Bush vetoes troop withdrawal bill  —  WASHINGTON - President Bush vetoed legislation to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq Tuesday night in a historic showdown with Congress over whether the unpopular and costly war should end or escalate.  —  In only the second veto of his presidency …

Loyalty Day, 2007  —  A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America  —  America was founded by patriots who risked their lives to bring freedom to our Nation.  Today, our citizens are grateful for our Founding Fathers and confident in the principles that lead us forward.

The Left's New Machine  —  MOST POLITICAL ACTIVISTS can point to one catalyzing event, an episode in each of their lives (or, more often, in the life of their country) that shook them from their complacency and roused them to change the world.  You can find many such stories if you troll through …

The Weird Religions Candidate  —  Dave Weigel notes that Mitt Romney says his favorite novel is L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth: … Dave comments: "No, that isn't true.  Battlefield Earth is awful.  Nobody reads that book except Scientologists and smartasses who want to giggle at Scientologists …

Bush vetoes Iraq spending bill over timelines  —  President warns withdrawing troops would be 'prescription for chaos'  —  President Bush used his veto pen for only the second time Tuesday after Congress sent him a war spending bill that would impose timelines to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq …

Top Hamas official: Kill all Americans  —  Sheik Ahmad Bahr, acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, declared during a Friday sermon at a Sudan mosque that America and Israel will be annihilated and called upon Allah to kill Jews and Americans "to the very Last One".

No Bloomberg Challenge (for Dow Jones)  —  Bloomberg  —  The Wall Street Journal Home Page  —  Political Insight and Analysis From The Wall Street Journal's Capital Bureau  —  Blog Search:  —  May 1, 2007, 4:32 pm  —  No Bloomberg Challenge (for Dow Jones)

Shadowy Iraq office accused of sectarian agenda … BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Iraq's prime minister has created an entity within his government that U.S. and Iraqi military officials say is being used as a smokescreen to hide an extreme Shiite agenda that is worsening the country's sectarian divide.

Give bloggers Capitol access  —  This is the first article in a weekly series, exclusively in The Hill, exploring the recommendations of the Sunlight Foundation's Open House Project, which advocates online transparency in Congress.  —  Members of Congress are increasingly turning to bloggers …

Why Wolfowitz Should Stay  —  FOR the past few weeks, the world has been riveted by the difficulties of Paul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank, regarding a potential conflict of interest involving the salary of his partner, also a senior official there.

Why Congress Should Embrace the Surge  —  WHEN the civilian hierarchy fails them, soldiers tend to seek solace in Clausewitz's observation that war is an extension of politics.  But in 2005 and 2006 the reverse was true in Iraq: the battle churned in place, steadily eroding …