BOXER'S LOW BLOW  —  Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, an appalling scold from California, wasted no time yesterday in dragging the debate over Iraq about as low as it can go - attacking Secre tary of State Condoleezza Rice for being a childless woman.  —  Boxer was wholly in character for her party …

GOP hits Pelosi's 'hypocrisy' on wage bill  —  House Republicans yesterday declared "something fishy" about the major tuna company in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco district being exempted from the minimum-wage increase that Democrats approved this week.

Clock Ticking on Dems' 100-Hour Agenda  —  WASHINGTON (AP) - The clock is ticking for House Democrats, but it's hard to tell what time it is.  —  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was touting a plan to push six bills through a Democratic House in 100 hours or less as early as June of last year.

Unveiled Threats  —  A Bush appointee's crude gambit on detainees' legal rights  —  MOST AMERICANS understand that legal representation for the accused is one of the core principles of the American way.  Not, it seems, Cully Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs.

Lam is asked to step down  —  Job performance said to be behind White House firing  —  The Bush administration has quietly asked San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam, best known for her high-profile prosecutions of politicians and corporate executives, to resign her post, a law enforcement official said.

Leftist Group Claims Attack  —  A leftist group has reportedly claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on the US embassy in Athens.  —  The Greek government said it had received two calls claiming the guerrilla group Revolutionary Struggle was behind the attack.

Getting Iraq to Work  —  New York City's successes have lessons for Baghdad.  —  The American mission in Iraq must succeed.  Our goal—promoting a stable, accountable democracy in the heart of the Middle East—cannot be achieved by purely military means.  —  Iraqis need to establish a civil society.

House Passes Bill Relaxing Limits on Stem Cell Research  —  The House yesterday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would loosen the restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research imposed by President Bush in 2001, inaugurating the second such assault on the administration's stem cell policy in as many years.

Note from Flynt Leverett: Most Important Parts of Bush Speech About Iran — Not Iraq  —  I asked former CIA and Bush administration National Security Council senior official Flynt Leverett for a quick summary of his thoughts on President Bush's Address to the Nation.

The Question of the Day  —  Jim Webb is really one of the most exciting things to happen to our politics recently; the personification of potentially worthy electoral trends who's managed to pull it off not by embracing militarism but by showing that good sense in national security policy …

The Two Vacuums  —  Neither Iraqis nor Democrats seem ready to do what's required of them.  —  I had the odd and wholly unexpected experience of feeling supportive of a troop increase until I saw the president's speech arguing for it.  What a jarring, furtive-seeming thing it was.

Convicted lawmakers to lose pensions  —  WASHINGTON - Members of Congress convicted of serious crimes would lose their taxpayer-paid pensions, sometimes totaling more than $100,000 a year, under a measure unanimously approved by the Senate Friday.  —  The 87- vote to deprive lawbreaking lawmakers …

Five Flaws in the President's Plan  —  The president's speech gives rise to five broad observations:  —  · It provided a more realistic analysis of the situation in Iraq than any previous presidential statement.  It acknowledged failure, though it dodged accountability for that failure …

Surrender?  Iraqi Government Sides With Iranians Arrested by American Troops, One Iranian Already Freed  —  "Six Iranians held in a US military raid in northern Iraq were working there with the approval of the authorities, Iraq's foreign minister has said.  They were part of an Iranian liaison office …

Duke LAX Accuser Changes Story - Again  —  Motions filed to drop charges against Seligmann  —  (01/11/07 — DURHAM) - The accuser in the Duke lacrosse sexual assault case told prosecutors in December that one of the three players charged did not commit any sex act on her during the alleged attack …