Democrats Set Stage for Next War Debate  —  Before deciding to blink in the long standoff over war spending and troop withdrawal, House Democrats convinced themselves President Bush is scoring only a short-term victory.  —  The House is expected to send to the Senate late Thursday …

EX-JUSTICE AIDE ADMITS POLITICS AFFECTED HIRING  —  A former top Justice Department aide testified on Wednesday that she had "crossed the line" in considering the political beliefs of applicants for nonpartisan legal jobs and suggested that earlier testimony by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales …

The entire government has failed us on Iraq  —  For the president, and the majority leaders and candidates and rank-and-file Congressmen and Senators of either party—there is only blame for this shameful, and bi-partisan, betrayal  —  SPECIAL COMMENT  —  A Special Comment about the Democrats' deal …

QUESTIONS FOR OUR LIBERAL FRIENDS  —  Bruce is a big boy, and certainly doesn't need me to help him out, but let's talk about Iraq for a moment.  Because I have questions for people like Oliver Willis to which I'm curious to hear the answers.  And I'm not asking in a snarky way.  I'm honestly interested.

Raid on spy's home 'reveals details of Chirac's secret £30m bank account'  —  LONG-STANDING rumours that the former French president Jacques Chirac holds a secret multi-million-euro bank account in Japan appear to have been confirmed by files seized from the home of a senior spy.

Clinton Camp Resists Aide's Advice to Skip Iowa  —  Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign has considered — and rejected — a plan to stop competing in Iowa, the traditional kickoff state in the nominating process, and to concentrate instead on later states …

Morgue Data Show Increase In Sectarian Killings in Iraq  —  More than three months into a U.S.-Iraqi security offensive designed to curtail sectarian violence in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq, Health Ministry statistics show that such killings are rising again.

Former Aide Takes Shots at Edwards  —  Robert Shrum, the veteran Democratic strategist who worked on John Edwards's 1998 Senate campaign in North Carolina, does not remember his onetime client very fondly.  —  In his new memoir, "No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner," …

Improvement in Iraq: Trust Joe Klein and his secret sources  —  Q. If you're a Bush administration official and you want to create a prominent headline in Time Magazine proclaiming what great improvement there is in Iraq, what do you do?  —  A. Have someone with a shiny military uniform …

U.S. military continues to discharge gay Arab linguists, and Congress members seek hearing  —  WASHINGTON: Lawmakers who say the military has kicked out 58 Arabic linguists because they were gay want the Pentagon to explain how it can afford to let the valuable language specialists go.

The collapse of Europe  —  If you happen to be passing though Malibu next month, why not pop into an intriguing-sounding conference at Pepperdine University on "The Collapse of Europe".  One of the early sessions is entitled - "Eurabia: Is Muslim domination of Europe inevitable?"

Dems' panel chiefs cash in on bundling  —  Powerful Democratic chairmen and subcommittee chairmen have relied on lobbyists to raise money during the first three months of this year, according to recent fundraising reports, which cast light on the strong opposition to lobbying reform