N.Y. Times admits Petraeus ad sold to Moveon.org at 1/2 off  —  The old gray lady has some explaining to do.  —  Officials at the New York Times have admitted a liberal activist group was permitted to pay half the rate it should have for a provocative ad condemning U.S. Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus.

In Swing Districts, Democratic Enthusiasm Is Harder to Come By  —  Conventional wisdom dictates that Democratic voters are thrilled with their choices for president, bursting at the seams to rally behind Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) or whoever gets the party's nod next year.

Romney is the Survivor on the Island  —  Mackinac Island, MI-  —  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—September 23, 2007  —  CONTACT: Amy Walter (202) 280-0675  —  Gov Mitt Romney won the Michigan Republican Leadership Conference straw poll, receiving 39 % of the 979 votes cast.

Can We Talk Politics, Please?  —  BARACK OBAMA gets morning breath.  Elizabeth Edwards felt her rib pop during some good loving with her husband, John.  —  And Rudolph W. Giuliani, by the testimony of no less than his third wife, is a really-high-testosterone guy.  —  Must we go there?

Iraq: Blackwater staff will face criminal charges  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — The Iraqi government will file criminal charges against employees of U.S. security firm Blackwater who are blamed for a gun battle in Baghdad in which civilians were killed, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said Sunday.

Syria's move  —  Assad is under competing pressures to either attack Israel or make peace  —  An explosion ripped through a military base near Aleppo in northern Syria July 23, killing 15 Syrian soldiers and dozens of Iranian engineers.  Summer temperatures of up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit caused …

Marcel Marceau, Famed French Mime, Dies  —  PARIS (AP) — Marcel Marceau, whose lithe gestures and pliant facial expressions revived the art of mime and brought poetry to silence, died Saturday.  He was 84.  —  Wearing white face paint, soft shoes and a battered hat topped with a red flower …

Daily Kos: Why I Have A Little Crush on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad  —  At the new mainstream voice of the Democratic Party, Jewish lesbian "sallykohn" explains: Daily Kos: Why I Have A Little Crush on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  —  No, it's not a joke.  And no, this is not an unusual sentiment at Daily Kos.

A Feeling I'm Being Had  —  I was happy to hear that NYC didn't allow Iranian President Ahmadinejad  —  to place a wreath at the WTC site.  And I was happy that Columbia  —  University is rescinding the offer to let him speak.  If you let a guy like  —  that express his views, before long the entire world will want freedom

Police posts set on fire in mob fury  —  NEW DELHI: Two police posts were set on fire by thousands of agitated residents and students around Jamia Milia Islamia University on Saturday evening.  The angry mob first set Jamia police post on fire and later targetted Sahinbagh police post in Sarita Vihar.

Secret US air force team to perfect plan for Iran strike  —  Also from Sarah Baxter: Israelis seized nuclear material in Syrian raid |  Snatched: Israeli commandos 'nuclear' raid |  Israelis 'blew apart Syrian nuclear cache' |  Alan Greenspan: "Blair was clearly an aide to Brown"

ImmigrationProf Exclusive: Interview With Senator Barack Obama  —  We are pleased to announce that at 8 A.M. PST on Tuesday morning, the ImmigrationProf blog will post an exclusive interview with Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill), one of the candidates vying for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

Clinton Calls Health Care Plan a `Moral Imperative'  —  Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called overhauling the U.S. health-insurance system a ``moral imperative'' and said that raising taxes on the wealthy along with cost savings would be enough to pay for the proposal she unveiled last week.

Terror: Al Qaeda's Feuds and Fears  —  Lonely, marginalized and suddenly suspicious that he was losing his grip over the organization he helped create, Osama bin Laden finally decided that enough was enough.  At least that's the explanation sources close to him are giving for why …