Speaking frankly about Israel and Palestine  —  Jimmy Carter says his recent book is drawing knee-jerk accusations of anti-Israel bias.  —  I SIGNED A CONTRACT with Simon & Schuster two years ago to write a book about the Middle East, based on my personal observations as the Carter Center …

Suspect Arrested In Alleged Chicago Terror Plot  —  Law Enforcement Officials: Plot Involved Attack In Chicago  —  (CBS) CHICAGO A suspect has been arrested in an alleged terror plot that involves a Chicago target, sources tell CBS 2.  —  As CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports …

AP Poll: Few Americans expect victory in Iraq  —  WASHINGTON: Americans are overwhelmingly resigned to something less than clear-cut victory in Iraq and growing numbers doubt the country will achieve a stable, democratic government no matter how the U.S. gets out, according to an AP poll.

Bush Backs Away From 2 Key Ideas of Panel on Iraq  —  President Bush moved quickly to distance himself on Thursday from the central recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, even as the panel's co-chairmen opened an intensive lobbying effort on Capitol Hill to press Mr. Bush to adopt their report wholesale.

FOX NEWS POLL: OBAMA TRAILS CLINTON IN 2008 DEM PRIMARY  —  NEW YORK — Despite the almost incredible amount of buzz about potential presidential hopeful Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the latest FOX News poll finds that New York Sen. Hillary Clinton soundly outperforms Obama in the Democratic primary …

Jeane Kirkpatrick, RIP; 'But Then, They Always Blame America First'  —  Update IV: 10:51 a.m.: John Bolton was just on CNN.  Clearly choking back tears, he said that "it really is very sad for america" and that Kirkpatrick "will be greatly missed."  He said:

Interview with David Card  —  David Card seems like a pretty mild-mannered guy.  True, he speaks with conviction, but it is confidence backed by meticulous research and tempered with open acknowledgment of the limits of that research.  Card, an economist  —  at the University of California, Berkeley, is the antithesis of a zealot.

Long a Laggard, Wages Start to Outpace Prices  —  After four years in which pay failed to keep pace with price increases, wages for most American workers have begun rising significantly faster than inflation.  —  With energy prices now sharply lower than a few months ago …

That Murder in London  —  The poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, renegade Russian spy and fierce critic of Vladimir Putin's government, is everywhere being called a mystery.  There is dark speculation about unnamed "rogue elements" either in the Russian secret services or among ultranationalists acting independently of the government.

A Father's Tears  —  George H.W. Bush cried at a tribute to his son Jeb.  What else was he feeling?  —  He stood there at the podium, the kind of podium he'd stood at 5,000 times in a long political life, and talked to the kind of audience he knew well: supporters and loyalists, old friends and new.

Labor Presses for Measure to Ease Unionizing  —  Claiming a major role in the Democrats' victory last month, labor leaders are pressing Congressional Democrats to enact a measure to make it easier for workers to unionize.  —  Labor leaders see the measure as pivotal to stop a slide in union membership that has lasted decades.

Time to Party in the Capital.  Just Bring the Checkbook.  —  Lights glowed late in the Capitol dome on Wednesday night, indicating that the House and the Senate were in session.  But the real action was taking place elsewhere on Capitol Hill, in wine bars, restaurants and town houses …

Sherrod Brown: First We Go After Big Pharma  —  WASHINGTON DISPATCH: The senator-elect from Ohio weighs in on drug-pricing reform, Iraq, the '08 campaign, and (oh yeah, that!) trade.  —  Fresh from victory in Ohio's knock-down drag-out Senate race, Sherrod Brown is happily preparing to exit …

Moral Seriousness  —  Alongside the silliness of the Baker-Hamilton Commission and Tom Friedman's newfound commitment to good sense, there's yet another new brand of liberal hawk madness bopping around town.  This week's New Republic editorial, for example, perspicaciously observes that …

THE (NOT SO) INFALLIBLE AP ROBERT  —  THE most powerful media institution in all of human history is the Associated Press.  Its news feed is ubiquitous - used, directly or indirectly, by every U.S. newspaper and TV news program and a vast number of foreign ones, too.