New Questions Arise in Killing of Ex-Premier  —  LAHORE, Pakistan — New details of Benazir Bhutto's final moments, including indications that her doctors felt pressured to conform to government accounts of her death, fueled the arguments over her assassination on Sunday and added to the pressure …

The Great Divide  —  Yesterday The Times published a highly informative chart laying out the positions of the presidential candidates on major issues.  It was, I'd argue, a useful reality check for those who believe that the next president can somehow usher in a new era of bipartisan cooperation.

Michael Bloomberg: Trans-partisan savior  —  Following along in David Broder's excited footsteps, Sam Roberts in The New York Times reports that Michael Bloomberg “is growing increasingly enchanted with the idea of an independent presidential bid, and his aides are aggressively laying the groundwork for him to run.”

In Iowa, Will Edwards Divide and Conquer?  —  While the Democratic race has often, and quite accurately, been described as a choice between change (Barack Obama and John Edwards) and experience (Hillary Rodham Clinton), it has, in the final days before Iowa, become another kind of choice as well.

Looking at America  —  There are too many moments these days when we cannot recognize our country.  Sunday was one of them, as we read the account in The Times of how men in some of the most trusted posts in the nation plotted to cover up the torture of prisoners by Central Intelligence Agency interrogators …

Chelsea Clinton Guards Her Words  —  VINTON, Iowa (AP) - It's one thing for Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign to turn down interview requests for the candidate's daughter, Chelsea.  But can't a 9-year-old reporter catch a break?  —  Sydney Rieckhoff, a Cedar Rapids fourth grader and …

ANTI-MILITARY LAWYER DAMAGES MARINE'S CAR ON EVE OF DEPLOYMENT  —  This ought to make your blood boil.  And this Marine should receive a commendation for not kicking the living crap out of the guy...seriously.  —  Marine Sgt Mike McNulty is on activation orders to Iraq (second tour).

If You've Got Nothing Nice to Say  —  I just hope The New York Times Book Review is as kind to my book when the time comes as they were to Jonah Goldberg (of course, realistically we're all just desperately hoping to be reviewed at all): “Yet the title of his book aside …

Make-or-Break Time in Iraq?  —  What the U.S. Decides About Post-Surge Troop Levels Could Prove Decisive  —  For five years Washington-based officials and pundits have repeatedly made the mistake of predicting that the next six or 12 months in Iraq would be decisive.

What's the Matter With Iowa?  —  The caucuses are anything but a Norman Rockwell exercise in small-town democracy.  —  The trouble with the Iowa caucuses isn't that there's anything wrong with Iowans.  It's the bizarre rules of the process.  Caucuses are touted as authentic neighborhood meetings …

“Perfect storm” of cliches make bad English list  —  CHICAGO (Reuters) - A “surge” of overused words and phrases formed a “perfect storm” of “post-9/11” cliches in 2007, according to a U.S. university's annual list of words and phrases that deserve to be banned.

Special forces on standby over nuclear threat  —  US special forces snatch squads are on standby to seize or disable Pakistan's nuclear arsenal in the event of a collapse of government authority or the outbreak of civil war following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

More on the Klan  —  Lots of readers are sharing stories of the Klan and the like.  One point I'd add to give it a little context.  If watch the movie O Brother Where Art Thou?, you'll actually get a pretty good sense of the Klan's role.  Recall it's the modernizing champion of “reform” …

Top economist says America could plunge into recession  —  Losses arising from America's housing recession could triple over the next few years and they represent the greatest threat to growth in the United States, one of the world's leading economists has told The Times.