F.B.I. Head Admits Mistakes in Use of Security Act  —  Bipartisan outrage erupted on Friday on Capitol Hill as Robert S. Mueller III, the F.B.I. director, conceded that the bureau had improperly used the USA Patriot Act to obtain information about people and businesses.

Democrats link pet causes to troop plan  —  WASHINGTON - Democrats seeking votes for their Iraq-withdrawal plan have stuffed the bill it's in with billions of dollars for farms, flu preparedness, New Orleans levees, home heating and other causes.  —  Some critics say the Democrats are simply …

McCain goes over to the dark side  —  John McCain goes over to the dark side  —  'THIS IS NOT Luke Skywalker here," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), discussing his friend and Senate colleague John McCain's second run for the presidency. "  This is a totally different campaign.

Dangerous Ruling  —  IN OVERTURNING the District of Columbia's long-standing ban on handguns yesterday, a federal appeals court turned its back on nearly 70 years of Supreme Court precedent to give a new and dangerous meaning to the Second Amendment.  If allowed to stand …

Bush and Chávez Spar at Distance Over Latin Visit  —  SÃO PAULO, Brazil, March 9 — President Bush began the first full day of his weeklong trip to Latin America here on Friday promising job-creating aid but ended up competing for attention with President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela …

Democrats Race to the Left  —  More trouble for the Democratic Party, as the nutroots continue to push the party into a far left corner.  It's now being reported that the Democrats are pulling out of a scheduled August debate in Nevada on Fox News.  The stampede started when John Edwards …

General: Conservatives Are 'Absolutely The Worst Thing That's Happened' To The U.S. Military  —  Retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, who was in charge of training the Iraqi military from 2003 to 2004, appeared last night on HBO's Bill Maher Show.  —  "We are in the midst of recovering right …

Privatized Walter Reed Workforce Gets Scrutiny  —  Army Facility Lost Dozens Of Maintenance Workers  —  The scandal over treatment of outpatients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center has focused attention on the Army's decision to privatize the facilities support workforce at the hospital …

Kopel: Coulter and Campos: Two sides of the same coin  —  One's right, one's left, but both often too shrill  —  They seem like opposites: she's tall, blond and right-wing; he's short, balding and left-wing.  Yet both are extremely intelligent weekly columnists with a gift for turning a clever phrase.

The Saturday Cartoons  —  All cartoons are posted with the artists' express permission to BobGeiger.com.  Please visit the following sites to see more work from these fine cartoonists:  —  Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle  —  Tony Auth, The Philadelphia Inquirer  —  Justin Bilicki, City Pulse

Reports of Progress In Iraq Challenged  —  Critics Cite Administration's Past Rhetoric  —  President Bush on Tuesday cited "encouraging signs" of military and political progress in Iraq as his new strategy gets underway.  On Wednesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noted that "things are going reasonably well."

Europe agrees to embrace nuclear option in battle to save the planet  —  David Charter and Rory Watson, Brussels  —  The role of nuclear power in Europe received an unexpected boost yesterday as EU leaders hailed a landmark climate change deal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and switch to renewable fuels.

The 301 Dalmatians  —  Armed Liberal at Winds of Change is planning to watch the movie 300 and, reading the reviews, was horrified to discover that "Kenneth Turan of the LA Times was the only one who 'got' the historical context of Thermopylae".  Could it be?

POLITICAL WINDS SHIFTING ON IRAQ?  —  The National Journal reports this morning that momentum on the Iraq issue may be shifting from the Democrats to the Republicans: … To see how frustrated the Democrats are feeling, check out this video of Congressman David Obey going ballistic on a group of antiwar liberals.