Bush to Expand Size of Military  —  President Bush said today that he plans to expand the size of the U.S. military to meet the challenges of a long-term global war against terrorists, a response to warnings that sustained deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan have stretched the armed forces to near the breaking point.

The Clock is Ticking, Mr. President  —  Frankly, I don't believe that more troops is the answer for Iraq.  It's a civil war and America should not be policing a Sunni-Shia conflict.  In addition, we don't have the additional forces to put in there.  We obviously want to support what commanders …

Cheney to be defense witness in CIA case  —  WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney will be called to testify on behalf of his former chief of staff in the CIA leak case, defense attorneys said Tuesday, ending months of speculation over what would be historic testimony.

A Warning To The Right  —  I'm tired of it all.  —  I'm tired of the insinuations about Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) because his dead father was a Muslim.  I'm tired of the insinuations about his middle name—Hussein—and the racist/bigoted insinuations that I've seen on the Right that flow from there.

Reality check: 95 percent of Americans had premarital sex  —  NEW YORK (AP) — More than nine out of 10 Americans, men and women alike, have had premarital sex, according to a new study.  The high rates extend even to women born in the 1940s, challenging perceptions that people were more chaste in the past.

UK report says robots will have rights  —  The next time you beat your keyboard in frustration, think of a day where it may be able to sue you for assault.  Within 50 years we might even find ourselves standing next to the next generation of vacuum cleaners in the voting booth.

Press Briefing by Tony Snow  —  White House Conference Center Briefing Room  —  MR. SNOW: Before we begin the questions, just a couple of comments on bill signings today, and then I'll be happy to take any questions you have.  —  Today, the President, accompanied by the First Lady, Mrs. Bush, signed the following bills into law.

Woman beaten on Jerusalem bus for refusing to move to rear seat  —  A woman who reported a vicious attack by an ad-hoc "modesty patrol" on a Jerusalem bus last month is now lining up support for her case and may be included in a petition to the High Court of Justice over the legality of sex-segregated buses.

Blair to urge Middle East states to rein in Iran  —  DUBAI (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair will call on Wednesday for Middle East states to rein in what he calls the threat from Iran and to help advance peacemaking between Israelis and Palestinians.

Top Iraqi Shiite Cleric Is Inching Toward a Coalition  —  Iraq's most venerated Shiite cleric has tentatively approved an American-backed coalition of Shiite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish parties that aims to isolate extremists, particularly the powerful Shiite militia leader Moktada al-Sadr, Iraqi and Western officials say.

Ex-Fannie execs face civil charges  —  Federal regulators Monday filed civil charges against former Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines and two other former executives, accusing them of manipulating Fannie Mae's earnings to jack up their bonuses.  —  In a complaint with an administrative law judge …

Jamilgate: Is the AP covering its tracks?  —  Now here's something interesting.  Curt was reading over the AP's press releases about Jamilgate on the AP website and noticed that something seemed to be missing from John Daniszewski's statement on November 28th.

'Old Europe' Can Gloat, but Then What?  —  BERLIN — On the day James Baker's Iraq report was published, I gritted my teeth and waited for the well-earned, long-awaited, Franco-German "Old Europe" gloat to begin.  I didn't wait long.  "America Faces Up to the Iraq Disaster" read a headline in Der Spiegel.