Clinton Objects to Confederate Flag  —  ORANGEBURG, S.C. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that South Carolina should remove the Confederate flag from its Statehouse grounds, in part because the nation should unite under one banner while at war.

Cheney's Influence Lessens in Second Term  —  Administration More Pragmatic in Foreign Policy, Dealing With Congress  —  Mistrustful of North Korea and its willingness to keep promises, Vice President Cheney worked hard in President Bush's first term to prevent talks aimed at halting that country's push to develop a nuclear bomb.

Iraqi Militants Launch Attack on U.S. Outpost  —  In a rare coordinated assault on an American combat outpost north of Baghdad, suicide bombers drove one or more cars laden with explosives into the compound on Monday, while other insurgents opened fire in the ensuing chaos, according to witnesses and the American military.

The Rape of Sabrine...  It takes a lot to get the energy and resolution to blog lately.  I guess it's mainly because just thinking about the state of Iraq leaves me drained and depressed.  But I had to write tonight.  —  As I write this, Oprah is on Channel 4 (one of the MBC channels we get on Nilesat) …

Army Fixing Patients' Housing  —  Walter Reed Army Medical Center began repairs yesterday on Building 18, a former hotel that is used to house outpatients recuperating from injuries suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan and that has been plagued with mold, leaky plumbing and a broken elevator.

PAUL CAMPOS thinks I'm beyond the pale for suggesting (in this post, which he does not link) that the Bush Administration might have been better off trying to use covert action to kill Iranian nuclear scientists and radical mullahs, instead of having to look at the massive air strikes now reportedly …

The Antiwar Surge  —  Iraq is unpopular, but embracing defeat may prove politically disastrous for Democrats.  —  In mid-January an Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that public support for President Bush's troop surge increased to 35%, up from 26% a few weeks earlier.

Supreme Court's new tilt could put Scalia on a roll  —  The outspoken justice is poised to lead a new conservative majority.  —  WASHINGTON — It has been two decades in the making, but this is the year Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court's most outspoken dissenter, could emerge as a leader of a new conservative majority.

Neutrality On the Net Gets High '08 Profile  —  Bloggers and other Internet activists made their marks in the past two presidential elections chiefly by building networks of political enthusiasts and raising money for candidates.  Now, they are pushing aggressively into policymaking …

Defence shield sites threatened by Russia  —  Russia threatened to train its missiles on Poland and the Czech Republic yesterday after the two countries signaled they would host a controversial US missile defence shield despite vehement objections from the Kremlin.

Israel's oldest kibbutz votes for privatisation  —  Nearly a century after it was founded, Israel's first and most famous kibbutz has voted to give up its early socialist ideals and to privatise itself.  —  The changes at Degania, which was founded where the Sea of Galilee meets the river Jordan …