Why Is This GOP Strategist Smiling?  —  The day had been full of ominous warnings.  Polls showed the Republicans on the losing side of almost every issue and the 2008 presidential race — and now they're forced to defend a controversial veto of a popular children's health bill.

An Exit Toward Soul-Searching  —  As Bush Staffers Leave, Questions About Legacy Abound  —  It had been four days since Meghan O'Sullivan left her job at the White House.  Just four days since she gave up her Secret Service pass, her classified hard drive and her entree to the president.

Brother, can you spare a CHIP?  —  This would seem to be a fairly typical media trajectory.  The Democrats sign up a sick kid to read their Saturday morning radio address.  As Paul Krugman has observed, Bill Kristol, Rush Limbaugh and the rest of us heartless bastards on the right were no doubt too busy laughing to pay attention.

FRANK RICH, CLARENCE THOMAS, AND THE MISSOURI ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: In today's New York Times, Frank Rich has a rather nasty essay that purports to catch Justice Thomas misrepresenting his past.  The specific example is Justice Thomas's first job out of law school in the Missouri Attorney General's Office.

Muslim medical students get picky  —  Some Muslim medical students are refusing to attend lectures or answer exam questions on alcohol-related or sexually transmitted diseases because they claim it offends their religious beliefs.  —  Some trainee doctors say learning to treat the diseases conflicts …

'Journalists' Tell Howard Kurtz Why Good News from Iraq Shouldn't Get Reported  —  As CNN's Howard Kurtz accurately pointed out on Sunday's "Reliable Sources," few media outlets seemed at all interested in giving much attention to the great news out of Iraq last week regarding September's sharp decline in casualties.

Charge It to My Kids  —  Every so often a quote comes out of the Bush administration that leaves you asking: Am I crazy or are they?  I had one of those moments last week when Dana Perino, the White House press secretary, was asked about a proposal by some Congressional Democrats to levy …

On Torture and American Values  —  Once upon a time, it was the United States that urged all nations to obey the letter and the spirit of international treaties and protect human rights and liberties.  American leaders denounced secret prisons where people were held without charges, tortured and killed.

Beauchamp Update  —  If you've been following the Scott Thomas Beauchamp Affair, I strongly recommend reading the latest update from The New Republic.  The short version is that the Army's investigation of the case appears to be confined to a) releasing no information about their investigation …

BUM RUSH  —  HOW THE DEMS PLAN TO TAKE DOWN THEIR REAL OPPONENTS: RUSH AND O'REILLY  —  In the parable of the million monkeys banging on typewriters for a million years, the reward is supposed to be the complete works of Shakespeare.  But have you heard the parable of the million interns?

Militant atheists are wrong  —  A flurry of literary attacks on God may also be closing the book on imagination.  —  Voltaire famously quipped that if God didn't exist, he would have to be invented.  American publishers would enthusiastically agree because God, it turns out …

Fineman: Intel Community To Release 'Three Iran Reports' To 'Slow Down' Bush's Warmongering  —  On the Chris Matthews Show today, NBC's Howard Fineman revealed that the intelligence community will release "three different reports" in upcoming weeks to "slow down" the administration's current drumbeat for war with Iran:

Even sprinkler systems fail at U.S. embassy in Baghdad  —  WASHINGTON — The latest problem with the trouble-plagued new U.S. embassy complex in Iraq is that the sprinkler systems meant to contain a fire do not work, according to officials in Congress and the State Department.