Senator Craig Announces Resignation  —  Embattled Idaho Republican Lawmaker to Step Down Sept 30  —  Sen. Larry E. Craig, the Idaho Republican caught in a police crackdown on sexual solicitation in an airport men's room, announced his resignation from the Senate today …

Grim Panel  —  Indeed, it is very grim.  —  And while the Senate Leader is technically Harry Reid, the real leaders of the Democratic party at the moment are Senators Obama and Clinton.  They can get press (if not always fair and accurate press) any time they want.

Thompson Plans to Crash This Party  —  Fred D. Thompson, the soon-to-be-official presidential contender, has come under a good deal of criticism in New Hampshire this week for scheduling his formal announcement for next Thursday morning and thus skipping the Republican debate in Manchester on Wednesday night.

19 bicyclists arrested after rally turns into melee  —  Officers watching the event in downtown Minneapolis say they were attacked, escalating the confrontation.  —  Police arrested 19 bicyclists, including three juveniles, after a protest ride took an ugly turn in downtown Minneapolis Friday night.

Iraqi civilian deaths climb again  —  War-related fatalities rose in August, the second month in a row, suggesting that the U.S. troop increase has had little effect.  —  BAGHDAD — Bombings, sectarian slayings and other violence related to the war killed at least 1,773 Iraqi civilians in August …

The Koran and non-Muslims - myths versus facts  —  Religious militants go angry and violent not because they read their religious texts, but because they focus on the harsher parts of those texts since they are already angry and violent for a myriad of reasons.  —  Mustafa Akyol

Hugo!  —  Patrick's won the Hugo! —for Best Editor (long form), that is.  He just phoned from Japan to tell me.  I'll give you more news as it happens—the ceremony is still going on.  —  Yay, Patrick!  —  Rocket rocket rocket rocket rocket!

Don't frighten the horses: What Larry Craig tells conservatives about ourselves.  —  Don't frighten the horses; what Larry Craig tells conservatives about ourselves.  —  Seems to me that confusing politics and Law has led many posters into a welter of contradictions.

Bush Fights Back on Iraq Debate  —  President Bush, appearing confident about sustaining support for his Iraq strategy, met at the Pentagon on Friday with the uniformed leaders of the nation's armed services and then pointedly accused the war's opponents of politicizing the debate over what to do next.

Welcome to the new US embassy  —  It's bigger than Saddam's palace and, with a cinema, gym and pool, is the safest and smartest place to live in Iraq...  Baghdad is a city of ruins - of burnt-out homes, of shops wrecked by suicide bombs, of the crumbling shells of Saddam-era palaces …