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John McCain bursts out of the cloakroom and onto the Senate floor. His face red, he rips off his glasses and gets ready to pound a table. Senator Hothead is mad. Again. "He just comes out and blows up every once in a while," says a congressional correspondent, who didn't want to be named. "You can almost see the steam coming out of his ears."

Maybe being "out of touch" isn't a bad thing.

What's with the recent trend of tagging articles with palin or sarahpalin that have nothing to do with Sarah Palin? If your article has nothing to do with Palin, please don't tag it as such. It's bad enough that journalists use her name to get hits to their articles or as a cheap source of writing material. We don't need that attitude here too. Just because people want to increase traffic to their posts, doesn't mean they should tag their posted articles with palin or sarahpalin. This just clutters the keyword/tagging system.

NEW YORK - Defendants in lawsuits resulting from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks must turn over materials from as far back as 1992, when it appears that Osama bin Laden called for a holy war against the United States, a federal judge said Friday. The ruling by U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels affects defendants in lawsuits seeking billions of dollars in damages from numerous banks, charities and individuals worldwide who are alleged to have supported al-Qaida before the 2001 terrorist attacks. Daniels said it was reasonable to require organizations such as the Muslim World League, the International Islamic Relief...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2007 – The detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, remains a valuable asset in the war on terror as a place to hold enemy combatants and a source of useful intelligence to prevent future terrorist attacks, a top Defense Department official said here today. “It’s important during a time of war to have a place where, number one, you can take people off the battlefield and not allow them to go back to the battlefield … but also, exploit intelligence that they may possess,” Charles Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, said in...

FORT GREELEY, Alaska, Aug. 28, 2006 – America’s missile defense capabilities are increasingly important now, as more countries demonstrate the ability and willingness to develop ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here yesterday after touring missile assembly and storage facilities. “It’s an activity that has been evolving over time and is important for the protection of the American people,” Rumsfeld told reporters after being briefed about the interceptor missile activities here. “It is an activity that with each passing month has become more capable.” The U.S. missile defense system is still limited and needs more...

WASHINGTON, March 22, 2006 – As more time passes since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Americans must not forget the lessons of that fateful day - lessons that are being applied today in the global war on terror, President Bush said today in Wheeling, W.Va. "The job of those of us who have been entrusted to protect you and defend you is really to do so in such a way that you feel comfortable about going about your life. And it's fine that people forget the lessons (of Sept. 11), but one of my jobs is to constantly...

The Future of the Papacy As the cardinals in Rome sit in deliberation to determine who will be the next Pope, critics have expressed doubt that the Catholic Church will be able to remain a relevant institution. If these critics doubt the future of the Church it must be because they consider it at the present time to be a failing institution. As the head of this institution, they must also consider the office of the Pope to be a hoary relic from the past, an anachronism that has no influence and is of no importance in the modern World....

Q. HOW DO YOU ANSWER THE VIETNAM COMPARISON?A: I THINK THE ANALOGY IS FALSE. I ALSO HAPPEN TO THINK THAT ANALOGY SENDS THE WRONG MESSAGE TO OUR TROOPS, AND SENDS THE WRONG MESSAGE TO THE ENEMY.Q. WHAT'S YOUR BEST PREDICTION ON HOW LONG U.S. TROOPS WILL HAVE TO BE IN IRAQ? A. IN TERMS OF HOW LONG WE'LL BE THERE: AS LONG AS NECESSARY, AND NOT ONE DAY MORE. THE IRAQI PEOPLE NEED US THERE TO HELP WITH SECURITY. Q. IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU WILL HAVE TO ADD SOME TROOPS; IS THAT A FAIR ASSESSMENT? A. THAT'S UP TO GENERAL...

There's intense lobbying of UN Security Council members ahead of a vote on a new draft resolution setting a deadline for Iraqi disarmament. Secretary of State Colin Powell said at the weekend that the United States was "in striking distance" of winning passage of the resolution, but added meaningfully that he would not be surprised if France blocked it with a veto. The French government is working desperately to stop it and has sent its foreign minister on a tour of the three African members on the council to urge them to vote against. France's fresh diplomatic initiative seems futile...