The Bush Paradox  —  Let's go back and consider how the world looked in the winter of 2006-2007.  Iraq was in free fall, with horrific massacres and ethnic cleansing that sent a steady stream of bad news across the world media.  The American public delivered a stunning electoral judgment …

A new Imus controversy?  —  On “Imus in the Morning” Monday, the controversial radio host Don Imus — who was fired last year for making racist and sexist remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team — made a racially freighted comment about another African-American athlete.

IDF soldier dies from self-inflicted gunshot at Sarkozy farewell  —  An Israeli soldier on the perimeter of a farewell airport ceremony for French President Nicolas Sarkozy apparently shot himself on Tuesday in a incident that did not endanger the visiting leader, Israel Radio said.

Government Study Criticizes Bush Administration's Measures of Progress in Iraq  —  Beyond the declines in overall violence in Iraq, several crucial measures the Bush administration uses to demonstrate economic, political and security progress are either incorrect or far more mixed …

Dobson accuses Obama of ‘distorting’ Bible  —  COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — As Barack Obama broadens his outreach to evangelical voters, one of the movement's biggest names, James Dobson, accuses the likely Democratic presidential nominee of distorting the Bible and pushing a “fruitcake interpretation” of the Constitution.

Terror Strike Would Help McCain, Top Adviser Says  —  A top adviser to Sen. John McCain said that a terrorist attack in the United States would be a political benefit to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, a comment that was immediately disputed by the candidate and denounced by his Democratic rival.

Obama Apology to Muslim Women Orchestrated by Muslim U.S. House Rep.  —  An apology issued by Barack Obama to two Muslim women booted from the front lines of a public appearance by the Democratic presidential candidate last week was orchestrated by Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim ever elected to Congress.

You Are Here  —  The PresidentialWatch08 map is composed of the 297 most visible and influential websites and blogs - out of a complete dataset of over 2000 sites - using Linkfluence's proprietary crawl technology.  —  As Ethan Zuckerman writes: “The idea here is to look at linking between political blogs …

Report Says Partisanship Reigned in Justice Department Hiring Program  —  High-ranking political appointees at the Justice Department labored to stock a prestigious hiring program with young conservatives in a five-year-long attempt to reshape the department's ranks, according to an inspector general's report to be released today.

Obama's Hollywood Night  —  Sugar Ray Leonard and Jennifer Beals are the latest boldfaced names expected on Tuesday afternoon for Barack Obama's fund-raiser at the Los Angeles Music Center.  —  Also on the guest list are Dennis Quaid, Heidi Klum, Sidney Poitier, Cedric the Entertainer …

Appeals Court Invalidates Detainee's ‘Enemy’ Status  —  Challenge Is First of Its Kind to Succeed  —  A federal appeals court in Washington has invalidated the Bush administration's finding that a detainee held for more than six years in the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba is an …

What's Obscene?  Google Could Have an Answer  —  Judges and jurors who must decide whether sexually explicit material is obscene are asked to use a local yardstick: does the material violate community standards?  —  That is often a tricky question because there is no simple, concrete way to gauge a community's tastes and values.

Barack Obama, Serial Flip-Flopper  —  Both presidential candidates spent the weekend trying to explain away recent policy reversals.  The predominant question for voters this November may well become: Whose list of flip-flops is longer and more egregious?  —  From CNN.com: