RNC fires phone solicitors  —  The Republican National Committee, hit by a grass-roots donors' rebellion over President Bush's immigration policy, has fired all 65 of its telephone solicitors, Ralph Z. Hallow will report Friday in The Washington Times.  —  Faced with an estimated 40 percent fall-off …

Sunni Insurgents Battle in Baghdad  —  Residents of Western Neighborhood Join Groups' Fight Against Al-Qaeda in Iraq  —  Sunni residents of a west Baghdad neighborhood used assault rifles and a roadside bomb to battle the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq this week …

Too Bad  —  President Bush has torn the conservative coalition asunder.  —  What political conservatives and on-the-ground Republicans must understand at this point is that they are not breaking with the White House on immigration.  They are not resisting, fighting and thereby setting …

Exclusive: Diane Sawyer Speaks to TB Patient  —  Sawyer Interviews Andrew Speaker, TB Patient in Isolation  —  Andrew Speaker has asked for forgiveness from the airline passengers he exposed to a rare strain of tuberculosis, and told ABC's Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview …

Bush's 'new climate strategy'  —  Today's headlines are full of the news that President Bush is &;  quot;unveiling a new climate strategy.&;  quot; If your immediate reaction is cynicism, well ... looks like you learned something over the last seven years.  Let's look a little closer.

Senate Panel Questions C.I.A. Detentions  —  The Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday questioned the continuing value of the Central Intelligence Agency's secret interrogation program for terrorism suspects, suggesting that international condemnation and the obstacles it has created …

Can Any Immigration Bill Be Saved?  —  Another day of interviews and calls, and my overwhelming sense is that the immigration bill as drafted is as dead as dead can be.  The president's speech on Tuesday had the effect of throwing gas on the flames, and the anger has multiplied, and it isn't nativist in the least.

Brokeback Hill  —  Mike Rogers has outed so many closeted gay politicos, he's starting to make Capitol Hill look like Brokeback Mountain.  —  WASHINGTON - Members of the 110th Congress consider yourselves warned: Mike Rogers is making his list.  —  Rogers is a muckraking gay blogger …

The lessons of Vietnam  —  Iraq desperately needs a political solution in the short term to make the war more manageable for the next president.  —  THE IRAQ WAR has reawakened memories of the Vietnam War, the most significant political experience of an entire American generation.

Raging Caging  —  WHAT THE HECK IS VOTE CAGING, AND WHY SHOULD WE CARE?  —  Last week, in her testimony before the House judiciary committee, Monica Goodling referred several times to "vote caging" possibly done by Arkansas' soon to be ex-interim, never-confirmed U.S. Attorney Tim Griffin.

Man says he's got a new Loch Ness video  —  EDINBURGH, Scotland - The Loch Ness monster is back — and there's video.  A man has captured what Nessie watchers say is possible footage of the supposed mythical creature beneath Scotland's most mysterious lake.

Baghdad embassy plans appear on Internet  —  WASHINGTON - Detailed plans for the new U.S. Embassy under construction in Baghdad appeared online Thursday in a breach of the tight security surrounding the sensitive project.  —  Computer-generated projections of the soon-to-be completed …

Odierno: U.S. reaching out to insurgents  —  U.S. commanders in Iraq are beginning to take a seemingly giant step in the effort to defeat extremist insurgents: negotiations with the enemy.  —  Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, said he has told other U.S. commanders …

'High tempo' of terrorist chatter: FBI  —  WASHINGTON - The FBI has increased its use of secret search warrants over the past two years because of a "high tempo of terrorist activity," a top official said yesterday.  —  FBI Assistant Director John Miller said the 2,176 Foreign Intelligence …