Broader Privilege Claimed In Firings  —  White House Says Hill Can't Pursue Contempt Cases  —  Bush administration officials unveiled a bold new assertion of executive authority yesterday in the dispute over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, saying that the Justice Department will never …

Clinton Demands Pentagon Plan for Withdrawal  —  Pentagon Rebukes Clinton Request; 'Outrageous,' She Says  —  Another contentious issue is emerging in the Iraq battle between the White House and Congress as senators from both parties are beginning to openly question whether the Pentagon …

Poll: 63% Say Clinton "Likely" To Win  —  CBS/NYT Poll: Majorities Of Both Men And Women Think New York Democrat Will Be Next President  —  (CBS) A new CBS News/New York Times poll out Thursday shows 63 percent of voters believe it's likely that Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton …

Judge throws out Plame suit  —  A federal judge threw out a civil lawsuit former CIA agent Valerie Plame filed against members of the Bush administration, but the dismissal does not close all Plame's legal avenues.  The court dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds without ruling on the constitutional issues brought by Plame.

U.S. Generals Request Delay in Judging Iraq  —  The top commanders in Iraq and the American ambassador to Baghdad appealed for more time beyond their mid-September assessment to more fully judge if the new strategy was making gains.  —  Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq …

Overhaul Plan for Vote System Will Be Delayed  —  Democratic leaders in the House and Senate are slowing their drive to revamp the nation's voting systems, aides said yesterday.  —  Under pressure from state and local officials, as well as from lobbyists for the disabled …

Kerry: No Bloodbath In Vietnam After US Redeployment  —  Dateline: Washington, D.C.  —  Sen. John Kerry said during a C-Span appearance that fears of a bloodbath after the US withdrawal from Vietnam never materialized.  He says he's met survivors of the "reeducation camps" who are thriving in modern Vietnam.

Trouble With the Neighbors  —  One of the most infuriating problems in Iraq seems to generate precious little fury.  —  In a kind of malicious chemistry experiment, hostile powers are adding accelerants to Iraq's frothing chaos.  Iran smuggles in the advanced explosive devices that kill and maim American soldiers.

Eating beef ' is less green than driving'  —  Producing 2.2lb of beef generates as much greenhouse gas as driving a car non-stop for three hours, it was claimed yesterday.  —  Japanese scientists used a range of data to calculate the environmental impact of a single purchase of beef.

Democrats cut 'John Doe' provision  —  Congressional Democrats today failed to include a provision in homeland security legislation that would protect the public from being sued for reporting suspicious behavior that may lead to a terrorist attack, according to House Republican leaders.

Options backdating probe hit by delay  —  Investigations into allegations of stock options backdating are being delayed and could be undermined by turmoil in the US Attorney's office in San Francisco, sources familiar with the probes say.  —  Prosecutors in San Francisco are probing options grants …

A CORRECTION?  NOT ON YOUR LIFE!  —  We wrote here about a story in the Chicago Sun-Times by columnist Jennifer Hunter, reporting on a plaintiffs' lawyers convention in Chicago.  The five principal Democratic presidential candidates addressed the convention, and Hunter's story was on the lawyers' reaction.

Obama: Don't stay in Iraq over genocide  —  SUNAPEE, N.H. - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot use its military to solve humanitarian problems and that preventing a potential genocide in Iraq isn't a good enough reason to keep U.S. forces there.

[TS] Op-Ed Columnist: All the President's Enablers  —  President Bush has plenty of enablers — people who understand the folly of his actions, but refuse to do anything to stop him.

When Infrastructure Attacks! (a special you won't see on Fox)  —  There was an explosion in Midtown Manhattan yesterday.  I found out about it because 10 people were text messeging my cell to make sure I was ok - each with varying levels of fatalism about my prospect of survival (maybe they want my apartment?