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The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said today that a "terror" threat has been received by the New York lawyer for six imams, or Islamic religious leaders, suing US Airways over allegations of religious profiling during an incident last fall in Minnesota. The letter sent to attorney Omar T. Mohammedi first outlines the sender's opposition to the lawsuit, and then states in part: "We have located the residences and identified the families of all parties (the plaintiffs and you). . .We plan, at random, to start systematically killing the people on our list if this suit proceeds. You, personally,...

Shock rocker Marilyn Manson fears his music will be held responsible for the Virginia Tech massacre on Monday, just like it was after the Columbine shootings in April 1999. The Antichrist Superstar hitmaker worries his music is going to come into question again as people look for someone to blame for the drama that unfolded on campus at the university on Monday, leaving 33 people dead. In a BBC radio interview last night, Manson said, "I was watching it in the same way that I can remember watching the TV when Columbine happened, and just seeing it take place as...

Commentary: Company risks its reputation in competitive business BERKELEY (MarketWatch) -- The hype over the unreleased iPhone has actually increased over the past month despite the fact that nobody has seen or used the device. This, if nothing else, proves the power of branding and especially the power of brand loyalty. It's the loyalists who keep promoting this device as if it is going to be anything other than another phone in a crowded market. And it's exactly the crowded-market aspect of this that analysts seem to be ignoring. Apple Inc.'s past successes have been in markets that were emerging...

A former Georgia congressman who helped spark President Clinton's impeachment has quit the Republican Party to become a Libertarian, saying he is disillusioned with the GOP on issues such as spending and privacy. Bob Barr, who served eight years as a Republican congressman before losing his seat in 2002, announced Friday that he is now a "proud, card-carrying Libertarian." And he encouraged others to join him. "It's something that's been bothering me for quite some time, the direction in which the party has been going more and more toward big government and disregard toward privacy and civil liberties," said Barr,...

Baby boomer and former president Bill Clinton is laying plans to celebrate his 60th birthday in grand style with a charitable fundraising extravaganza in New York late next month that will include an invitation-only concert by the Rolling Stones and contributor packages that run to $500,000.00 and higher. Clinton's daughter, Chelsea is serving as co-host of the three-day party. She will host a Saturday brunch on a weekend that also features a golf tournament at the Bayonne (N.J.) Golf Club, multiple receptions and a dinner at the American Museum of Natural History with the former president, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton...

WASHINGTON — Conservative activists are heaping criticism on Sen. John McCain for fighting President Bush over proposed rules for the interrogation of terrorism suspects, a dispute that has reopened long-standing divisions between the maverick Republican lawmaker and his party's establishment. The attack from the right, which coalesced over the weekend, could undercut McCain's effort to woo Bush backers and other party regulars for an anticipated 2008 presidential bid. His position on terrorism prisoners has fueled critics' skepticism about McCain's conservative credentials. "This very definitely is going to put a chilling effect on the tremendous strides he has made in the...

In the early 1960's, Johnny Carson hosted an afternoon TV show called "Who Do You Trust?'' The title was grammatically incorrect, but I will use it anyway to pose a question regarding the current fuss over the Geneva Conventions: When it comes to George Bush and John McCain, who -- or whom -- do you trust? This is about as dumb a question as the Groucho Marx standard from "You Bet Your Life," yet another old TV show: Who's buried in Grant's Tomb? The contest, after all, is between a president who has repeatedly broken faith with the American people...

Richard Miniter has an interesting article at Opinion Journal today, explaining that among the things that moved House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter toward the president's proposal on military commissions and away from the McCain/Graham/Warner proposal which is more modeled on the Uniform Code of Military Justice is the outrage that the UCMJ would require us to give Miranda warnings at the moment of battlefield capture for an al Qaeda terrorist. This really demonstrates how irresponsible the passage and signing of the 2005 McCain Amendment was. I note in fairness that I believe Sen. Graham — who I have criticized...

McCain’s Dubious High Ground John McCain and his band of Republican rebels defying President Bush on the issue of interrogation have a strange attachment to confused argumentation. By Rich Lowry For people supposedly occupying the moral high ground, John McCain and his band of Republican rebels defying President Bush on the issue of interrogation have a strange attachment to confused argumentation. They maintain that the United States can’t define more precisely its obligations for the treatment of unlawful combatants under the vague language of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions to allow the tough interrogations of terrorists, as Bush...

Gingrich opposed to U.S. strike on Iran By Ralph Z. Hallow THE WASHINGTON TIMES September 1, 2006 ROME -- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich this week moved a step further toward casting himself as the conservative alternative to Sen. John McCain in a possible run for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. In an impromptu speech during a Mediterranean cruise that hosted scores of conservative donors and activists, the Georgia Republican expressed unexpected skepticism about prospects of military intervention to halt Iran's nuclear program. "I am opposed to a military strike on Iran because I don't think it accomplishes very much...

