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.

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.

A Leader of Hamas Warns of West Bank Peril for Fatah  —  Mahmoud Zahar, perhaps the most influential Hamas leader in Gaza, warned Wednesday that Fatah's effort to repress Hamas in the West Bank could lead to Fatah's downfall there as well.  —  In an interview here, Mr. Zahar …

U.S.: Attacks kill 14 GIs in Iraq  —  Bomb claims lives of 5 GIs and 4 Iraqis, U.S. military says; mayor's office hit  —  BAGHDAD - The U.S. military announced the deaths of 14 American troops, including five killed Thursday in a single roadside bombing that also killed four Iraqis in Baghdad.

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 …

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.

...Fred Thompson's politics:  —  That about says it all!  —  This music makes my day!  Go Fred!  —  Sorry honey, Fred? already has a trophy wife — and her boobs are bigger than yours!  —  by Jefferson's Child 2007-06-20 12:57:24  —  How about a Fred Thompson/Newt Gingrich ticket?!

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 …

Judicial Watch Releases New FBI Documents: Osama bin Laden May Have Chartered Saudi Flight Out of U.S. after 9/11  —  (Washington, DC) — Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released new documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation …

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 …

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.

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 …

The CIA's torture teachers  —  Psychologists helped the CIA exploit a secret military program to develop brutal interrogation tactics — likely with the approval of the Bush White House.  —  A detainee is escorted by military police at Camp 4 of the maximum security prison Camp Delta …

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 …

Happy for the Work  —  It is vacation season once again, giving occasion for the usual homilies about how Europeans are having a much better and healthier time of it than we are when it comes to work.  You've heard it a thousand times: Americans "live to work," while Europeans "work to live."