Ex-Texas Gov. Ann Richards dies  —  AUSTIN, Texas - Former Gov. Ann Richards, the witty and flamboyant Democrat who went from homemaker to national political celebrity, died Wednesday night after a battle with cancer, a family spokeswoman said.  She was 73.  —  She died at home surrounded by her family, the spokeswoman said.

U.N. Inspectors Dispute Iran Report By House Panel  —  U.N. inspectors investigating Iran's nuclear program angrily complained to the Bush administration and to a Republican congressman yesterday about a recent House committee report on Iran's capabilities, calling parts of the document …

Lebanon - a reassessment  —  Anyone following the war in Lebanon in the Israeli media could not but come away engulfed in deep depression.  Israelis and their media tend to focus obsessively on themselves, their own losses and failings, remaining largely oblivious to what is happening on the other side of the divide.

Liberalism as Condescension  —  EVERGREEN PARK, Ill. — This suburb, contiguous with Chicago's western edge, is 88 percent white.  A large majority of the customers of the Wal-Mart that sits here, less than a block outside Chicago, are from the city and more than 90 percent of the store's customers are African-American.

Armitage's Leak  —  When Richard Armitage finally acknowledged last week that he was my source three years ago in revealing Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA employee, the former deputy secretary of state's interviews obscured what he really did.  I want to set the record straight based on firsthand knowledge.

Panel in Senate Backs Bush Plan for Eavesdropping  —  Senators John McCain, John W. Warner and Lindsey Graham, all Republicans, Wednesday at the Capitol.  They have voiced opposition to a White House plan to reinterpret a provision of the Geneva Conventions.

Dems seem likely to pick up midterm seats  —  NBC/WSJ poll: Americans remain down on GOP, Bush's performance, Iraq  —  WASHINGTON - Less than two months until Election Day, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that more than half of registered voters disapprove …

GOP foe Fine says Ellison's unfit  —  DFL victor Keith Ellison is getting national attention on the chance that he could become the first Muslim member of Congress.  —  Keith Ellison's GOP foe attacked sharply Wednesday, calling him unfit for Congress and saying he was …

Let's quit while we're behind  —  "The trouble with our times," Paul Valéry said, "is that the future is not what it used to be."  —  This glum aperçu has been much with me as we move into the home stretch of the 2006 mid-term elections and shimmy into the starting gates of the 2008 presidential campaign.

In R.I., a Model for Voter Turnout  —  Employing Senate Primary Strategy May Give GOP an Edge  —  The turnout campaign that Republican operatives used to help pull Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee to victory in the Rhode Island primary was a potent demonstration of how money and manpower can transform …

I Love My Think Tank  —  For eight years after I got my P.h.D, I was a professor of linguistics.  I first found myself involved with the media in 1996 when the Ebonics controversy hit.  I happened to be the black linguist working closest to Oakland where the issue arose (I was at UC Berkeley), and so the media called me.

Democrats Form New Group for Fund-Raising and Ads  —  Sensing both political danger and opportunity, a top Democratic operative and a group of major party donors have banded together to deliver a barrage of late advertising and on-the-ground action to secure Democratic victories in November.

Six still in critical condition after shooting  —  MONTREAL (CP) - Six people remained in critical condition on Thursday, including two in very critical condition, after a trenchcoat-clad gunman entered a downtown college and began mowing down students.  —  A spokesman for the Montreal General Hospital …

Gay Groups Renew Drive Against 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'  —  MADISON, Wis. —The three young men who tried to enlist at an Army recruiting station here appeared to be first-rate military material.  —  Two were college students, and the other was a college graduate.  They had no criminal records.