Divided House rejects Iraq pullout date  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Friday rejected a timetable for pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq, culminating a fiercely partisan debate between Republicans and Democrats feeling the public's apprehension about war and the onrushing midterm campaign season.

Top court upholds no-knock police search  —  WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court made it easier Thursday for police to barge into homes and seize evidence without knocking or waiting, a sign of the court's new conservatism with Samuel Alito on board.  —  The court, on a 5-4 vote …

The Bear Is Back  —  For his latest Karl Rove-ian personal attack ad, Joe Lieberman has retrieved an 18 year-old cartoon bear.  This bear is no Yogi.  —  Lieberman's new ad attacking his challenger in an Aug. 8 Democratic primary for his U.S. Senate seat, Ned Lamont, has shown up on his campaign web site.

Vietnam, Watergate and Rove  —  Left-wing nostalgia dies hard, but can it survive the events of this week?  —  It has been a tough 10 days for those who see current events through the prisms of Vietnam and Watergate.  First, the Democrats failed to win a breakthrough victory …

Only on The Colbert Report:  —  Only on The Colbert Report:  —  Westmoreland co-sponsors bill on the Ten Commandments and can't even name them  —  Colbert was priceless last night.  His guest was Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland and I guess he never heard of The Colbert Report before.

Bill Gates, Version 2.0: Full-Time Philanthropist  —  Three decades after starting the most influential American technology company, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates said yesterday that he plans to step down from day-to-day work at the software giant to focus his energy full …

Party Urges Jefferson To Leave Committee  —  House Democrats Vote Against Target of Probe  —  Democrats voted last night to strip Rep. William J. Jefferson (La.) of a plum committee assignment while he is embroiled in a federal bribery investigation.  —  The 99 to 58 vote followed weeks …

Who Is to Blame for Grief on a Beach?  —  It was another one of those pictures that goes instantly around the world.  A young Palestinian, wailing in wretched sorrow, grieving over her dead father, stepmother and five siblings who had been killed by an explosion on a Gaza beach.  Then came the blame.

U.S. 'Stagflation' Worries Mount  —  Inflation data and a possible Fed rate hike stir fears of prices rising amid a languishing economy.  —  With inflation heating up amid the prospect of another interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve, some economists said Wednesday they were beginning …

Al Qaeda in Iraq Died For Our Sins  —  June 16, 2006: Al Qaeda in Iraq has been virtually wiped out by the loss of an address book.  The death of al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi was not as important as the capture of his address book and other planning documents in the wake of the June 7th bombing.

"WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD"  —  The obscene, abusive, unhinged jerk Keith Olbermann earns his own prize.  —  His book, "Worst Person in the World," is due out in September.  —  The "worst person" designation, he told a reporter last December, is "for somebody who's wrong and egregiously stupid and abusing their own position."

'Movimiento' aims to take back America  —  Advocates of an open border between the U.S. and Mexico do their best to present a mellow American flag-waving image to the public.  But when they gather in semiprivate, they communicate much differently to each other.  Perhaps they need to be even more careful.

Uranium from Africa: Who forged the bogus Iraq-Niger uranium sale "accord" and why?  —  I am pleased to report on an important development in the Nigergate story, based in part on collaborative sleuthing with investigative reporter Solomon Hughes from the British publication Private Eye.

Metro Board Member Fired for Comment on Gays  —  Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. yesterday fired Robert J. Smith, his appointee on the Metro transit authority board, for referring to gay people as sexual deviants on a cable television show.  —  "Robert Smith's comments were highly inappropriate …

Bring U.S. troops home by end of '06  —  Half of those whose names are inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial were lost after America's leaders knew our strategy would not succeed.  It was immoral then, and it is immoral now, to be quiet or equivocal in the face of such delusion.

'06 Race Focuses on the Suburbs, Inner and Outer  —  BELLEVUE, Wash., June 15 — In searching for any advantage in this year's Congressional elections, the two parties are focusing with increased intensity on those cul de sac jungles of tenuous political loyalties, the suburbs and exurbs.