Nader ponders run, calls Clinton 'coward'  —  Ralph Nader says he is seriously considering running for president in 2008 because he foresees another Tweedledum-Tweedledee election that offers little real choice to voters.  —  "You know the two parties are still converging …

New Gallup data show confidence in Congress at all time low  —  Just 14% of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in Congress.  —  This 14% Congressional confidence rating is the all-time low for this measure, which Gallup initiated in 1973.

Pakistan hardliners honour bin Laden in Rushdie row  —  Source: Reuters  —  A group of hardline Pakistani Muslim clerics has bestowed a religious title on Osama bin Laden in response to a British knighthood for the author Salman Rushdie.  —  Rushdie, whose novel "The Satanic Verses" …

Political Hiring in Justice Division Probed  —  Karen Stevens, Tovah Calderon and Teresa Kwong had a lot in common.  They had good performance ratings as career lawyers in the Justice Department's civil rights division.  And they were minority women transferred out of their jobs two years ago …

Operation Arrowhead Ripper: Day One  —  The first day of operation Arrowhead Ripper was intense.  The Army is giving full access to the battlefield, and while on base full access to the TOC (HQ) which means I see the raw truth on the ground, and as it feeds through the TOC.  They are hiding nothing.

For 2 Years, Bloomberg Aides Prepared for Bid  —  The announcement by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York that he was leaving the Republican Party to become an independent was made after nearly two years in which his aides had laid the groundwork for a potential independent run for president.

Press Briefing by Tony Snow  —  White House Conference Center Briefing Room  —  MR. SNOW: Just getting organized.  Hello.  Questions.  —  Q Tony, does the executive order allow researchers to do anything they couldn't do under current guidelines?  —  MR. SNOW: Well, what it does …

Giuliani Skipped ISG Meetings For Motivational Events Featuring 'Christianity' And 'Pumping Music'  —  Newsday reported this week that former mayor Rudy Giuliani stepped down from the Iraq Study Group after chairman James Baker gave "him a stark choice: either attend the meetings or quit."

Rep. Pelosi responds to boos on war  —  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) yesterday reaffirmed her commitment to end the war in Iraq, but her words were greeted with skepticism and some boos by anti-war liberal activists.  —  Addressing the liberal pressure group Campaign for America's Future …

List of journalists taking sides  —  And their explanations, from 'Yikes!' to 'They're all in somebody's pocket'  —  Have you captured a candidate on camera?  We want to see it.  Click here to send us your pictures and videos, and we'll post the best on MSNBC.com.

Good News about CAIR  —  I've talked before about the Council on American-Islamic Relations — most recently because it filed that lawsuit against Americans who reported suspicious behavior by Muslims on a U.S. Airways flight.  Better known just as CAIR, the lobbying group has come under …

Missing Soldier's Wife Faces Deportation  —  As Military Searches For Kidnapped Soldier In Iraq, U.S. Threatens To Send Wife Back To Dominican Republic  —  (CBS/AP) While the U.S. military searches for a soldier missing in Iraq, kidnapped by insurgents possibly allied with al Qaeda …

14 U.S. troops killed in Iraq in 48 hours … BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Fourteen U.S. troops have been killed in attacks over the past two days in Iraq — 12 soldiers and two Marines — according to the U.S. military.  —  In the deadliest attack, a roadside bomb struck a military vehicle …

Court rules on Sentencing Guidelines  —  The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that a federal criminal sentence within the Guidelines may be presumed to be reasonable when the case is on appeal.  However, it said that such a presumption is not binding.. Although the Court was divided in some respects …

Groups balk at disclosure  —  A central plank of congressional ethics reform appeared in danger of collapse yesterday when government watchdog groups balked at disclosing their donors.  —  A provision of the proposed reform would force watchdogs to reveal their donors if they file ethics complaints.

Read the sunspots  —  The mud at the bottom of B.C. fjords reveals that solar output drives climate change - and that we should prepare now for dangerous global cooling  —  Politicians and environmentalists these days convey the impression that climate-change research is an exceptionally dull field with little left to discover.