Shiite Militia Seizes Control of Iraqi City  —  A Shiite militia that has been accused of a wave of sectarian attacks on Iraq's Sunni minority has seized control of the city of Amara in southeastern Iraq, attacking police stations and erecting checkpoints, witnesses in the city said today.

Polling Results  —  October 20, 2006 - Lieberman Opens 17-Point Lead In Connecticut, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Dem Challenger Gains Slightly On Rell  —  Candidate debates this week did not help the two principal challengers in the Connecticut Senate race, as Sen. Joseph Lieberman now holds a 52 …

After Pat's Birthday  —  Editor's note: Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004.  Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document.

John McCain unveils his Grand Plan for Victory in Iraq  —  (updated below)  —  When pro-war advocates talk about Iraq these days, what they say is not only misguided and false, but almost always incoherent.  In explaining why we ought to stay, they are reduced to a form of babbling …

Iran warns of revenge over Israel  —  Iran's president has warned that Muslims around the world will take revenge on states who supported Israel against the Palestinians.  —  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again questioned the extent of the Holocaust, when German Nazis murdered six million Jews.

During National Character Counts Week, Bush Stumps for Philanderer  —  So it has come to this: Nineteen days before the midterm elections, President Bush flew here to champion the reelection of a congressman who last year settled a $5.5 million lawsuit alleging that he beat his mistress during a five-year affair.

DID THE DEMOCRATS LEAK THE NIE?  —  One of the Democrats' several September Surprises was the highly selective, and highly misleading, leak of a small portion of the recently-completed National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq.  The Associated Press reported today that House Intelligence Committee …

America's Next Top Pundit  —  What does it take to be a talking head?  —  Whenever news breaks — on the fall campaign trail, in North Korea, in the most trivial corners of Hollywood — thousands of pundits have something to say.  What most of them don't have is somewhere to say it.

Bush is wrong: Iraq is not Vietnam  —  President Bush has for the first time conceded a similarity between events in Iraq and those in Vietnam 40 years ago.  Asked in a television interview on Wednesday if he now saw a similarity between the recent escalation of American losses in Iraq …

Priest: I was nude with young Foley  —  But says naked massage didn't count as sex  —  ROME — A priest acknowledged Thursday that he was naked in saunas and went skinny-dipping with Mark Foley decades ago when the former congressman was a boy in Florida, but denied that the two had sex.

The Trouble With Partition  —  More and more of my favorite people on "our side" of the national security debate seem to me to be edging in favor of the Biden-Gelb Plan for Iraq, involving a quasi-partition of the country into three pieces with a skeletal national government left behind …

Why is the White House so Eerily Confident about the Coming Elections?  —  All week I've been reading in disparate sources from Drudge to US News and World Report about Bush, Rove and Cheney being overly confident about the midterm elections.  Even Republican strategists are increasingly concerned …

Unendorsed  —  We've been following Ken Blackwell's career for years.  Our file on him is more than an inch thick.  We've talked with him personally and come away impressed with his intelligence and commitment to change — both of which are much needed in this state.But while Blackwell …

Top US general says Rumsfeld is inspired by God  —  MIAMI (AFP) - The top US general defended the leadership of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying it is inspired by God.  —  "He leads in a way that the good Lord tells him is best for our country," said Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Supertax Me  —  THE National Center for Health Statistics estimates that 30 percent of American adults, some 60 million people, are obese.  Thirty years ago that number was 15 percent.  The trend is similar among children: according to the surgeon general, the percentage of obese youths has tripled …

EXCLUSIVE: Lewis Falsely Implies Mass Suspension Of Committee Investigators Was 'Bipartisan'  —  Powerful House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) has abruptly suspended the contracts of "60 investigators who had worked for his committee rooting out fraud, waste and abuse, effective immediately."