Intelligence Chief Is Shifted to Deputy State Dept. Post  —  John D. Negroponte, whom President Bush installed less than two years ago as the first director of national intelligence, will soon leave his post to become the State Department's second-ranking official, administration officials said Wednesday.

In Padilla Wiretaps, Murky View of 'Jihad' Case  —  In 1997, as the government listened in on their phone call, Adham Hassoun, a computer programmer in Broward County, Fla., proposed a road trip to Jose Padilla, a low-wage worker there.  The excursion to Tampa would be his treat, Mr. Hassoun said …

SHEEHAN, IRAQ WAR PROTESTERS BREAK UP HOUSE DEMOCRATS' PRESS CONFERENCE  —  Jan. 3: Peace activist Cindy Sheehan speaks on Capitol Hill.  —  WASHINGTON — Iraq war protesters broke up a press conference by House Democrats on Wednesday with chants to bring American troops home from Iraq.

A Moment of Savagery - Now a New Hope?  —  If you're looking for a blogger to feel some pity for Saddam Hussein because his executioners were primitive and rude, you've come to the wrong place.  Punch up the Daily Kos and you'll find countless diarists eager to express some sympathy for this particular devil.

Lieberman Party Now in Hands of Critic  —  HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - The party Sen. Joe Lieberman created to mount his independent re-election campaign has been seized by one of his critics, and the secretary of state's office said Wednesday that it won't challenge the takeover.

U.S. Bars Lab From Testing Electronic Voting  —  A laboratory that has tested most of the nation's electronic voting systems has been temporarily barred from approving new machines after federal officials found that it was not following its quality-control procedures and could not document that it was conducting all the required tests.

Bush Signals Budget Accord  —  President Bush promised yesterday to produce a plan to balance the federal budget in five years and challenged lawmakers to slash their special pet projects in half next year, embracing priorities of the new Democratic leadership that will assume control of Congress today.

Why Hawks Win  —  Why are hawks so influential?  The answer may lie deep in the human mind.  People have dozens of decision-making biases, and almost all favor conflict rather than concession.  A look at why the tough guys win more than they should.  —  National leaders get all sorts of advice in times of tension and conflict.

This Is Your Brain on Drugs, Dad  —  WHEN releasing last week's Monitoring the Future survey on drug use, John P. Walters, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, boasted that "broad" declines in teenage drug use promise "enormous beneficial consequences not only for our children now …

The Right Minimum Wage  —  A federal minimum wage is an idea whose time came in 1938, when public confidence in markets was at a nadir and the federal government's confidence in itself was at an apogee.  This, in spite of the fact that with 19 percent unemployment and the economy contracting …

Rehnquist FBI File Sheds New Light on Drug Dependence, Confirmation Battles  —  The late Chief Justice William Rehnquist's Senate confirmation battles in 1971 and 1986 were more intense and political than previously known, according to a newly released FBI file that also offers dramatic …

THE LAW CATCHES UP TO PRIVATE MILITARIES, EMBEDS  —  Since the start of the Iraq war, tens of thousands of heavily-armed military contractors have been roaming the country — without any law, or any court to control them.  That may be about to change, Brookings Institution Senior Fellow P.W. Singer notes in a Defense Tech exclusive.

The Healing Process  —  Following up on my post below, I noticed that the transcript of last night's Shields and Brooks was available and I think it deserves a little bit more attention: … There are so many things in that little exchange that I find apalling I don't know where to start.