The Basrah Gambit - Defining Moment for Iraq or the Jaysh al-Mahdi?  —  Engaging the Mahdi Militia in Basrah and labeling them as equal to Al-Qaeda in Iraq is a deadly gamble that may leave Iran the winner.  —  On 19 March, 2008 CNN's Iraq war correspondent, Kyra Phillips gave a live interview …

Gallup Daily: Obama Holds Lead Over Clinton, 51% to 43%  —  Longest stretch as front-runner for either candidate since late February  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup Poll Daily tracking conducted March 28-30 finds Barack Obama leading Hillary Clinton in national Democratic preferences for the nomination, 51% to 43%.

USA 2008: The Great Depression  —  Food stamps are the symbol of poverty in the US.  In the era of the credit crunch, a record 28 million Americans are now relying on them to survive - a sure sign the world's richest country faces economic crisis  —  Disadvantaged Americans queue for aid in New York

Scarborough on Obama's “dainty” bowling performance: “Americans want their president, if it's a man, to be a real man”  —  During the March 31 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist repeatedly mocked Sen. Barack Obama's bowling performance — which Scarborough called …

CIA enlists Google's help for spy work  —  US intelligence agencies are using Google's technology to help its agents share information about their suspects  —  Google has been recruited by US intelligence agencies to help them better process and share information they gather about suspects.

The Tall Tale of Tuzla  —  HILLARY CLINTON'S BOSNIAN MISADVENTURE SHOULD DISQUALIFY HER FROM THE PRESIDENCY, BUT THE AIRPORT LANDING IS THE LEAST OF IT.  —  The punishment visited on Sen. Hillary Clinton for her flagrant, hysterical, repetitive, pathological lying about her visit to Bosnia …

Obama Is Moving to Down-to-Earth Oratory for Working People  —  STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The Speech is his finely polished sword, a transcendent weapon.  Seen and heard on a thousand YouTube postings, Senator Barack Obama's speeches have made a happening of that hoariest of campaign forms, the stump speech.

Obama Says He Doesn't Want His Daughters Punished with a Baby  —  A lot has been made (by both sides) in this Democratic primary race that “words matter”.  Well, The Brody File brings you this:  —  At a town hall meeting in Johnstown, Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon …

Gov. Rendell: Fox is ‘most objective’ cable network  —  The Clinton campaign has said before that Fox treats them more fairly than MSNBC, but prominent surrogate Governor Ed Rendell heaped the strongest praise yet on the Murdoch-owned network.

Military Report: Secretly ‘Recruit or Hire Bloggers’  —  A study, written for U.S. Special Operations Command, suggested “clandestinely recruiting or hiring prominent bloggers.”  —  Since the start of the Iraq war, there's been a raucous debate in military circles over how to handle blogs …

Celebrating Women: A Note from Dr. Maya Angelou  —  This entry is part of a series in celebration of Women's History Month.  —  You may write me down in history  —  With your bitter, twisted lies,  —  You may trod me in the very dirt  —  But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Could the Republicans Pick the Democratic Nominee?  — The Untold Story of How the GOP Rigged Florida and Michigan  —  Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean came out of hiding last week to announce that there is no reason to rush to resolve the fate of Florida and Michigan.

Subpoenas issued for IBM, employees over EPA probe  —  IBM and several of its employees have been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury on interactions between Environmental Protection Agency and IBM employees, a company spokesman said today.  —  The subpoenas, which were issued March 28 …

The Military  —  HOW TO FIX THE U.S. MILITARY. … The next president will inherit a military in strange shambles.  Its soldiers fight extremely well, but its army is on the brink of breaking.  Its budget is enormous, but most of the money goes to weapons that have little to do with promoting real security.

Poll: You Can Fool Some of the People All of the Time  —  A new survey I commissioned demonstrates how McCain's malarkey about supporting enforcement has succeeded in duping a significant number of voters.  The poll (complete results are here) found that only 34 percent of people who voted …

Pelosi calls on Bush to boycott Olympic opening ceremonies  —  (CNN) — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says President Bush should consider boycotting the opening ceremony of the Olympics Games in Beijing this summer to protest China's human rights record.  —  “I think boycotting the opening ceremony …

Do They Hate Clinton More Than They Care About The Dem Party?  —  Apparently, Josh Marshall got a lot of “feedback” for his post that I discussed here.  His reply to that feedback seems equally nonsensical to me: … (Emphasis supplied.)  This makes no sense to me.