BREAKING NEWS: Electoral initiative backers give up  —  Plagued by a lack of money, supporters of a statewide initiative drive to change the way California's 55 electoral votes are apportioned, first revealed here by Top of the Ticket in July, are pulling the plug on that effort.

Wanted: Democratic Straight Talk on Iraq  —  Yes, you heard it right: At the Dartmouth College debate Wednesday evening, not one of the three leading Democratic candidates could pledge that all U.S. combat troops would be out of Iraq by the end of his or her first term as president.

Leading GOP Candidates Skip Debate on Black Issues  —  4 Contenders Attend Fundraisers Instead  —  Fred D. Thompson was at a fundraiser in Franklin, Tenn. Mitt Romney was gathering checks in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. Rudolph W. Giuliani was in California raking in some last-minute cash just north of Napa.

Six inconvenient truths about the U.S. and slavery  —  Those who want to discredit the United States and to deny our role as history's most powerful and pre-eminent force for freedom, goodness and human dignity invariably focus on America's bloody past as a slave-holding nation.

Showdown Looms as Child Health Bill Passes  —  The Senate, with an overwhelming bipartisan vote yesterday, sent President Bush a $35 billion expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, setting up the biggest domestic policy clash of his presidency and launching a fight that will reverberate into the 2008 elections.

The Islamic Reformation  —  Those who call for an Islamic 'Reformation' are missing the point: it has already happened, unfortunately.  —  Since 2001 a plethora of writers have made calls for an Islamic "Reformation".  Many hopes (and careers) are pinned on the idea, but there is no such thing coming.

Reports: Military junta cuts Internet access in Burma; Sniper reportedly killed Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai; Update: Videos added  —  Update 9:50am Eastern.  PJM pays tribute to monks and bloggers.  —  And read Agam's Gecko, an Asian-based blog that has followed the Burmese democracy movement for many, many years.

Dems unite to slam Limbaugh, GOP silent  —  As a rule, Democrats and their allies are a little slow when it comes to organized outrage.  A high-profile Republican will say or do something that most decent Americans would find outrageous, progressive blogs will call him or her on it …

Mistake costs dishwasher $59,000  —  MIAMI, Florida (CNN) — For 11 years, Pedro Zapeta, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, lived his version of the American dream in Stuart, Florida: washing dishes and living frugally to bring money back to his home country.

Cigarette surveillance program begins today  —  Motorists bringing large numbers of smokes into state will be charged  —  NASHVILLE — Starting today, state Department of Revenue agents will begin stopping Tennessee motorists spotted buying large quantities of cigarettes in border states …

Lee Bollinger's Illusory Idealism  —  What the Columbia president is forgetting.  —  Many commentators have argued that Columbia University President Lee Bollinger was unwise—or, in Arnold Ahlert's view, "idiotic"—to have hosted Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The war president "at peace" with himself  —  Bush's 2003 conversation with the Spanish prime minister shows his smug determination to invade Iraq at all costs.  —  George W. Bush answers a question during a joint news conference with Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar …

U.S. to Allow Key Detainees to Request Lawyers  —  14 Terrorism Suspects Given Legal Forms at Guantanamo  —  Fourteen "high-value" terrorism suspects who were transferred to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from secret CIA prisons last year have been formally offered the right to request lawyers …

NTU Staff & Friends Mourn the Death of NTU President John Berthoud  —  We are sorry to announce the passing of John Berthoud.  As you may know, he has led both the National Taxpayers Union and National Taxpayers Union Foundation over the last 11 years.  We have looked to him as a strong leader …

The Nuclear Renaissance Begins  —  If you're tracking the nuclear power revival in America, last Tuesday, September 25, was a milestone.  For the first time since 1973, a new application for building a reactor was placed before the federal government.  —  The applicant was NRG Energy …

Sycophant Savior  —  General Petraeus wins a battle in Washington—if not in Baghdad.  —  In common parlance, the phrase "political general" is an epithet, the inverse of the warrior or frontline soldier.  In any serious war, with big issues at stake, to assign command to a political general …

A Quiet Triumph May be Brewing  —  There are signs that the global Islamic jihad movement is splitting apart, in what would be a tremendous achievement for American strategy.  The center of the action is in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the very territory which is thought to harbor Usama, and from which Al Qaeda was able to launch 9/11.

France Flips While Congress Shifts  —  WASHINGTON — Ahmadinejad at Columbia provided the entertainment, but Sarkozy at the U.N. provided the substance.  On the largest possible stage — the U.N. General Assembly — President Nicolas Sarkozy put Iran on notice.