Analysis: "With oil prices approaching the symbolic threshold of $100 a barrel, the world is headed toward its third energy shock in a generation. But today's surge is fundamentally different from the previous oil crises, with broad and longer-lasting global implications."

Good read: Howard Kurtz on the presidential nominees and spinning a narrative.

Today's top headline: Skynet military launch is delayed

FRIDAY NEWS:
* "Civil rights advocates criticized plans by the Los Angeles Police Department to map the city's Muslim communities, calling it racial profiling."
* The Madhi Army takes hold in Karbala.
* Whatta difference: BAGnewsNotes looks back at an image from the first Iraq War.
* Eugene Robinson on how much people really don't like Bush, and what that will mean for the next President.
* Heh. Dana Milbank covers the veto override.
* Will the sinking economy hurt the Republican candidates? (I'd like to see something on how Democratic candidates will handle Congress, also.)
* A A famous atheist becomes a hot topic with evangelicals in his old age.
* 'Scientists trace cosmic rays to black holes'
* del Toro signs for a film version of The Champions.

Technology and resellers have driven concert ticket prices way out of hand.

Meet the Astronaut Wives Club.