Strike Two  —  For Barack Obama, it was strike two.  And this one was a right-down-the-middle question from a YouTuber in Monday night's South Carolina debate: "Would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, in Washington or anywhere else …

Hazleton, Pa.  —  A federal judge has ruled in favor of the ACLU against Hazleton, Pa., saying that the city's immigration-control ordinances are "unconstitutional," whatever that's supposed to mean this week.  My research director was called as a witness by attorneys for the city …

Army Private Discloses He Is New Republic's Baghdad Diarist  —  The New Republic's anonymous "Baghdad Diarist" identified himself yesterday as Scott Thomas Beauchamp, an Army private in Iraq, and disputed as "maddening" accusations that he had invented his accounts of cruelty by American soldiers.

Wiretap Debacle  —  How politics has gutted the terrorist surveillance program.  —  The U.S. homeland hasn't been struck by terrorists since September 11, and one reason may be more aggressive intelligence policies.  So Americans should be alarmed that one of the best intelligence tools …

U.S. drops Baghdad electricity reports  —  The daily length of time that residents have power has dropped.  The figure is considered a key indicator of quality of life.  —  WASHINGTON — washington — As the Bush administration struggles to convince lawmakers that its Iraq war strategy is working …

Novak's heaven: A 'place where there are no blogs.'  —  "I'm 76 years old, and pretty soon I'm going to a place where there are no blogs," said conservative pundit Robert Novak at an American Spectator breakfast on Thursday morning.  Speaking of the land beyond, Novak added …

The Kind Of Village It Takes  —  Recent books and studies seem to indicate disturbing sexual trends among evangelical Christians.  And this time we're not talking about their pastors or political leaders.  The new attention is on evangelical teenagers, who reportedly start sex earlier than their mainline Protestant peers.

Freed man still in limbo … Mark O'Hara clutches his only belongings, his legal papers, as he uses a borrowed cell phone Wednesday in an attempt to get a ride home to Dunedin from the Orient Road Jail in Tampa.  —  Times]  —  TAMPA - Mark O'Hara left jail without handcuffs Wednesday …

Today's Must Read  —  Was Pat Tillman murdered?  —  Stunning as it is to contemplate, the Associated Press obtained Pentagon documents through the Freedom of Information Act showing that investigators looked into whether the athlete-turned-soldier might have been deliberately killed in 2004 …

Lawyers sap our will to combat terrorism  —  We lack the toughness of our European neighbours  —  Many jihadis seek to create a global caliphate, ruled by Sharia.  At best, Christians, Hindus, and Jews would live in a state of submission tantamount to second-class citizenship.

Violence won't work: how author of 'jihadists' bible' stirred up a storm  —  Revisionist message from prison cell shakes al-Qaida colleagues  —  Ian Black Cairo  —  The assassination of the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1981 by Islamic militants, a key moment in the development of jihadist groups.

FOX PRODUCER JOINS TEAM FRED  —  From NBC's Mike Viqueira  —  The word spreading all over Capitol Hill today is that longtime Fox senior congressional producer Jim Mills is leaving his booth on the House side to join the Fred Thompson quasi-campaign as spokesman.

Cuba's Call for Economic Detente  —  Raúl Castro Hits Capitalist Notes While Placating Hard-Line Party Loyalists  —  As one of history's longest-serving political understudies, Raúl Castro often struggled to persuade his all-powerful brother Fidel Castro to open Cuba's moribund economy to more foreign investment.