The Blog Mob  —  "Written by fools to be read by imbeciles."  —  Blogs are very important these days.  Even Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has one.  The invention of the Web log, we are told, is as transformative as Gutenberg's press, and has shoved journalism into a reformation, perhaps a revolution.

Top general in Mideast to retire  —  Abizaid opposed calls for more troops in Iraq.  His departure could clear way for a more aggressive strategy.  —  WASHINGTON — Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, has submitted plans to retire and will leave his post in March …

2006: The year of perpetual outrage  —  ***update and bumped to the top: Zawahiri rings in the new year with a call to jihad for the Religion of Perpetual Outrage***  —  It began with the Danish cartoons.  It ended with the flying imams.  2006 was a banner year for the Religion of Perpetual Outrage.

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.

Hypersonic Cruise Missile: America's New Global Strike Weapon  —  The mission: Attack anywhere in the world in less than an hour.  But is the Pentagon's bold program a critical new weapon for hitting elusive targets, or a good way to set off a nuclear war?  —  Diagrams by Kakofonia

Swamped by Muslims  —  By Glenn Greenwald — The following is a letter sent by Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) to various constituents as a result of what his office claims is "a flood of e-mails from constituents in response to newly elected Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison's declaration …

Bush appointees signal court's new direction  —  Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito appear ready to steer bench to the right; affirmative action, abortion  —  WASHINGTON — They are President Bush's appointees to the Supreme Court, the products of the administration's efforts to make the court more conservative.

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.

Police killer suspect fled Britain in a veil  —  A man who was being hunted for the murder of a policewoman is understood to have escaped from Britain by disguising himself as a veiled Muslim woman.  —  Mustaf Jama, a prime suspect in the fatal shooting of PC Sharon Beshenivsky …

Cheney to Be Defense Witness in C.I.A. Leak Case  —  Vice President Dick Cheney will be summoned as a defense witness in the perjury and obstruction of justice trial of his former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., which is scheduled to begin next month, a defense lawyer said today.

Lamont camp cleared in hacking of Lieberman Web site  —  The U.S. attorney's office and state attorney general have cleared former U.S. Senate candidate Ned Lamont and his supporters of any role in the crash of U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman's campaign Web site hours before last summer's Democratic primary.