Watch and wait
Election night could provide a quick White House winner, or a flood of mail-in ballots and social division could delay results for weeks
For better or for worse
Big spenders who run away from war and immigration reform-and that's just the Republicans.
Washington wobble
A 13-year-old DUI arrest has marred the chances of a pro-abortion Republican to unseat a pro-war incumbent Democrat
Taking it to the states
Democrats hold just a 21-seat advantage nationwide in state legislatures-a less glamorous but fertile ground for parties, voters, and local lawmakers seeking to send a message on issues where Congress is gridlocked
Battle ready
In Oval Office interview, President Bush defends his Iraq strategy and dismisses Democratic hopes for victory in November
Voices
Mailbag
Preposterous Just because concerts in 2006 "only" contain "Every Grain of Sand" doesn't mean Dylan has departed the ranks of the brethren, and to imply these songs don't reflect his beliefs...
Joel Belz
Missionary maps
I have a hopeless love affair with maps. From the time-I think I was 5-when my dad sketched for me a diagram of the little town we lived in, cut in half diagonally by the Rock Island railroad trac...
Nutty professor
Theologian David Ray GriffIn, professor emeritus at Claremont School of Theology, has written a book arguing that President Bush committed the 9/11 attacks. In his words, "9/11 was a 'false-flag' ...
Janie B. Cheaney
The vanishing schoolboy
This month American kids loaded their backpacks and marched off to school, generally more eager the younger they are. By high school cynicism and detachment have set in, particularly-if dropout st...
Marvin Olasky
Corruption and providence
Former Illinois governor George Ryan received earlier this month a sentence of 6.5 years in prison for racketeering, lying to the FBI, and mail fraud. But there's much more to that story. W...
Notebook
Sports
Bush league decision?
Don't bet that Houston didn't notice New Orleans running back Reggie Bush's NFL debut. On April 29, the Texans passed on the former USC running back and Heisman Trophy winner, instead taking defen...
Money
Whose to give?
Should it be legal to give away money that belongs to someone else? That question, though not phrased in those words, is at the heart of an Aug. 28 ruling by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert E....
Culture
Culture
Baylor boot
When Francis Beckwith took a job at Baylor three years ago, the accomplished scholar believed the environment would suit his passions well. Beckwith has built a career of rigorous academic study i...
Movies & TV
A rocky path
If you're looking for someone to blame for the 9/11 terrorist attacks, ABC's miniseries The Path to 9/11 provides goats in spades. The docudrama (not quite movie, not quite documentary) examines t...
Notable Books
Bestselling books
Plot: Six young tourists, bored on Cancun beaches, head into the jungle on a day trip to an archeological site and find the trip lasts a lifetime, because their lives do not last long. The predato...
Movies & TV
Skeptic vs. mystic: It's Sophie's choice
Gifted magicians mystify without killing an audience's belief that it can figure out their tricks. They appeal, in other words, less to our desire to be entertained or convinced of the supernatura...
Movies & TV
Daily grind
When news from Iraq seems like a barrage of mortality reports, portraits of ordinary Iraqis can be refreshing and much more educational. In My Country, My Country, filmmaker Laura Poitras manages ...
Dispatches
Quick Takes
Quick Takes
Tech outfitted Microsoft founder Bill Gates once complained about public schools in the United States. Now, a West Philadelphia school just opened with Microsoft's fingerprints all over it....
Quotables
Quotables
"You were not a dictator. People around you made you . . . a dictator." Abdullah al-Amiri, chief judge in Saddam Hussein's genocide trial, to the deposed leader as he questioned a Kurdish w...
The Buzz
The Buzz
National security President Bush capped a week that began with solemn pilgrimages to the three sites of 9/11 attacks by journeying to Capitol Hill to fight lawmakers over how to thwart futu...
The Buzz Sidebar
Walking by sight
Before the five-year anniversary of 9/11 was the 10-year anniversary of al-Qaeda. On a rocky craig in Afghanistan, summer of 1996, Taliban leader Mullah Omar donned the black cloak of the Prophet ...