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.

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.

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.

GLENN GREENWALD: Warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty  —  There is a lot of debate about what accounts for the decrepit state of our political press, but often overlooked is the sheer sloth and ignorance of journalists, who repeat what they are told without having any idea what they are talking about.

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 …

Regula confirms: he's retiring  —  Longtime congressman Ralph Regula, whose years and power on the House Appropriations Committee made him a major player for northeast Ohio, confirmed to The Plain Dealer that he will not run for re-election next year.  —  More coverage

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 …

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.

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.

'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.

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:

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.