Columbia's disgrace  —  There is a suicidal mania that grips elite opinion in the United States.  It is exemplified nowhere better than in our elite educational institutions.  Today, for example, Columbia University has issued the following statement to its alumni:

Donors Stir 'Bundling' Questions  —  Clinton Campaign Vows  —  To Check Contributions  —  Solicited by Supporter  —  BRISTOW, Va. — When Hillary Rodham Clinton held an intimate fund-raising event at her Washington home in late March, Pamela Layton donated $4,600, the maximum allowed by law …

Longer Leaves for Troops Blocked  —  Senate Republicans yesterday rejected a bipartisan proposal to lengthen the home leaves of U.S. troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, derailing a measure that war opponents viewed as one of the best chances to force President Bush to accelerate a redeployment of forces.

New al-Qaida video released  —  CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri said the United States was being defeated in Afghanistan, Iraq and other fronts in a new video released Thursday, the latest in a series put out by the terror network.  —  The video came days …

Where Military Rules Don't Apply  —  Blackwater's Security Force in Iraq Given Wide Latitude by State Dept.  —  Blackwater USA, the private security company involved in a Baghdad shootout last weekend, operated under State Department authority that exempted the company from U.S. military …

Terror Watch: A Secret Lobbying Campaign  —  The secret lobbying campaign your phone company doesn't want you to know about  —  The nation's biggest telecommunications companies, working closely with the White House, have mounted a secretive lobbying campaign to get Congress to quickly approve …

I Don't Support the Troops..oops, there, I said it  —  This has been digging at me for, oh, about 4 years now.  I have been hesitant to express this thought, in comments sections and in discussion with other people about the Iraq quagmire for fear of, I don't know, being called mean.  Or, un-American.

Romney to attack gay marriage in radio ad  —  DES MOINES, Iowa - GOP contender Mitt Romney is launching a radio ad today touting his opposition to gay marriage.  —  Romney, who has been hit by conservatives for being soft on gay issues in the past, says he is the only major GOP candidate backing …

Darth Cheney  —  "You can always tell when the Republicans are getting restless, because the Vice President's motorcade pulls into the Capitol, and Darth Vader emerges," Clinton said just now at Town Hall in New York.  —  "I'm not invited to their meetings and I don't know what he says or does," she said.

Fears of dollar collapse as Saudis take fright  —  Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve for the first time, signalling that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East.

Pants Update: The Dry Cleaners Shuts Down  —  Roy Pearson, the D.C. administrative law judge whose $67 million lawsuit against his neighborhood dry cleaners turned into a worldwide lesson in how one obsessed person can hijack the American legal system, lost his case in court …

U.S. attorney imbroglio hits Puerto Rico  —  The nominee for U.S. attorney in Puerto Rico — who is investigating corruption allegations against the district's sitting governor — is being held up in secret in the Senate amid a vicious political battle that could reshape the future of the island.