Low-key office launches high-profile inquiry  —  The Office of Special Counsel will investigate U.S. attorney firings and other political activities led by Karl Rove.  —  WASHINGTON — Most of the time, an obscure federal investigative unit known as the Office of Special Counsel confines itself …

Video: Reid vows not to believe Petraeus if he reports progress in Iraq  —  He's willing to compromise.  Unlike some Democrats, he'll hear Petraeus out; he'll just simply refuse to believe anything he says that doesn't fit the left's narrative.  If that "reasoning" sounds familiar …

Oversight Committee Hearing on Tillman, Lynch Incidents  —  The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is currently holding a hearing entitled "Misleading Information from the Battlefield."  The hearing will focus on the death of Army Ranger Specialist Patrick Tillman in Afghanistan …

Video: O'Reilly names those who recycle Media Matters' garbage  —  Bill O'Reilly went after Media Matters tonight in his Talking Points Memo and in the segment that followed.  He named several influential media figures who regurgitate content and talking points from Media Matters uncritically.

Jawa Celebration: Abu Izzadeen & 5 Others Arrested in Terror Ring *Sticky*  —  UPDATE EXCLUSIVE: An Islamist forum connected with Omar Bakri Mohammed, and previously exposed here at The Jawa Report, has listed the names of the six terror suspects arrested today.

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs  —  Good morning.  We all know that these are not the best of times for America's reputation in the world.  We know what the war in Iraq has cost us in lives and treasure, in influence and respect.

The Big White Lie  —  The thing I like best about being a conservative is that I don't have to lie.  I don't have to pretend that men and women are the same.  I don't have to declare that failed or oppressive cultures are as good as mine.  I don't have to say that everyone's special …

Minimum-Wage Accord Produces Protests  —  The Iraq spending bill moving through Congress includes a provision to increase the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade.  But Democrats have stripped out a variety of contentious tax measures that had been tied to the minimum-wage legislation …

A Tale of Two Scandals  —  "Full confidence" for an EU official despite a romp on a nude beach with an employee.  —  Imagine that a top civil servant at a major multinational institution arranges a job for a fortysomething female colleague that comes with a $45,000 raise and brings her yearly salary to about $190,000, tax free.

At Trial, Pain Has a Witness  —  ALEXANDRIA, Va. —William E. Hurwitz, the prominent doctor on trial here for drug trafficking, spent more than two days on the witness stand last week telling a jury why he had prescribed painkillers to patients who turned out to be drug dealers and addicts.

Negotiators Agree on War-Funding Package  —  House-Senate Bill, Which Sets Timetable for Troop Withdrawal, Likely to Face Veto  —  House and Senate negotiators reached agreement yesterday on war-funding legislation that would begin bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq as early as July …

Gingrich hires pollster  —  Newt Gingrich has hired a pollster and a fundraiser, but not for a presidential campaign - at least not yet.  —  Gingrich, the former speaker of the House and leader of the 1994 Republican revolution, has not discouraged speculation he'll add his name to the list …

Suicide blast kills 9 U.S. soldiers  —  Attack in Diyala province comes same day 5 other explosions kill 46  —  Demonstrators in Baghdad's Adhamiya district protest Monday against the construction of concrete walls in the area.  —  NBC video  —  Walling off neighborhoods

Plunge in Existing-Home Sales Is Steepest Since '89  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of existing homes plunged in March by the largest amount in nearly two decades, reflecting bad weather and increasing problems in the subprime mortgage market, a real estate trade group reported today.

Obama's Rise Strains Loyalty on Clinton Turf  —  Only a few months ago, the vast majority of black elected officials in New York were expected to support the presidential candidacy of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.  But no longer.  —  In a series of interviews, a significant number …