NSA Spying Part of Broader Effort  —  Intelligence Chief Says Bush Authorized Secret Activities Under One Order  —  The Bush administration's chief intelligence official said yesterday that President Bush authorized a series of secret surveillance activities under a single executive order in late 2001.

Stevens threatens to block ethics bill  —  Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, whose home back in Alaska was raided by federal investigators Monday in a wide-ranging corruption investigation, has threatened to place a hold on the Democratic-drafted ethics legislation just passed by the House and expected on the Senate floor by week's end.

I just returned from Falafel Bill's house  —  After O'Reilly provided an "accountability moment" to the JetBlue CEO at his home, I decided to provide O'Reilly with his own accountability moment at his home.  —  I've just returned to home base.  —  I've got video of O'Reilly in his sleepwear (red shorts and a white t-shirt).

'Conflict' keeps Rumsfeld from Tillman hearing  —  Update: This story has been updated to reflect comment from the Oversight Committee's Republican staff.  Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will not testify at a hearing scheduled for Wednesday on the friendly fire death …

Cheney On Whether He Ordered Hospital Visit To Ashcroft: I Have 'No Recollection'  —  On Sunday, Josh Marshall pointed out that the New York Times editorial on the potential need to impeach Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said that "Vice President Dick Cheney sent Mr. Gonzales and another official …

News Corp. Appears to Have Enough Votes to Clinch Deal  —  News Corp. is poised to win control of Dow Jones & Co., including its flagship publication, The Wall Street Journal, after a key Bancroft trust changed its mind and decided to accept News Corp.'s $60-a-share offer for the newspaper publisher.

Public Confidence in Presidential Hopefuls on Key 2008 Election Issues  —  No candidate has a clear edge on Iraq  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A new Gallup Panel survey finds each of the five best-known 2008 presidential candidates scoring similarly in ratings of public confidence in their ability …

BEAUCHAMP  —  After a helicopter ride around Baghdad, this afternoon I arrived at Forward Operating Base Falcon, where the mood was somber.  The Army has begun an official investigation into The New Republic articles of the "Baghdad Diarist", Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp.

Biglaw and Big Politics: Which Way Does Your Firm Lean?  —  With the 2008 presidential campaign dominating the airwaves, despite being over a year away, everyone is talking about politics (and watching awesome, politically-themed music videos).  Here's a question that a law student posed to us:

U.S. checking possibility of pumping oil from northern Iraq to Haifa, via Jordan  —  The United States has asked Israel to check the possibility of pumping oil from Iraq to the oil refineries in Haifa.  The request came in a telegram last week from a senior Pentagon official to a top Foreign Ministry official in Jerusalem.

BET founder blasts 'class war' on tax  —  Democratic presidential hopefuls are "playing the class warfare card" by supporting tax increases on private-equity and hedge-fund managers, says Robert L. Johnson, the billionaire founder of Black Entertainment Television, who warns the hike would hit minority-run investment firms.

Too uninformed to vote?  —  We test immigrants before they can go to the polls; why not everyone else?  —  Can you name all three branches of government?  Can you name even one?  Do you know who your congressman is?  Your senators?  Do you even know how many senators each state gets?

Group to Deliver Bibles With Newspapers  —  NEW YORK Everything from detergent to computer discs is packaged with the Sunday newspaper.  So why not Bibles?  —  A Christian ministry wants to deliver custom-designed New Testaments to newspaper subscribers around the country as part of an effort …