U.S. death toll in Iraq hits 4,000  —  Grim milestone reached when IED kills 4 U.S. soldiers in Baghdad  —  An unidentified man walks among the headstones at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Friday, March 14, 2008.  —  Grim milestone  —  March 24: A grim milestone is reached …

Both Obama And Clinton Embellish Their Roles  —  After weeks of arduous negotiations, on April 6, 2006, a bipartisan group of senators burst out of the “President's Room,” just off the Senate chamber, with a deal on new immigration policy.  —  As the half-dozen senators — including John McCain …

JPMorgan in Negotiations to Raise Bear Stearns Bid  —  JPMorgan Chase was in talks on Sunday night for a deal that would quintuple its offer for Bear Stearns, the beleaguered investment bank, in an effort to pacify angry Bear shareholders, according to people involved in the negotiations.

Obama Nation (Interlude)...  Cross posted from Pull On Superman's Cape.  —  In these next few months there will be troubled waters.  —  There are many, many things to say.  Some are very difficult to say.  Perhaps it is a good time to have a national conversation.

EASTER MASS ATTACK!!  Protesters Scream & Spray Fake Blood at Churchgoers  —  NOT JUST ANTIWAR...  Leftist Protesters Attack Catholic Worshippers at Easter Mass in Chicago  —  The Progressives squirted fake blood around on the Catholics attending Easter Mass this morning.!!

Turkish ruling party cracks down on free press  —  An e-mail from a Turkish professor: … As a Turkish journalist points out in a private e-mail, for all the talk within the State Department of Prime Minister Erdogan and his Islamist-leaning party as representing democracy …

Taming the Beast  —  We're now in the midst of an epic financial crisis, which ought to be at the center of the election debate.  But it isn't.  —  Now, I don't expect presidential campaigns to have all the answers to our current crisis — even financial experts are scrambling to keep up with events.

Endorsing Obama  —  Today I endorse Barack Obama for president of the United States.  I believe him to be a person of integrity, intelligence and genuine good will.  I take him at his word that he wants to move the nation beyond its religious and racial divides and to return United States …

L.A. Times Has Hit Piece on McCain — Which Resurrects the Old Canards About Ties Between Saddam and Al Qaeda  —  The L.A. Times saves space on its Sunday front page for a hit piece on John McCain.  The main thrust of the piece is to say, in essence, “Nyaah, nyaah, John McCain said that Iraq would be a cakewalk, but it wasn't.”

Cigarette display ban considered  —  Displaying cigarettes in shops could be banned in England under government plans being considered to cut smoking and discourage children from starting.  —  Ministers are also considering tougher controls on vending machines in pubs and restaurants.

Rising Health Costs Cut Into Wages  —  Recent history has not been kind to working-class Americans, who were down on the economy long before the word recession was uttered.  —  The main reason: spiraling health-care costs have been whacking away at their wages.

Plan for superdelegate ‘mini-convention’ seeks to end Democrats' internal warfare  —  Democrats, looking for a way out, are pondering a new idea: an unprecedented “mini-convention” to bring their punishing presidential season to an early close.  —  The proposal surfaced during another week …