Dubai Port Company to Divest Itself of American Holdings  —  The United Arab Emirates company that was attempting to take over management operations at six U.S. ports announced today that it will divest itself of all American interests.  —  The announcement appears to head off a major confrontation …

North American opinion Research Inc. replies to Vcrisis  —  Julio Makarem and Ricardo Valbuena have published today a two page communiqué in Venezuela's most read newspaper Ultimas Noticias (see below).  In it they accuse me, among other things, of being part, together with Gustavo Coronel …

$25,000 to Lobby Group Is Tied to Access to Bush  —  WASHINGTON, March 9 — The chief of an Indian tribe represented by the lobbyist Jack Abramoff was admitted to a meeting with President Bush in 2001 days after the tribe paid a prominent conservative lobbying group $25,000 at Mr. Abramoff's direction …

I Can't Wait  —  I really can not wait for Rick Santorum to lose in November: … I understand that one of the necessities for majority status is coalition building, but I am almost to the point that I would be willing to let the entire Santorum wing of the party die off- even if it meant minority status for the next ten years.

In an Election Year, GOP Wary of Following Bush  —  When President Bush and senior adviser Karl Rove mapped out plans for a political comeback in 2006, this was nowhere on the script.  Suddenly, the collapse of a port-management deal neither even knew about a month ago has devastated …

Official Says Shiite Party Suppressed Body Count  —  BAGHDAD, March 8 — Days after the bombing of a Shiite shrine unleashed a wave of retaliatory killings of Sunnis, the leading Shiite party in Iraq's governing coalition directed the Health Ministry to stop tabulating execution-style shootings …

Kos/Krempasky to Congress: Pass HR 1606  —  Markos and I have sent a letter to every Member of the House this morning - urging them to pass HR 1606 as soon as possible.  While there is a promising proposal from the Center for Democracy & Technology floating about - it's imperative …

Men v. Roe  —  Toast passed on this BBC article with the note, "Wow.  The National Center for Men... It'd be funny if it weren't so, you know, not funny."  And then I saw this AP article, on the same subject, which is a lawsuit prepared by The National Center for Men to challenge the issue of male reproductive rights.

Report posits that Chris Matthews has accepted hefty speaking fees from conservative groups  —  A new report advanced to RAW STORY Thursday suggests that Chris Matthews, the star of the Sunday talk show circuit's Hardball, has accepted hefty speaking fees from an array of conservative trade associations.

Zarqawi Was Here  —  BIARA, IRAQ - The PUK's Minister of the Interior ordered 20 heavily armed Peshmerga soldiers to go with me to the borderland mountain village of Biara.  For years the village was occupied by Ansar Al Islam, the Kurdish-Arab-Persian branch of Al Qaeda in Northern Iraq.

Woman sues for alleged firing over talk show bumper sticker  —  VISTA —  A San Diego County woman is suing her former employer, accusing her manager of firing her on the spot when she saw the woman's car had a bumper sticker advertising a progressive talk radio station.

REWRITING VERY RECENT HISTORY  —  This is basically a dog-bites-man story; the Washington Post reports on its poll showing that a growing number of Americans express disapproval of Islam, and a majority now say there are more violent extremists among Muslims than other religions.

Faith Hill, Tim McGraw Blast 'Humiliating' Katrina Cleanup  —  Country Stars Lash Out in Anger Over Conditions in Storm-Ravaged States  —  March, 8, 2006 — Faith Hill and Tim McGraw — two stars who usually stay out of politics — blasted the Hurricane Katrina cleanup effort …

Minnesota Prof Censored for Posting Mohammed Cartoons  —  MINNEAPOLIS, March 9, 2006—The uproar over cartoons of the prophet Mohammed may be fading in some places, but not at Century College in Minnesota.  After repeatedly encountering censorship of her display of the cartoons on a hallway bulletin board …

World box office dipped 7.9 pct to 23 billion dollars last year : study  —  Hollywood movie ticket sales around the world dropped by 7.9 percent last year to 23 billion dollars, with the US box office accounting for nearly 40 percent of the haul, a study showed.