Dems Seek to Bar U.S. Attacks on Iran  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic leaders in Congress lobbed a warning shot Friday at the White House not to launch an attack against Iran without first seeking approval from lawmakers.  —  "The president does not have the authority to launch military action …

Libby's Memory Defense Highlights His Failures on National Security  —  You've no doubt heard that Scooter Libby will be arguing he was so busy with very important events during 2003 and 2004 that he just plum forgot that Dick Cheney-and not Tim Russert-told him of Valerie Plame's identity.

Rule by decree passed for Chavez  —  Venezuela's National Assembly has given initial approval to a bill granting the president the power to bypass congress and rule by decree for 18 months.  —  President Hugo Chavez says he wants "revolutionary laws" to enact sweeping political, economic and social changes.

Report from the ICU: Jane Hamsher Fights the Very Good Fight  —  I've just gotten back from visiting Jane Hamsher in the ICU unit at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica.  For those of you that don't know, Jane has been diagnosed with breast cancer — her third go-around with it — and underwent 8 hours of surgery yesterday.

U.S. plans envision broad attack on Iran: analyst  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. contingency planning for military action against Iran's nuclear program goes beyond limited strikes and would effectively unleash a war against the country, a former U.S. intelligence analyst said on Friday.

Memorable moments from this week's Libby jury selection  —  Judge Reggie Walton has "another matter" he is dealing with most of today unrelated to the Scooter Libby case.  So, the pool of potential jurors will not be returning until Monday.  This break in the "voir dire" …

First Twin Jenna Shops a Book  —  You can soon add the title of author to first daughter Jenna Bush's résumé.  —  Whispers learns that the 25-year-old blond twin of Barbara Bush is shopping a book proposal to major publishers in New York City.

The Glenn and Helen Show: Gordon Crovitz on the WSJ, Old and New Media, and Blogging as an Art Form  —  People in the newspaper business seem awfully gloomy about the future right now, and with reason.  But there's one bright spot: The Wall Street Journal's publisher Gordon Crovitz …

Olbermann: Why does O'Reilly still have a job?  —  As John noted on Wednesday, Bill O'Reilly tried to blame Shawn Hornbeck, the 15 year old boy abducted in Missouri four years ago, for not trying to escape from his captor, saying he "didn't buy" Stockholm Syndrome, and later adding …

Obama Smeared As Former 'Madrassa' Student, Possible Covert Muslim Extremist  —  This morning, Fox News featured a segment highlighting a right-wing report that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) attended an Islamic "madrassa" school as a 6-year-old child.  —  Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy pointed …

Sadr fears for life in security crackdown  —  Mark Oliver and agencies  —  Moqtada al-Sadr has moved his family to a secure location because of fears he will become the target of a security sweep of Baghdad, it was reported today.  —  News of the radical cleric's decision came as the US military …

House Votes to Rescind Oil Drillers' Tax Breaks  —  House Democrats easily passed legislation on Thursday that would rescind $14 billion in tax breaks and subsidies for oil drillers and reserve the money to develop alternative energy projects and conservation technologies.

Court to hear campaign ads cases, six other cases  —  Returning to the much-litigated controversy over political campaign ads broadcast during election season, the Supreme Court on Friday agreed to rule on two cases that newly test the constitutionality of congressional curbs on such ads.

Lieberman's Iraq Strategy  —  So the Last honest man's strategy is to hope and pray and then think of something else while our men and women are dying and countless of Iraqis are being slaughtered in Iraq.  Plan B is non existent just like the BushCO. approach to the Iraq war after we won the initial military conflict.