Expert: Current Iraq fighting not good guys vs bad  —  The battles raging in southern Iraq's Basra are more than a central Iraqi government trying to assert control over the militia of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.  Instead, it's more complicated, more like a mini civil war between competing Shiite groups vying for power.

Obama: Beware 'you're on your own' society  —  GREENSBORO, N.C. — Presidential candidate Barack Obama, largely ignoring his Democratic rival for now, ridiculed likely Republican nominee John McCain on Wednesday for offering “not one single idea” to help hard-pressed homeowners facing foreclosure.

AND THERE HE HO'S AGAIN  —  ‘WICKED’ SPITZER LINKED TO BUSTY BUSTED MADAM'S BIZ  —  Disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been identified as a long-standing client of a second high-priced call-girl ring, The Post has learned.  —  The ex-governor regularly patronized Wicked Models …

FIRST THOUGHTS: MYTH BUSTER  —  From Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro  —  *** Myth buster: Pollster Peter Hart calls the NBC/WSJ poll a “myth buster” survey; it really breaks down a lot of the myths we've been hearing over the last week like: (1) that the Wright controversy was the beginning …

Democratic Groups Most at Risk of Deserting  —  Independents, conservatives likeliest to vote for McCain  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Democrats are at most risk of losing the support of independents, conservative Democrats, and, among Hillary Clinton supporters, less well-educated Democrats …

No death for Mumia Abu-Jamal — at least for now  —  A federal appeals court today refused to reinstate the death sentence of world-famous death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, but left intact his murder conviction in the 1981 shooting death of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.

In Major Speech, Obama Calls for Modernizing Our Regulation of Financial Markets  —  NEW YORK, NY—In a major economic address at Cooper Union today, Senator Barack Obama called for immediate relief for homeowners hit by the housing crisis, modernization of our regulatory framework …

Supplier Under Scrutiny on Aging Arms for Afghans  —  Since 2006, when the insurgency in Afghanistan sharply intensified, the Afghan government has been dependent on American logistics and military support in the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.  —  But to arm the Afghan forces …

The Education of a 9/11 Reporter  —  THE INSIDE DRAMA BEHIND THE TIMES' WARRANTLESS WIRETAPPING STORY. … For 13 long months, we'd held off on publicizing one of the Bush administration's biggest secrets.  Finally, one afternoon in December 2005, as my editors and I waited anxiously …

Shuler: McCain blocked immigration bill  —  U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler says he believes Republican presidential candidate John McCain blocked his immigration bill from getting a vote on the U.S. House floor.  McCain's staff denies it.  —  The Waynesville Democrat spoke to the Rotary Club of Hendersonville on Tuesday.

Hillary vows: We're going all the way to the convention; Update: Hillary questions the legitimacy of Obama's nomination  —  Good lord.  Even I find her ruthlessness here creepy, and I'm pulling for her.  I'm giving you the second clip mostly for the smug look on her face after she delivers her bone-chilling …

Silly Season  —  Unlike Barack Obama, Bill Clinton does not believe in “the fierce urgency of now.”  The former President has an exquisitely languid sense of how political time unfurls.  He understands that those moments the political community, especially the media, considers urgent usually aren't.

Krauthammer: McCain Has ‘Hidden Agenda’ To ‘Kill The United Nations’  —  Yesterday in an foreign policy address in Los Angeles, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called for the United States to create and lead a “League of Democracies” in order to “harness the vast influence of the more than one hundred …

Four locals charged in Puerto Rico corruption scandal  —  Puerto Rico's governor and four Philadelphians, including prominent fund-raiser Robert M. Feldman, were charged this morning in San Juan with federal campaign-finance related crimes.  —  The investigation of Gov. Anibal Acevedo-Vila …

Equity Loans as Next Round in Credit Crisis  —  Little by little, millions of Americans surrendered equity in their homes in recent years.  Lulled by good times, they borrowed — sometimes heavily — against the roofs over their heads.  —  Now the bill is coming due.

Jim McDermott: “We Don't Mind Being Used” by Saddam Hussein  —  Last night came the news that Saddam Hussein's regime paid for a high-profile trip taken by three congressional Democrats to Baghdad in the fall of 2002.  The visit, by Democratic Representatives David Bonior, Jim Thompson …