FEDS ARREST MAN THEY SAY PLANNED TO DETONATE GRENADES IN ILLINOIS SHOPPING MALL  —  Dec. 8: Courtroom artist's drawing is a man identified by authorities as Derrick Shareef, 22, of Rockford, Ill., as he appeared before a judge.  —  CHICAGO — A man has been arrested by federal agents …

AP to bloggers: Stop maligning our stringers, chickenhawks  —  Another volley from Kathleen Carroll, the executive editor.  Last Friday, according to Times writer Tom Zeller, she told reporters it would be the height of foolishness to continue to engage the "mad blog rabble" (Zeller's words).

Foley panel: GOP didn't protect pages  —  WASHINGTON - The House ethics committee reported Friday that Republican lawmakers and aides failed to protect young male pages from former Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record)'s improper advances, concluding an investigation into a scandal …

A True American Hero  —  Jeane Kirkpatrick, 1926-2006.  —  When I first met Jeane Kirkpatrick in 1972, she was an academic political scientist mainly interested in domestic politics.  She was also a Democrat and a close associate of Hubert Humphrey who, both as a senator …

President slips to all-time low in the Zogby Poll as key demographic groups jump ship  —  The national job approval rating of President Bush has plummeted to 30%, an all-time low in the latest Zogby International telephone poll, sinking below the 31% approval rating he dropped to in early June.

Overture to Iran defended by Iraq report authors  —  Source: Reuters  —  WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The Republican chairman of the Iraq Study Group on Thursday defended the panel's call to seek Iran's help in stabilizing Iraq but conceded he was told recently by Tehran that was unlikely "this time around."

Hey, Rosie O'Donnell: Did you teach your kids to speak "ching chong," too?  —  Typical Hollywood liberal: She's the first and loudest to accuse others of bigotry—pausing only to take a breath before practicing it herself.  Click to watch the video of Rosie O'Donnell on The View …

Condoms 'too big' for Indian men  —  A survey of more than 1,000 men in India has concluded that condoms made according to international sizes are too large for a majority of Indian men.  —  The study found that more than half of the men measured had penises that were shorter than international standards for condoms.

Sherrod Brown: First We Go After Big Pharma  —  WASHINGTON DISPATCH: The senator-elect from Ohio weighs in on drug-pricing reform, Iraq, the '08 campaign, and (oh yeah, that!) trade.  —  Fresh from victory in Ohio's knock-down drag-out Senate race, Sherrod Brown is happily preparing to exit …

Trading on political information  —  As part of its continuing coverage of hedge funds, the WSJ reports on how lobbyists are gathering tips on Congress' activities to these funds.  The strategy especially pays off with respect to legislation that's material to a small group of companies, like on the asbestos trust fund.

Firefly Reborn as Online Universe  —  Like Capt. Mal Reynolds stumbling in after a bar fight, the short-lived but much beloved sci-fi series Firefly will soon make an unexpected return, not as a TV show, but as a massively multiplayer online game.  —  Now that's shiny.

It's a Cheney!  —  My only regret about Mary Cheney's pregnancy is that it didn't happen earlier — say, during the 2004 presidential race, when Cheney was working for her father's campaign and his running mate was busy trying to write discrimination against people like her into the Constitution.