Announcement  —  I was hired by the Edwards campaign for the skills and talents I bring to the table, and my willingness to work hard for what's right.  Unfortunately, Bill Donohue and his calvacade of right wing shills don't respect that a mere woman like me could be hired for my skills …

In Shift, Accord on North Korea Seems to Be Set  —  The United States and four other nations reached a tentative agreement to provide North Korea with roughly $400 million in fuel oil and aid, in return for the North's starting to disable its nuclear facilities and allowing nuclear inspectors …

Pace Demurs on Accusation of Iran  —  General Says He Knows Nothing Tying Leaders to Arms in Iraq  —  Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said yesterday that he has no information indicating Iran's government is directing the supply of lethal weapons to Shiite insurgent groups in Iraq.

Pincus Reveals Fleischer As Leak Source  —  Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus testified in court this morning that then-White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, not I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was the first person to tell him that a prominent critic of the Iraq war was married to undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame.

Obama: Soldier deaths = "Wasted" lives  —  Sen. Barack Obama's nutroots are showing.  RedStateLady has the video of Obama arguing that each and every member of the military who volunteered to serve and died in Iraq wasted his/her life:  —  Transcript: … The audience roared with cheers and applause.

Breaking: Menendez Will Co-Sponsor Bill Banning Torture, Restoring Habeas Corpus  —  I rarely use "breaking" in titles but I think this deserves it.  After all the uproar over Senator Menendez's vote a few months ago for the unconstitutional Military Commissions Act which eliminated habeas corpus …

Prison Rape  —  I've written about this before.  Here's a first-person account: … The crime this man committed for us to throw him into a jail where we know he'll be brutally assaulted, raped, and possibly contract a terminal immune system disease?  Drinking and driving.

Al-Qaeda praying for Obama win, says PM  —  PRIME Minister John Howard has blasted US presidential candidate Barack Obama, saying his policy of withdrawing troops from Iraq will destabilise the entire Middle East.  —  Senator Obama, who is aiming to be the first black American president, has vowed to withdraw US forces if elected.

Report Shows Lost FBI Computers Still a Problem  —  At Least 10 Laptops Contained Highly Classified Information  —  The FBI reported 160 laptop computers as lost or stolen in less than four years, including at least 10 that contained highly sensitive classified information and one that held …

EXCLUSIVE: Iranian President Ducks Charges That Iran Is Arming Iraqi Insurgents  —  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Says His Country Is Asking for Peace and the U.S. Should Leave Iraq  —  In an exclusive interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad refused to address accusations …

Federal surplus widens to $38.2 billion in Jan.  —  WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. federal budget surplus widened by 82% in January to $38.2 billion from $21 billion a year earlier, the Treasury Department reported Monday.  —  The surplus is slightly below the Congressional Budget Office estimate of about $40 billion.