In Both Parties, 2008 Politeness Falls to Infighting  —  The sun was not yet up yesterday, and members of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign team were confronted with the kind of attack that most infuriates them: one questioning the character of Mrs. Clinton and her husband.

Why the British are scaling back in Iraq  —  The military can't fight there and in Afghanistan without approaching 'operational failure,' one critic says.  Something had to give.  —  LONDON — Britain's decision to pull 1,600 troops out of Iraq by spring, touted by U.S. and British leaders …

U.S. troops find chemicals in Iraq raid  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. troops raided a car bomb factory west of Baghdad with five buildings full of propane tanks and ordinary chemicals the military believes were to be used in bombs, a spokesman said Thursday, a day after insurgents blew up a truck carrying chlorine gas canisters.

Report Finds Iran in Breach of U.N. Order  —  In open defiance of the United Nations, Iran is steadily expanding — rather than freezing — its efforts to enrich uranium, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported today.  The findings have prompted the Bush Administration to press …

Egyptian Blogger Sentenced to Prison  —  ALEXANDRIA, Egypt — An Egyptian blogger was convicted of insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak and sentenced to four years in prison on Thursday in Egypt's first prosecution of a blogger.  —  Abdel Kareem Nabil, a 22-year-old former student …

Senate illegals bill near complete  —  Senators and lobbyists are putting the final touches on a comprehensive immigration-reform bill that includes an easier citizenship path for illegal aliens and weaker enforcement provisions than were in the highly criticized legislation that the Senate approved last year.

A Lack of Courage In Their Convictions  —  Indiscriminate criticism of President George W. Bush is an infectious disease.  Some conservatives seem to have caught it, but congressional Democrats might be crippled by it.  —  Consider some conservatives' reflexive rejection …

Facebook nightmare: College Republican targeted by stalker speaks out  —  ***bumped to the top...updated with police report summary***  —  This is Richard Reed Pannell.  He's a student at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA. On Saturday, he was minding his own business …

Two accused of plotting terror while in Cleveland  —  Prosecutors: They met man here to train them to aid insurgents in Iraq  —  Thousands of people came to Cleveland in July 2004 for a conference on Muslim families and the challenges they face, but two cousins had other motives in making …

Tom Vilsack's Very, Very Bad Idea  —  I didn't watch the Democratic debate (debates?  This early??), but then I noticed (h/t Atrios and Matt Yglesias) that Jonathan Singer at MyDD wrote this: … Price indexing?  Yikes.  Like Matt, I didn't want to leap to conclusions …

Paul Campos' response to Glenn Reynolds  —  Last Tuesday, right-wing Law Professor Glenn Reynolds wrote a post calling for the murder of Iranian atomic scientists and "radical mullahs," and I wrote about Reynolds' "idea" here.  On Monday of this week, University of Colorado Law School Professor …

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee: Let's help Hugo butch up his military  —  Ahem. … The US is still, regularly and at great volume, denounced for its role in arming Saddam Hussein, even though that role pales in comparison to the Soviet and European role in arming Saddam.

Cheney Chastises McCain  —  President Bush and Vice President Cheney both say they have sworn off commenting on the '08 race, so their words are being parsed for glimmers of their view of the race to succeed them.  Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was at odds with this president for years …

Emission trading suffers as carbon prices plummet  —  A leading economist this week warned that the world's two leading carbon trading schemes are failing to deliver the expected benefits due to a collapse in the price of carbon credits - and the situation is likely to get far worse before it gets better.

American Liberty at the Precipice  —  In another low moment for American justice, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that detainees held at the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, do not have the right to be heard in court.  The ruling relied on a shameful law …

The One Man Counter-Protest  —  ERIC ODESSIT takes on 300 defeatist protesters in San Diego. … What Eric does next is so simple and elegant, it drives the "artist" nuts. … Ah, so now defeatist protests are considered "art," and passing out flags is "vandalism."  Got it.

In China, Stern Treatment For Young Internet 'Addicts'  —  DAXING, China — Sun Jiting spends his days locked behind metal bars in this military-run installation, put there by his parents.  The 17-year-old high school student is not allowed to communicate with friends back home …