Bush Defends Gonzales in Firing of Prosecutors  —  President Bush defended Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales today amid the furor over the firing of federal prosecutors, but he said he was troubled over the clumsy handling of the dismissals.  —  "I do have confidence in Attorney General Al Gonzales …

Clinton and Obama Court Jewish Vote  —  As Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama compete for Jewish donors and voters, Mrs. Clinton is following a tried-and-true rule of hers from New York — support Israel to the last — while Mr. Obama is trying a more delicate strategy that hit some bumps this week.

MIL-IRAQ-US SOLDIERS  —  Baghdad security crackdown seriously curbs killings of US soldiers  —  The rate of killings of US troops in Iraq has been on the decline, down by 60 percent, since the launch of the new security measures in Baghdad, according to statistics revealed …

Giuliani Law Firm Lobbies in Texas for Chavez-Controlled Citgo  —  Rudolph Giuliani's law firm lobbies for Citgo Petroleum Corp., a unit of the state-owned oil company controlled by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the U.S.'s chief antagonist in the Western Hemisphere.

Fitzgerald: Rove tried to limit choice  —  WASHINGTON — Former Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.) said Tuesday that White House political adviser Karl Rove told him in the spring of 2001 that he should limit his choice for U.S. attorney in Chicago to someone from Illinois.

No deal, Kerik says to plea offer & prison time  —  Disgraced former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik borrowed a line from a popular game show after federal prosecutors made him a plea offer that would have required him to do time:  —  No deal.  —  "He rejected the plea deal because he paid …

MORE NCLB....Matt Yglesias thinks I'm being paranoid when I say that some of NCLB's supporters view it as a clever Trojan horse designed to officially label public schools as failures: … Let me make several points in response.  You can all decide whether they're fair ones:

Pig Out  —  WITH some fanfare, the world's largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods, recently announced that it intended to phase out certain cages for its breeding females.  Called gestation crates, the cages virtually immobilize pigs during their pregnancies in metal stalls so narrow they are unable to turn around.

French High Court Rejects Gay Marriage  —  PARIS (AP) - France's highest court Tuesday rejected as unlawful the first marriage by a gay couple in France, annulling the union of the two men.  —  Stephane Charpin and Bertrand Charpentier were married in a civil ceremony on June 5, 2004 …

Some progress may mean hope for Baghdad  —  BAGHDAD - Bomb deaths have gone down 30 percent in Baghdad since the U.S.-led security crackdown began a month ago.  Execution-style slayings are down by nearly half.  The once frequent sound of weapons has been reduced to episodic …

Legislators Aim At a New Misdeed On the Road: DWT  —  'Driving While Texting'  —  Is Email Junkies' Woe,  —  Linked to Accidents  —  OLYMPIA, Wash. — During the morning rush hour on Dec. 5, the 53-year-old driver of a blue Dodge Caravan was traveling north on Interstate 5 outside Seattle …