N.Y. Times admits Petraeus ad sold to Moveon.org at 1/2 off  —  The old gray lady has some explaining to do.  —  Officials at the New York Times have admitted a liberal activist group was permitted to pay half the rate it should have for a provocative ad condemning U.S. Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus.

In Swing Districts, Democratic Enthusiasm Is Harder to Come By  —  Conventional wisdom dictates that Democratic voters are thrilled with their choices for president, bursting at the seams to rally behind Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) or whoever gets the party's nod next year.

Marcel Marceau, Famed French Mime, Dies  —  PARIS (AP) — Marcel Marceau, whose lithe gestures and pliant facial expressions revived the art of mime and brought poetry to silence, died Saturday.  He was 84.  —  Wearing white face paint, soft shoes and a battered hat topped with a red flower …

Secret US air force team to perfect plan for Iran strike  —  Also from Sarah Baxter: Israelis seized nuclear material in Syrian raid |  Snatched: Israeli commandos 'nuclear' raid |  Israelis 'blew apart Syrian nuclear cache' |  Alan Greenspan: "Blair was clearly an aide to Brown"

Romney is the Survivor on the Island  —  Mackinac Island, MI-  —  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—September 23, 2007  —  CONTACT: Amy Walter (202) 280-0675  —  Gov Mitt Romney won the Michigan Republican Leadership Conference straw poll, receiving 39 % of the 979 votes cast.

REWRITING 'GOD BLESS AMERICA'  —  It didn't generate much in the way of media attention this week, but a bunch of religious right groups co-sponsored the first-ever "Values Voter" debate a few days ago for the GOP presidential field.  The top four (Giuliani, Romney, McCain, and Thompson) …

Terror: Al Qaeda's Feuds and Fears  —  Lonely, marginalized and suddenly suspicious that he was losing his grip over the organization he helped create, Osama bin Laden finally decided that enough was enough.  At least that's the explanation sources close to him are giving for why …

ImmigrationProf Exclusive: Interview With Senator Barack Obama  —  We are pleased to announce that at 8 A.M. PST on Tuesday morning, the ImmigrationProf blog will post an exclusive interview with Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill), one of the candidates vying for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

BLACKWATER UPDATE...The Iraqi government confirmed today that it has videotape of the Blackwater shooting incident from last week: … How conclusive is this videotape?  On the one hand, apparently conclusive enough that Iraqi officials are claiming they plan to bring criminal charges against the Blackwater shooters.

Clinton Calls Health Care Plan a `Moral Imperative'  —  Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called overhauling the U.S. health-insurance system a ``moral imperative'' and said that raising taxes on the wealthy along with cost savings would be enough to pay for the proposal she unveiled last week.

Wake Up, Dead Man?  —  I'm at O'Hare at the moment.  A friend just phoned me with the straw poll results, I'll correct them later when I get a chance to look: … This is an incredible result for several reasons.  Romney's win is no surprise — he paid for many volunteers to attend …

Bend over for Nurse Hillary  —  Our theme for today comes from George W Bush: "Freedom is the desire of every human heart."  —  When the president uses the phrase, he's invariably applying it to various benighted parts of the Muslim world.  There would seem to be quite a bit of evidence …

Scaife demands documents from Post-Gazette  —  Attorneys for Tribune-Review publisher Richard M. Scaife have filed court papers demanding the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette return documents related to the divorce of Mr. Scaife and his wife, Margaret Ritchie Battle Scaife.

Sunday Talking Head Thread  —  Here's the Sunday Talking Head line-up for this morning.  (partially via the Contra Costa Times.)  — C-Span Washington Journal:7:45am - Thomas Schaller, Baltimore Sun, National Political Columnist |  Article; 8:30am - Newspaper Articles & Viewer Calls …

Open Letter to Progressive Opponents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad  —  by The Columbia Coalition Against the War  —  As Columbia only very recently announced, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be speaking in Roone Arledge auditorium this Monday.  A number of students and student organizations …

Snatched: Israeli commandos 'nuclear' raid  —  Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv, Sarah Baxter, Washington, and Michael Sheridan  —  ISRAELI commandos from the elite Sayeret Matkal unit - almost certainly dressed in Syrian uniforms - made their way stealthily towards a secret military compound near Dayr az-Zawr in northern Syria.