"A federal jury acquitted former Florida professor Sami al-Arian yesterday of conspiring to aid a Palestinian group in killing Israelis through suicide bombings, dealing the U.S. government a setback in its efforts to use secretly gathered intelligence in criminal cases against terrorism suspects."

E.J. Dionne Jr. on dodging the Alito debate.

The Mystery Pollster questions polling methods. (Courtesy Dan Froomkin.)

QUICK NEWS:
* New charts on the current state of recovery in New Orleans.
* Parsing the polls on DeLay. Meanwhile, House Republicans ponder what to do next.
* New scrutiny for voting machines.
* Megachurches to close on Christmas?
* NASA forced to scale back its plans.

The perils of conservative support: Bush takes flak over holiday cards.

Following the money behind movies with messages.

Uh oh. Mel Gibson is planning to make a movie about the Holocaust next.