Top Taliban commander killed in fighting  —  KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Taliban's most prominent military commander, a one-legged fighter who orchestrated an ethnic massacre and a rash of beheadings, was killed in a U.S.-led military operation in southern Afghanistan, officials said Sunday.

Troy Scheffler And Hamline University  —  Mitch Berg and I had the opportunity to invite Troy Scheffler to our studio yesterday to talk about his suspension from Hamline University for his protest against the gun-free zone policy of the school.  After the Virginia Tech massacre …

Pakistan On Brink Of Disaster  —  The headline for this post is taken from the UK's extremely conservative Sunday Telegraph newspaper and is no hyperbole - the current situation will either bring down Musharaff or bring down any hope that Pakistan can become a more democratic nation in the short to medium term.

Batiste Lays With Dogs, Gets Fleas  —  Sunday's New York Times features former Army Major General John Batiste's reasoning for appearing in a TV ad the NYT's describes as "openly challenging President Bush on his management of the war."  The ad says:

U.S. Aims to Weaken G-8 Climate Change Statement  —  Negotiators from the United States are trying to weaken the language of a climate change declaration set to be unveiled at next month's G-8 summit of the world's leading industrial powers, according to documents obtained yesterday by The Washington Post.

Search ongoing for 3 missing U.S. troops  —  BAGHDAD - U.S. and Iraqi troops searched house-to-house and combed fields with their bare hands Saturday after American troops and their Iraqi interpreter came under attack in the notorious "triangle of death" south of Baghdad, leaving five dead and three missing.

The Flight From Iraq  —  I. Roads to Damascus  —  At a meeting in mid-April in Geneva, held by António Guterres, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, the numbers presented confirmed what had long been suspected: the collapse of Iraq had created a refugee crisis …

Church's Sign Against Islam Sparks Controversy  —  SPRING HOPE — Words like "bomb" and "die" draw attention to the small sign in front of Good News Independent Baptist Church.  —  Rev. Gary Murrell put up the sign, which on one side claims the message of Islam is "submit, convert or die."

No Disclosure: Presidential Candidates Defy Tradition, Refuse to Release Taxes  —  Since Watergate, Only Clinton Refused to Release Income Information  —  Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.,worked for a hedge fund while heading a poverty center in between his presidential campaigns.

Strange But Sweet Polling Treat  —  On May 2, SurveyUSA released some interesting single-state head-to-head primary polls featuring Clinton, Obama, and Edwards against Rudy Giuliani.  Unfortunately, SUSA has recently become resistant to putting all their data on a single easy-to-use chart …

Motherthink  —  I always thought Mother's Day was about being nice to Mom.  Making her breakfast, making her a card, giving her a kiss.  —  Wrong.  —  I never understood, but I am beginning to grasp it now.  Mother's Day is about millennia of male domination and warmongering.