Court rules against Guantanamo detainees  —  Big win for administration although appeal to Supreme Court is likely  —  WASHINGTON - Guantanamo Bay detainees may not challenge their detention in U.S. courts, a federal appeals court said Tuesday in a ruling upholding a key provision in President Bush's anti-terrorism law.

Campos: The right's Ward Churchill  —  Murder is the premeditated unlawful killing of a human being.  Glenn Reynolds, the well-known University of Tennessee law professor who authors one of the Internet's most popular blogs, recently advocated the murder of Iranian scientists and clerics.

Trial Spotlights Cheney's Power as an Infighter  —  A picture taking shape from hours of testimony and reams of documents in the trial of I. Lewis Libby Jr. shatters any notion that the White House was operating as a model of cohesion throughout President Bush's first term.

Tormented first by hiccups, now by media … ST. PETERSBURG - The notes under the door.  The incessant phone calls.  The impassioned pleas, all begging for a piece of the story.  —  It wasn't reporters in search of secret intelligence involving the war in Iraq.

The Talented Mr. Romney  —  I have been following the zigs and zags of Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and now Republican presidential candidate, watching him grow progressively less progressive, sort of making himself up as he goes along.  As a result, I surf the Web with trepidation …

Scores choke in poison gas attack … BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — A cloud of deadly toxic gas engulfed an Iraqi town Tuesday, killing six people and leaving dozens of others choking on fumes after a tanker carrying chlorine exploded outside a restaurant.  —  An Iraqi Interior Ministry official …

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.

Police say political dispute with stranger got physical  —  Man's Republican beliefs irritate suspect  —  A Fredericksburg man was arrested Saturday on charges he assaulted three strangers at their home during a dispute over politics, police said.  —  According to a Fredericksburg police report …

Conservatives Target GOP War Critics in Congress  —  House Republican leaders and conservative activists are targeting critics of President Bush's plan to send more combat forces into Iraq — and some GOP lawmakers are on the hit list.  —  Amid a mounting campaign in Congress …

Moral Waivers and the Military  —  The Iraq war has plunged the Army into a vicious cycle of declining standards.  Multiple, extended tours of duty have sapped morale and blighted recruiting.  New plans for a larger overall force could reduce pressures but would also mean that recruiters would have to meet higher quotas.

Heroes And Cowards  —  Corporal Thomas Saba was buried in the Moravian Cemetery on Staten Island last Friday.  One of seven Marines killed when their helicopter was shot down in Iraq on February 7, Saba, 30, enlisted in the spring of 2002 in response to the attacks of September 11, 2001.

National Poll: Presidential Campaign 2008  —  This WNBC/Marist Poll reports:  —  · Hillary Clinton still outpaces her Democratic rivals nationwide as the Democrats' choice for their party's presidential nomination: Hillary Clinton outdistances her closest contender …

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.

Flame First, Think Later: New Clues to E-Mail Misbehavior  —  Jett Lucas, a 14-year-old friend, tells me the kids in his middle school send one other a steady stream of instant messages through the day.  But there's a problem.  —  "Kids will say things to each other in their messages …

The War Within Islam  —  THE GROWING DANGER OF THE SUNNI-SHIITE RIVALRY.  —  "See how the Christians love each other!"  This used to be the secular response to the fratricide between Catholics and Protestants, let alone the schisms within the Catholic Church and the vicious quarrels between different schools of Calvinism.