Warrantless Surrender  —  THE DEMOCRATIC-led Congress, more concerned with protecting its political backside than with safeguarding the privacy of American citizens, left town early yesterday after caving in to administration demands that it allow warrantless surveillance of the phone calls …

Weapons Given to Iraq Are Missing  —  GAO Estimates 30% of Arms Are Unaccounted For  —  The Pentagon has lost track of about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, according to a new government report, raising fears that some of those weapons …

American disconnection  —  AS A CHILD of 10 or 12, I could tell when the height of summer had arrived by the certain feeling that came over me.  Even though I was part of a large, happy family, my main source of connectedness from an early age was school, and in summer I hardly ever saw the kids who …

'Fake Steve' Blogger Comes Clean  —  For the last 14 months, high-tech insiders have been eating up the work of an anonymous blogger who assumed the persona of Steven P. Jobs, Apple's chief executive and one of the world's most famous businessmen.  —  The mysterious writer has used his blog …

The Next Intervention  —  Is the United States out of the intervention business for a while?  With two difficult wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a divided public, the conventional answer is that it will be a long time before any American president, Democrat or Republican, again dispatches troops into conflict overseas.

Solidarity in cyberspace?  Bloggers eye labour union  —  In such a diverse world, there's no consensus on type of organization and who should be included  —  CHICAGO-Do bloggers need their own Norma Rae?  —  In a move that might make some people scratch their heads …

Perceptions of Iraq War Are Starting to Shift  —  It's not often that an opinion article shakes up Washington and changes the way a major issue is viewed.  But that happened last week, when The New York Times printed an opinion article by Brookings Institution analysts Michael O'Hanlon …

Mortgage Maze May Increase Foreclosures  —  In 2003, Dianne Brimmage refinanced the mortgage on her home in Alton, Ill., to consolidate her car and medical bills.  Now, struggling with a much higher interest rate and in foreclosure, she wants to modify the terms of the loan.

Tons of Repaving Material Was on Bridge at Collapse  —  Trucks carrying tens of thousands of pounds of crushed stone were parked on the Interstate 35W bridge, and more stone was sitting on the deck when the bridge collapsed, investigators said Sunday, raising suspicions that the added weight …

[TS] Op-Ed Columnist: The Substance Thing  —  What are the presidential candidates saying about policy, and what does it tell us about them?

A Diversity of Opinion, if Not Opinionators  —  At the Yearly Kos Bloggers' Convention, a Sea of Middle-Aged White Males  —  It's Sunday, day 4 of Yearly Kos, the major conference for progressive bloggers, and Gina Cooper, the confab's organizer-in-chief, surveys the ballroom of the massive McCormick Place Convention Center.

Honey, They Shrunk The ....Times?  Smaller 'NYT' Coming on Monday  —  NEW YORK Over the years, The New York Times has tended to think big, but tomorrow it will have to adapt to a new smaller-is- beautiful era.  —  In a front page note to readers this morning, the paper stated that the print edition …

Mad House  —  Congress needs an intervention.  —  The House of Representatives almost turned into the Fight Club Thursday night, when Democrats ruled that a GOP motion had failed even though, when the gavel fell, the electronic score board showed it winning 215-213 along with the word FINAL.

They like Mike  —  DES MOINES - Going into Sunday's Republican presidential debate, most of the Iowans noshing on English muffins in the sun room of the neon-bedecked Drake Diner had never heard of Mike Huckabee, or knew very little about the ex-preacher and former governor of Arkansas.

Is California GOP Trying to Steal the 2008 Election?  —  Our way of electing presidents has always been fer-tile ground for mischief.  But there's sensible mischief—toying with existing laws and the Constitution to reflect popular will—and then there's the other kind …