Immunity Deals Offered to Blackwater Guards  —  State Department investigators offered Blackwater USA security guards immunity during an inquiry into last month's deadly shooting of 17 Iraqis in Baghdad — a potentially serious investigative misstep that could complicate efforts to prosecute …

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 …

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 …

Iraqi Dam Seen In Danger of Deadly Collapse  —  AT THE MOSUL DAM, Iraq — The largest dam in Iraq is in serious danger of an imminent collapse that could unleash a trillion-gallon wave of water, possibly killing thousands of people and flooding two of the largest cities in the country …

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.

'Hate literature easily found at UK mosques'  —  Extremist literature that encourages hatred of gays, Christians and Jews can be easily found at many of Britain's mosques, according to a new survey.  —  Researchers for the centre-Right think tank Policy Exchange claims it found the literature …

New Congress at war over everything  —  In a closed-door meeting before the last vote on the children's health care bill, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer appealed for the support of about 30 wavering Republican lawmakers.  What he got instead was a tongue-lashing, participants said.

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 …

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 …

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.

Cycle of Dependency  —  It is remarkable how many political "solutions" today are dealing with problems created by previous political "solutions."  Three examples that come to mind immediately are the housing -market crisis, the wildfires in southern California, and the water shortages in the west.

Vouching for vouchers  —  Forgive me—I'm about to get testy again—but this thread on 11D really does seem to me to showcase in stunning technocolor the moral bankruptcy of voucher opponents who have pulled their own kids out of failing inner city schools.  They have no good answer …

The Happiness Gap  —  Some elections are defined by the gap between the rich and the poor.  Others are defined by the gap between the left and the right.  But this election will be shaped by the gap within individual voters themselves — the gap between their private optimism and their public gloom.