Immigration bill fails key Senate test  —  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 …

(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.

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.

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.

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 …

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  —  Habeas corpus was revoked …

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?"

Cooperation agreed 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.

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.

Armey Decoded  —  Dick: Seems to me, reading you this week, that although you've left public office, you're still infected with political blather, Frank Luntz-style.  For example, the word "Ownership."  That tested really well in focus groups, but what does it mean?

McCain loses an SC county chair over immigration  —  Despite his best case for the immigration compromise — and he made a good one at the debate the other nignt — the unalterable fact is that the issue is right now a major problem for the McCain campaign.  —  To wit, one of the first tangible signs …

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 …

Internet Absurdity: Bin Laden Listed at FOX Headquarters  —  Justin Rood Reports:  —  An Ohio man says he has located Osama bin Laden in the United States and wants to claim the U.S. government's $25 million reward.  —  Using an online person search built from phone directories and other public records …

Romney backs personal retirement accounts  —  MANCHESTER - Republican Mitt Romney yesterday praised the notion of personal accounts for Social Security recipients, a key aspect of the Social Security reform plan of President Bush that never made it out of Congress.

Trandahl breaks silence on Foley scandal  —  Says he had 'dozens' of confrontations with congressman  —  Jeff Trandahl, the gay former clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, broke his public silence on the Mark Foley scandal last week in brief remarks.