saudi Arabia don't take kindly to those kinds of people in their midst.  Then again, Christians, Hindis, Buddhists, atheists, etc. ...

EPA to Regulate Nanoproducts Sold As Germ-Killing  —  The Environmental Protection Agency has decided to regulate a large class of consumer items made with microscopic "nanoparticles" of silver, part of a new but increasingly widespread technology that may pose unanticipated environmental risks, a government official said yesterday.