The Obama Messiah Watch  —  INTRODUCING A PERIODIC FEATURE CONSIDERING EVIDENCE THAT OBAMA IS THE SON OF GOD.  —  Is Barak Obama—junior U.S. senator from Illinois, best-selling author, Harvard Law Review editor, Men's Vogue cover model, and "exploratory" presidential candidate …

U.S. missile defense maturing, latest test a success  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Within a year, the U.S. missile defense system should be able to guard against enemy attacks, while testing new technologies, the deputy director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said on Monday.

Edwards says he may have been too inexperienced for 2004 run  —  WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina: Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards acknowledged that he may have been too inexperienced in national politics for his White House run in 2004.  —  The former North Carolina senator …

Bush Says Missing '-ic' Was an Oversight  —  President Bush says the missing "-ic" in the State of the Union address was nothing more than an oversight.  —  Near the beginning of the speech last week, Bush congratulated "the Democrat majority" for its electoral victory …

Suicide Attack Is First in Israel in 9 Months  —  After nine months without a suicide bombing in Israel, a Palestinian walked from Egypt across the open desert border, hitched a ride from a wary Israeli motorist and then blew himself up on Monday inside a bakery in the Red Sea resort town of Eilat, Israeli officials said.

The Ba-Da-Boom Crew  —  If you've been following the Lewis "Scooter" Libby perjury trial, I can understand how you might confuse Dick Cheney with Tony Soprano.  Cheney's office is beginning to sound a lot like the Bada Bing, minus the dancers.  —  Court has been in session for only a week …

Equipment For Added Troops Is Lacking  —  New Iraq Forces Must Make Do, Officials Say  —  Boosting U.S. troop levels in Iraq by 21,500 would create major logistical hurdles for the Army and Marine Corps, which are short thousands of vehicles, armor kits and other equipment needed to supply the extra forces, U.S. officials said.

GOP senator challenges Bush on war powers … WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate Republican on Tuesday directly challenged President Bush's declaration that "I am the decision-maker" on issues of war.  —  "I would suggest respectfully to the president that he is not the sole decider," Sen. Arlen Specter …

Missteps by Iraqi Forces in Battle Raise Questions  —  Iraqi forces were surprised and nearly overwhelmed by the ferocity of an obscure renegade militia in a weekend battle near the holy city of Najaf and needed far more help from American forces than previously disclosed, American and Iraqi officials said Monday.

Europe Resists U.S. Push to Curb Iran Ties  —  European governments are resisting Bush administration demands that they curtail support for exports to Iran and that they block transactions and freeze assets of some Iranian companies, officials on both sides say.

McCain Flip Flops, Now Says He Would Not Consider Redeployment Under Any Scenario  —  In a recent interview with The Politico, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said that if his escalation strategy for Iraq fails, then he would consider redeployment: … It didn't take long for McCain to backtrack from redeployment.

GOP Right Sees Lemons in White House Race  —  Contemplating the current field of Republican presidential candidates, Rush Limbaugh sounded like a man with malaise.  —  "To be honest with you, there's nobody out there that revs me up," he confessed to his audience of several million conservative sympathizers …

Democrats unveil massive spending bill  —  WASHINGTON - Democrats have unveiled a massive spending bill combining the budgets of 13 Cabinet agencies with increases in aid for lower-income college students, while cutting President Bush's funding requests for foreign aid and closing military bases.

Bush Directive Increases Sway on Regulation  —  President Bush has signed a directive that gives the White House much greater control over the rules and policy statements that the government develops to protect public health, safety, the environment, civil rights and privacy.

Libby Live: David Addington Three  —  We've been in a break-it appears that Walton wanted to do some research on the last objection-over classification issues.  As I pointed out below, Wells has put the word "documents" when it refers to declassification in Addington's mouth.