Mr. Gonzales's Never-Ending Story  —  President Bush often insists he has to be the decider — ignoring Congress and the public when it comes to the tough matters on war, terrorism and torture, even deciding whether an ordinary man in Florida should be allowed to let his wife die with dignity.

It's How We Pull Back  —  Try to imagine what was running through the mind of Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran's ambassador to Baghdad, as he sat across the negotiating table from his American counterpart, Ryan Crocker, last week.  While the U.S. diplomat delivered his stern warning against Iranian meddling in Iraq …

Freed Guantanamo inmates take up arms  —  AT LEAST 30 former Guantanamo Bay detainees have been killed or recaptured after taking up arms against allied forces following their release.  —  They have been discovered mostly in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but not in Iraq, a US Defence Department spokesman told The Age yesterday.

Bush Aide Blocked Report  —  A surgeon general's report in 2006 that called on Americans to help tackle global health problems has been kept from the public by a Bush political appointee without any background or expertise in medicine or public health, chiefly because the report did not promote …

Swat somebody's butt, and yours belongs to the the D.A.  —  Do you know Cory Mashburn and Ryan Cornelison?  —  If you do, don't approach them.  Call 911 and order up a SWAT team.  They're believed to be in the vicinity of McMinnville, Ore., where they're a clear and present danger to the community.

The Under-Taxed Kings of Private Equity  —  AN arcane debate is raging in Congress over the appropriate taxation of the bountiful incomes of people who manage private-equity and hedge funds — incomes that can range into the hundreds of millions a year.  I don't recommend trying to master …

Iraq defy odds to win Asian Cup  —  JAKARTA (Reuters) - Iraq completed one of sport's great fairytales by beating Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the Asian Cup final on Sunday to provide a rare moment for celebration in their war-torn homeland.  —  The Saudis had been bidding to become the first four-times winners …

Arab princesses kicked off British Airways plane to jeers and whistles after refusing to sit next to male strangers  —  Three Arab princesses were thrown off a packed British Airways flight after refusing to sit next to male passengers they didn't know.  —  The dispute - in which the three princesses …

In any presidential campaign, critical media narratives develop around candidates, which are often tough to break.  Al Gore, for example, was labeled a "serial exaggerator."  It was a bogus story, but it dogged Gore throughout 2000, and raised doubts about his veracity.

Worry about bread, not oil  —  The great demographer and economist Thomas Malthus was 23-years-old the last time a British summer was this rain-soaked, which was back in 1789.  The consequences of excessive rainfall in the late 18th century were predictable.

A Column Prompts a Dressing-Down  —  How did it come to this?  Hillary Clinton's cleavage leading off the ombudsman's column?  —  The Post got thousands of angry letters and calls last week — the vast majority from women — in response to a July 20 Style column by Fashion Editor Robin Givhan …

THE KOW-TOW CLUB  —  The Democratic presidential race has devolved into a no-holds-barred battle between the two front-runners on an utterly bizarre point: Should the next president personally sit down with the world's worst despots?  —  Of course not.  That would be absurd.

Fred Thompson's 'trophy wife' runs the show  —  She has sometimes been dismissed as a tanned and bleached blonde "trophy wife", only ever glimpsed in sleek and glamorous outfits on the arm of her much older spouse.  —  But in the past few days Jeri Thompson has suddenly emerged …