Report Finds Little Progress On Iraq Goals  —  Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 congressionally mandated benchmarks for political and military progress, according to a draft of a Government Accountability Office report.  The document questions whether some aspects of a more positive assessment …

Survey: Less Than Half of all Published Scientists Endorse Global Warming Theory  —  Comprehensive survey of published climate research reveals changing viewpoints  —  In 2004, history professor Naomi Oreskes performed a survey of research papers on climate change.

Clinton Donor Under a Cloud in Fraud Case  —  Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign said yesterday that it would give to charity $23,000 it had received from a prominent Democratic donor, and review thousands of dollars more that he had raised, after learning that the authorities in California …

Terrorism Policies Split Democrats  —  Anger Mounts Within Party Over Inaction on Bush Tactics  —  A growing clamor among rank-and-file Democrats to halt President Bush's most controversial tactics in the fight against terrorism has exposed deep divisions within the party …

Sadr Suspends His Militia's Military Operations  —  The radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr said Wednesday that he was suspending for six months his Mahdi Army militia's operations, including attacks on American troops, only hours after his fighters waged running street battles …

Jesus bin Laden  —  More artists being "brave" in the usually cowardly way: … Strange - I'd have thought a picture of Mohammed morphing into bin Laden would have been far more to the point, but I guess that would have been rude - and, you know, dangerous.

Jury Wants DNA, Hair Samples In USF Case  —  TAMPA - A federal grand jury in Tampa is asking for DNA and hair samples from a University of South Florida student jailed four weeks ago in South Carolina on explosives charges, his attorney said.  —  Andrew Savage said in a phone interview Wednesday night …

Bush's Lost Iraqi Election  —  Ayad Allawi, the former interim prime minister of Iraq, hinted in a television interview last weekend at one of the war's least understood turning points: America's decision not to challenge Iranian intervention in Iraq's January 2005 elections.

Idaho Senator Loses Committee Leadership Posts  —  The political career of Senator Larry Craig of Idaho appeared to be collapsing today as fellow Republicans called for his resignation and party leaders ousted him from his committee leadership posts amid the fallout over his arrest and guilty plea …

Tapping Into The Secrets Of the Stall  —  Experts Say Anonymous Sex In Public Places Is A Compulsive Behavior  —  Consider the bathroom stall, that utilitarian public enclosure of cold steel and drab hue.  —  It can be a world of untold secrets, codes and signals as invitations to partake.

A Study in Cowardice  —  EDITOR's NOTE: This post has been pulled up.  For newer posts, scroll down.  —  The Center for America Progress' (CAP) recent study entitled "How to Redeploy: Implementing a Responsible Drawdown of U.S. Forces from Iraq" (PDF alert) features a quote from Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War:

MoveOn.org Launches Ad Against Baird  —  (The Politico) MoveOn.org has its latest target: Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.), who announced last week that he supported the troop surge after a recent trip to Iraq.  —  Now MoveOn.org has launched a television advertisement against the 5-term congressman …

Edwards On Track in Iowa  —  John Edwards is betting that a strong showing in the Iowa caucuses will catapult him into national contention, and so far his strategy in the state is on track.  A new TIME poll of likely Iowa caucus goers, taken a week after Edwards' seven-day …

Flower Bauer  —  "24"'s upcoming seventh season appears to mark a different direction for the conservative-leaning action drama.  First, producers cast a female president.  Then they struck a plan to make the show's production more environmentally friendly, leading to a "carbon-neutral" season finale.

Smoking Gun from the Future:  —  On 8/26 at about 1200 hours I was working a plainclothes detail involving deviant conduct in the men's room at the Pepsi Center during the Democratic Convention.  We had received civilian complaints of disorderly persons using this particular facility and had made several arrests.

Marines' Trials in Iraq Killings Are Withering  —  Last December, when the Marine Corps charged four infantrymen with killing Iraqi civilians in Haditha, Iraq, in 2005, the allegation was as dark as it was devastating: after a roadside bomb had killed their buddy, a group …