Fighters, Winners, and Losers
Fighting entered its second day in Iraq's southern city of Basra, prompting fears that the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr could pull out of a cease fire that has been in place there since last summer. Thus far, 40 people have been killed and 200 wounded. [ New York Times ]
John McCain, trying to bolster his credentials in an area he has admitted he doesn't know much about, blames the American mortage meltdown on complicated financial instruments, irresponsible lenders,andpeople who borrowed more than they could pay back. Hillary Clinton calls him "Herbert Hoover." [ New York Times ]
Clear Channel, the publicly traded broadcaster that ruined American radio, was going to go private, but now that deal is about to fall through. [ Wall Street Journal ]
A hilarious Russian man who once dated Liza Minnelli is poaching women's basketball players from the United States and luring them to Russia with massive salaries and tiny audiences of confused Slavs. [ Los Angeles Times ]
Barack Obama has been tagged with "the 'L' word", probably because of all that dancing on Ellen's show. [ Washington Post ]
Oh, you want to see tax returns, America? Feast your eyes on the Obama family's, which proves that our wonderful nation lets everyone prosper -- even two attractive Harvard-educated lawyers. [ Politico ]