House Dems push new tax to fund war  —  Three senior House Democrats are proposing a new tax to pay for the Iraq war, as well as vowing to oppose any funding bill for Iraq that does not include a policy for ending the conflict.  —  House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) …

Take Rush Limbaugh Off Armed Forces Radio  —  Click here to email Congress to take Rush Limbaugh off Armed Forces Radio.  —  Last week, Rush Limbaugh labeled any American soldier who supports an end to the war in Iraq as "phony."  We challenged Limbaugh through an email campaign …

We're No Senior Political Strategist, But We're Calling Bullsh*t On This  —  Jon Martin has gotten his hands on color-coded maps that Team Giuliani is using to show "what they believe to be Giuliani's anticipated general election strength versus Hillary Clinton compared to how other GOP candidates might fare against her".

GOP Is Losing Grip On Core Business Vote  —  Deficit Hawks Defect  —  As Social Issues Prevail;  —  'The Party Left Me'  —  \*country-region\*country-regionWASHING TON\*\* — The Republican Party, known since the late 19th century as the party of business, is losing its lock on that title.

Oversight Hearing on Blackwater Panel I  —  The Oversight Committee is currently holding a hearing, "Private Security Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan."  The hearing will examine the mission and performance of private military contractor Blackwater USA in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A lot of people are talking about the big speech Barack Obama gave today calling for multilateral nuclear disarmament.  But I wanted to focus in on what I think is a significant aspect of the speech that has little to do with the actual policy questions addressed here.

Newsflash: Press Biased  —  Today, on the front page of The Washington Post, we see the third in a three-part series on roadside bombs in Iraq.  The stories in this series have been centered on the top half of the page and highlighted in red (a device I don't recall seeing before).

Battle of sound bites reaches health care  —  In the battle of sound bites over President Bush's expected veto of the children's health insurance bill, the White House position boils down to this: Beware, beware — it's the first step toward federalized health care.

Mobile phones seized in restive southern Thailand depict gruesome videos  —  PATTANI, Thailand: Police in insurgency-wracked southern Thailand said Tuesday that mobile phones seized from an attack site contain video clips showing suspected insurgents beheading their victims and in one case, cutting off a soldier's sex organ.

Marine Hero: The 5 Things I Saw that Make Me Support the War  —  Liberals often like to say that "violence is senseless."  —  That's wrong.  —  Violence isn't senseless.  Senseless violence is senseless.  And I should know.  Before being awarded the Navy Cross and having the privilege of becoming a Marine, I was a gang member.

Angry, hateful liberal bloggers  —  On Protein Wisdom — the right-wing blog of Pajamas Media's Jeff Goldstein — there is a "response" to a post I wrote a couple of weeks ago concerning the exaggerations of the Muslim threat from Marty Peretz's assistant, Jamie Kirchick of The New Republic and Commentary.

Lawyers, watchdog groups scrutinize change to earmark, linked to Young, after bill's passage  —  A change made to an earmark to the 2005 transportation bill after it passed the House and Senate is attracting the attention of lawyers and watchdog organizations, some of whom are criticizing Rep. Don Young's (R-Alaska) alleged involvement.