Ouch!  Hillary Clinton's softer image is clawed over dumped cat  —  AS THE "first pet" of the Clinton era, Socks, the White House cat, allowed "chilly" Hillary Clinton to show a caring, maternal side as well as bringing joy to her daughter Chelsea.  So where is Socks today?

The real war on children  —  On Thursday, Congress attempted to override President Bush's veto of the SCHIP expansion.  SCHIP?  Isn't that something to do with health care for children?  Absolutely.  And here is Bay Area Democratic Rep. Pete Stark addressing the issue with his customary forensic incisiveness:

PM expresses 'discomfort' over release of would-be assassins  —  The Palestinian Authority's conduct towards the suspects in the plot to assassinate him is "a source of discomfort," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday before he left Israel for France.  —  "Israel will find the manner …

Suicide Is Not Painless  —  IT was one of those stories lost in the newspaper's inside pages.  Last week a man you've never heard of — Charles D. Riechers, 47, the second-highest-ranking procurement officer in the United States Air Force — killed himself by running his car's engine in his suburban Virginia garage.

Indian immigrants' son new La. governor  —  BATON ROUGE, La. - U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal easily defeated 11 opponents and became the state's first nonwhite governor since Reconstruction, decades after his parents moved to the state from India to pursue the American dream.

Line-Item Foolishness  —  Mitt Romney is an intelligent man who sometimes seems eager to find bushel baskets under which to hide his light.  Romney faults Rudy Giuliani for opposing the presidential line-item veto.  But Giuliani doesn't, unfortunately.  The facts — not that they loom large in this skirmish — are:

The wonderful world beyond spin  —  ORLANDO, Fla.—Tonight marks the 94th debate between the Republican presidential hopefuls.  —  OK, so I've lost track of exactly how many.  I have the finger scars from enough "live-blogging" to prove that there have been a lot.  Some might even say too many.

Tomorrow's Neocon Today  —  In March of 2005, I wrote a post at the Centrist Coalition, in which I predicted that Hillary Clinton would be the frontrunner for the 2008 Democratic Presidential Nomination.  In that post, I criticized her both for her support for the Iraq War and her pandering to social conservatives.

Time to end the charade  —  Every American president, beginning with Richard Nixon in the aftermath of the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war, has been tempted with the idea of an international conference on the Middle East for negotiating the final comprehensive settlement of the long festering conflict between Arabs and Jews.

Victory Is Within Reach in Iraq  —  Should we declare victory over al Qaeda in the battle of Iraq?  —  The very question would have seemed proof of dementia only a few months ago, yet now some highly respected military officers, including the commander of Special Forces in Iraq …

Next Challenge in Iraq  —  Let's assume that the numbers from Iraq are right and that there has been a significant reduction in violence there.  Let's even agree that the Bush administration's strategy is finally showing some success.  Isn't that an argument for accelerating the transfer …

Leavitt's Healthy Vision  —  PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — For most of the American public, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt is best defined by his role defending President Bush's controversial veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

U.S. to build watchtower at Iran-Iraq border  —  Structure to target smuggling of shipments that authorities allege are illegal arms for war  —  ZURBATIYA, Iraq - About 300 trucks cross the border here every day, ferrying fruit, rugs and building supplies from Iran - and, if U.S. authorities are to be believed, illegal weapons.

Obscure, violent left-wing blogger threatens murder for hire!  —  Sadly, Mr. Chuck Adkins of Lincoln Park, Michigan has now taken his rude behavior a step too far.  Tonight I posted a respectful comment (no profanity or anything) to his blog asking him to explain to me how Limbaugh had "mocked" the Frost kid.

Valerie Plame Wilson Speaks Muzzled  —  Four years and three months after waking up on a Sunday morning and learning that her career as a clandestine intelligence officer was over because of a stupid column by Robert Novak, Valerie Plame Wilson finally gets to meet the public and tell some of her story.