White House Acts to Limit Health Plan for Children  —  The Bush administration, continuing its fight to stop states from expanding the popular Children's Health Insurance Program, has adopted new standards that would make it much more difficult for New York, California and others to extend coverage to children in middle-income families.

Michelle gets stronger all the time  —  'I don't want my girls to live in a country based on fear'  —  Barack Obama often says that his wife, Michelle, is smarter than he is, stronger than he is, and gives better speeches than he does.  —  On a trip to Iowa last week, Michelle was a firebrand …

Congress Approval Rating Matches Historical Low  —  Just 18% approve of job Congress is doing  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A new Gallup Poll finds Congress' approval rating the lowest it has been since Gallup first tracked public opinion of Congress with this measure in 1974.

Hurricane Dean: 1 Of 10 Most Intense Atlantic Hurricanes Ever Measured  —  Early this morning Hurricane Dean, after mercilessly intensifying over deep warm waters in the western Caribbean, slammed the Yucatan Peninsula around Chetumal as a Category 5 hurricane with winds upwards of 165 miles per hour …

Cheney's Office Says It Has Wiretap Documents  —  Vice President Cheney's office acknowledged for the first time yesterday that it has dozens of documents related to the administration's warrantless surveillance program, but it signaled that it will resist efforts by congressional Democrats to obtain them.

Michigan set to send slate of primaries into revision  —  N.H. mulls way to remain first  —  Michigan appears poised to crash the party of early states seeking to influence the 2008 presidential nominating process, leapfrogging the other interlopers, Florida and South Carolina, and further scrambling the electoral calendar.

NewsMax/Zogby Iowa Poll: Hillary Clinton Makes Big Move to Lead Democratic Pack  —  Hillary's move in Iowa mirrors her national gains as others fade; Bill helps her cause.  —  After months of nipping at the heels of former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards among likely Iowa Democratic caucus-goers …

Time right for Garofalo on "24"  —  LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The political left and the political right will join forces on Fox's "24" this coming season.  Janeane Garofalo, an outspoken liberal, is set to co-star on the conservative-leaning real-time drama, whose co-creator/executive …

Make Up Your Own Mine  —  An impoverished town strikes gold.  George Soros and foreign environmentalists say, leave it in the ground.  —  The recent tragedy in Utah has brightened the spotlight on mining, already under assault by environmental and anti-globalization activists world-wide.

Our main goal: Freedom in Cuba  —  When my father was a young man living in Kenya, the freedom and opportunity of the United States exerted such a powerful draw that he moved halfway around the world to pursue his dreams here.  My father's story is not unique.

Average Incomes Fell for Most in 2000-5  —  Americans earned a smaller average income in 2005 than in 2000, the fifth consecutive year that they had to make ends meet with less money than at the peak of the last economic expansion, new government data shows.

Party of Rage  —  Can't we all just get along? … OK.  Sounds like it could be pre-traumatic stress syndrome.  —  In other congressional violence: … And … Those are special cases.  The representative from Rhode Island may have encountered a security guard not up on his DYKWIA* …

Jihad and dhimmitude  —  Celebrating its 17th birthday in 1961, Seventeen magazine triumphantly announced that it had given "stature" and "a sense of identity, purpose, and belonging" to once "forgotten" teenagers whose "needs, wants... even whims are catered to by almost every major industry" worldwide.

ANNALS OF LIBERTARIANISM.  Talking about the Giuliani health care plan, Megan McArdle argues that "As a class, the old and sick are already luckier than the young and healthy":  —  Moreover, as a class, the old and sick have some culpability in their ill health.

[BOOK REVIEW] CHRISTIANITY GOOD, ISLAM BAD?  —  Is Robert Spencer's new book Religion of Peace?  —Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn't just another addition to the "burgeoning literature of Islamophobia"?  That's the opinion of John Derbyshire, who contends that Spencer's own Christianity …

Clinton and McCain Differ on Iraq at Veterans' Meeting  —  Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton told an audience of war veterans on Monday that some elements of the strategy in Iraq appeared to be achieving success, but said a military solution was unattainable and the best way to honor the service of American troops was to "bring them home."