Thanks and Praise: I photographed men and women, both Christians and Muslims, placing a cross atop the St. John's Church in Baghdad.  They had taken the cross from storage and a man washed it before carrying it up to the dome.  —  A Muslim man had invited the American soldiers from "Chosen" …

Poll: Clinton lags in quest for male voters  —  WASHINGTON — More than eight in 10 Republicans and more than half the married men in a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll say they definitely wouldn't vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton for president.  —  The poll provides an early snapshot of who's ruling out Clinton …

AT&T Whistleblower: Telecom Immunity Is A Cover-Up  —  Earlier today we flagged that Mark Klein, who uncovered a secret surveillance room run by the NSA while employed as a San Francisco-based technician for AT&T, is in Washington to lobby against granting retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies.

President Bush Participates in Joint Press Availability with President Sarkozy of France  —  PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. President, welcome.  Thank you very much for coming here to Mount Vernon, and thank you for coming to the United States.  I think it's safe to say that you've impressed a lot of people here on your journey.

Pat Loves Rudy  —  Back in mid-2001, when Mayor Rudy Giuliani was busy committing adultery, lurching into his divorce and third marriage and rooming with a gay couple he promised to marry as soon as the law allowed, who among us would have imagined that one day he would be endorsed for president by Pat Robertson?

U.S. Aid to Musharraf is Largely Untraceable Cash Transfers  —  After Pervez Musharraf declared martial law this weekend, Condoleezza Rice vowed to review U.S. assistance to Pakistan, one of the largest foreign recipients of American aid.  Musharraf, of course, has been a crucial American ally since …

SSSSHHHHHHH ... Don't Tell Anyone: Al Qaeda Has Been Routed in Baghdad  —  The Newspaper of Record has the story today ... on page A-19.  —  ... And even there, the Times can't bring itself to say we won.  The report is headlined, "Militant Group Is Out of Baghdad, U.S. Says."

For Candidates, Web Is Power And Poison  —  Clinton, in Particular, Draws Equal Parts Cash and Vitriol  —  Candidates use the Internet to generate buzz, draw grass-roots support and raise record amounts of money.  But in the intense, round-the-clock world of online presidential campaigning, the good comes with the bad.

'This Pretty Much Kills the Iran Democracy Program'  —  WASHINGTON — The former director of President Bush's flagship democracy program for the Middle East is saying that the State Department has "effectively killed" a program to disburse millions of dollars to Iran's liberal opposition.

Venezuela Students Shot After Anti-Chavez Protest  —  Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) — Venezuelan student protesters were fired on, resulting in two gun-shot injuries, when they returned to campus today from a march opposing President Hugo Chavez's plan to rewrite the nation's constitution.

When Good News Is Bad News  —  While the following good news stories may come as a great disappointment to many people, we Iraqis welcome the developments:  —  This Arabic story says Baghdad officials decided to reopen 10 main roads in the city by removing concrete barriers.

Bankruptcy Law Backfires on Banks as Foreclosures Offset Gains  —  Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) — Washington Mutual Inc. got what it wanted in 2005: A revised bankruptcy code that no longer lets people walk away from credit card bills.  —  The largest U.S. savings and loan didn't count on a housing recession.