Foster takes seat from GOP  —  Democrat to succeed Hastert in Republican stronghold  —  In a stunning upset Saturday that could be a sign of trouble for Republicans this fall, a little-known Democratic physicist won the special election for a far west suburban congressional seat long held by former GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

Ex-Defense Official Assails Colleagues Over Run-Up to War  —  In the first insider account of Pentagon decision-making on Iraq, one of the key architects of the war blasts former secretary of state Colin Powell, the CIA, retired Gen. Tommy R. Franks and former Iraq occupation chief L. Paul Bremer …

Mich., Fla. Dilemma Consumes Democrats  —  Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, warned today that a divisive nomination battle could cost Democrats the presidency in November.  —  “[T]he only thing that can beat us is that we're divided,” Dean said on ABC's “This Week.”

The Monster Mash  —  I was covered in barbecue sauce, somewhere over Texas, when Barack Obama loped down the aisle of the plane to chat with reporters.  —  I felt guilty, because I had been covering his speeches urging parents to make their kids give up chips and Popeyes.

Ten worst countries for women  —  In spite of real progress around the globe, the bedrock problems that have dogged women for centuries remain  —  The image of the 21st century woman is confident, prosperous, glowing with health and beauty.  —  But for many of the 3.3 billion female occupants …

Hamas wages Iran's proxy war on Israel  —  A Hamas leader admits hundreds of his fighters have travelled to Tehran  —  The Hamas commander was in a hurry.  Hunched forward in a navy-blue parka, with the wind-chapped skin and drawn eyes of someone who had been outdoors all night, he had just returned from the front line with Israel.

From the Right, He Looks Too Blue  —  Think real conservatives will vote for John McCain?  Don't count on it.  —  The conservative talk-show community?  Don't mind them — they're irrelevant.  —  This message from John McCain surrogates and other members of the political class is filling the airwaves and op-ed pages.

Clinton campaign drops Celebi  —  The Clinton campaign is no longer taking contributions from a Turkish American who financed a film that depicted an American Jew trading in Iraqi body parts.  —  Mehmet Celebi had been listed on the presidential campaign website of U.S. Sen. Hilalry Rodham Clinton …

How government makes things worse  —  WHAT DO ethanol and the subprime mortgage meltdown have in common?  Each is a good reminder of that most powerful of unwritten decrees, the Law of Unintended Consequences - and of the all-too-frequent tendency of solutions imposed by the state to exacerbate the harms they were meant to solve.

Major Brian Shul: “I loved that jet”  —  This piece by Major Shul came in over the transom:  —  In April 1986, following an attack on American soldiers in a Berlin disco, President Reagan ordered the bombing of Muammar Qaddafi's terrorist camps in Libya.  My duty was to fly over Libya …

Hillary and the Invisible Women  —  Up Against the Wall: Clinton is at her best when things look grim, as they did before the Texas vote, when her traveling press corps was stashed in a men's room … Hillary Clinton's run-up to the Texas and Ohio primaries was the political equivalent of Hell Week for a Navy SEAL.

Many Obama voters ignored other Texas primary races  —  wslater@dallasnews.com; gjeffers@dallasnews.com  —  Backers of both Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton turned out with passionate support for their candidate in last week's Texas primary.  But once they got in the voting booth, they did something different.