U.S. Arming Sunnis in Iraq to Battle Old Qaeda Allies  —  With the four-month-old increase in American troops showing only modest success in curbing insurgent attacks, American commanders are turning to another strategy that they acknowledge is fraught with risk: arming Sunni Arab groups …

GOP's Powell Is Now Advising Obama  —  WASHINGTON — Colin Powell, who only a decade ago was being discussed as a possible Republican presidential nominee and who more recently served as President Bush's first secretary of state, is advising a Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Obama of Illinois.

Immigration Judges Often Picked Based On GOP Ties  —  Law Forbids Practice; Courts Being Reshaped  —  The Bush administration increasingly emphasized partisan political ties over expertise in recent years in selecting the judges who decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of immigrants …

Romney's Run Has Mormons Wary of Scrutiny  —  LOGAN, Utah — In this wide valley where the twin spires of the Mormon temple dominate the landscape and some neighborhoods have a Mormon chapel every few blocks, Mitt Romney's bid for president is both a proud sign of progress and a cause of trepidation.

General Retreat  —  Secretary of Defense Levin picks a new war leader.  —  There's a rumor going around that Robert Gates is the Secretary of Defense.  We'd like to request official confirmation, because based on recent evidence the man running the Pentagon is Democratic Senator Carl Levin of Michigan.

U.S. relies on Sudan despite condemning it  —  The nation accused of aiding the killings in Darfur provides spies in Iraq.  In return, it gets access in Washington.  —  WASHINGTON — Sudan has secretly worked with the CIA to spy on the insurgency in Iraq, an example of how the U.S …

5 questions for journalist and author David Sirota  —  Al Franken calls him "My Sirota - the sexy, sexy wonk."  —  The late columnist Molly Ivins said he "is a new-generation populist who instinctively understands that the only real questions are 'Who's getting screwed?' and 'Who's doing the screwing?' "

'Political meddling' ruining learning in schools  —  The curriculum in state schools in England has been stripped of its content and corrupted by political interference, according to a damning report by an influential, independent think-tank.  —  It warns of the educational apartheid opening …

Lieberman for Secretary of State  —  On Face the Nation, he just called for military strikes against terrorist training camps inside Iran, echoing, ahem, myself lo these several years.  He put it perfectly, for my money: … Meanwhile, the appeasers over at the State Department …

Studies say death penalty deters crime  —  Anti-death penalty forces have gained momentum in the past few years, with a moratorium in Illinois, court disputes over lethal injection in more than a half-dozen states and progress toward outright abolishment in New Jersey.

Reagan's famous line nearly clipped from Berlin speech  —  SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Top administration officials said the speech was all wrong.  Too provocative, said the National Security Council.  Too tough, said the State Department.  —  The president overruled his advisers and …

The Sopranos Finale: will Tony live or will he get whacked?  —  Will Tony Soprano live or will he get whacked in tonight's final episode of The Sopranos?  Momentum is building up among the popular TV series "aficionados", so is the betting frenzy surrounding the last episode of The Sopranos.