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.

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 …

Harry Potter And The Fact That I Hate The New York Times  —  ? No WMD rumors to plaster on the front page, no Jayson Blair to make things up for posterity, no Alessandra Stanley to mangle TV show names?  I'm mad so I'm lashing out, but come on: How on earth could you run a review of the last Harry Potter?

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?

Victory in Iraq is vital  —  President has weakened al-Qaeda, made USA safer from attack.  —  Politics sometimes manages to muddle the obvious.  The war in Iraq, authorized by three-quarters of the Senate, was launched in response to Saddam Hussein's refusal to abide by 17 United Nations resolutions …

Out of the shadows  —  In Iraq, suicide attacks and sectarian killings grab the world's attention.  But it is the guerrilla war being waged by the Iraqi resistance that is having such a devastating effect on US and British forces.  And now these insurgent groups want to create a united front - and a political platform.

McCain's comeback plan  —  Sen. John McCain is circulating talking points to supporters making the case for why he can still win despite his precarious money situation and loss of key staff.  In two documents obtained from a Republican source outside McCain's circle, the campaign compares …

The Democratic Party Anthology of African Proverbs  —  You'll recall that, when Hillary Rodham Clinton wrote her bestselling book It Takes A Village To Raise A Child, there was some skepticism expressed (including by Derb, if memory serves) as to whether the title was, as the then First Lady claimed …

Department of Energy disputes Rep. Murtha's claims on earmark request  —  The Department of Energy is denying Rep. John Murtha's (D-Pa.) claim that it supports his $1 million earmark request for a project in his district aimed at protecting the nation's natural-gas pipelines.

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) …

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 …

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.

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:

The epic narcissism of Cindy Sheehan  —  Everyone is getting tired of the sanctimonious peace activist, who threatens to run against Nancy Pelosi and does a photo shoot on her son's grave.  —  Even the American left's netroots are getting tired of Cindy Sheehan.  It's a shame it took them so long.

'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.