Newt Gingrich blames "Liberalism" for VA Tech massacre  —  Leave it to Newt to spread some love to the left this morning.  It's all the evil—liberals that caused this horrific tragedy.  I guess I could say that Newt influenced Timothy McVeigh...  Download (3234) |  Play (4175) Download (1465) |

Student Government Asks Reporters to Leave by Monday  —  You've seen the news coverage from Blacksburg, complete with prominent network anchors reporting from the scene.  —  And now, the student government at Virginia Tech is asking for all of that to end.

Furor over author Ayaan Hirsi Ali's visit stirs debate on religious freedom  —  Say what you want about your religion.  —  Go ahead, say anything that comes into your mind — even if you don't agree with your minister, your priest, your rabbi.  Even if you think you're right and they've got it all wrong …

Laurie David and Sheryl Crow: Karl Rove Gets Thrown Under the Stop Global Warming Bus  —  Last night Thelma and Louise drove the bus off the cliff or at least into the White House Correspondents Dinner.  The "highlight" of the evening had to be when we were introduced to Karl Rove.

Let's be realistic about reality  —  Within hours of the Virginia Tech massacre, the New York Times had identified the problem: ''What is needed, urgently, is stronger controls over the lethal weapons that cause such wasteful carnage and such unbearable loss.''

Iraq PM asks for halt to Baghdad wall  —  Source: Reuters  —  Iraq's prime minister said on Sunday he had urged the U.S. military to halt work on a wall separating a Baghdad Sunni enclave from nearby Shi'ite areas after sharp criticism from some residents.

Rep. Millender-McDonald dies  —  Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Calif.), 68, who'd taken leave from Congress after being diagnosed with cancer, died Sunday, a congressional source said.  —  House Clerk Lorraine Miller has secured Millender-McDonald's office and is to oversee the office until an election can be held to replace her.

Video: O'Donnell on VTech shootings — wrong on the facts, wrong on the law  —  First he identifies Cho's weapons as automatic, i.e., capable of firing repeatedly so long as the trigger is held down.  Wrong: both were semi-automatics, requiring a fresh trigger pull for each shot.

82-Year-Old Ex-Beauty Queen Stops Intruder by Shooting Out Tires  —  WAYNESBURG, Ky. — Miss America 1944 has a talent that likely has never appeared on a beauty pageant stage: She fired a handgun to shoot out a vehicle's tires and stop an intruder.  —  Venus Ramey, 82, confronted a man …

WHO NEEDS A PLAN?:  —  This month's National Journal has a piece looking at the nuts and bolts of withdrawal from Iraq—what it would entail, who would stay behind, etc.  Most of the piece just recaps the battles in Washington over funding and the like, but these two paragraphs are unnerving:

Spitzer Plans to Introduce Gay Marriage Bill  —  Gov. Eliot Spitzer will introduce a bill in the coming weeks to legalize same-sex marriage in New York, his spokeswoman said Friday, a move that would propel New York to the forefront of one of the most contentious issues in politics.

Harry Reid and a 'lost' cause  —  Senator forced to backpedal on remarks  —  The Democratic strategy to use the ongoing violence in Iraq to their political advantage in the run-up to the 2008 elections requires some skill and nuance.  But it's growing harder to believe Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid …

"The cost of doing business"  —  A 2005 video still shows covered bodies in the town of Haditha, western Anbar province, Iraq.  A U.S. Army general concluded the Marine Corps chain of command in Iraq ignored 'obvious' signs of 'serious misconduct' in the slayings of two dozen civilians in Haditha …

The politics of saying 'genocide'  —  More than 90 years after the Armenian genocide, the U.S. is deadlocked in a humiliating linguistic debate.  —  ON TUESDAY, President Bush will be obliged, by law, to wrap his double-talking mouth around one of the most curiously persistent debates in modern geopolitics …

The Problem With Alberto  —  After a day of testimony that showed Alberto Gonzales to be so self-contradictory, so conveniently vacant and - at times - so simply risible that even radio listeners could feel the disgust that permeated the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room …

Haircuts Redux  —  EKlein and GFR think John Edwards is to blame for the Modo Hair Story Fiasco.  I join with Scott Lemieux in placing the onus purely on Dowd and her peers in the media: … One should note that there's a trap here designed to make it impossible, in practice …

It's Sarko vs Sego  —  Nicolas Sarkozy will line up against Ségolène Royal in the French presidential run-off in two weeks' time, according to early exit polls.  —  The unofficial polls were circulated in Paris but cannot be published in France until polling stations close at 8pm.