The media fog of war  —  ***4:30pm Eastern update: when it rains, it pours...here's a third must-read from milblogger John Noonan raising questions about AP stringer Bassem Mroue...more from Lorie Byrd on media malpractice...***  —  ***8:58pm Eastern update: more questions for the AP …

The media's sudden intense interest in the House Intelligence Committee  —  The New Republic's Michael Crowley last night noticed something about Jane Harman that has evaded most Beltway commentators, including those who have suddenly developed such a bizarre and uncharacteristic interest …

U.S. Embassy Asks Bush Twins to Leave Country  —  Joe Goldman and Rhonda Schwartz Report:  —  Amid a growing barrage of front-page headlines, U.S. embassy officials "strongly suggested" President Bush's twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara Bush, cut short their trip to Buenos Aires because of security issues …

Bolton: Future of Mideast 'may well be decided' in days  —  WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is facing a foreign policy crisis in Lebanon where the Iran-backed Hizbullah and Syria threaten to topple the weakened democratic government in Beirut.  —  "The future of the Middle East …

Anbar Picture Grows Clearer, and Bleaker  —  The U.S. military is no longer able to defeat a bloody insurgency in western Iraq or counter al-Qaeda's rising popularity there, according to newly disclosed details from a classified Marine Corps intelligence report that set off debate in recent months …

Lure of Great Wealth Affects Career Choices  —  A decade into the practice of medicine, still striving to become "a well regarded physician-scientist," Robert H. Glassman concluded that he was not making enough money.  So he answered an ad in the New England Journal of Medicine from a business consulting firm hiring doctors.

Informant in shooting says he never bought drugs at house  —  Says he was asked to lie  —  The confidential informant on whose word Atlanta police raided the house of an 88-year-old woman is now saying he never purchased drugs from her house and was told by police to lie and say he did.

Straw Strongmen  —  When I read Jonathan Chait's piece in the LA Times from yesterday, I assumed he was making a Swiftian modest proposal.  I read his piece to be a satirical left hook to the notion that the Baker Commission was going to find some magical solution to the Iraq quagmire …

Rough days...  The past four days during which we were under siege were long and rough for Baghdadis.  Anxiety and fear haunted us at our homes and a flow of horrible news made the prison feel even tighter...it was a material and psychological siege that will not be easy to forget.

Dana Priest: Washington Post Avoids 'Civil War' Language Because Iraqi Gov't Does Not Use It  —  Today on MSNBC's Hardball, Washington Post national security reporter Dana Priest explained that her newspaper does not use the phrase "civil war" to describe the current violence in Iraq in part …

A Fix for Social Security?  —  How Personal Accounts Could Please Both Sides  —  The next six months could be a productive time for economic policy.  After a wasted 2005-06 cycle, in which the Bush administration approached entitlement reform too confidently and Democrats refused to talk, both sides may return to the table.

Meet the Freshmen … State CD Member Party PVI Switch Status  —  NE  —  3  —  Smith  —  (R)  —  R+23.6  —  Open  —  ID  —  1  —  Sali  —  (R)  —  R+18.9  —  Open  —  CA  —  22  —  McCarthy  —  (R)  —  R+16.0  —  Open  —  CO  —  5  —  Lamborn  —  (R)

Drugs are Bad...  Apparently, even nominal quantities of over-the-counter cold medications can cause you to see the most interesting things.  —  I know this, because this Reuters picture has all the earmarks of a crudely-edited PhotoShop, from the rather odd smudges and apparent artifacts around …

MAD AS HELL  —  Regular viewers of "Lou Dobbs Tonight," on CNN, might be surprised at the venue that Dobbs chose for lunch not long ago: the Grill Room of the Four Seasons, a midtown bastion of the very same political and business "élites" that he denounces daily on his television program.

Motorcycle officer dies of injuries  —  Steve Favela was badly hurt in a crash while escorting Bush's motorcade  —  Alexandre Da Silva and Rosemarie Bernardo adasilva@starbulletin.com  —  Honolulu motorcycle police officer Steve Favela died yesterday, five days after he was critically injured …