They Should Have Killed Him  —  The death penalty has a meaning, and it isn't vengeance. … Excuse me, I'm sorry, and I beg your pardon, but the jury's decision on Moussaoui gives me a very bad feeling.  What we witnessed here was not the higher compassion but a dizzy failure of nerve.

So Not Funny  —  First, let me state my credentials: I am a funny guy.  This is well known in certain circles, which is why, even back in elementary school, I was sometimes asked by the teacher to "say something funny" — as if the deed could be done on demand.

House Lobbying Rules Call for More Disclosure  —  The House narrowly approved ethics legislation yesterday that would expand the amount of information that lobbyists must disclose about their interactions with lawmakers and would also rein in big-money political groups that spent heavily in the last presidential election.

Growing Unease for Some Blacks on Immigration  —  WASHINGTON, May 3 — In their demonstrations across the country, some Hispanic immigrants have compared the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s struggle to their own, singing "We Shall Overcome" and declaring a new civil rights movement …

Under U.S. Pressure, Mexico President Seeks Review of Drug Law  —  MEXICO CITY, May 3 — After intense pressure from the United States, President Vicente Fox has asked Congress to reconsider a law it passed last week that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs as part …

Juan Cole is 10th rate...he is the embodiment of the mediocre...his sentences are syntactical train wrecks...it's illiteracy, simply.  - Christopher Hitchens  —  HH: Christopher Hitchens, welcome back to the Hugh Hewitt Show.  —  CH: Nice to be back.  —  HH: Now I don't even know how to raise this …

The Fox News Effect  —  We report.  You decide.  Does President Bush owe his controversial win in 2000 to Fox cable television news?  —  Yes, suggest data collected by two economists who found that the growth of the Fox cable news network in the late 1990s may have significantly boosted …

Contractor's deal was Harris priority, former staffers say  —  Former senior members of U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris' congressional staff say they initially rejected a defense contractor's $10 million appropriation request last year but reversed course after being instructed by Harris to approve it.

Crunchy Culture  —  Author Rod Dreher Has Defined A Political Hybrid: The All-Natural, Whole-Grain Conservative  —  Two succulent, naturally raised chickens with good farm references are in the oven, snuggled up in a roasting pan like doomed lovers.  Fat, perfect carrots are peeled, chopped, seasoned and ready to simmer.

Tax Deal Sets Day of Reckoning  —  Tough Choice on Deficit in Store for President, Congress in 2011  —  With this week's hard-fought agreement on a $70 billion tax-cut extension, President Bush and congressional Republicans have effectively set a date for a fiscal day of reckoning …

Dean fires Dems' gay outreach chief  —  Shakeup follows criticism by partner; Bond named replacement  —  Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean on May 2 fired the party's gay outreach advisor Donald Hitchcock less than a week after Hitchcock's domestic partner, Paul Yandura, a longtime party activist …

Another Way for Iraq?  —  On Monday, to mark the third anniversary of President Bush's appearance on the USS Lincoln to announce that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada issued a news release in which Bush's text was set in contrast …

Ohio Struggles to Fix Voting Problems  —  CLEVELAND — Ohio's first election without punch card ballots was marred by a slew of problems with new voting machines, raising a crucial question: Can the state that decided the last presidential race get it together before November?