High Level Debate Stalled Syria Air Strike  —  U.S. Was Concerned Over Intelligence, Stability to Region, Officials Tell ABC News  —  The September Israeli airstrike on a suspected nuclear site in Syria had been in the works for months, ABC News has learned, and was delayed only at the strong urging of the United States.

The New York Times Mourns the Loss of Their "Defining Atrocity"  —  The New York Times can't be satisfied with some insignificant Al-Qaeda atrocity.  —  It must be an atrocity committed by the Americans.  —  And, they lost it this week in Haditha.  —  The Haditha Marines  —  The New York Times

Virginia congresswoman dies  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-Va., died Saturday after battling breast cancer, according to a statement released by her office.  She was 57.  —  Davis died at her Gloucester, Va., home.  She was first diagnosed with cancer in 2005 …

Fort Hunt's Quiet Men Break Silence on WWII  —  For six decades, they held their silence.  —  The group of World War II veterans kept a military code and the decorum of their generation, telling virtually no one of their top-secret work interrogating Nazi prisoners of war at Fort Hunt.

BLACKWATERGATE LINKED TO HILL  —  CAMPAIGN BIG'S FIRM PROVIDED P.R.  —  The company run by one of Hillary Clinton's top campaign officials has been providing public-relations services for Blackwater - the security firm, accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians, that has come under fire from Congress.

O'Reilly Lets Loose: Says WH Reporters Need To Be 'Wiped Out,' Calls CNN 'The Pagan Throne'  —  In an interview with Bill O'Reilly last night, former White House press secretary Tony Snow said that his future career plans may include writing a book on cancer and possibly returning to Fox News.

'Sen. Craig visited me' says escort who claimed relationship with Haggard  —  DENVER - The gay escort whose allegations forced the resignation of nationally renowned evangelist Ted Haggard now says he was also visited by Idaho Sen. Larry Craig.  —  Craig is the Republican senator …

Savage Rapes Stoke Trauma of Congo War  —  BUKAVU, Congo — Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist, cannot bear to listen to the stories his patients tell him anymore.  —  Every day, 10 new women and girls who have been raped show up at his hospital.  Many have been so sadistically attacked …

CIA Quieting Down After Years of Turmoil, But Memories Linger On  —  The CIA is a relatively calm place these days, with its senior officials concentrating more on nailing foreign targets than each other.  —  That's a nice change from the short, tumultuous era of Porter J. Goss …

Scandal brewing at Oral Roberts  —  TULSA, Okla. - Twenty years ago, televangelist Oral Roberts said he was reading a spy novel when God appeared to him and told him to raise $8 million for Roberts' university, or else he would be "called home."  —  Now, his son, Oral Roberts University …

NAME THAT PARTY (PHONY SOLDIER EDITION)  —  I believe that it's Glenn Reynolds who created the "name that party" series linking to MSM scandal stories burying the party affiliation of the involved officeholders.  In today's installment, the AP reports "Atlantic City mayor drops out of sight."

I am creating artificial life, declares US gene pioneer  —  Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race to decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of the first new artificial life form on Earth.