Taking of hostages by Iran is not Britain's finest hour  —  Twenty-seven years ago, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was a student in Tehran and is said (by a former Iranian president, for one) to be among those in the U.S. embassy who seized and held American citizens hostage for more than a year.

Prosecutor Posts Go To Bush Insiders  —  Less Preference Shown for Locals, Senators' Choices  —  About one-third of the nearly four dozen U.S. attorney's jobs that have changed hands since President Bush began his second term have been filled by the White House and the Justice Department with trusted administration insiders.

Christopher Booker's notebook  —  It's time Defra tried a bit of mud-slinging  —  Last week a Commons committee produced as damning a report on a Government department as anyone could remember.  After investigating the incredible shambles made by the Department for Environment …

Ex-Bush Aide Dowd Says He "Misplaced" Faith In Bush  —  Note: This was put up under the wrong byline.  Since it's already on the web we'll leave it and put the byline under this.  —  By Joe Gandelman  —  You know a Presidency is in trouble with former — and trusted — aides begin to break prominently from their former boss.

ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES  —  Pope John Paul II One Step Closer to Sainthood?  ; Church Using Sex to Sell God; Keeping Your Pets Safe; Confectionary Christ Raises Controversy; Selling Religion With Sex?  —  THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT.  THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

Congress Gone WILD!!!  —  Warning!  The following is for adults only!  "Congress Gone Wild" just got wilder!  It's "Congress Gone Wild" on Spring Break!  Madame Speaker Pelosi will be doing Jay Leno and Rahm Emanuel is bringing his comedy act to the Gridiron Dinner, leaving those freshman Dems …

President's Radio Address  —  THE PRESIDENT: Good morning.  In recent days, the House and Senate each passed emergency war spending bills that undercut our troops in the field.  Each of the Democrats' bills would substitute the judgment of politicians in Washington for that of our generals on the ground.

The Rovian Era  —  Turn over a scandal in Washington these days and the chances are you'll find Karl Rove.  His tracks are everywhere: whether it's helping to purge United States attorneys, coaching bureaucrats on how to spend taxpayers' money to promote Republican candidates …

U.S. government 'outsourcing its brain'  —  Due to its increasing practice of contracting out to private firms and agencies, the U.S. government is quickly losing its expertise and competence in vital national security and defense programs, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

NYT Clueless on Libertarianism  —  In Sunday's New York Times, Times economics columnist David Leonhardt reviews Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement by Brian Doherty.  —  It might have made sense to get a libertarian …

The Complicated Power of the Vote to Nowhere  —  SO it's yes to timetables for Iraq, both the House and the Senate have now said.  But don't schedule the welcome-home parades yet.  —  For a start, the two very different spending bills passed in the last 10 days have yet to be reconciled …

For Girls, It's Be Yourself, and Be Perfect, Too  —  To anyone who knows 17-year-old Esther Mobley, one of the best students at one of the best public high schools in the country, it is absurd to think she doesn't measure up.  But Esther herself is quick to set the record straight.

Kossacks blast Michelle's criticism of the chocolate Jesus double standard  —  The post is silver but the comments are gold.  I'll leave you to scroll through, but let's preserve this for posterity: … Never mind his assumption that secular media organizations should internalize Islamic standards of public discourse.