Army Squeezes Soldier Blogs, Maybe to Death  —  The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer, Wired News has learned.  The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction …

Parsing the Polls: No Room For Compromise on Iraq  —  President Bush's veto of the Iraq funding bill returns the debate over the war to square one.  —  The question for Democratic congressional leaders and the White House is how far is each side willing to push the fight over legislating …

Lawful incest may be on its way  —  WHEN THE BBC invited me onto one of its talk shows recently to talk about the day's hot topic — legalizing adult incest — I thought of Rick Santorum.  —  Back in 2003, as the Supreme Court was preparing to rule in Lawrence v. Texas …

The Battle to Control Obama's Myspace  —  In November 2004, Joe Anthony, a paralegal living in Los Angeles, started a unofficial fan page for then-newly-elected Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) on MySpace.com.  Inspired by Obama's keynote address at that summer's Democratic convention, Anthony had never been politically active before.

After the Veto  —  The ink on the President's veto is barely dry, and already, a lot of Washington insiders - including some Democrats — are saying Congress should just give in to the President.  Never mind how hard people have pushed to bring Congress to this point, when we are finally standing …

President Bush Discusses War on Terror, Economy with Associated General Contractors of America  —  Washington, D.C.  —  THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all; please be seated.  Steve, unlike you, I have trouble finding the front end of a front-end loader.  (Laughter.)  Thanks for having me.

Rice Meets with Iraq's Prime Minister on Eve of Conference  —  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met here with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Wednesday afternoon, on the eve of a crucial two-day gathering at this Red Sea resort that the Bush administration hopes will convince Iraq's neighbors …

Administration Pulls Back on Surveillance Agreement  —  Senior Bush administration officials told Congress on Tuesday that they could not pledge that the administration would continue to seek warrants from a secret court for a domestic wiretapping program, as it agreed to do in January.

Study of N.B.A. Sees Racial Bias in Calling Fouls  —  An academic study of the National Basketball Association, whose playoffs continue tonight, suggests that a racial bias found in other parts of American society has existed on the basketball court as well.

Rep. Shimkus: Iraq War Is Like 'My Beloved St. Louis Cardinals' Facing 'The Cubbies'  —  Today on the House floor, Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) compared the war in Iraq to a Major League Baseball feud, asking fellow members of Congress to "Imagine my beloved St. Louis Cardinals are playing the much despised Chicago Cubs."

U.S. Seeks Closing of Visa Loophole for Britons  —  Omar Khyam, the ringleader of the thwarted London bomb plot who was sentenced to life imprisonment on Monday, showed the potential for disaffected young men to be lured as terrorists, a threat that British officials said they would have to contend with for a generation.

Message to the House of Representatives  —  TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:  —  I am returning herewith without my approval H.R. 1591, the "U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007."  —  This legislation is objectionable …

WFNR considers pulling Boortz  —  Scott Stevens knew Neal Boortz was a "hate monger."  But he had only received a single, generic complaint about Boortz's remarks regarding the shootings at Virginia Tech.  Now, Stevens says WFNR AM 710 in Pulaski will strongly consider pulling Boortz …

Imus won't go quietly  —  The talk show host has hired a top First Amendment lawyer, and an unusual clause in his contract could give him a $40 million payday, writes Fortune's Tim Arango.  —  NEW YORK (Fortune) — Don Imus, the tousled and acerbic radio host whose racial remarks engendered …

Republicans In Fiction  —  Earlier this year, Ben Nugent wondered in N+1 why there aren't more novels written by Republicans.  Now, via Andrew, comes a good explanation for why there aren't more novels about Republicans: … So wait ... it's the Bushies' fault that all the anti-Bush agitprop …

The right's explicit and candid rejection of "the rule of law"  —  (updated below)  —  The Wall St. Journal online has today published a lengthy and truly astonishing article by Harvard Government Professor Harvey Mansfield, which expressly argues that the power of the President is greater than "the rule of law."

Millions Of Chickens Fed Tainted Pet Food  —  At least 2.5 million broiler chickens from an Indiana producer were fed pet food scraps contaminated with the chemical melamine and subsequently sold for human consumption, federal health officials reported yesterday.

BANANA REPUBLICANISM, CONT'D....Quote of the day, from Thomas Sowell: … Now that's a comforting, conservative thought, isn't it?  I wonder what Buckley thinks of NRO publishing stuff like this?  —  (And in case you're wondering, there's no further context.  That's the whole quote.