Tommy Thompson Is First Victim of Iowa Straw Poll  —  Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson dropped out of the race for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination tonight, a day after he finished a disappointing sixth in the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa.  —  "I have no regrets about running," Thompson said in a statement released by his campaign.

Some Democrats Fear Voter Hillary Clinton Backlash  —  The news stories, pundits and even some of her longtime political critics are noting the seemingly inexorable political advance of Senator Hillary Clinton towards the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination — but behind the scenes …

Hardline group rallies for world Islamic rule  —  More than 70,000 members of a hardline Muslim group held a rally in Indonesia that heard calls for a caliphate — or Islamic rule — to govern the world.  —  The supporters of the Hizbut Tahrir group filled up most of an 80,000-seat sports stadium …

Italy probe unearths huge Iraq arms deal  —  PERUGIA, Italy - In a hidden corner of Rome's busy Fiumicino Airport, police dug quietly through a traveler's checked baggage, looking for smuggled drugs.  What they found instead was a catalog of weapons, a clue to something bigger.

OBJECTIVITY....Mark Kleiman comments on the convention of objectivity in the reporting of straight news: … In theory, everyone agrees with this.  The problem is, I haven't yet come across a single person who's proposed a workable solution.  Who gets to decide whether an issue is still debatable?

Hidden Earmarks A Hallmark Of The 110th  —  When Democrats campaigned in the 2006 midterm elections, they promised to reform the pork-barrel practices of previous Congresses once they took control.  They have certainly changed the process, but not in the manner they promised.

The LAT had an interesting item today, speculating about whether presidential candidate Fred Thompson will follow Senate candidate Thompson's style, and campaign in his favorite prop. … As the piece explained, Thompson hopped in an old red pickup and won voters over with his folksy charm, accentuated by the prop.

Merv Griffin Dies at Age 82  —  LOS ANGELES (AP) - Merv Griffin, the entertainer turned impresario who parlayed his "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune" game shows into a multimillion- dollar empire, has died.  He was 82.  —  Griffin died of prostate cancer, according to a statement …

The truth behind the Pollack-O'Hanlon trip to Iraq  —  Last Wednesday, I interviewed Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution regarding the trip he recently took to Iraq and the highly publicized Op-Ed in the New York Times about his trip, co-written with his Brookings colleague, Ken Pollack.

Noam Scheiber on Reporters and Huckabee  —  You may not have heard of Mike Huckabee, but he is running for president of the United States of America.  Huckabee served as the Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007.  He's a social conservative that served as chairman of the National Governors' Association …

FISA CONFUSION REVISITED....A quick note to make clear what (I think) my main source of confusion about the new FISA law has been.  —  Originally, FISA allowed warrantless wiretapping of any communication between two foreigners.  It also allowed warrantless surveillance of "foreign powers" …

Wars within wars in Iraq  —  Forget Washington's simplistic view.  The conflict is really a mosaic of different groups fighting for a variety of goals.  —  Despite what you may have heard, there is no "war" in Iraq.  Rather, there are many wars raging through the Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni territories.

INTERVIEW-Economic policy mistakes hurt Iraq-US official  —  Source: Reuters  —  Years of economic policy mistakes after the fall of Saddam Hussein left unemployed young Iraqis easy targets for recruitment by al Qaeda and other insurgents, a U.S. Defense Department official said on Sunday.

Video: Footage of terrorist killed in Old City released  —  A copy of CCTV footage from the scene of Friday's shooting in Jerusalem's Old City shows the Israeli Arab assailant snatching the pistol of an Israeli security guard and shooting him repeatedly at close range.  —  Double click below to watch video

'Bourne' flick is ultimately un-American  —  When "The Simpsons Movie" turns out to be more realistic than "The Bourne Ultimatum," you know something is up.  Nevertheless, the thriller is a big hit, proving once again that film audiences now want live-action cartoons rather than crisp …