New Steps by U.S. Against Iranians  —  The Bush administration will announce a long-debated policy of new sanctions against Iran on Thursday, accusing the elite Quds division of the Revolutionary Guard Corps of supporting terrorism, administration officials said Wednesday night.

Baghdad Diarist Was On Guard When Questioned by Editors  —  The soldier whose New Republic article about military cruelty in Iraq was labeled false by Army investigators refused to defend his accusations when questioned by the magazine, even after being told that the editors could no longer support him unless he cooperated.

Bobby Caina Calvan Blog : the entire post with comments preserved  —  UPDATE: Good gracious, blogging since '97 and my first Instalanche.  Thank you Mr. Reynolds!  Thank you AOSHQ and the lovely and talented Michelle Malkin as well.  —  The entire site is 404′d, and the comments were the sweetest plum!

Brownback to meet Rudy  —  Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) is considering endorsing Rudy Giuliani for the GOP presidential nomination and will meet with him Thursday in Washington to hear his views on abortion.  —  Brownback, who ended his White House run last week and is a champion …

Soros-backed Medicare insurer raided by FBI  —  The St. Petersburg Times reports on an FBI raid of WellCare, a shady Medicare insurer...initially funded by far Left billionaire George Soros and run by one of his acolytes: … Wellcare serves Medicare and Medicaid customers-more than 350,000 seniors in Florida alone.

New Home Sales Rebound in September  —  Sales of New Homes Rebound in September After Hitting Slowest Pace in More Than a Decade  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new homes posted an unexpected gain in September although the improvement came after sales had fallen to the slowest pace in more than a decade.

Time for the Bundesmacht  —  Remember the Wehrmacht?  It was a formidable fighting force.  The modern German army, the Bundeswehr, is also very effective.  Thing is, it is reluctant to fight or even place itself in danger.  —  Given history, that may seem just fine.

Musn't say the V-word  —  I read this sort of thing and I just do a slow burn. … The more interesting question is why should all of the parents who don't have the choice to send their kids to a private school, or move to the suburbs?  How do you write an article this long without noting …

In His Words: Giuliani on Torture  —  DAVENPORT, Iowa — At a town hall meeting here last night, Rudolph W. Giuliani expanded upon his views of torture.  Here is a transcript of the exchange.  —  Linda Gustitus, who is the president of a group called the National Religious Campaign Against Torture …

'DREAM Act' backers still dreaming  —  The immigration issue has become so toxic in American politics that Congress is now unable to pass even modest measures that once had widespread support, and immigration supporters who were once on the verge of a bipartisan breakthrough are now in danger of a backlash in next year's elections.

STRESS MESS IN U.S.  —  48% CAN'T SLEEP  —  We're stressed out, we can't sleep, we're drinking too much - and it's getting worse.  —  Forty-eight percent of Americans say they're more stressed now than they were five years ago, and the same percent report regularly lying awake at night because of stress …