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.

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 …

Senator Calls for Maliki's Ouster  —  Declaring the government of Iraq "non-functional," the influential chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said yesterday that Iraq's parliament should oust Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his cabinet if they are unable to forge a political compromise …

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.

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 …

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.

Louisiana Governor: Backlash Anyone?  —  In one of the hardest hitting - Republicans will undoubtedly say "dirtiest" - television ads aired in history, the Louisiana Democratic Party is accusing Rep. Bobby Jindal of being anti-Protestant.  —  The bizarre charge is delivered by an unidentified woman …

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.

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 …

Can the GOP Make a Comeback?  —  The recipe for Republicans is to stop acting like, well, Republicans—that is, Republicans of recent vintage.  —  It's not particularly visible at the moment, but there is a road to political recovery for Republicans.  Chances are they won't get far enough …

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.

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* …

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.

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.

[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 …