Giuliani Inspires Threat of a Third-Party Run  —  Alarmed at the possibility that the Republican Party might pick Rudolph W. Giuliani as its presidential nominee despite his support for abortion rights, a coalition of influential Christian conservatives is threatening to back a third-party candidate.

Roddy Stinson: Passenger sitting behind soldier reports 'a very moving moment'  —  THE GOOD  —  Last Wednesday, while flying from Phoenix to the Alamo City on U.S. Airways Flight 207, a San Antonio man, Gil Anderson, witnessed something memorable.  —  Shortly before takeoff …

HILLARY'S $30,000 FANS ARE HER 'CULT' FOLLOWING  —  A purported pyramid-scheme operator who was run out of Arkansas when Bill Clinton was governor has reinvented himself as the head of an upstate group accused of being a "cult" - and his devotees have pumped thousands into Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential run.

Burma: Thousands dead in the massacre of the monks dumped in the jungle  —  Thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, a former intelligence officer for Burma's ruling junta has revealed.  —  The most senior official to defect so far …

Gotbaum kin's plea before dying: I'm not a terrorist!  —  BY SOO YOUN in Phoenix and ETHAN ROUEN and ADAM LISBERG in New York  —  The daughter-in-law of one of New York's top officials screamed, "I'm not a terrorist!" and fought with security officials in the Phoenix airport before being wrestled …

Clarence Thomas: A Silent Justice Speaks Out  —  Since Clarence Thomas joined the Supreme Court 16 years ago, he has largely remained silent, and his silence has become part of his mythology.  He rarely speaks from the bench.  He hasn't responded to legions of critics.

HIS GRANDFATHER'S SON  —  A CBS publicist has sent us the link to the CBS News Video site with the terrific two-part profile of Justice Thomas that aired last night on 60 Minutes.  Part 1 is accessible here and part 2 here.  In the profile we are reminded that Justice Thomas is a man who …

Michigan Goes Smoot-Hawley In The Early Morning  —  The economic woes of Michigan appear ready to worsen, thanks to a budget agreement reached this morning as the state government began shutting down.  Michigan residents will see their taxes increase by over a billion dollars …

Hints of Strong Fundraising Emerge  —  Stronger-Running Candidates May Have Dodged Summer Blues  —  New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson announced last night he raised about $5.2 million over the past three months for his Democratic presidential bid, an amount his campaign said would keep …

THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF TOM FRIEDMAN'S THINKING  —  PJM columnist Rick Moran challenges the veteran New York Times columnist's contention that "9/11 has made us stupid."  What would be truly idiotic, Moran argues, would be trying to pretend that the attacks never happened and forgetting the lessons we learned from it.

Derbyshire: September Diary  —  A popular theme in the e-mails was the inadequacy of our "-phobia" suffix.  Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon defines phobos as "fear, terror, fright, dismay."  That's not really accurate for the emotions that Islamophobes have about Islam, as a lot of reaers observed.

High Court won't hear birth control case  —  WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday declined to enter a church-state dispute over whether some religious organizations can be forced to pay for workers' birth-control health insurance benefits, a growing trend in the states.

Final Bow  —  With mixed emotions I announce: John and I will no longer be producing editorial cartoons.  John will continue posting his work at his blog, John Cox Art, and he and I will continue working together on various projects, but there will be no more regularly scheduled editorial cartoons.

Right-Of-Center Bloggers Select Their Favorite People On The Right (2007 Edition)  —  Right Wing News emailed more than 225 right-of-center bloggers and asked them to send us a list of whom they considered to be their "Favorite People On The Right."  Representatives from the following 50 blogs responded...

What We Owe the Burmese  —  An upheaval like the pro-democracy uprising taking place in Burma over the past month tends to shake up certainties that had seemed self-evident.  Certainties such as the primacy of justice.  Or the sanctity of the Olympic Games.

U.S. Embassy rips Senate plan on Iraq  —  BAGHDAD - U.S. and Iraqi forces killed more than 60 insurgent and militia fighters in intense battles over the weekend, with most of the casualties believed to have been al-Qaida fighters, officials said Sunday.  —  The U.S. Embassy, meanwhile …

Death From All Sides  —  An extensive evidence file assembled by the Iraqi National Police after the controversial Blackwater shooting suggests that the private contractors opened fire unprovoked from the ground and the sky.  —  Since the fatal Sept. 16 Blackwater USA shooting in Baghdad's Nasoor Square …