Filler in Animal Feed Is Open Secret in China  —  As American food safety regulators head to China to investigate how a chemical made from coal found its way into pet food that killed dogs and cats in the United States, workers in this heavily polluted northern city openly admit that the substance …

George Tenet's Imaginary Encounter...  With Richard Perle.  —  SCOTT SHANE REPORTED in Saturday's New York Times that former CIA chief George Tenet's dramatic description in his book, At the Center of the Storm, of an August 2002 presentation at the CIA by defense undersecretary Douglas Feith and his staff …

Quiet Bush Aide Seeks Iraq Czar, Creating a Stir  —  Stephen J. Hadley would be the first to tell you he does not have star power.  But Mr. Hadley, the bespectacled, gray-haired, exceedingly precise Washington lawyer who is President Bush's national security adviser, is in the market for someone who does …

Clinton's PowerPointer  —  With Data and Slides, a Pollster Guides Campaign Strategy  —  It was fairly simple, Mark J. Penn said calmly to Vice President Al Gore, reporting the findings of an exhaustive survey he had conducted in the early stages of the 2000 presidential campaign.

The Story Behind the Story, the Continuing Series  —  Atrios writes about media inconsistency regarding who is and isn't fair game when it comes to reporting on the private lives of public figures.  —  Years ago, Christopher Hitchens wrote that he went into journalism because he didn't want to have to rely …

Excerpt: Tenet Strikes Back  —  From George Tenet's new book At the Center of the Storm  —  I first flew into Iraq just about the time Jerry Bremer took over as head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, or CPA, during the third week of May 2003.  I took a helicopter ride with Jerry right over Baghdad.

Afghan infant deaths fall by 40,000 a year since ousting of Taleban  —  INFANT mortality in Afghanistan has fallen dramatically since the demise of the Taleban, according to a new study, with 40,000 fewer babies dying every year.  —  Improvements in women's access to medical care since …

McCain frets over treatment from press, faces campaign funding woes  —  Sen. John McCain, who was the darling of the political press corps during the 2000 election cycle, complains to friends that he is getting much rougher treatment from the news media than his competitors …

Welcome Aboard, Rick  —  This is your captain speaking, and I would like to take a moment to welcome Rick Moran aboard the Defeatocrat cruise ship for his maiden voyage.  Since Rick is new, I will repost the itinerary for his first morning with the Defeatocrats.  The ship will board in Berkeley on May Day.

A Saudi Prince Tied to Bush Is Sounding Off-Key  —  No foreign diplomat has been closer or had more access to President Bush, his family and his administration than the magnetic and fabulously wealthy Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia.  —  Prince Bandar has mentored Mr. Bush …

Guest Voice: Democratic Political Genius  —  The Moderate Voice occasionally runs special Guest Voice posts written by readers who don't have weblogs or others who simply have something they would like to raise with TMV's diverse readership.  This is by Matthew Pearl, a second year student at the University of Georgia.

Fired US Attorney David Iglesias on "Real Time"  —  Fired USA David Iglesias joins the "Real Time" panel to talk about the purge scandal and swiftly dispels all the right-wing rumors.  If the Bush administration thought they could fire people of such integrity and expect them not to be irate and speak out, they were sadly mistaken.

TODAY'S FRED THOMPSON RALLY IN COOKEVILLE: I thought about going, but we've been a bit under the weather.  But reader Jim Brown emails this YouTube video: "It was filmed and edited by my fifteen year old Grandson, Matthew Matheson.  I was late in picking him up so he missed the first part of the rally.