General David Petraeus on the conditions on the ground in Iraq  —  The Hugh Hewitt Show  —  HH: Welcome, General.  You took over command of the multinational forces in February of this year, February 10.  In the past five months, how have conditions in Iraq changed?

Bush: No Deal On Children's Health Plan  —  President Says He Objects On Philosophical Grounds  —  President Bush yesterday rejected entreaties by his Republican allies that he compromise with Democrats on legislation to renew a popular program that provides health coverage to poor children …

Author of His Own Undoing  —  At noon on April 25, in Prescott Park in Portsmouth, N.H., John McCain announced his presidential candidacy.  Less than two hours earlier, in the U.S. Supreme Court, a lawyer who had been solicitor general in the Clinton administration spoke in the name of McCain.

Activity Guide  —  Democrats want 'John Doe' provision cut  —  Democrats are trying to pull a provision from a homeland security bill that will protect the public from being sued for reporting suspicious behavior that may lead to a terrorist attack, according to House Republican leadership aides.

A Harry Decision: 'NYT' and 'The Sun' Break Embargo on Potter Book  —  NEW YORK It was the most closely held literary secret anyone can remember, and the "embargo" was supposed to hold for a two more days yet, but The New York Times and The Sun of Baltimore appear to be first out of the gate with a review of the new Harry Potter novel.

Mysterious insurgent a sham, U.S. says  —  BAGHDAD — Over the past year, Iraqis heard several audio recordings by a mysterious terrorist leader named Omar al-Baghdadi singing the praises of al-Qaida and urging his followers to attack U.S. troops.  —  The whole thing was a sham, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

Records Show Ex-Senator's Work for Family Planning Unit  —  Billing records show that former Senator Fred Thompson spent nearly 20 hours working as a lobbyist on behalf of a group seeking to ease restrictive federal rules on abortion counseling in the 1990s, even though he recently …

'Brandeis Boys' come to D.C. Madam's rescue with website of phone listings  —  As the phone records of the "D.C. Madam," Deborah Jeane Palfrey, became public last week, curious Washingtonians started searching a mysterious database at dcphonelist.com that had organized mountains of her documents.

How Murdoch had a hotline to the PM in the run-up to Iraq war  —  Tony Blair had three conversations with the media magnate Rupert Murdoch in the nine days before the start of the Iraq war, the Government has disclosed.  —  Details of the former prime minister's contacts with Mr Murdoch …

Poll: Most Support Iraq Timetable  —  CBS/NYT Poll: 61% Say Congress Shouldn't Fund War Without Timetable For Withdrawal  —  (CBS) While Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a Democratic bid to force a vote on U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq, a CBS News/New York Times poll finds a majority …

Murdoch's Arrival Worries Journal Employees  —  On May 14, more than 100 reporters, editors and executives clustered in The Wall Street Journal's main newsroom to mark the retirement of Peter R. Kann, the longtime leader of their corporate parent, Dow Jones & Company.

No Such Thing As a Paid Vacation  —  Last week I was talking to one of the sharpest knives in the progressive economic policy drawer and he made what struck me as an odd claim about what he claimed as an important divide in progressive thinking.  Some people (including the two of us) …

Bush's Agencies Of Mass Politicization  —  This week's report that officials in the Office of National Drug Control Policy made politically motivated appearances in the months leading up to the 2006 elections are only the latest example of the Bush administration's misuse of federal employees.

FEMA Suppressed Health Warnings for Workers, Katrina Victims  —  Agency Rejected Environmental Testing on Formaldehyde Gas Levels  —  The Federal Emergency Management Agency has suppressed warnings from its own Gulf coast field workers since the middle of 2006 about suspected health problems …

Obama Campaign Responds to Sex Education in Kindergarten Comments  —  At first the headline was shocking.  ABC News ran a story with the headline "Sex Ed for Kindergarteners 'Right Thing to Do,' Says Obama."  You can read the story here and watch his comments here.  The key excerpt is below: