Bush keeps revising war justification  —  WASHINGTON - President Bush keeps revising his explanation for why the U.S. is in Iraq, moving from narrow military objectives at first to history-of-civilization stakes now.  —  Initially, the rationale was specific: to stop Saddam Hussein from using …

GOP's Top Bloggers Abandon Ship, While Remaining in Denial  —  It's 24 days to the election and Glenn Reynolds is following John Hinderaker to the showers today in anticipation of a GOP defeat.  While cautiously beginning with "It's still too early to say" he quickly follows with "that's certainly the way to bet."

Where Do We Find Such Men? … He saw the threat and acted, without hesitation or concern for himself to protect his friends.  No time to consider the alternatives, organize a protest or conduct a poll.  —  That brave young man seized the moment sacrificing himself to save his brothers.

NORTH KOREA'S EMPTY CHAIR  —  Another fruitless, toothless resolution passed by an impotent UN Security Council.  But for these moments (in the below video), we'll either die of boredom or enemy nukes.  Check out Ambassador Bolton's pointing finger.  So great.  Why won't the Dems vote for this guy?

White House Upbeat About GOP Prospects  —  Self-Assurance of Bush, Rove and Others Is Not Shared by Many in the Party  —  Amid widespread panic in the Republican establishment about the coming midterm elections, there are two people whose confidence about GOP prospects strikes …

It's Official: To Be Married Means to Be Outnumbered  —  Amanda Hawn and Nate Larsen recently in their apartment near San Francisco.  "Moving in together has simplified life," Ms. Hawn said.  —  Married couples, whose numbers have been declining for decades as a proportion of American households …

The flying spaghetti monster  —  Why are we here on earth?  To Richard Dawkins, that's a remarkably stupid question.  In a heated interview, the famous biologist insists that religion is evil and God might as well be a children's fantasy.  —  Editor's note: This is the latest entry …

Allen and Webb in Virtual Tie, Post Poll Says  —  Northern Virginia Voters' Views Differ From Rest of Commonwealth  —  Virginia Sen. George Allen (R) and Democratic challenger James Webb are virtually tied in a race that could shift the balance of power in Washington and which reinforces …

A Call To Arms  —  If you're not already well versed in the travesty that happened to Biting Beaver, click here to read her story and here to read the consequences.  —  Long story short: an adult woman with several children in a committed relationship was not able to obtain emergency contraception in time …

Correcting Olbermann's Report On David Kuo  —  "The vast majority of what David writes is factually untrue."  —  The Bush White House toward David Kuo's new book?  —  Nope.  It's his former boss, Craig Winn of the out-of-businss company Value America, about Kuo's prior book, Dot.bomb …

I get letters...  All punctuation and spelling original, including the odd habit of putting spaces before punctuation marks.  [Raw source below the fold.]  —  Return-path:  —  Received: from mac.com (smtpin22-en2 [10.13.11.252])  —  by ms82.mac.com (iPlanet Messaging Server 5.2 HotFix 2.11 (built Mar 22 2006))

U.S. Citizen Facing Execution in Iraq  —  WASHINGTON — Lawyers for an American citizen facing execution in Iraq appealed Friday in U.S. federal court to keep the man in American custody _ preventing his death _ while another case is being appealed.  —  The citizen, Mohammad Munaf …

Slums, drugs, and spousal abuse  —  STATE AUDITOR CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D-Missouri) has cast herself as a champion of "strong, small town values" in her 2006 challenge to incumbent Republican Senator Jim Talent.  A mere twenty-three days before the election, in a race which could decide control of the Senate …

Democrats Have Intensity, but G.O.P. Has Its Machine  —  Clif Kelley, a retired economist from Columbus, Ohio, is the walking, talking, fuming embodiment of what pollsters say is a defining feature of this election: the intensity of Democrats.  —  Mr. Kelley and a handful of fellow Democrats …

'No coup attempt against Musharraf'  —  [ 14 Oct, 2006 1459hrs IST IANS ]  —  ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has denied a report suggesting there had been a coup attempt against President Pervez Musharraf after his high-profile visit to the United States.  —  Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao …