First a Tense Talk With Clinton, Then Richardson Backs Obama  —  PORTLAND, Ore. — “I talked to Senator Clinton last night,” Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico said on Friday, describing the tense telephone call in which he informed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton that, despite two months …

White House: Computer hard drives tossed  —  WASHINGTON - Older White House computer hard drives have been destroyed, the White House disclosed to a federal court Friday in a controversy over millions of possibly missing e-mails from 2003 to 2005.  —  The White House revealed new information …

No Admission for Evolutionary Biologist at Creationist Film  —  Two evolutionary biologists — P. Z. Myers of the University of Minnesota, Morris, and Richard Dawkins of Oxford — tried to go to the movies at the Mall of America in Minneapolis Thursday evening.  Dr. Dawkins got in.  Dr. Myers did not.

American Public Says Government Leaders Should Pay Attention to Polls  —  Eight in Ten Say Public Should Have Greater Influence on Government  —  In sharp contrast to views recently expressed by Vice President Cheney, a new poll finds that an overwhelming majority of Americans believe government leaders …

Passports probe focuses on worker  —  The State Department investigation of improper computer access to passport records of three presidential candidates is focusing on one remaining employee — a contract worker with a company headed by an adviser to the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama

Incompetence  —  The past week saw a lot of “what did I get wrong"-type articles about Iraq and they frequently put me in the mind of the incompetence dodge.  I note that one frequent way in which people argue for the proposition that poor execution, rather than an underlying flawed concept …

A Catered Affair  —  Back in 1881, when U.S. Senator Thomas Platt of New York was visiting Albany, word went around the State Capitol that he had rented a hotel room for a tryst.  According to The Albany Argus, Platt's political enemies quickly got hold of the adjoining room, brought in …

Reporting Facts, Not Opinions  —  I think most readers of Talk Left know that it is my opinion that because Florida and Michigan will not have a revote, Hillary Clinton's chances to win the nomination are slim at best.  The key point here is it is my opinion, not a fact.

Craig keeps promise to retire  —  Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), encumbered by a scandal since last summer, did not file for reelection by his state's deadline Friday, keeping a promise he made and officially marking the end of his congressional career.  —  Craig's political future …

Colorado Court Rules ‘No Smoking’ Means Exactly That, Even on Stage  —  DENVER — Would Mrs. Robinson be as much of a smoldering volcano in “The Graduate” if she could not wave her cigarette so suggestively?  Would George and Martha's living room broadsides in “Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? …

McCain Spiritual Guide Accused Gov't Of Enabling ‘Black Genocide’  —  This past week, Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright has come under heavy fire in part over comments that suggested the U.S. government had introduced AIDS into black communities.

On Visit, Pelosi Offers Support to Dalai Lama  —  DHARAMSALA, India — As far as visits by American politicians go, it would be hard to stage a warmer reception.  —  Buddhist nuns waved American flags and the Dalai Lama ordered his followers to offer a standing ovation Friday morning as Nancy Pelosi …