Giuliani's Mistress Used N.Y. Police as Taxi Service  —  Richard Esposito Reports:  —  Well before it was publicly known he was seeing her, then-married New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani provided a police driver and city car for his mistress Judith Nathan, former senior city officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

WORST PRETENSE TO AN IMPARTIAL NEWS ORGANIZATION: CNN, PART 2  —  Jim Vicevich alerts us to a few more Democratic plants at the CNN YouTube Republican candidates forum last night.  Adam Florzak asked a question on Social Security.  It turns out that Florzak quit his job with Caterpillar …

Bin Laden: Europeans should end US help  —  CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden called on the Europeans to stop helping the United States in the war in Afghanistan, according to excerpts of a new audiotape broadcast Thursday on Al-Jazeera television.

The Chicago Tribune vs. Time magazine  —  (updated below: Klein's GOP source outs himself  —  As I noted yesterday, The Chicago Tribune reprinted factually false excerpts from Joe Klein's Time column.  But unlike Time — which disgracefully continues to stand behind Klein's falsehoods …

2008: The Year of the Upset?  —  I see my good friend, the distinguished neo-Jacobin Monsieur Kristol, has broken into his ample wine supply again and insulted the monarchy.  A weekend chained to the cheap seats at an Alabama tractor pull would seem fitting punishment for my rabble loving friend's imprudence …

Sudan Sentences Teacher to 15 Days  —  Sudan Sentences Teacher to 15 Days in Prison for Allowing Students to Name Teddy Bear Muhammad  —  British teacher Gillian Gibbons has been convicted of inciting religious hatred for letting her pupils name a teddy bear Muhammad and sentenced to 15 days …

Study: Canadian Beer Drinkers Threaten Planet  —  Scientists have found a new threat to the planet: Canadian beer drinkers.  —  The government-commissioned study says the old, inefficient "beer fridges" that one in three Canadian households use to store their Molson and Labatt's contribute significantly …

Hamas demands UN rescind '47 partition  —  Hamas on Thursday called on the UN to rescind the 1947 decision to partition Palestine into two states, one for Jews and one for Arabs.  —  The group said in a statement, released on the 60th anniversary of the UN vote, that "Palestine is Arab Islamic land …

Why Lott Cashed It In  —  Well-connected Republicans in Mississippi were shocked by more than the unexpected nature of Trent Lott's resignation announcement Monday.  They were stunned that Lott, in good health at age 66 and at the top of his game, was leaving the Senate just one year into his fourth term in order to make more money.

Impeachment Is So Yesterday for Clinton, Rogan  —  Maybe there's hope for the Middle East, after all.  If Bill Clinton and one of the men who helped impeach him can make peace, why not the Israelis and the Palestinians?  —  In one of the more startling cases of odd bedfellows …

Leahy: Bush Not Involved in Firings  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate chairman acknowledged explicitly on Thursday that President Bush was not involved in the firings of U.S. attorneys last winter and therefore ruled illegal the president's executive privilege claims protecting his chief of staff …