Immunity deal hampers Blackwater inquiry  —  WASHINGTON - The State Department promised Blackwater USA bodyguards immunity from prosecution in its investigation of last month's deadly shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians, The Associated Press has learned.  —  The immunity deal has delayed …

Full Text of Email Reveals Greenwald Mischaracterizations  —  Welcome, fellow minions of the lgf New World Odor  —  Glenn Greenwald, as he had promised in his post at Salon, has forwarded the email he says he received from Colonel Steven A. Boylan, Public Affairs Officer for General Petraeus.

Is Hillary a Sure Loser?  —  Jim Geraghty has a significant post on Hillary's floor and ceiling: … The actual Rasmussen release on this point is here: … Hillary has nearly universal name identification.  Nearly every American has an opinion of her.  And regardless of what Americans …

Obama Stumbles...Again  —  The Illinois senator's problematic, "semi-gay" supporter.  —  MOST STANDARD READERS probably think the big campaign news of the days is Mitt Romney landing the endorsement of New Hampshire senator Judd Gregg.  As an avowed Romney supporter, I applaud this development …

President Bush Announces Recipients of Presidential Medal of Freedom  —  President George W. Bush today announced recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation's highest civil award.  Established by Executive Order 11085 in 1963, the Medal may be awarded by the President …

Giuliani: Dems Will Change Minds on Iraq  —  LONDONDERRY, N.H. (AP) - Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani said Monday that two of the Democratic candidates will change their minds again about the Iraq war and agree that it was the right decision.  —  Asked at a town-hall meeting …

There Is No Crisis  —  I imagine some readers who haven't been hanging around these parts for all that long might have justifiably been puzzled at the reaction to Obama's decision to try to make dealing with Social Security his signature attack on Clinton.  It's true that Obama didn't assert that there was some huge crisis.

Iraqi troops free tribal leaders kidnapped by Mahdi Army commander  —  Just 24 hours after the capture of 11 Sunni and Shia tribal leaders in northern Baghdad, the Iraqi Army has freed eight of the sheikhs.  Meanwhile, Multinational Forces Iraq has identified the Mahdi Army commander responsible …

AIDS virus invaded U.S. from Haiti: study  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The AIDS virus invaded the United States in about 1969 from Haiti, carried most likely by a single infected immigrant who set the stage for it to sweep the world in a tragic epidemic, scientists said on Monday.

Tony Snow: "Newspapers Are a Niche Market"  —  Hi, readers.  I braved the suffocating humidity, pastel hues and abundant old people of Boca Raton to bring you insights from the American Magazine Conference.  Or perhaps I should call it the American Magabrand Conference.

The most influential US Conservatives: 81-100  —  As the US prepares for what is arguably the most open presidential election since 1928, the last time there was no incumbent president or vice-president on the ballot, the Daily Telegraph's Washington correspondents compile a list of the 100 …

GIULIANI'S LATEST....The Washington Post notes that Rudy Giuliani will be running a new radio ad in New Hampshire starting today: … You will be unsurprised to learn that Giuliani is full of s**t.  As you can see from the chart on the right, Britain and the United States have virtually identical mortality rates from prostate cancer.

Too good to check: DUers "prove" waterboarding is torture — by waterboarding each other  —  "[I]f it isn't torture, it can't be that bad, right?" our hero wonders rhetorically before declaring it most definitely bad — and recounting how he went in for one, two, three, four rounds of the stuff.

Authority Figure  —  The childhood roots of Giuliani's strange views of liberty.  —  At a town hall meeting in Exeter, New Hampshire, last month, local resident Bob Roughsedge introduced Rudy Giuliani as "the next mayor of the United States."  No one tittered or spoke up.

U.S. destroyer pursuing hijacked ship  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — A U.S. destroyer has entered Somali territorial waters in pursuit of a Japanese-owned ship loaded with benzene that was hijacked by pirates over the weekend, military officials said Monday.  —  The guided-missile destroyer USS …