Immigration bill fails key test-vote  —  WASHINGTON - A fragile bipartisan compromise that would legalize millions of unlawful immigrants suffered a setback Thursday when it failed a test vote in the Senate, leaving its prospects uncertain.  —  Still, the measure — a top priority …

Senate Begins Real Push on Habeas Corpus  —  Today the Senate Judiciary Committee passed an important bill to restore habeas corpus, the sacrosanct Constitutional right to challenge government detention in court, by a vote of eleven to eight.  —  Habeas corpus was revoked …

Candidates Lacking A Real-World Clue  —  GOFFSTOWN, N.H. — The 18 presidential candidates — eight Democrats and 10 Republicans — who came to Saint Anselm College here for a pair of debates this week displayed a remarkable ability to ignore the real-world consequences of many of the policies they were advocating.

(Updated) Paris Hilton Bawls Her Way Out of An L.A. Celebrity Slammer  —  Paris Hilton has finally done it to me.  She has so outraged my sensibilities that here I am blogging on this sack of celebrity excrement instead of analyzing every jot and tittle of the presidential race.

Neither Prison Nor Pardon  —  Justice in the Libby Case Lies With Bush's Third Option  —  Scooter Libby should not be pardoned.  But his punishment — 30 months in prison, two years' probation and a $250,000 fine — is excessive.  President Bush should commute the sentence by eliminating the jail term while preserving the fine.

Bush, Putin to cooperate on missile defense … HEILIGENDAMM, Germany (CNN) — U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed Thursday at the G8 summit in Germany to cooperate on missile-defense systems, apparently cooling tensions between the two leaders.

Now I Get It  —  I have often wondered why Time contributor Joe Klein is such a special target of left-wing blogger wrath.  He's a capable journalist and the author of one truly fine novel, Primary Colors.  I don't much like it that he falsely denied that authorship - but Kos contributors …

Lieberman 'Really Upset' At Troops Who Didn't 'Speak To Me From Their Heart'  —  During Sen. Joe Lieberman's (I-CT) trip to Iraq two weeks ago, McClatchy published an article highlighting how several soldiers who met with Lieberman had wanted to ask him, "When are we going to get out of here?"

Giuliani and McCain to Skip Straw Poll in Iowa  —  Bucking a ritual for Republican presidential candidates, Rudolph W. Giuliani and Senator John McCain announced Wednesday that they would skip participation in what has been a significant early test of candidate strength, the straw poll in Ames, Iowa, this summer.

Null set blogging redux  —  Curious to determine if Romney's meaning had been accidently flipped—if maybe he meant to say, "this is a non-sequitur: Null-set!"  —I did me some googling and I found this from May 8, nearly one month ago. … This is interesting for two reasons: It's evidence that …

AP Poll: Bush Approval Hits Low Point  —  Bush Approval Hits All-Time Low in AP-Ipsos Poll, With Discontent Over Iraq, Terror War  —  Public approval of the job President Bush is doing now matches its all-time low, with widespread discontent over how he is handling the war in Iraq …

Biologists Make Skin Cells Work Like Stem Cells  —  In a surprising advance that could sidestep the ethical debates surrounding stem cell biology, researchers have come much closer to a major goal of regenerative medicine, the conversion of a patient's cells into specialized tissues that might replace those lost to disease.

Sister Of Slain Soldier: Candidates Didn't Answer Me About When U.S. Will 'Get Out' Of Iraq  —  She asked what the candidates would do to end the war in Iraq: … On NBC News this morning, Flanagan said that none of the candidates actually answered her question.

To Be an American  —  For many, illegal workers are a rebuke to dutiful citizenship.  —  People tend to regard the idea of "democratic" politics with high reverence, when in practice it consists most of the time of the right of any citizen to describe one's opponent as an idiot, or worse.

Dirty snow may warm Arctic as much as greenhouse gases  —  The global warming debate has focused on carbon dioxide emissions, but scientists at UC Irvine have determined that a lesser-known mechanism - dirty snow - can explain one-third or more of the Arctic warming primarily attributed to greenhouse gases.

Defeat's Killing Fields  —  SOME opponents of the Iraq war are toying with the idea of American defeat.  A number of them are simply predicting it, while others advocate measures that would make it more likely.  Lending intellectual respectability to all this is an argument that takes …

I'm a McCain Man, Through and Through—Unless the Democrats Nominate Obama.  Then, Forget the McCain Thing  —  Barack Obama cultivates an image as a politician whose appeal reaches across party lines.  But even he might be surprised to learn that one of his biggest admirers works for GOP Sen. John McCain …