VENEZUELA VOTES -PHOTOS  —  Voting around Caracas on Sunday.  These photos were taken by a pool of 38 citizen journalists who documented the electoral process.  Their fascinating slideshow can be found at this Flickr site, here.  Hat tip: Venezuela Today  —  Venezuelans went to the polls today …

Nine U.S. troops killed in Iraq … BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Nine U.S. troops died in Iraq during the weekend, including five killed by roadside bombs, the U.S. military reported Sunday.  —  Two soldiers were killed and two wounded Sunday when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle in northern Iraq …

Sectarian clashes in West Beirut kill 1  —  BEIRUT, Lebanon - Violent clashes broke out Sunday between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in the capital, leaving one man dead from gunshot wounds at a time when tensions throughout Lebanon threaten the country's fragile sectarian and political balance.

Responding To The New York Times  —  The New York Times has a new article out tomorrow in which they skewer blogs for having the audacity to question them: … Now that my friends is called spin.  The Iraqi's set up a unit so that the press could be assured that the official spokesmen …

See exclusive new pictures of Alexander Litvinenko  —  Mark Townsend, Jamie Doward, Tom Parfitt in Moscow and Barbara McMahon in Rome  —  Alexander Litvinenko with a Scottish bonnet, Chechen swords and KGB gauntlets.  Photograph: Copyright Guardian News and Media.  All rights reserved.

Adviser: Clinton Actively Weighs '08 Bid  —  WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic jockeying for the White House in 2008 intensified on Sunday with Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh taking the first official step toward a run and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton gauging support among fellow New York lawmakers.

Why Military Calls to Raise Iraq Effort Grow  —  Rumsfeld Exit Revives Push to Boost Troops,  —  Money in One Last Effort to Stabilize Baghdad  —  WASHINGTON — As demands mount to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq, a growing number of senior military officials are arguing that the only way to salvage …

'Rest easy, sleep well my brothers.  Know the line has held, your job is done.'  —  E very year for more than a decade, at the height of the season, Morrill Worcester would pack up a truckload of his Christmas wreaths and head down from Maine to Arlington National Cemetery.

He's Only Fifth Worst  —  It's unfair to claim that George W. Bush is the worst president of all time.  He's merely the fifth worst.  In the White House Hall of Shame, Bush comes behind four other Oval Officers whose policies were even more disastrous: James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Richard M. Nixon and James Madison.

Lieberman: Talking To Iran And Syria Is Like The 'Local Fire Dept Asking Arsonists To Help'  —  Today on CBS Face the Nation, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) argued that direct talks with Syria and Iran won't work and compared it to "your local fire department asking a couple of arsonists to help put out the fire.

Videotape Offers a Window Into a Terror Suspect's Isolation  —  One spring day during his three and a half years as an enemy combatant, Jose Padilla experienced a break from the monotony of his solitary confinement in a bare cell in the brig at the Naval Weapons Station in Charleston, S.C.

Lieberman Endorses Escalation In Iraq, Surprised Rumsfeld Didn't Suggest It In Memo  —  Today on CBS's Face the Nation, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) said it was "surprising" that "the one thing [Donald Rumsfeld's memo] doesn't raise as a possibility is to increase the number of our troops."

Joe Biden's Trent Lott moment  —  Will this be Joe Biden's Trent Lott moment?  —  26 days after Democrats win the mid-terms, Joe Biden exhorts the Republican party to "get back up."  Then, Biden (D-Hair Club for Men) claims that, just because the country voted Democrats back into power …