G.O.P. Senators Block Debate on Iraq Policy  —  Republicans on Monday blocked Senate debate on a bipartisan resolution opposing President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq, leaving in doubt whether the Senate would render a judgment on what lawmakers of both parties described as the paramount issue of the day.

Space shuttle astronaut arrested at OIA on attempted kidnapping, battery charges  —  A NASA astronaut is charged with attacking her rival for another astronaut's attention early Monday at Orlando International Airport, the Orlando Sentinel has learned.  —  Lisa Marie Nowak drove from Texas …

The Other Democrats Weigh In  —  The good news for the nation's Democrats is that neither of the supposed front-runners for the party's 2008 presidential nomination, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, stole the show when all 10 of the likely contenders spoke last weekend to the Democratic National Committee.

Thanks to the Web, the Scorekeeping on the Super Bowl Has Just Begun  —  FOR the teams that play in the Super Bowl, the day after the game is reserved for planning victory parties or promising, "Wait till next year."  For Madison Avenue, the day after has become D-Day, given over to discussing …

Pelosi, Dingell reach deal  —  Ending a three-week long turf war, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) have reached an agreement on the parameters of the select committee on global warming.  —  In a new letter to Pelosi …

U.S. military: Iraqi lawmaker is U.S. Embassy bomber … BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — A man sentenced to death in Kuwait for the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies now sits in Iraq's parliament as a member of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's ruling coalition, according to U.S. military intelligence.

"Feels Good!"  —  We have talked a lot lately about Dick Cheney's delusional behavior and his childlike strategic foreign policy vision.  It seems as if even the dunderhead Bush seems less threatening and freakishly out to lunch than Cheney.  In fact, it's hard to find any Republicans wearing the fogged-up …

Coming US challenge: a less literate workforce  —  A larger share of workers will have minimal reading skills in 2030 than today, according to a report released Monday.  —  US workers may be significantly less literate in 2030 than they are today.  —  The reason: Most baby boomers …

EDWARD'S WAR VOTE: "THE CLINTONS MADE ME DO IT"  —  Ok maybe it's not quite that drastic but its close.  While being interviewed on Meet the Press, John Edwards was asked why he voted for the war and why he was so wrong: … So John Edwards, having seen the intel offered by the Bush administration …

A.B.A. Panel Would Weaken Code Governing Judges' Conduct  —  A commission of the American Bar Association has recommended that the group weaken its code of judicial conduct by changing, from a mandatory rule to nonbinding advice, an instruction to judges to "avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety."

Bush Plan Reins In Domestic Spending  —  Proposal Aims to Balance Budget And Fund Wars  —  President Bush took aim yesterday at domestic spending as part of a plan to balance the budget in five years without raising taxes while increasing funding for the Iraq war and permanently expanding the military.

Global Warming's Simple Remedy  —  "Worse than we thought."  The headline in the British Guardian newspaper on Saturday was almost gloating about the bad news.  The tone of the article that followed was no different: In Paris, a U.N.-sponsored panel, consisting of hundreds of scientists …

Newsweek's Evan Thomas: 'Our Job Is To Bash the President'  —  On Friday night's edition of Inside Washington airing locally on Washington PBS station WETA, the first topic was whether the media's been unfair to President Bush, given his abysmal approval ratings.

Appointment in Mesopotamia  —  IRAQ'S PROBLEMS EXISTED LONG BEFORE 2003.  —  Replying to Fareed Zakaria's observation in Newsweek, about Iraq and the Iraqis—that "We did not give them a republic.  We gave them a civil war."  —Charles Krauthammer, in our common sister paper the Washington Post, expressed a fine contempt: