FEMA Official Apologizes for Staged Briefing With Fake Reporters  —  The Federal Emergency Management Agency's No. 2 official apologized yesterday for leading a staged news conference Tuesday in which FEMA employees posed as reporters while real reporters listened on a telephone conference line and were barred from asking questions.

'I Don't Think This Place Is Worth Another Soldier's Life'  —  BAGHDAD, Oct. 26 Their line of tan Humvees and Bradley Fighting Vehicles creeps through another Baghdad afternoon.  At this pace, an excruciating slowness, they strain to see everything, hoping the next manhole cover, the next rusted barrel, does not hide another bomb.

State Dept. To Order Diplomats To Iraq  —  As Many as 50 Positions Are Expected to Be Open  —  The State Department will order as many as 50 U.S. diplomats to take posts in Iraq next year because of expected shortfalls in filling openings there, the first such large-scale forced assignment since the Vietnam War.

D'Oh: House Panel Screw-Up Reveals Whistleblower Email Addresses  —  Here's a whoops with a capital W.  —  This summer the House Judiciary Committee launched an effort to collect tips from would-be whistleblowers in the Justice Department.  The U.S. attorney firings scandal had shown …

The Mitt-Brownback spat carries on  —  Sam Brownback may be out of the race, but his very public dangling of an endorsement for Rudy is angering at least one prominent Romney backer.  To set the stage: These two camps, Brownback and Romney, are not fond of each other and did battle …

Facebook reveals the BBC as a liberal hotbed  —  The BBC has frequently been accused of having a liberal bias.  —  But now the corporation's own staff appear to have confirmed this by revealing their political views on the networking website Facebook.  —  A survey of BBC employees …

USS Cole bomber released from jail  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. law enforcement officials Friday blasted Yemen's release of one of the leaders of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 U.S. soldiers.  —  "We are dismayed and deeply disappointed in the government of Yemen's decision …

Obama Explains Why He's the Best Candidate for LGBT Americans  —  When the Obama campaign announced that Donnie McClurkin would be among the featured singers on the presidential candidate's gospel tour in South Carolina this weekend, it inadvertently ventured into the void between African-American Christians and gays and lesbians.

Why Democrats are afraid to raise taxes on the rich  —  New data from the Internal Revenue Service show that income inequality continues to widen.  The wealthiest 1 percent of Americans earn more than 21 percent of all income.  That's a postwar record.  The bottom 50 percent of all Americans …

Democrats Plan a Shorter Workweek  —  Shortly after winning a majority last year, Democrats triumphantly declared that they would put Congress back to work, promising an "end to the two-day workweek."  And indeed, the House has clocked more time in Washington this year than in any other session since 1995 …

"Media Matters"; by Jamison Foser  —  This week, Slate.com's political/gossip blogger Mickey Kaus wrote: … In just 21 words, Kaus managed to elevate the topics he speculates wildly about to the level of the most famous case of presidential wrongdoing in U.S. history, and to equate his …

Donald Rumsfeld charged with torture during trip to France  —  Former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld got an unpleasant surprise during his visit to France today when human rights groups filed a complaint with the Paris Prosecutor before the "Court of First Instance" (Tribunal de Grande Instance) …

Sen. Craig will argue against constitutionality of his bust  —  Idaho Sen. Larry Craig will argue before an appeals court that Minnesota's disorderly conduct law is unconstitutional as it applies to his conviction in a bathroom sex sting, according to a new court filing.

Genarlow Wilson released  —  Georgia Supreme Court rules his sentence was cruel and unusual  —  Genarlow Wilson walked out of prison a free man Friday afternoon, hours after the Georgia Supreme Court tossed out his 10-year sentence for having consensual oral sex when he was 17 with a girl who was 15.