Abu Risha murdered  —  I was in the middle of putting the finishing touches on an short piece about Iraqi Sunni politics due out later today when I got an urgent flash that Abd al-Sattar Abu Risha had been murdered in Anbar.  Nothing could have been more predictable than the murder of Abu Risha …

TIMES GIVES LEFTIES A HEFTY DISCOUNT FOR 'BETRAY US' AD  —  The New York Times dramatically slashed its normal rates for a full-page advertisement for MoveOn.org's ad questioning the integrity of Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.  —  Headlined "Cooking the Books …

Clinton, Pelosi, Greenspan, Bloomberg, Gates, Annan Also Say Interviews 'Fakes'  —  Brian Ross Reports:  —  Former President Bill Clinton, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates …

Dems Demand Boehner Apologize For "Small Price" Troop Deaths Remark  —  Okay, here we go.  —  Democratic leaders are now opening fire on GOP House leader John Boehner, demanding that he apologize for saying in an interview yesterday that troop deaths in Iraq would be a "small price" …

The Other Iraq Surge  —  A sharp increase in contributions from the military to Democrats suggests the Republican commander-in-chief and his party are losing the troops' support.  —  Assessed favorably this week by the war's lead general, the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq appears to be causing …

CT-Sen: Lamont would win rematch  —  Daily Kos commissioned the following poll from independent pollster Research 2000:  —  Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 9/10-12.  Likely voters.  MoE 4% (No trend lines) … Lieberman won 50-40-10 in 2006, so the poll tracks closely.

Is a Fred Thompson Campaign Necessary?  —  Fred Thompson's plunge into the presidential pool — more belly-flop than swan dive — was the strangest product launch since that of New Coke in 1985.  Then the question was: Is this product necessary?  A similar question stumped Thompson the day he plunged.

FRED: NOT SURE ABOUT NATIONAL CAT FUND, SCHIAVO  —  THE VILLAGES — Republican Presidential hopeful Fred Thompson, addressing some Florida-specific questions for a Tampa Bay-area cable program, says he doesn't have an opinion about a national catastrophic insurance fund or the 2005 congressional intervention in the Terri Schiavo case.

Researcher: Bin Laden's beard is real, video is not  —  On the Friday before the sixth anniversary of 9/11, Osama bin Laden appeared in a new video, his first since prior to the U.S. presidential elections in 2004.  In analyzing the video, Neal Krawetz of Hactor Factor, an expert on digital image forensics …

As Bush Prepares for 'Surge' Address Tonight: Here Is What He Promised in January Speech  —  NEW YORK With President Bush reportedly ready to endorse a full continuation of the "surge" in Iraq through next summer in a speech to the nation tonight, a look back at what he promised in his address …

UC Irvine aborts hiring Chemerinsky as law school dean  —  The constitutional scholar says university officials told him the deal was off to head the new school because he was too 'politically controversial.'  —  In a showdown over academic freedom, a prominent legal scholar said Wednesday …

Crocker's Fuzzy Economics  —  NEWS: Ambassador Ryan Crocker had tough marching orders this week: Spin the political and economic chaos of Iraq into something that sounds like progress.  But even the mild gains Crocker professed don't stand up to close scrutiny.

43% Support Petraeus Recommendation, 38% Oppose  —  Forty-three percent (43%) of Americans favor the recommendation made by General David Petraeus to withdraw 30,000 soldiers from Iraq but leave 130,000 troops in place at least through the summer.  A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found …

The Immigration Charade  —  State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America  —  America's ongoing argument about immigration has followed a fairly consistent sequence for three decades.  Each round begins with news reports about the fact that thousands of new immigrants are settling here illegally every week.

CALIFORNIA VOTERS CAN'T CHANGE THE 2008 ELECTION RULES ON THEIR OWN.  —  Republican presidential candidates are crossing the country promising voters that they'll pick judges who will be "strict constructionists" of the U.S. Constitution.  Meanwhile, Republican activists in California …

A New Strain of Anti-Semitism is Spreading  —  Who recently said: "These Jews started 19 Crusades.  The 19th was World War (1).  Why?  Only to build Israel."  —  Some holdover Nazi?  —  Hardly.  It was former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan of Turkey, a NATO ally.