Karl Rove, Insider With an Outsize Reputation  —  From the moment he leaked word of his departure to the Wall Street Journal editorial page, Karl Rove has been lionized and vilified by the media hordes.  —  He is either a political giant, shrewdly plotting a series of victories during the Bush presidency …

Immigration Activist Arrested Outside L.A. Church  —  Elvira Arellano Taken Into Custody Sunday Afternoon  —  CBS News Interactive: Immigration and Naturalization  —  (AP) LOS ANGELES An illegal immigrant who stayed in a Chicago church for a year to avoid separation from her 8-year-old son …

ANNALS OF REPORTING  —  For a variety of reasons I try to stay out of the debates over blogs as such, what they're good or bad at and the rest.  But this morning I was alerted to an opinion column in the Los Angeles Times by Michael Skube, a journalism professor at Elon University.

Manly men  —  People who talk about masculinity — especially conservatives, who seem to obsess about it, but in a peculiarly juvenile way — have always seemed a little weird to me.  It's like the cliche retort the wealthy like to use: "If you have to ask how much it is, you can't afford it."

The Lost War  —  We've Spent 36 Years and Billions of Dollars Fighting It, but the Drug Trade Keeps Growing  —  Poppies were the first thing that British army Capt. Leo Docherty noticed when he arrived in Afghanistan's turbulent Helmand province in April 2006.

As Democracy Push Falters, Bush Feels Like a 'Dissident'  —  By the time he arrived in Prague in June for a democracy conference, President Bush was frustrated.  He had committed his presidency to working toward the goal of "ending tyranny in our world," yet the march of freedom seemed stalled.

British military sparks US fears of losing Basra  —  MILITARY advisers in the United States have warned that British troops face an "ugly and embarrassing" withdrawal from the southern Iraqi city of Basra.  —  Stephen Biddle, who sits on the Council on Foreign Relations and is a member …

TV Ads: Bush-Petraeus 10-Year Plan Means a Draft  —  Americans have seen some news reports over the last few days suggesting that the White House "might-maybe-could-possibly" bring some troops home from Iraq next year.  If this happens, that's great.  But don't break out the confetti just yet.

Scientists hail 'frozen smoke' as material that will change world  —  A MIRACLE material for the 21st century could protect your home against bomb blasts, mop up oil spillages and even help man to fly to Mars.  —  Aerogel, one of the world's lightest solids, can withstand a direct blast …

Keeping a Lonely Vigil at Camp Casey  —  CRAWFORD, Tex. It was just two years ago that Cindy Sheehan pierced the national consciousness with her roadside vigil near President Bush's Texas ranch in protest of the Iraq war.  —  Several thousand demonstrators came to Crawford to join Sheehan in 2005 …

Blair's deal on new EU treaty 'largely revives the rejected constitution'  —  A group of Europe's "wise men" has pronounced that the European Union treaty agreed by Tony Blair in June is substantially the same as the constitution rejected two years ago.  —  The elder statesmen's verdict …

The Next Huckabee Surprise?  —  Buoyed by his surprise second-place finish in the Iowa Republican straw poll, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is plotting an even bigger coup against Mitt Romney in the first presidential primary, in New Hampshire.  —  His inspiration for the audacious plot comes …