Pelosi: Congress Will Not Fund Escalation If Bush Does Not Justify It  —  This morning on CBS's Face the Nation, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced that Congress may refuse to authorize funding for an escalation of U.S. forces to Iraq if President Bush cannot justify the strategy.

Suspicious truck stopped at the Port of Miami-Dade  —  Federal and county authorities have arrested as many as three Middle Eastern men at the Port of Miami-Dade after they tried to enter the facility Sunday morning without proper paperwork, officials said.  —  An FBI spokeswoman in Miami …

Israel Denies Planning Iran Nuke Attack  —  LONDON (AP) — A British newspaper reported Sunday that Israel has drafted plans to strike as many as three targets in Iran with low-yield nuclear weapons, aiming to halt Tehran's uranium enrichment program.  The Israeli Foreign Ministry denied the report.

Gore bars press from talk  —  Former VP will meet with students but not media  —  Reporters and TV news cameras will be banned from almost all of former Vice President Al Gore's appearance Jan. 23 in Sioux Falls.  —  Gore is the Boe Forum speaker at Augustana College and plans a talk called …

Sen. Lieberman Goes His Independent Way  —  He Calls for 'Substantial' Troop Increase in Iraq  —  Standing under the grand dome of the Library of Congress on Friday, the three top Senate Democrats bitterly condemned sending more U.S. troops to Iraq, as President Bush is now considering.

The Imperial Presidency 2.0  —  Observing President Bush in action lately, we have to wonder if he actually watched the election returns in November, or if he was just rerunning the 2002 vote on his TiVo.  —  That year, the White House used the fear of terrorism to scare American voters …

The Invasion of the Alpha Male Democrat  —  NANCY PELOSI'S carefully crafted introduction to the American people last week seemed to reinforce some stereotypes of the so-called mommy party.  On the day she made history as the first woman to be elected speaker, she appeared on the House floor …

Future of Iraq: The spoils of war  —  How the West will make a killing on Iraqi oil riches  —  Iraq's massive oil reserves, the third-largest in the world, are about to be thrown open for large-scale exploitation by Western oil companies under a controversial law which is expected to come before the Iraqi parliament within days.

Critics Say 'Surge' Is More of The Same  —  Past Troop Buildups Have Not Quelled Iraq  —  President Bush is putting the final touches on his new Iraq policy amid growing skepticism inside and outside the administration that the emerging package of extra troops, economic assistance …

Iraq Will Be Petraeus's Knot to Untie  —  General Known to See Peace as Still Possible  —  Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, who is President Bush's choice to become the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, posed a riddle during the initial march to Baghdad four years ago that now becomes his own conundrum to solve: "Tell me how this ends."

Bolton unbound  —  In "Déjà Vu, All Over Again" this past July I compared the mistreatment of John Bolton last year by the New York Times with the Times's mistreatment of Daniel Patrick Moynihan in 1975.  In both instances the occasion for their mistreatment by the Times …

Utahns break from Bush on Iraq  —  Reddest state no longer behind war's handling, split on 'surge'  —  President Bush has lost majority support on Iraq from residents of the reddest state in the nation.  —  A Salt Lake Tribune poll conducted last week shows Utah's support for Bush's handling …

Justices Continue Trend of Hearing Fewer Cases  —  Only a handful of decisions each year define the Supreme Court for the American public, and that might be especially appropriate this year.  —  After decades of decline in its caseload, the court is once again on track to take its fewest number of cases in modern history.

DEP'T OF WILD SPECULATION:  —  Because standards are lower on weekends... here's a new rumor straight from an insidious "Washington cocktail party": John Negroponte is becoming deputy secretary of state as preparation to replace Condi Rice when she leaves her job.  Why would she do that?