A New Channel for Soft Money Starts Flowing  —  The so-called Wounded Warriors Act, legislation intended to improve health care for veterans, has attracted nearly unanimous, bipartisan support in Congress.  So why would the newly formed Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America begin running …

Iran has a right to seek nuclear capability  —  is a writing fellow with International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the 1985 Nobel Peace laureate  —  Some call it "the nuclear double standard;" others, "nuclear apartheid;" still others, "America's nuclear hypocrisy."

Anti-abortion group to endorse Thompson  —  Fred Thompson will pick up the support of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) tomorrow, according to two Republicans familar with the decision.  —  For a candidate who came up empty-handed last week when three prominent Christian conservatives …

Al Gore's next act: Planet-saving VC  —  The recovering politician is teaming with a legendary venture capitalist and bigtime moneyman to make over the $6 trillion global energy business.  A Fortune exclusive  —  (Fortune Magazine) — It's lunchtime on Sand Hill Road, and Al Gore wants answers.

Obama goes for the capillaries  —  Barack Obama delivers a rousing speech in Iowa on Saturday night, all but calling out Hillary Clinton, and then gets weak-kneed on Sunday morning.  —  Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks during the Iowa Democratic Party's Jefferson Jackson Dinner on Nov. 10 in Des Moines.

Falling Flags  —  ABC News' Eloise Harper and Rick Klein Report: It's been a rough stretch for Hillary Clinton — a tough debate performance, a lost voice, and the revelation that the Clinton campaign had been coaching questioners at events.  —  Then, on Sunday, everything started falling down around her.

Farmers Ask Federal Court To Dissociate Hemp and Pot  —  Wayne Hauge grows grains, chickpeas and some lentils on 2,000 acres in northern North Dakota.  Business is up and down, as the farming trade tends to be, and he is always on the lookout for a new crop.  He tried sunflowers and safflowers and black beans.

Reason No. 384 Why I Love Our Commenters  —  Richard Armitage was a guest on CNN's Late Edition yesterday.  Crooks and Liars has the full clip of his appearance where, surprisingly, he was asked about his betrayal of Valerie Plame Wilson (to both Bob Novak and Bob Woodward, just to be clear on all the facts, since only Novak comes up).

LFL LOL  —  Hollywood anti-war Bush-bash surge tanks at the box office.  UK Guardian: Lions for Lambs turns out to be a turkey.  Spanked by a B, I mean Bee Movie, a gangster's flick and some holiday schlock. … As predicted by Agence France Presse: … The French pegged it.

Climate scepticism: The top 10  —  What are some of the reasons why "climate sceptics" dispute the evidence that human activities such as industrial emissions of greenhouse gases and deforestation are bringing potentially dangerous changes to the Earth's climate?

SPEAKING SOFTLY....Admiral William Fallon thinks that the war party needs to ratchet down its Iran rhetoric, and today David Ignatius reports that Efraim Halevy, the former head of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, agrees: … This is, though hardly a majority view in Israel, not an uncommon one either.

Broder Says He Won't Write About Rudy's Marriage — Despite Devoting Multiple Columns To The Clinton Marriage  —  I'd missed this on Friday but it's definitely worth a quick note.  Check this out from David Broder's chat with readers: … So Broder won't be writing about the Clinton and Giuliani marriages going forward?

Security Guard Fires From Convoy, Killing Iraqi Driver  —  An Iraqi taxi driver was shot and killed on Saturday by a guard with DynCorp International, a private security company hired to protect American diplomats here, when a DynCorp convoy rolled past a knot of traffic on an exit ramp in Baghdad …

Colorado Springs and the Politics of Conformity  —  What are the effects of the Internet on democracy?  The answer depends, of course, on how people use the Internet.  But let's begin with a possible clue, coming from a small experiment in democracy, held in Colorado in 2005.

Norman Mailer  —  Norman Mailer, who died on Saturday aged 84, was a novelist, journalist, film-maker and relentlessly tendentious controversialist who subscribed wholeheartedly to the American notion of the writer as tough guy.  —  Mailer's reputation was made by his first novel …

Jon Tester: "I'd Be More Surprised If Bush Didn't Bomb Iran Before the Next Election Than If He Did"  —  On Saturday night Howie Klein and I went to a dinner at the home of Rick Jacobs (Courage Campaign) for Jon Tester, who was raising money for his PAC to support Democratic Senatorial candidates in 2008.