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 …

Hastings not likely to lead House Intelligence Committee  —  WASHINGTON — Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., will not be the next chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, a Democratic aide confirmed Tuesday as Hastings left a private meeting with Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

'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.

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 …

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 …

Back to the Future  —  The sin of George W. Bush, to hear his critics tell it, is that he unleashed the forces of freedom in Arab-Islamic lands only to beget a terrible storm.  In Iraq and in Lebanon, the furies of sectarianism are on the loose; and in that greater Middle East stretching …

Cintas warned against firing immigrant force  —  A Mississippi Democrat in line to become chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee has warned the nation's largest uniform supplier it faces criminal charges if it follows a White House proposal to recheck workers with mismatched Social Security numbers …

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.

Oversight board briefed on NSA spy program  —  WASHINGTON - Several members of a government board appointed to guard privacy and civil liberties during the war on terror say they're impressed with the protections built into the Bush administration's electronic eavesdropping program.

Video: Carter blames Israel for failure of roadmap, denies he's anti-Israel  —  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 to James Baker and the "peace at any price" gang …

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.

Women talk three times as much as men, says study  —  It is something one half of the population has long suspected - and the other half always vocally denied.  Women really do talk more than men.  —  In fact, women talk almost three times as much as men, with the average woman chalking …

How the imams terrorized an airliner  —  Muslim religious leaders removed from a Minneapolis flight last week exhibited behavior associated with a security probe by terrorists and were not merely engaged in prayers, according to witnesses, police reports and aviation security officials.

Like I Care  —  The first person I knew who had a Web site of his own was a fellow Washington journalist.  This was when many journalists were still just getting into e-mail, but the URL for this Web site quickly circulated around town and around the world.  Why?  Well, we were all impressed by the technological savvy.

Democrats win control of Pa. House after 12 years in minority  —  WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — Democrats won control of the state House of Representatives for the first time in 12 years Tuesday as Chester County officials settled a pair of hotly contested House races three weeks after the election.