Conflicts Shaped Two Presidencies  —  U.S., Iraq Continue to Experience Aftereffects of Their Confrontations  —  The day after he ordered a cease-fire and brought the Persian Gulf War to a close, President George H.W. Bush ruminated about the status quo he had left behind in Iraq.

Google's Tipping Point  —  Taken in a vacuum, a fairly trivial thing happened a few days ago.  The co-founder of Firefox, Blake Ross, wrote a post criticizing Google called "Tip: Trust is hard to gain, easy to lose".  He takes issue with a new Google search feature that promotes certain …

For Guantánamo Review Boards, Limits Abound  —  GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — At one end of a converted trailer in the American military detention center here, a graying Pakistani businessman sat shackled before a review board of uniformed officers, pleading for his freedom.

Area Somalis want peace for homeland  —  Many of the 1,500 protesters in Minneapolis were angered that the U.S. gave tacit support for ousting of Islamists.  —  More than a thousand Somalis gathered in Minneapolis on Saturday to call for Ethiopian troops to withdraw immediately from Somalia.

Bush Has Quietly Tripled Aid to Africa  —  Increase in Funding to Impoverished Continent Is Viewed as Altruistic or Pragmatic  —  President Bush's legacy is sure to be defined by his wielding of U.S. military power in Afghanistan and Iraq, but there is another, much softer and less-noticed effort …

Poll: Americans see gloom, doom in 2007  —  WASHINGTON - Another terrorist attack, a warmer planet, death and destruction from a natural disaster.  These are among Americans' grim predictions for the United States in 2007.  —  Only a minority of people think the U.S. will go to war with Iran …

Conyers accepts responsibility for possible ethics violations  —  Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) has "accepted responsibility" for possibly violating House rules by requiring his official staff to perform campaign-related work, according to a statement quietly released by the House ethics committee late Friday evening.

Truth, Justice, Abortion and the Times Magazine  —  THE cover story on abortion in El Salvador in The New York Times Magazine on April 9 contained prominent references to an attention-grabbing fact.  "A few" women, the first paragraph indicated, were serving 30-year jail terms for having had abortions.

Science told: hands off gay sheep  —  Experiments that claim to 'cure' homosexual rams spark anger  —  SCIENTISTS are conducting experiments to change the sexuality of "gay" sheep in a programme that critics fear could pave the way for breeding out homosexuality in humans.

Hillary falls to earth in poll race  —  THE first vote is still more than a year away, but the campaign to replace President George W Bush in the White House is already throwing up surprises.  —  Unfortunately for Senator Hillary Clinton, long the front-runner in the Democratic drive to retake …

Prosecutorial Indiscretion  —  "THE PROSECUTOR has more control over life, liberty and reputation than any other person in America.  His discretion is tremendous.  He can have citizens investigated, and, if he is that kind of person, he can have this done to the tune of public statements and veiled or unveiled intimations."

Mosque plans trigger neighbor's pig races … KATY, Texas (AP) — A man unhappy with an Islamic association's plans to build a mosque next to his property has staged pig races as a protest during afternoon prayers.  —  Craig Baker, 46, sold merchandise and grilled sausages Friday for about 100 people who showed up in heavy rain.

AP Poll: Americans Optimistic for 2007 … WASHINGTON (AP) — The news from Iraq and other national headlines may be grim, but in Greenville, N.C., John Given has a new baby and his first home, and life is good.  —  So, too, for Sandra Trowbridge in tiny Magnet Cove, Ark. The situation …

Old Tapes  —  I know the young folks despair at the way we moldering relics of the Baby Boom can't let go of Vietnam.  Let me say forthrightly that I know how you feel.  —  Imagine being a teenager in the mid-1960s and lusting after the Correges-style boots the other girls were wearing …

New Years Eve Bombs Shake Up Bangkok  —  Seven bombs were exploded across downtown Bangkok on New Years Eve as revelers began to turnout for dinner and the evening's festivities.  The first bomb exploded at the Victory Monument, an area crowded with food stalls, the terminus for small commuter vans from the northern districts.

The WHOLE Saddam Execution Video  —  Here is the whole video, resolution sucks tho.  You do see him drop but the camera doesnt follow him all the way down.  They do zoom in on him after tho.  —  Be forewarned that the video shows Saddam hang.  DO NOT press play if you don't want to see it.

THE 10 MOST OUTRAGEOUS CIVIL LIBERTIES VIOLATIONS OF 2006.  —  I love those year-end roundups—ubiquitous annual lists of greatest films and albums and lip glosses and tractors.  It's reassuring that all human information can be wrestled into bundles of 10.