Straying Partner Leaves White House in a Lurch  —  For more than five months the United States has been trying to orchestrate a political transition in Pakistan that would manage to somehow keep Gen. Pervez Musharraf in power without making a mockery of President Bush's promotion of democracy in the Muslim world.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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.

Devices Enforce Cellular Silence, Sweet but Illegal  —  One afternoon in early September, an architect boarded his commuter train and became a cellphone vigilante.  He sat down next to a 20-something woman who he said was "blabbing away" into her phone.  —  "She was using the word 'like' all the time.