African American Voters Shift Support to Obama  —  The opening stages of the campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination have produced a noticeable shift in sentiment among African American voters, who little more than a month ago heavily supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton …

Rice: U.S. joining Iraq in inviting Iran, Syria to 'neighbors meeting'  —  The United States and the Iraqi government are launching a new diplomatic initiative to invite Iran and Syria to a neighbors meeting on stabilizing Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday.

Asian, European markets drop for 2nd day  —  TOKYO - Chinese stocks bounced back Wednesday after their biggest decline in a decade, but stock markets elsewhere in Asia and Europe fell for a second day amid investor jitters about possible slowdowns in the Chinese and U.S. economies.

Glenn Greenwald, Thomas Ellers, and Rick Ellensburg: The Three Most Hypocritical Men on the Planet  —  A suicide bomber apparently tried to kill Dick Cheney, and many commenters at the Huffington Post lamented his lack of success.  The offending comments have been removed from the post in question, but you can read some of them here.

Democrats Back Away From War Fund Plan  —  WASHINGTON — House Democratic leaders are backing away from a plan to scale back U.S. involvement in the Iraq war by using Congress' most powerful tool _ withholding money in the budget.  —  Instead, party officials said Tuesday …

Former CIA Operative Weighs in on Afghan War; Kerik Weighs in on NYC Terror Threats; Expert: Photos Reveal Father of Anna Nicole`s Baby  —  THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT.  THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.  —  GLENN BECK, HOST: Coming up, Vice President Cheney was the target of a suicide attack.

Cutting carbon  —  THE Oscar win for Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth has touched off a minor firestorm over the Green Giant's own energy usage policies: … Al Gore's people have fired back: … Some of this response seems flatly silly.  The electricity usage is what Mr Gore consumes …

Two GOP Factions May End Feud in Favor of Fighting Democrats  —  Now that Republicans are in the minority in Congress, a pair of dueling GOP organizations that fund congressional candidates may be reaching a détente of sorts, as they embrace the shared goal of reclaiming the majority in 2008.

Seixon No More  —  I'm done.  —  Blogging here has been an interesting adventure since I started back in April 2005.  After 350 posts, 150 trackbacks, 10,000 comments (geez!), several e-mails from Larry Johnson, and one gig on a radio show, it's time to put this baby down.

Afghan Bombing Sends a Danger Signal to U.S.  —  The audacity of a suicide-bomb attack on Tuesday at the gates of the main American base in Afghanistan during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney underscores why President Bush sent him there — a deepening American concern that the Taliban and Al Qaeda are resurgent.

Did the Drudge Report Help Tank the Stock Market?  —  Here's a headline sure to spook any investor or economist: "Greenspan warns of likely U.S. recession."  That was the headline right near the top of the widely surfed Drudge Report yesterday afternoon and this morning …