At Hearing, Gates Says U.S. Not Winning War in Iraq  —  President Bush's nominee to be Secretary of Defense said today that the United States is not winning the war in Iraq, and that an American failure there could help to ignite "a regional conflagration" in the Middle East.

Kansan To Lead The DGA  —  Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) will become chairwoman of the Democratic Governors Association next year, officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the Associated Press.  —  The Democrats are coming off a successful campaign season, picking up six statehouses in last month's elections.

Court Reviews Race as Factor in School Plans  —  By the time the Supreme Court finished hearing arguments on Monday on the student-assignment plans that two urban school systems use to maintain racial integration, the only question was how far the court would go in ruling such plans unconstitutional.

How to end AP's "60 Minutes Moment" on Iraqi Sources  —  You've probably not read much about it because only a handful of mainstream media outlets have covered it, but the Associated Press - for decades America's largest and most trusted wire news service - is at the center of a credibility crisis largely of its own making.

Bridge to Nowhere  —  Political consensus isn't going to solve America's Iraq problem.  —  Reading major American newspapers is a bit like trying to decipher an archeological text written in a dead language.  Well-informed reporters bring you the facts you need to know …

2008: If Obama runs, he wins  —  Standard caveats aside (it's early, we don't have a set field, blah blah blah), it's hard to see how Barack Obama loses the nomination barring scandal or the mother-of-all gaffes.  —  I've been working up a few scenarios given the primary calendar …

Census Counts 100,000 Contractors in Iraq  —  There are about 100,000 government contractors operating in Iraq, not counting subcontractors, a total that is approaching the size of the U.S. military force there, according to the military's first census of the growing population of civilians operating in the battlefield.

Veiled woman to give C4's speech  —  A veiled Muslim woman will deliver this year's alternative Christmas speech on Channel 4, the broadcaster has said.  —  Khadija, a Zimbabwean-born British citizen who has been wearing the full veil - or niqab - for 10 years, has been given the slot.

Hardliners turn on Ahmadinejad for watching women dancers  —  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, who flaunts his ideological fervour, has been accused of undermining Iran's Islamic revolution after television footage appeared to show him watching a female song and dance show.

No, the Cops Didn't Murder Sean Bell  —  And here's what decent black advocates would say.  —  New York's anti-cop forces have roared back to life, thanks to a fatal police shooting of an unarmed man a week ago.  The press is once again fawning over Al Sharpton, Herbert Daughtry …

A Dream of Mature Nations  —  A number of Canadians took offense recently to a Boston Herald column in which I slammed Canada and Europe in general for failing to hold up their end in this war for democracy, freedom and security.  Specificially, I slammed them for being smug democracies …

Islam gets concessions; infidels get conquered  —  What they capture, they keep.  When they lose, they complain to the U.N.  —  IN THE DAYS before Pope Benedict XVI's visit last Thursday to the Hagia Sophia complex in Istanbul, Muslims and Turks expressed fear, apprehension and rage.

Soldiers Say Army Ignores, Punishes Mental Anguish  —  Medical records show that when Tyler Jennings returned from Iraq last year, he was severely depressed and used drugs to cope.  When the sergeants who ran his platoon found out, they started to haze him.