Documents highlight Gonzales' role in the firings  —  WASHINGTON - Internal Bush administration e-mails suggest that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may have played a bigger role than he has acknowledged in the plan to fire several U.S. attorneys.  —  The e-mails, delivered to Congress Friday night …

Mock Colorado Jury Finds Man Not Responsible For Global Warming  —  Dr. Cullen and 2 inches.  I caught a bit of one of her specials last week, or so, in which the Florida everglades were the item.  While there was acknowledgement that most of the Everglades had been rather negatively impacted …

Hill bill protects flying public  —  House Republicans are pushing legislation to protect airline passengers from lawsuits for reporting suspicious behavior that might be linked to a terrorist attack.  —  Rep. Steve Pearce, New Mexico Republican, introduced the Protecting Americans Fighting Terrorism Act …

Public Takes Up Pros and Cons of Edwards Bid  —  Important policy debates about the course of the nation in the next presidential election are still out there and will no doubt return.  But for one day, many people all over the country seemed able to pause and reflect on something deeper …

Flakking Purgegate  —  FLAKKNG PURGEGATE....Brad DeLong flags an email from last night's document dump that was highlighted by one of Josh Marshall's readers.  A White House flak (Catherine Martin) wants to know who's on the purge list and a DOJ flak (Tasia Scolinos) answers.

Sailors held as bargaining chips for Iranians captured by U.S. in Irbil?  Update: New UN sanctions pass, 15-0  —  Big news if true.  The report comes from Asharq al-Awsat, which you'll recall had scoop after scoop about the Iranian general who disappeared last month.

Entitlement  —  Garance put up a post yesterday evening that I thought was a bit of a low blow, suggesting that Sam Rosenfeld, Ezra Klein, and I all just don't like Hillary Clinton because we're men.  I don't want to get into that, but I think it's a good entry into what I think is the very most crucial part …

Terrorized by 'War on Terror'  —  How a Three-Word Mantra Has Undermined America  —  The "war on terror" has created a culture of fear in America.  The Bush administration's elevation of these three words into a national mantra since the horrific events of 9/11 has had a pernicious impact …

Jeb Bush Denied Honor at U. of Florida  —  GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) - University of Florida President Bernie Machen said Friday he was "tremendously disappointed" with the school's Faculty Senate vote to deny former Gov. Jeb Bush an honorary degree.  —  The Senate voted 38-28 Thursday …

Hypocrisy on the Hill  —  WASHINGTONIANS probably could live with Republicans' sabotaging their latest chance at congressional representation; that's nothing new.  More galling are those Republicans too gutless to admit their true position.  —  Take, for example, the condescending statement …

South Africa Lowers Voice on Human Rights  —  Modern South Africa came about, historians agree, in part because of the United Nations' unrelenting stance against apartheid.  The United Nations affirmed that South African racism was not merely an internal political problem, but a threat to southern Africa.

Supreme court ban on liberal party wipes out opposition to Putin  —  Russia's next parliament is likely to have no genuine opposition after a court in Moscow yesterday banned a leading liberal party from standing in elections.  —  Russia's supreme court announced that it had liquidated …

BLUE AMERICA FINALLY WELCOMES CAROL SHEA-PORTER  —  Most people in government are lawyers.  Of the 42 men who have served as president 25 were lawyers.  The 109th Congress included 218 members who said they were attorneys.  There was something very refreshing and unique about speaking with Carol Shea-Porter the other day.

Knight of the Living Dead  —  SINCE the release of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed's dramatic confessions, moral outrage at the extent of his crimes has been mixed with doubts.  Can his claims be trusted?  What if he confessed to more than he really did, either because of a vain desire to be remembered …