McCain rejects CPAC invite  —  Sen. John McCain is the only major Republican presidential candidate who will not address the nation's premier gathering of conservatives this year.  —  Sponsors of the Conservative Political Action Conference, which begins today in Washington and brings together thousands …

U.S. Concedes Uncertainty on North Korean Uranium Effort  —  Last October, the North Koreans tested their first nuclear device, the fruition of decades of work to make a weapon out of plutonium.  —  For nearly five years, though, the Bush administration, based on intelligence estimates …

Rebuke Bush 2pm  —  JOIN THE KATRINA SURVIVORS' REBUKE OF PRESIDENT BUSH  —  New Orleans Needs Federal Aid, Not Presidential Photo-Ops.  —  Mr. President: Katrina Survivors Do Not Welcome You, We Rebuke You!  —  We live in a devastated city and you are a big part of the reason why it sill sits in ruins.

Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says  —  Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes have a natural—and not a human-induced—cause, according to one scientist's controversial theory.

"Seven words you can never say on television"... but which are said on the Internet.  A lot.  —  Talk about potty-mouths.  —  The Net's not always a kid-friendly place; there is plenty of foul language out there.  And of course, the blogosphere is no different.

Walter Reed medical chief relieved of command  —  General's dismissal follows reports on poor treatment of wounded soldiers  —  U.S. Army Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman speaks to a crowd during a NASCAR visit at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington in September 2006.

The Myth of the Middle  —  The story of 2006 was that regular Americans were sick of partisan divisions in Washington.  The vast and consensus-hungry middle asserted itself in November, the narrative went, finally ordering the parties and their childish politicians to stop fighting and to work together.

Historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Dies at 89  —  Kennedy Confidant, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Dies of Heart Attack in New York  —  Historian and intellectual icon Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., a Kennedy confidant and liberal standard-bearer who was a fixture in Washington political life for decades …

What Went Wrong?  —  After the September 11 terror attacks people looked for books that could explain the new world they lived in.  One of the authors they found was the historian Bernard Lewis, whose "What Went Wrong?  Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response" became a bestseller.

Walter Reuther's Ghost  —  Democrats vote to bar secret union ballots.  —  The House of Representatives has scheduled a vote as early as today on a bill that strips 140 million U.S. workers of the right to decide in private whether to unionize.  Naturally, it's called the Employee Free Choice Act.

Democrats View Hillary Clinton as Most Electable Democratic Candidate  —  Fewer than half think Gore will have a good chance to win  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A recent Gallup Panel survey shows that Democrats think Hillary Clinton has the best chance of being elected president among …

Cheney's contempt for American public opinion  —  Since the smashing repudiation his party suffered at the hands of the American voter in the 2006 midterm elections, Dick Cheney's behavior has become palpably more secretive, combative, and scornful.  The embittered interview he gave …