PELOSI-HASTINGS MEETING COULD SIGNAL END OF CHAIRMANSHIP BID  —  WASHINGTON — House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi will meet Tuesday with Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings, and those with knowledge of Pelosi's thinking told FOX News that Hastings will be told he is not going to be the next chairman …

'Civil' Disobedience Spreads — 'NYT' Adjusts Language on Iraq  —  NEW YORK In the wake of the highly-publicized NBC and MSNBC decision to start referring to the conflict in Iraq as a "civil war," other media outlets, which have long used phrases such as "sectarian violence," are re-considering their language in this regard.

Bush Blames Al Qaeda for Wave of Iraq Violence  —  President Bush today said Al Qaeda was to blame for the rising wave of sectarian violence in Iraq, which he refused to label a civil war.  Mr. Bush said he would press Iraq's prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, during meetings in Jordan later …

AP, U.S. military spar over atrocities report  —  The Associated Press is standing by its report that six Sunni men were burned to death in Baghdad Friday by Shiites, even though U.S. military officials have accused the wire service of relying on a source who "is not who he claimed he was," an Iraqi police captain.

Congressman calls Miami a `Third World country'  —  WASHINGTON - Rep. Tom Tancredo, the leader of the anti-illegal immigration faction in the U.S. House, spent a recent weekend at The Breakers in Palm Beach.  —  Ninety miles to the south, he found a symbol to bolster his belief …

Centrism  —  Just adding on to Ezra, I have hostility to the concept of "centrism" for a variety of reasons.  First, except on a few mostly social issues there really isn't all that much which can be neatly fit into a left-center-right-axis.  Mostly centrism is used be elite opinionmakers …

America, Not Keith Ellison, decides what book a congressman takes his oath on  —  Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, has announced that he will not take his oath of office on the Bible, but on the bible of Islam, the Koran.

Iran tells Talabani that US-led forces must leave Iraq  —  Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei told visiting Iraqi President Jalal Talabani that US-led forces had to leave Iraq if security was to be restored in the violence-riven country.  —  "The first step to solve the security issue in Iraq …

Court Clears Way for Prosecutor to Review Records in Times Case  —  The United States Supreme Court refused yesterday to stop a federal prosecutor from reviewing the telephone records of two reporters for The New York Times.  The records, the newspaper said, include information about many of the reporters' confidential sources.

Pilot of crashed U.S. fighter jet missing in Iraq … BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — The U.S. military said Tuesday it has not found the pilot of an Air Force fighter jet a day after it crashed in Iraq.  —  The pilot, who officials have not named, has been classified as "duty status and whereabouts unknown …

French police the target in urban guerrilla war  —  PARIS (Reuters) - Stoned, beaten and insulted, their vehicles torched by crowds of hostile youths, French police say they face an urban guerrilla war when they enter the run-down neighborhoods that ring the major cities.

EXCLUSIVE: Pentagon Considers Moving Troops From al-Anbar Province to Baghdad  —  Major Strategic Shift Considered to Secure Iraqi Capital  —  ABC News has learned that Pentagon officials are considering a major strategic shift in Iraq, to move U.S. forces out of the dangerous Sunni-dominated …

Castro's 80th birthday bash kicks off without him  —  HAVANA (Reuters) - Fidel Castro's 80th birthday celebration kicked off on Tuesday with the ailing Cuban leader nowhere in sight but hundreds of admirers from around the world were on hand to pay homage.  —  The opening of an art exhibit …

Video: Carter blames Israel for failure of roadmap, denies he's anti-Israel; Update: Carter says Shalit kidnapping "probably" a mistake  —  As usual when the sage of Plains turns up on TV, it's an embarrassment of outraged riches.  Here you'll find him bestowing the Carter seal of approval …