U.S. Armed Forces

Hillary Clinton has gone to significant lengths to cultivate relationships with U.S. military leaders. Hillary said she'd sign on with the Democratic plan to withdraw all combat trrops from Iraq by the end of the summer of 2008, but also said that she would keep some troops there "to deal with al Qaeda."

Barack Obama's still-vague health care plan would theoretically achieve universal coverage faster than Hillary's plan.

Eliot Spitzer is moving away from talking about a government shutdown.

And he softened his stance on what he'll negotiate to get a budget passed.

"The police may have overreached and misused surveillance authority," the Times editorial board wrote.

"No wonder the convention went off without a hitch," wrote the Post editorial board.

A Queens drug dealer said he was shot by Sean Bell.

And the state employee who chauffeured Alan Hevesi's wife is out of a job.

-- Azi Paybarah

You know the drill. Every year it starts a little bit early: the press releases, the articles, the low level buzz—mostly amid the publicists who write the press releases and the reporters who dutifully recap them. Yes, it's Time's 'Person of Year' time again, and if the consensus mongers are to be believed, this year's 'winner' might be that bitch who's been ruining our lives since the new year.

No, not Paris Hilton: 'Mother Nature.'

But do we really want Mother Nature to win? So many past 'Person of the Year' recipients take an immediate turn south as soon as they win: What if the same fate befalls Mother Nature?

We'll selectively recap the last 78 years, accentuating the negative and eliminating the positive and you can decide for yourself:  read more »

· 2004: George W. Bush (Current approval rating: 37%.) · 2003: The American Soldier (American military deaths since Bush's May 1, 2003 "Mission Accomplished" speech: 1,935.) · 1994: Pope John Paul II (Deceased. Portrayed by Jon Voight.) · 1980: Ronald Reagan (Deceased. Portrayed by James Brolin.) · 1975: American Women (Alito boasted of his '85 work against abortion; Maureen Dowd's new book won't help her pick up guys.) · 1972: Nixon and Kissinger (Former: Impeached. Resigned in disgrace. Deceased. Portrayed in an Oliver Stone movie. Latter: Gently mocked by Jon Stewart.) · 1969: The Middle Americans (Post Election U.S. Map; What's the Matter with Kansas?) · 1963: Martin Luther King, Jr. (Assassinated.) · 1961: John Fitzgerald Kennedy (Assassinated.) · 1952: Elizabeth II (Queen is target for al-Qaida, security sources confirm.) · 1941/1949: Winston Churchill (Deceased. Is Bush the Churchill of the 21st Century?) · 1939/ 1942: Joseph Stalin (Deceased. Posthumously condemned by Martin Amis.) · 1938: Adolf Hitler (Suicide.) · 1935: Haile Selassie (Deceased. Curiously beloved by fraternity members.) · 1927: Charles Lindbergh (Deceased. Son kidnapped; Philip Roth foil.) —Matt Haber

Who's winning the battle of the front pages?

Paper A greets the 2,000th American military death in Iraq with a somber black memorial background and the word "tragic." Paper B presents a waving flag, the clear blue skies of freedom and an inspiring quote from Our President.

Quiz: Which one of these papers fumed yesterday, on its editorial page, that the troops "will have died for nothing--absolutely nothing at all--if the cut-and-run protesters prevail now" and that foes of the war "will also suggest to a still formidable Iraqi insurgency that perhaps, just perhaps, the United States has not the resolve to see this bitter thing through to a just conclusion"?

Answer: Paper A! Sorry, Rupert, but there's more to being American than mere red-white-and-blue bluster. Any fool can play a Sousa march. It takes a more subtle ear for the shadings of American patriotism to switch to a dirge without pausing or blushing.  read more »

In other words, Ronald Reagan beats Sergeant Slaughter.

Winner: Daily News Overall standings: Daily News 3, New York Post 1

Among the most durable stereotypes of American political culture is that military officers secretly  read more »

 Among the most durable stereotypes of American political culture is that military officers sec  read more »

Newspapers and TV outlets were condemned for showing the bodies of four Americans identified as "con  read more »

In July of 2000, yachtsmen who were deep-sea fishing in the Atlantic Ocean might have been surprised  read more »

MOSUL, Iraq-"She's lucky I didn't shoot her," said Sgt.  read more »

"History does not exist here anymore," declared an official of the Basra Museum of Natural History,  read more »

During these last days, or perhaps hours, of our preparation for war with whatever Iraqi forces elec  read more »

I am writing this diary at 2:30 in the morning, on a film set somewhere north of Jacksonville, Fla.  read more »