Iraq Panel to Recommend Pullback of Combat Troops  —  The bipartisan Iraq Study Group reached a consensus on Wednesday on a final report that will call for a gradual pullback of the 15 American combat brigades now in Iraq but stop short of setting a firm timetable for their withdrawal …

Rumors and reporting in Iraq  —  ***scroll for updates...NYTimes blogger Tom Zeller Jr weighs in...plus: bloggers note the significance of the capture of Mazer Al-Jubouri, aka the Baghdad Sniper, and his group...***  —  I've been following up with CENTCOM on the Associated Press/sketchy sources brouhaha.

Already Too Busy for Civility  —  That was certainly swift.  Washington has a way of quickly acculturating people, especially those who are most susceptible to derangement by the derivative dignity of office.  But Jim Webb, Democratic senator-elect from Virginia, has become a pompous poseur …

Democrats Reject Key 9/11 Panel Suggestion  —  Neither Party Has an Appetite for Overhauling Congressional Oversight of Intelligence  —  It was a solemn pledge, repeated by Democratic leaders and candidates over and over: If elected to the majority in Congress, Democrats would implement …

'Spy' radiation alert for 33,000 BA passengers  —  More than 33,000 British Airways passengers faced a radiation scare last night as three planes were grounded over fears that they have been contaminated by the toxin that killed Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko.

Rule of Law 101 and Neoconservatism  —  Last year, the Bush administration and the GOP-led Congress jointly created a 5-person, tootheless, subpoena-less "panel" to monitor how "civil liberties issues" are handled as part of the "war on terror."  They handpicked five members and …

50 Shots  —  Around 4 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 25, several New York City police officers in plain clothes fired an estimated 50 shots at a car, wounding two black men and killing a third, 23-year-old Sean Bell.  Some police bullets penetrated nearby homes.  Although an undercover officer …

Spare Us, Hillary  —  She really shouldn't run.  It would divide and polarize the country; she's dreadful on the stump; she has very high negatives; most Democrats only like her; almost no-one loves her; and do we really want 20 years of two families in the White House?  Besides: what do you do with Bill?

UN troops face child abuse claims  —  Children have been subjected to rape and prostitution by United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti and Liberia, a BBC investigation has found.  —  Girls have told of regular encounters with soldiers where sex is demanded in return for food or money.

Huffington Post Will Add Original Reporting to Its Blog  —  The Huffington Post, which started about 18 months ago as a political Web site for celebrity bloggers, is preparing to venture into original reporting, with plans to cover Congress and, already, the 2008 presidential campaign.

A BEAUTIFULLY DARK PLACE  —  This piece in American Thinker by Selwyn Duke is a must read for anyone who cares about free speech (hat tip: Larwyn).  In "How We Will Lose Freedom of Speech" Selwyn says: … Read the entire piece.  —  Meanwhile, the crooks and liars at the blog of the same name …

Iran issues fatwa on Azeri writer  —  One of Iran's most senior clergymen has issued a fatwa on an Azeri writer said to have insulted the Prophet Muhammad.  —  The call on Muslims to murder Rafiq Tagi, who writes for Azerbaijan's Senet newspaper, echoes the Iranian fatwa against Indian writer Salman Rushdie.