Hitchens Gives the Finger to Maher's Audience for 'Frivolous' Jeering of Bush  —  Writer/author Christopher Hitchens on Friday night gave the finger to the Los Angeles audience of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher.  As he laid out the case for how it's Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad …

Katherine Harris says failure to elect Christians will `legislate sin'  —  ORLANDO, Fla. _Rep.  Katherine Harris said this week that God did not intend for the United States to be a "nation of secular laws" and that a failure to elect Christians to political office will allow lawmaking bodies to "legislate sin."

Case of kidnapped Fox journalists could be resolved … GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP // With a deadline looming in the case of two kidnapped Fox News journalists, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Saturday that he hoped the crisis would be resolved "in the coming hours."

Iran nuclear project forges ahead  —  Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has inaugurated a new phase of a heavy water reactor project despite Western fears about its nuclear programme.  —  He said Iran posed no threat to other states, not even its "enemy" Israel.

Lieberman to consider Iraq pullout plan  —  NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Sen. Joe Lieberman, the three-term Democrat whose independent campaign for re-election is being seen as a referendum on the Iraq war, said Friday he would consider taking a look at a fellow lawmaker's proposal for a timeline for troop withdrawals.

Clinton, Lamont Meet in New York  —  Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had Connecticut Senate candidate Ned Lamont over for coffee Friday, discussing campaign strategy and offering to host a fundraiser, a spokesman for the senator said.  —  "It was a great meeting.

Greg Mitchell's fake-news confession rewritten by unknown anonymous mystery perpetrator!  —  Poor guy.  As if his credibility wasn't in bad enough shape, now some fiendish saboteur's hacked in to the Media Info archives and revised the column he wrote in 2003 about having invented quotes for a story back in the late 60s.

Global warming boost to glaciers  —  Global warming could be causing some glaciers to grow, a new study claims.  —  Researchers at Newcastle University looked at temperature trends in the western Himalaya over the past century.  —  They found warmer winters and cooler summers …

Service in Iraq: Just How Risky?  —  The consequences of Operation Iraqi Freedom for U.S. forces are being documented by the Defense Department with an exceptional degree of openness and transparency.  Its daily and cumulative counts of deaths receive a great deal of publicity.

Visa Mart—Possible AQ link to busted U.S. diplomat (UPDATED)  —  UPDATES OF EXTRAORDINARY MAGNITUDE—READ TO END!  —  A U.S. Foreign Service Officer in Canada got busted Friday for an alleged visas-for-jewelry bribe case. 22-year State Department veteran Michael O'Keefe was indicted along …

Issues Await if Democrats Retake House  —  As the start of the fall campaign looms and House Democrats remain within realistic reach of reclaiming the majority, party leaders are beginning to explore the delicate question of what happens if they win.  —  Rusty from being out of power for 12 years …

Tom Nichols: The Clinton Administration and Iraqi WMD Intel in 1998  —  Tom Nichols teaches at the Naval War College.  He is also a senior associate of the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs.  Tom is no stranger to this website; last year I posted three of his articles.

Allen, dogged by protest, dodges downtown  —  4:35 p.m. STAUNTON — Sen. George Allen gave the slip to protesters, supporters and city officials today, bypassing an afternoon stop in downtown Staunton for an unannounced lunch break at a local drive-in restaurant.

China cracks down on striptease funerals  —  BEIJING (AFP) - China may be giving striptease funerals the last rites after officials arrested five people and ordered an end to the practise, state media said.  —  Strip shows have been commonly used to attract more mourners to funerals …