Thompson Adviser Has Criminal Past  —  Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson has been crisscrossing the country since early this summer on a private jet lent to him by a businessman and close adviser who has a criminal record for drug dealing.  —  Thompson selected the businessman …

Pakistani Declares State of Emergency  —  The Pakistani leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, declared a state of emergency on Saturday night, suspending the country's Constitution, firing the chief justice of the Supreme Court and filling the streets of this capital city with police officers.

Saudi Arabia is hub of world terror  —  The desert kingdom supplies the cash and the killers  —  Nick Fielding and Sarah Baxter, Washington  —  It was an occasion for tears and celebration as the Knights of Martyrdom proclaimed on video: "Our brother Turki fell during the rays of dawn …

Clinton Rebuts Accusations of Secrecy  —  As Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton began a four-day swing through Iowa on Saturday, her political camp struck back against accusations that she and her husband were being overly secretive about discussions they had during their White House years.

Beyond Those Health Care Numbers  —  WITH the health care system at the center of the political debate, a lot of scary claims are being thrown around.  The dangerous ones are not those that are false; watchdogs in the news media are quick to debunk them.  Rather, the dangerous ones …

Gift of Gall  —  Girlfriend had a rough week.  —  First Hillary got brushed back by the boys in the debate.  Then some women bemoaned Hillaryland's "Don't hit me, I'm a girl" strategy.  —  The Washington Post's Ruth Marcus deplored the "antifeminist subtext" of Hillary's campaign playing the woman-as-victim card.

FRED THOMPSON VS. THE UN'S ANTI-SELF-DEFENSE CAMPAIGN Earlier this week, Sen. Fred Thompson wrote to Field & Stream magazine, criticizing the UN's campaign against the human right of self-defense.  The Thompson campaign touted the letter on its website, and the letter got a favorable reception among many pro-Second Amendment bloggers.

Noun + Verb + 9/11 + Iran = Democrats' Defeat?  —  WHEN President Bush started making noises about World War III, he only confirmed what has been a Democratic article of faith all year: Between now and Election Day he and Dick Cheney, cheered on by the mob of neocon dead-enders, are going to bomb Iran.

A hero in Castro's gulag  —  AT A White House ceremony tomorrow President Bush will honor eight distinguished men and women with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civil award.  Among the recipients will be the longtime civil rights activist Benjamin Hooks; Harper Lee …

New Detainee Rights Weighed in Plans to Close Guantánamo  —  Officials say they are considering granting detainees greater rights in an effort to close the facility.

ALL-TIME WINGNUTTIEST BLOG POST CONTEST....While the rest of the blogosphere concerns itself with the worthy task of choosing the all-time best blog posts, I'm keeping my focus where it belongs: on the all-time worst blog posts.  And thanks to help from my commenters, plus commenters over at FDL …

In Bloggo Gravitas: BriWi On SNL, In His Own Words  —  Good Lord, Brian Williams is everywhere these days, pre-SNL — talking to the NYDN about how he won't be singing "Dick In A Box"; admitting butterflies to the AP; declaring to the Hollywood Reporter that the show must go on …

Capital Cases Stalling as Costs Grow Daunting  —  When Hilton M. Fuller Jr., a semiretired judge of the silver-haired, Southern-gentleman variety, agreed to preside over the trial in a notorious courthouse shooting here, he took a job no one else wanted — the legal community was still in shock …