Scooter Libby Love Letters  —  Washington elite petition judge on behalf of convicted Cheney aide  —  Donald Rumsfeld, Henry Kissinger, Paul Wolfowitz, and John Bolton top the list of individuals who wrote a federal judge on behalf of former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby …

Two What-Ifs  —  The big what-if in the news today was in sports, when Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan scuttled back to Gainesville four days after penning a big-bux contract to go to the NBA's Orlando Magic.  This was a what-if not only for the Magic, but for the daisy-chain of hirings …

Congressman Sought Bribes, Indictment Says  —  Representative William J. Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat at the center of an investigation that included an F.B.I. raid at his Congressional office and accusations that he hid $90,000 in bribe money in his home freezer, was indicted Monday …

Senator Craig Thomas of Wyoming Dies at 74  —  Senator Craig Thomas, a three-term Republican from Wyoming, died Monday evening, just hours after his staff reported that the treatment he was receiving for leukemia was no longer working.  He was 74.  —  Under Wyoming's election laws …

Cheated of Future, Iraqi Graduates Want to Flee  —  They started college just before or after the American invasion with dreams of new friends and parties, brilliant teachers and advanced degrees that would lead to stellar jobs, marriage and children.  Success seemed well within their grasp.

Realists on Iraq  —  Democratic presidential candidates should listen to the "experts" they so often cite.  —  During Sunday night's Democratic presidential debate, the candidates cited an oft-repeated source of the mess in Iraq: The White House's refusal to heed knowledgeable advice.

Democratic earmark reforms lasted 100 days  —  When Democrats took control of Congress four months back, incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., bragged it would take her party less than 100 hours to curb wasteful pork spending by requiring members to attach their names to their …

A Top Clinton Aide Draws Criticism From Unions  —  The presidents of two large labor unions have written to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to complain that Mark Penn, her pollster and chief strategist, is chief executive of a public relations firm that is helping a company fight a unionization drive.

Editor Admits: We Slanted the News  —  (IsraelNN.com) A former Israel Broadcasting Authority news editor admits: "We slanted the news towards a withdrawal from Lebanon - because we had sons there."  —  Speaking at the Haifa Radio Conference on Monday, several former and current news broadcasters …