Bush ‘a total failure,’ Pelosi says  —  (CNN) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called President Bush “a total failure” on Thursday, among the California Democrat's harshest assessments to date of the president.  —  “God bless him, bless his heart, president of the United States — a total failure …

Myth of Consensus Explodes: APS Opens Global Warming Debate  —  “Considerable presence” of skeptics  —  The American Physical Society, an organization representing nearly 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on climate change and is now proclaiming that many of its members disbelieve in human-induced global warming.

A Cast of 300 Advises Obama on Foreign Policy  —  WASHINGTON — Every day around 8 a.m., foreign policy aides at Senator Barack Obama's Chicago campaign headquarters send him two e-mails: a briefing on major world developments over the previous 24 hours and a set of questions …

Hearing-Gate Exposed!  McCain Has Worse Afghanistan Hearing Record Than Obama  —  ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports from Capitol Hill: The McCain campaign criticism of Sen. Barack Obama's hearing record on Capitol Hill led us to put the shoe on the other foot.

An unusual new privilege claim shields Cheney in Plame probe.  —  The Bush administration today unveiled a set of novel and controversial legal arguments in refusing to disclose key details about Vice President Dick Cheney's role in the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

The (Annotated) Gore Energy Speech  —  Former Vice President Al Gore gave a speech in Washington laying out his new approach to the entwined challenges of limiting risks from global warming and instability from rising energy prices and declining supplies of fossil fuels.

President Bush Attends Funeral Service for Tony Snow  —  Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception  —  Washington, D.C.  —  THE PRESIDENT: Archbishop Wuerl, Father O'Connell, Mr. Vice President, members of the Cabinet and my administration, members of Congress …

Sen Larry Craig: Don't let foreigners “jerk us around by the gas nozzle”  —  Presented without comment.  —  Download |  Play Download |  Play (h/t Bill W)

McCain gets Social Security but criticizes system  —  KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Although Republican presidential candidate John McCain has called Social Security “a disgrace,” he still cashes his own retirement check every month.  —  “I'm receiving the benefits, the system is broken and …

Ashcroft: Waterboarding ‘Consistently’ Seen As Legal, Refuses To Say Use On U.S. Troops Is ‘Unacceptable’  —  During a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee today, former Attorney General John Ashcroft falsely claimed that waterboarding has “consistently” been defined as “not torture” …

The Glamour Magazine Interview  —  Ipse dixit:  —  “It's infuriating, but it's not surprising, because let's face it: What happened was that the conservative press—Fox News and the National Review and columnists of every ilk—went fairly deliberately at her in a pretty systematic way …

As Price of Grain Rises, Catfish Farms Dry Up  —  LELAND, Miss. — Catfish farmers across the South, unable to cope with the soaring cost of corn and soybean feed, are draining their ponds.  —  “It's a dead business,” said John Dillard, who pioneered the commercial farming of catfish in the late 1960s.

No smoking hot spot  —  I DEVOTED six years to carbon accounting, building models for the Australian Greenhouse Office.  I am the rocket scientist who wrote the carbon accounting model (FullCAM) that measures Australia's compliance with the Kyoto Protocol, in the land use change and forestry sector.

Election 2008: North Carolina Presidential Election  —  North Carolina: McCain Still Struggling in Historically Red State  —  The race is still close between John McCain and Barack Obama in the traditionally red state of North Carolina.  The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds McCain ahead 45% …

Obama's Greatest Admirer  —  Barack Obama wants to speak at the Brandenburg Gate.  He figures it would be a nice backdrop.  The supporting cast — a cheering audience and a few fainting frauleins — would be a picturesque way to bolster his foreign policy credentials.

Electrical Risks at Bases in Iraq Worse Than Previously Said  —  WASHINGTON — Shoddy electrical work by private contractors on United States military bases in Iraq is widespread and dangerous, causing more deaths and injuries from fires and shocks than the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to internal Army documents.

Terrorism Funds May Let Brass Fly in Style  —  The Air Force's top leadership sought for three years to spend counterterrorism funds on “comfort capsules” to be installed on military planes that ferry senior officers and civilian leaders around the world, with at least four top generals involved …