Iraq: Al-Mahdi army offers to lay down its arms  —  Iraq's largest and most dangerous militia will voluntarily disband if Shia scholars advise its leader to do so, officials said yesterday — a dramatic move that could quell much of the fighting in the war-torn country.

Congress To Hear Of Gains In Iraq  —  Petraeus, Crocker To Face Impatient Lawmakers  —  In a reprise of their testimony last September, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker plan to tell Congress today and tomorrow that security has improved in Iraq and that the government …

What Are They Waiting For?  —  D-day says that I'm one of the biggest pollyannas in the blogosphere about the November election.  My sunny upbeat belief that the Democrats are pretty much a shoe-in and that all this unpleasantness will be long forgotten by then is what gets me through these days of obnoxious online life.

Clinton Told True Tale of Woe, Says Kin  —  The aunt of a young pregnant woman who died after a hospital told her she needed to pay $100 up front for care said in an interview on Monday that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has been telling the story accurately on the campaign trail …

CBS Said to Consider Use of CNN in Reporting  —  CBS, the home of the most celebrated news division in broadcasting, has been in discussions with Time Warner about a deal to outsource some of its news-gathering operations to CNN, two executives briefed on the matter said Monday.

How the MSM Treats Hillary: One Video Shows It All  —  Thanks for posting that Jeralyn!  (5.00 / 2) (#2) … Must see.  (5.00 / 2) (#5)

On Tim Russert , Hitchens said to Sullivan: “Oh, well don't be such a lesbian.  Get on with it”  —  On the April 5 edition of MSNBC's Tim Russert, Andrew Sullivan and Christopher Hitchens debated the significance for Sen. Barack Obama of comments made by his former pastor Jeremiah Wright …

Insult to Injury: Vitter Crashes Car After Hookergate Town Hall Meeting  —  Senator David Vitter fell victim to a humiliating incident today.  No, it wasn't the town hall meeting he held with LA residents discussing his hypocritical involvement in the “DC Madam” prostitution scandal.

Secret US plan for military future in Iraq  —  A confidential draft agreement covering the future of US forces in Iraq, passed to the Guardian, shows that provision is being made for an open-ended military presence in the country.  —  The draft strategic framework agreement between the US …

Bill Clinton Visits Puerto Rico, Rich in Culture and Delegates  —  The four sound trucks filed onto potholed streets at 8 o'clock Monday morning, weighed down by the 800-pound speakers rigged to their roofs.  They drove past the pineapple plantations, past the black-sand beaches, past the multicolored tiendas downtown.

Obama's pastor Jeremiah Wright: Former Muslim  —  A reader from Free Republic has dug up an old article last year (March 07) From TNR about Obama.  It was written by Ryan Lizza, Senior editor at The New Republic.  It's a biographical piece, but in the article, it explicitly states that Jeremiah Wright is a former Muslim.

What do my colleagues think?  —  One of the regular commenters at my site asks the following: … Funny you should mention that.  It's a question I get a good deal.  Up until now, I would have said most of them don't really know.  When I went to the Pajama's Media launch in November 2005 …

Iraq War Attitudes Politically Polarized  —  Republicans generally favor the war; Democrats oppose it  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Republicans reject the idea of a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, by a better than 2-to-1 margin, 65% to 32%.  Democrats show an even greater margin …