The much-publicized Plame civil suit is off to a bad start. The plaintiffs moved for permission to leave their residential address off the complaint. Judge Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia gave the motion short shrift: Plaintiffs ask that, ”[o]ut of respect for [their] privacy in light of their public visibility,” Pls.’ Mot. at 1, they be excused from complying with rules requiring that each party to a civil action include his or her full residential address in the caption of the “first filing by or on behalf of” the party. See L. Civ. R....

John McCain has been President Bush's indispensable political ally on the war in Iraq. So what was the Arizona senator and top-shelf 2008 presidential contender up to yesterday in Ohio when he unloaded on the Bush Administration's handling of the war in a speech that, with a few tweaks, could have been delivered by an anti-war Democrat? "I think one of the biggest mistakes we made was underestimating the size of the task and the sacrifices that would be required," McCain said. "Stuff happens, mission accomplished, last throes, a few dead-enders," he went on, citing some of the, ah, less-than-accurate...

Senator McCain's unusually blunt attack on the Bush administration yesterday, including a claim that President Bush and other top officials led Americans to believe that the Iraq war would be "some kind of day at the beach," is fueling suspicions that the Arizona senator and potential 2008 presidential candidate is seeking to straddle rival foreign policy camps in the Republican Party.

Has Chuck Hagel Hijacked the Straight Talk Express? In the same way that the race for the Democratic nomination in 2008 is shaping up to be Hillary vs the non-Hillary, centering on differences over the war in Iraq, the race on the Republican side looks like it could turn out to be McCain vs the non-McCain, also centering on differences over the war. And the man looking more and more like the non-McCain is Chuck Hagel. Arianna Huffington is a nationally syndicated columnist, editor of the HuffingtonPost.com and co-host of "Left, Right & Center," public radio's popular political roundtable...

25 minutes ago Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record), a frequent Republican critic of President George W. Bush's Iraq policy, said on Sunday it was irresponsible and wrong to send more U.S. troops to Baghdad. Speaking on the CBS show "Face the Nation," Hagel said pouring more U.S. troops into Baghdad would not reverse the rising tide of sectarian killing there. "Where we go from here ... is a cold, hard assessment that Iraq is not going to turn out the way we were promised it would, and that's a fact, not because I say it -- that's...

The United States needs to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq within the next six months, Sen. Chuck Hagel said Thursday, rather than ratcheting up its military commitment now. With Iraq exploding in sectarian violence and “moving closer and closer to a straight-out civil war,” Hagel said, the Bush administration’s decision to transfer nearly 5,000 additional U.S. troops into Baghdad is “only going to make it worse for us.” With violence “out of control” and militias in charge, Hagel said, U.S. troops increasingly are “seen as occupiers.” It’s also possible Iraq may evolve into some kind of Islamic republic, he said....

A key Senate Republican is calling on the Bush administration to work for an immediate cease-fire in the conflict between Israeli forces and the Lebanese-based Hezbollah militants. Senator Chuck Hagel Senator Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is calling on President Bush to appoint a special envoy to the Middle East. He suggested former secretaries of state Colin Powell and James Baker would be good candidates for the post. In a speech on the Senate floor Monday, Hagel urged the Bush administration to do something it has so far refused: engage Syria and...

A leading Republican senator said President Bush should call for an immediate Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire. “The sickening slaughter on both sides must stop,” Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) said Monday on the Senate floor.Hagel said the U.S.-Israel link is special, but said that the link should not come at the expense of relationships with the Arab and Muslim worlds. Hagel is a possible contender for the Republican nomination for president in 2008.

Calling conditions in Iraq "an absolute replay of Vietnam," Sen. Chuck Hagel said Friday that the Pentagon is making a mistake by beefing up American forces in Iraq. U.S. soldiers have become "easy targets" in a country that has descended into "absolute anarchy," the Nebraska Republican and Vietnam combat veteran said in an interview with The World-Herald. Hagel previously has likened the war in Iraq to Vietnam, but Friday's comments drew a stronger connection. They followed a speech on the Middle East that Hagel delivered at the Brookings Institution.

Sen. Chuck Hagel said Monday he shares the lack of confidence in Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld separately voiced by six retired generals. “The concern I’ve had is, at a very dangerous time, (the) secretary of defense does not command the respect and confidence of our men and women in uniform,” Hagel said. “There is a real question about his capacity to lead at this critical time,” he said. “I have had many conversations with military leaders about their concern about what’s happening at the Pentagon and with our force structure.” Hagel first expressed lack of confidence in Rumsfeld a...