Report Depicts Recklessness at Blackwater  —  Guards working in Iraq for Blackwater USA have shot innocent Iraqi civilians and have sought to cover up the incidents, sometimes with the help of the State Department, a report to a Congressional committee said today.

Harry Reid Blasts Rush Limbaugh As "Unpatriotic" On Senate Floor, Demands Apology To Troops  —  Dramatically escalating the Dems' confrontation with Rush Limbaugh over his "phony soldiers" comment, Harry Reid just laced sharply into the talk show host in an extended attack on the Senate floor …

Sen. Clinton's Empty Table  —  "THERE ARE basically only three options: We can raise taxes again, which no one wants to do because the payroll tax is regressive. . . We can cut benefits. . . Or we can work together to try to find some way to increase the rate of return."

High Court won't hear two religion cases  —  WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court returned to work Monday by sidestepping two church-state cases that social conservatives had hoped the justices would use to chart a rightward course.  —  The justices decided not to consider a challenge by religious groups …

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 …

Bush's Unhealthy Veto  —  President Bush has spent six-plus years not using his veto.  In 2005, he became the first president since John Quincy Adams to complete a term in the White House without once standing up to Congress; he has since paused to interrupt this doormat act on only three occasions.

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.

McCain Campaign Clarifies 'Christian Nation' Remarks  —  WASHINGTON — Moving swiftly to stamp out a potential political firestorm, the campaign of Senator McCain is trying to clarify the Republican presidential candidate's statements that he would prefer a Christian president …

The Usual Suspect  —  The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy  —  IN OCTOBER 2002, Osama bin Laden issued a statement in which he analyzed America's inexhaustible number of sins and prescribed ways of repenting for many of them.  The statement was, by the standards of bin Laden's cave encyclicals, unusually coherent.

McCain: $5M raised, over $2M in debt  —  John McCain will raise about $5 million for the quarter but still show well over $2 million in debt, according to two sources familiar with the internal tally.  —  Though far below what rivals Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani are expected to report …

Voters Reject Clinton Baby Bond Proposal By 2-to-1 Margin  —  Sixty percent (60%) of America's Likely Voters oppose giving every child born in the United States a $5,000 savings bond, or "baby bond."  A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 27% support the concept suggested on Friday by Senator Hillary Clinton.

Santorum eyes gubernatorial bud  —  Say it slowly: Gov. Rick Santorum.  —  Interesting concept, isn't it?  —  The former Pennsylvania GOP senator, trounced in his re-election bid last year by seldom-seen Democrat Bob Casey Jr., apparently has grown weary of beating the drums …

Attack at US embassy in Vienna thwarted  —  VIENNA, Austria - A Bosnian who tried to enter the U.S. Embassy in Vienna with a backpack filled with explosives, nails and Islamic literature was arrested Monday after the bag set off a metal detector and the man fled on foot, authorities said.

Thompson: Iraq had WMDs before U.S. invaded  —  Newton, Ia.  — Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson said today he was certain former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction prior to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, a point of contention in the 4.5 years since the war began.

The Peace Corps with Muscles  —  RAMADI, IRAQ - Now that major combat operations are finished almost everywhere in Iraq's Anbar Province, the United States Army and Marine Corps are more like a United Nations peacekeeping force with rules of engagement that allow them to kill if they have to.

Some in Fairfax Public Housing Make Six Figures  —  Hundreds of families living in housing subsidized by Fairfax County taxpayers exceed income caps designed to ensure that only the neediest receive assistance, a review of county records shows.  —  In the most extreme cases …