New Steps by U.S. Against Iranians  —  The Bush administration will announce a long-debated policy of new sanctions against Iran on Thursday, accusing the elite Quds division of the Revolutionary Guard Corps of supporting terrorism, administration officials said Wednesday night.

Baghdad Diarist Was On Guard When Questioned by Editors  —  The soldier whose New Republic article about military cruelty in Iraq was labeled false by Army investigators refused to defend his accusations when questioned by the magazine, even after being told that the editors could no longer support him unless he cooperated.

Simply Simpatico  —  Lima is beautiful in the spring, when it's not too hot, I was told.  Machu Pichu is a must see, too.  —  My visits to the Green Zone are always a joy when I pass through checkpoints manned by Peruvian troops, with whom I have established a rapport.

Rudy?  —  Giuliani and religious right meet on the road to political adulthood.  —  One school of thought on the religious right holds that if Rudy Giuliani would commit to an unequivocal anti-abortion position, they could vote for him.  A second school of thought, articulated by Richard Land …

Feds join probe in SoCal wildfire  —  LOS ANGELES - Federal agents joined the search for evidence Wednesday in brush-covered Orange County hills where an arsonist is believed to have ignited one of the wildfires devastating Southern California.  —  In San Bernardino County …

"The darkness has become pitch black" - Osama bin Laden on Iraq situation  —  Banner announcing Osama bin Laden's audiotape.  Click image to view animated version.  —  Recent report from US commanders in Iraq have stated al Qaeda in Iraq has been set back by a combination of the latest offensive …

Another $200 Billion  —  President Bush waited until he had vetoed a relatively inexpensive children's health insurance bill before asking for tens of billions of dollars more for his misadventure in Iraq.  The cynicism of that maneuver is only slightly less shameful than the president's distorted priorities.

Lieberman-Warner meets the microscope  —  The U.S. Senate held its first hearing today to examine America's Climate Security Act, the new climate-change bill introduced last Wednesday by Sens. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.).  Given that the hearing was convened by a subcommittee …

The GOP in 2008  —  It's long been my belief that the GOP hole card in 2008 is going to be a rancid furriner-bashing anti-illegal-immigrant smear campaign.  Make no mistake, whatever lipstick they put on this pig, the bottom line is the same old know-nothing nativism that has been a minor American stain since …

Minimum-Tax Fix May Cost Hedge Funds, Buyout Firms $48 Billion  —  Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) — House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel said he would propose paying for curbing the alternative minimum tax this year with a $48 billion tax increase on executives of buyout firms and hedge funds.