Columnist Ann Coulter Shocks Cable TV Show, Declaring 'Jews Need to Be Perfected by Becoming Christians'  —  Slash-and-burn columnist Ann Coulter shocked a cable TV talk-show audience Monday when she declared that Jews need to be "perfected" by becoming Christians, and that America would be better off if everyone were Christian.

EXCLUSIVE: E-mail Reveals That McConnell Staffer Propagated Smear Campaign Against Graeme Frost  —  Yesterday, ThinkProgress reported that there was mounting evidence that a staffer for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) may have been involved in the right-wing campaign to smear Graeme Frost and his family.

Police: Columbia Won't Turn Over Video  —  NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University has refused to turn over security videotape that could help identify who hung a noose on a black professor's office door, police said Thursday.  —  Investigators began asking on Wednesday for tapes from cameras in the building …

UPDATE - Gore cancels appearance at Boxer fundraiser  —  Sen. Barbara Boxer's office just contacted us to say former Vice President Al Gore has been called "overseas" for a trip related to his work on global warming and has canceled his scheduled appearance Thursday in San Francisco at a fundraiser for Boxer's re-election effort.

Regula to step down Friday, insiders say  —  Longtime GOP Rep. Ralph Regula is retiring tomorrow, according to GOP insiders.  Regula, who has served in the House since 1973, would be the second Ohio Republican to step down this cycle.  Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio) has already announced …

9 children killed in U.S. raid in Iraq  —  BAGHDAD - A U.S. attack killed 19 insurgents and 15 civilians, including nine children, northwest of the capital Thursday — one of the heaviest civilian death tolls in an American operation in recent months.  The military said it was targeting senior leaders of al-Qaida in Iraq.

Not Ready To Make Nice  —  Well this gets a big, fat "hell, no" from me.  Via e-mail from Liz Rose of the ACLU on the draft Senate version of the FISA bill, which is not yet publicly available and not being widely shared for review either: … If they didn't do anything wrong, why should they get retroactive immunity?

Please Blog...Fund Raising Drive to Bring Miracle and her family home to the Lower 9th Ward  —  Two weeks ago I posted about the Joseph family who lost their Lower 9th Ward home for the second time.  Kellie Joseph and her 6 children lost their home to Katrina.

Gibson knew school shooter was white because "[b]lack shooters don't" shoot themselves; "they shoot and move on" … On the October 10 broadcast of his nationally syndicated Fox News Radio show, while discussing 14-year-old Asa H. Coon, who earlier that day shot four people at his Cleveland high school …

Lynne Cheney: Terrorist Attacks Worldwide Don't Affect 'American Interests'  —  A frequent Bush administration talking point in defense of the "war on terror" is claiming that United States has not been attacked since 9/11.  —  Yesterday, Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Cheney …

Answering Ezra  —  Ezra Klein homes in on my own record in helping scuttle Hillary Clinton's dreadful healthcare reform plan in 1993 and 1994.  It's odd that Klein still supports a plan that Clinton herself has now conceded was misbegotten.  Her current plan is far more market-friendly and less bureaucratic.

Documents: Qwest was targeted  —  'Classified info' was not allowed at ex-CEO's trial  —  The National Security Agency and other government agencies retaliated against Qwest because the Denver telco refused to go along with a phone spying program, documents released Wednesday suggest.

Fred's Facts Check Out; Rudy's Don't  —  Thompson avoids error at his GOP debate debut.  But Giuliani commits multiple gaffes.  —  Former Sen. Fred Thompson got the facts straight for his GOP debate debut Oct. 9.  But former Mayor Rudy Giuliani added to a lengthening string of exaggerations and misstatements:

'No Gays in Iran'?  An Aide Says, Make That 'Not Many'  —  At Columbia University last month, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earned full-on belly laughs for the kind of sound bite that reporters on the campaign trail only dream about.  —  "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like in your country," he said.