Deadline pulled from war funding bill … WASHINGTON (CNN) — Speaker Nancy Pelosi will present a plan to House Democrats for a war funding bill that won't include a timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq but will feature benchmarks with consequences, according to Democratic leadership aides.

Muslim Americans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream  —  War on Terror Concerns  —  The first-ever, nationwide, random sample survey of Muslim Americans finds them to be largely assimilated, happy with their lives, and moderate with respect to many of the issues that have divided Muslims and Westerners around the world.

Bomb Plot Thwarted at Falwell's Funeral  —  Student Arrested With Homemade Bombs, Three Other Suspects Sought  —  Even in death, the Rev. Jerry Falwell rouses the most volatile of emotions.  —  A small group of protesters gathered near the funeral services to criticize the man …

Bush could double force by Christmas  —  (05-22) 04:00 PDT Washington — The Bush administration is quietly on track to nearly double the number of combat troops in Iraq this year, an analysis of Pentagon deployment orders showed Monday.  —  The little-noticed second surge …

Snow Slams Gore's Book, Says It Should Be 'Reprinted' Because It Calls Out Bush's 'Deception'  —  In his new book The Assault on Reason, Al Gore wrote that Bush's efforts to connect Iraq to 9/11 were an example of the administration's willful "deception" of the public:

The group blog of The American Prospect  —  PRE-SUFFRAGETTE CITY.  Jill Filipovic points us to this Times article about the new strategy to justify using state coercion to force women to carry pregnancies to term by claiming that women are too irrational to know what's good for them, and offers a modest proposal.

Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran  —  Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report:  —  The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

Today's Must Read  —  OK, so you knew Duke Cunningham was dirty, but you didn't know that he was this dirty.  —  The Wrong Stuff: The Extraordinary Saga of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the Most Corrupt Congressman Ever Caught, the book about Cunningham by the reporters who brought him down, hits stores this coming Monday.

U.S. Government Gave Airtime to Terrorists, Official Admits  —  Justin Rood Reports:  —  Al Hurra television, the U.S. government's $63 million-a-year effort at public diplomacy broadcasting in the Middle East, is run by executives and officials who cannot speak Arabic, according to a senior official who oversees the program.

S.F.'s same-sex couples asked to adopt foster kids  —  Gino VanGundy lived in more than 20 foster homes in 14 years as a child.  Placement after placement, VanGundy wished someone would keep and love him forever.  —  "I wouldn't have cared if my adoptive parents were a married man and woman …