The Democrats' Trade Troubles  —  Last week house speaker Nancy Pelosi and congress-man Charles Rangel showed genuine leadership by making a deal with the Bush administration to ease the passage of new trade pacts.  But they did so from within a party that is going seriously awry on this issue.

No Disclosure: Presidential Candidates Defy Tradition, Refuse to Release Taxes  —  Since Watergate, Only Clinton Refused to Release Income Information  —  Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.,worked for a hedge fund while heading a poverty center in between his presidential campaigns.

Football reference trips up GOP hopeful  —  LAKE GENEVA, Wis. - Note to Sen. Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record): In Packerland, it's not cool to diss Brett Favre.  —  The GOP presidential hopeful drew boos and groans Friday at the Wisconsin Republican Party convention when he used …

Pakistan on brink of disaster as Karachi burns  —  Chaos gripped the streets of Karachi yesterday as gun battles left at least 31 people dead and hundreds more injured, threatening a complete breakdown of law and order in Pakistan's largest and most volatile city.

U.S. Aims to Weaken G-8 Climate Change Statement  —  Negotiators from the United States are trying to weaken the language of a climate change declaration set to be unveiled at next month's G-8 summit of the world's leading industrial powers, according to documents obtained yesterday by The Washington Post.

Report: "Taliban Zarqawi" killed in fighting in southern Afghanistan; Update: NYT, BBC reporters view body  —  No confirmation yet from NATO but an Afghan official claims to have seen the body.  Another official (or the same one?) tells Reuters it's in Kandahar, presumably in the government's possession.

Church's Sign Against Islam Sparks Controversy  —  SPRING HOPE — Words like "bomb" and "die" draw attention to the small sign in front of Good News Independent Baptist Church.  —  Rev. Gary Murrell put up the sign, which on one side claims the message of Islam is "submit, convert or die."

Search ongoing for 3 missing U.S. troops  —  BAGHDAD - U.S. and Iraqi troops searched house-to-house and combed fields with their bare hands Saturday after American troops and their Iraqi interpreter came under attack in the notorious "triangle of death" south of Baghdad, leaving five dead and three missing.

Thompson revises apology on gay comment  —  LAKE GENEVA, Wis. - Tommy Thompson cited a dead hearing aid and an urgent need to use the bathroom in explaining on Saturday why he said at a GOP presidential debate that an employer should be allowed to fire a gay worker.

TO THE DNC: SUE US  —  A Free Republic poster writes that he's a regular reader who enjoys our views on a variety of issues.  He writes that he's enjoyed our posts in which we use our skills as lawyers to weigh in on legal issues.  He draws our attention to the cease-and-desist letter …

Army Career Behind Him, General Speaks Out on Iraq  —  John Batiste has traveled a long way in the last four years, from commanding the First Infantry Division in Iraq to quitting the Army after three decades in uniform and, now, from his new life overseeing a steel factory here …

SCIRI Adopts Sistani, emphasizes Iraqiness  —  Bombings kill 26, wound 60  —  The Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq held its annual party convention on Thursday and Friday and, according to Mariam Karouny of Reuters has decided to make some significant changes.

The decline of motherhood  —  As we celebrate Mother's Day, we should pause to consider the social factors that keep more and more women from having children  —  Hiking along the northern reaches of British Columbia's Sunshine Coast last week, my sister and I passed by the home of a woman recently taken by cancer.