Pentagon: Al-Qaida operative captured  —  WASHINGTON - The Pentagon announced Friday the capture of one of al-Qaida's most senior and most experienced operatives, an Iraqi who was trying to return to his native country when he was captured.  —  Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the captive is Abdul al-Hadi al-Iraqi.

In Debate, Democrats Show More Unity Than Strife  —  Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was professorial and emphatic as she spoke Thursday night about health care, Iraq and whether Wal-Mart was good for America (a "mixed blessing," she decided) .  —  Senator Barack Obama of Illinois …

Ex-C.I.A. Chief, in Book, Assails Cheney on Iraq  —  George J. Tenet, the former director of central intelligence, has lashed out against Vice President Dick Cheney and other Bush administration officials in a new book, saying they pushed the country to war in Iraq without ever conducting a …

The terrorism that dare not speak its name  —  Why is it that the media and the government never calls the "pro-life" groups who plant bombs at women's clinics what they are: terrorists?  —  From the AP article, entitled "Explosive found at Austin women's clinic": … Actually, I shouldn't say "from" the AP article.

A GUN-BANNER'S WET DREAM  —  After first cautioning everyone that he's not a "liberal zealot" by telling us all about his experiences with weapons, Dan Simpson regales us with how he would disarm America (this in answer to the contention that with over 200+ million guns in the US, it would be impossible).

Senate Sends War Timetable To Bush's Desk  —  As Funding Bill Heads to Likely Veto, Talks on Revised Legislation Begin  —  The Senate approved a $124 billion Iraq war spending bill yesterday that would force troop withdrawals to begin as early as July 1, inviting President Bush's veto …

Tag Clouds for the Democratic Debate  —  Janet Harris, a friend and Pollster reader, sends an interesting bit of analysis she did on last night's MSNBC Democratic debate.  Using the free site TagCrowd, she created a set of "tag clouds" that provides a visual depiction of the words used most often last night by each of the candidates.

Dean at M.I.T. Resigns, Ending a 28-Year Lie  —  Marilee Jones, the dean of admissions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, became well known for urging stressed-out students competing for elite colleges to calm down and stop trying to be perfect.  Yesterday she admitted …

The Great Wall of Segregation...  ...Which is the wall the current Iraqi government is building (with the support and guidance of the Americans).  It's a wall that is intended to separate and isolate what is now considered the largest 'Sunni' area in Baghdad- let no one say the Americans are not building anything.

Straight Talking Again  —  Credit John McCain with one thing: When you're 70 years old, are running for president a second time and have been stumping through the country for many months, it's difficult to spring any surprises in your formal announcement speech.

Giuliani comes out against civil unions  —  The political website of the New York Sun will report tomorrow that in a major reversal from an earlier position, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani now opposes civil unions between same sex partners.  —  An advance copy of an article sent …

The Documents Not Turned Over  —  Last night, DOJ provided Congress with a list of Kyle Sampson documents it wasn't going to turn over.  They begin on December 19, not long after the firings, and continue until March 8, when Sampson resigned.  The withheld emails suggest some of the key issues the WH is trying to hide, particularly:

The Dan Gerstein sham  —  (updated below)  —  On Tuesday of this week, Hillary Clinton wrote for a post for FireDogLake regarding a bill she has sponsored in Congress, the Paycheck Fairness Act, which is designed to "toughen the penalties for violating the Equal Pay Act."