Rape Charges Dropped in Duke Case  —  DURHAM, N.C.  —  Prosecutors dropped rape charges Friday against three Duke University lacrosse players accused of attacking a stripper at a team party, but the three still face kidnapping and sexual offense charges.  —  According to court papers filed Friday …

Al Qaeda Sends a Message to Democrats  —  Brian Ross and Hoda Osman Report:  —  Al Qaeda has sent a message to leaders of the Democratic party that credit for the defeat of congressional Republicans belongs to the terrorists.  —  In a portion of the tape from al Qaeda No. 2 man …

KCCI Poll Shows Vilsack 3rd Among Democratic Hopefuls  —  DES MOINES, Iowa — The Tom Vilsack campaign said it will get out the message that he is the best nominee for the party.  But an exclusive new poll by KCCI-TV shows he has some work to do in his own state.

Lawmaker stands firm on Quran criticism  —  ROCKY MOUNT, Va. - A congressman said Thursday that he will not retract a letter warning that unless immigration is tightened, "many more Muslims will be elected" and use the Quran to take the oath of office.  —  Republican Rep. Virgil Goode …

Pundits lose grip on reality when dealing with the Internet  —  What is it about the Internet that makes some political pundits, columnists and reporters so goofy?  It seems like almost every time I read a mainstream media story about political Web sites and bloggers, the pieces are full of ill-informed junk.

On Snowe-Landrieu Bipartisan Initiative: Kiss My Democratic Ass  —  Nausea alert: Do not read this on a full stomach if you're a Progressive, who has had it up to your eyeballs with some elected Democrats regularly accepting prison shower-room, Ned-Beatty-in-'Deliverance' treatment from Republicans …

News of a Sleighing  —  This just in: Santa Claus is coming to town.  —  Sunday is Christmas Eve.  It feels wrong to speak here of small and sentimental things such as politics.  The most passionately committed Americans right now, and the most imaginative, are children waiting for a large laughing man with a full white beard.

Study Suggests Incentives on Oil Barely Help U.S.  —  The United States offers some of the most lucrative incentives in the world to companies that drill for oil in publicly owned coastal waters, but a newly released study suggests that the government is getting very little for its money.

Bickering Saudis Struggle for an Answer to Iran's Rising Influence in the Middle East  —  At a late-night reading this week, a self-styled poet raised his hand for silence and began a riff on neighboring Iraq, in the old style of Bedouin storytellers.  —  "Saddam Hussein was a real leader …

Rates of Return … Yes, a lot has been invested.  But just look at the dividends:  —  I once made the analogy that in the imperialism business troops equal money, so perhaps I'm not in the best position to criticize.  But I was trying to sound cruel and heartless for sarcastic effect …

Lovely.  —  According to Network World's Paul McNamara, the communications director for U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT), Todd Shriber, hired two 'hackers' to break into the computer of his alma mater, Texas Christian University, and change his college grades.