Chris Wallace Has Indeed Grilled A Bush Official About Failing to Get Osama Before 9/11  —  In an interview aired on Fox News Sunday today, Chris Wallace asked Bill Clinton why he hadn't done more to get Osama bin Laden.  Clinton's furious answer lasted several minutes …

Teammates: Allen used "N-word" in college  —  WASHINGTON — Three former college football teammates of Sen. George Allen say that the Virginia Republican repeatedly used an inflammatory racial epithet and demonstrated racist attitudes toward blacks during the early 1970s.

Intelligence Report Stirs Debate on Terror Fight  —  An intelligence assessment that the war in Iraq increased Islamic radicalism, worsening the terror threat, set off a sharp debate today among American political officials over credit and blame for the war and the broader fight against terrorism.

Hurricane Chávez  —  HUGO CHAVEZ got the attention that he craves by comparing President Bush to Satan last week.  But the Venezuelan leader's absurd talk may be less threatening than his equally absurd incompetence.  Since Mr. Chávez took power seven years ago …

U.S. Senate candidates trade jabs  —  BUTTE — The audience was better behaved, but the candidates mixed it up more in the second fall debate between Republican U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns and his Democratic challenger, state Senate President Jon Tester.  —  "He wants to weaken our families …

Falwell says Hillary would spark base  —  WASHINGTON - The Rev. Jerry Falwell says a White House run by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton would energize his base of religious conservatives even more than if the devil were the Democratic nominee.  —  "I certainly hope that Hillary is the candidate," Falwell told a private prayer breakfast.

For Bush, War Anguish Expressed Privately  —  FALMOUTH, Maine — They sat on two frayed chairs in a teacher's lounge, the president and the widow, just the two of them so close that their knees were almost touching.  —  She was talking about her husband, the soldier who died in a far-off war zone.

The Netroots Hit Their Limits  —  Liberal online activists are finding you can't move elections with just modems and IM  —  You've heard the story: the Netroots, the Democratic Party's equivalent of a punk garage band—edgy, loud and antiauthoritarian—are suddenly on the verge of the big time.

Mel campaigns for new movie, against war in Iraq  —Text+LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mel Gibson has returned to the spotlight to promote his upcoming movie "Apocalypto," and to criticize the war in Iraq, according to the Hollywood Reporter.  —  Almost two months after he railed against Jews …

Bush dismisses bloodshed in Iraq as 'just a comma'  —  Steve finds this piece of revealing data..  —  Video-WMP Video-QT … This is an appalling statement to make.  With a civil war full of Iraqi bloodshed and over 20,000 of our men and women killed or wounded since the war started …

Rare Woodpecker Sends a Town Running for Its Chain Saws  —  Over the past six months, landowners here have been clear-cutting thousands of trees to keep them from becoming homes for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker.  —  The chain saws started in February, when the federal Fish …

McCain Names Practices Detainee Bill Would Bar  —  Senator Says 3 Interrogation Methods Are Among the 'Extreme Measures' the Plan Would Outlaw  —  A Republican senator who played a leading role in drafting new rules for U.S. interrogations of terrorism suspects said yesterday that he believes …

Why Retired Military Brass Don't Want Torture  —  Firsthand combat experiences compel old guard to attack Bush's 'alternative interrogation.'  —  FOR ONE 83-year-old veteran of World War II, it was the searing memory of a Japanese prisoner who helped turn the tide on Iwo Jima.