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 …

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 …

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.

THAAAT'S What We Were All Waiting For?  Angry 'Sopranos' Fans Crash HBO Website  —  The line to cancel HBO starts here.  What a ridiculously disappointing end lacking in creativity to The Sopranos saga.  But if you're one of those who found it perversely interesting, then don't bother to read on.

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 …

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.

Video: Dennis Miller goes nuclear on Harry Reid  —  The e-mails are flooding in.  You want it?  You got it.  —  If Rasmussen's right, this should resonate broadly.  —  Blowback

Court to hear cocaine sentence case; issues five unanimous rulings.  —  The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to take up at its next Term the long-standing dispute over the fairness of punishing crack cocaine crimes far more severely — 100 to 1 — than those involving cocaine powder under federal Sentencing Guidelines.

Free Porn Threatens Adult Film Industry  —  More Porn Viewers Are Getting It For Free On The Web; Industry Sales Start to Slip  —  "Free porn" just might be the two most exciting or frightening words in the English language, depending on your point of view.

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.

An awkward ad by Fred Thompson  —  He promotes the firm of a man once accused of deceiving consumers.  —  Possible presidential candidate Fred D. Thompson is lending his voice to radio commercials for a company that says it fights identity thieves and that was co-founded by a man accused …

Marijuana Law in Connecticut Gains Ground  —  Seventeen years ago, Mark Braunstein dived 60 feet off a footbridge into a river, landed wrong and became a paraplegic.  A librarian at Connecticut College, Mr. Braunstein, 55, walks with the aid of crutches and leg braces.