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VA Regains Access to Medical Records

The Defense Department is once again permitting Department of Veterans Affairs doctors to get full medical records they say they need to treat severely injured troops arriving at VA hospitals from Iraq and Afghanistan.

A Presidential Candidate Bill Clinton Can Publicly Embrace

And now, the first known use of the Heimlich maneuver in political advertising. This photo was included in an e-mail a Loop Fan and undoubtedly countless Clinton contributors received on Wednesday.

At Customs and Border Protection, Always on the Lookout for a Passport-Toting IMF Staffer

US citizens landing at our airports after trips abroad often are waved through by Customs and Border Protection officials. Some may think this shows a lack of vigilance. Not so. Officials are on hyper-alert, 24-7. Ask Alex Segura, an employee of the International Monetary Fund in Senegal and Gambia.

Pencil In That End-of-War Date

The Democrats and other cut-and-runners are in disarray over their next move on Iraq. And they keep jabbering that the administration has no plan for the war other than the same old, same old.

Problems at the Parks? But How?

The National Park Service has developed a PowerPoint presentation touting President Bush's new and widely supported Centennial Challenge to boost funding for the national parks leading up to the service's 2016 centennial celebration.

World Bank Slow to Inform Employees of Baghdad Shooting

World Bank employees were surprised late Thursday by an e-mail advising them that a bank driver in Iraq had been seriously wounded in a shooting in Baghdad the previous week, and had been evacuated from the country.

Guess Libby's Pardon Date, Win a T-Shirt

The verdict is in! Now it's time for the In the Loop Pardon Scooter Contest! Yes, simply pick the date that President Bush will pardon Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who, according to federal sentencing guidelines, is looking at 18 months to three years in the slammer.

Tired of Leaks, Obey Is Fixing a Hole

What do House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) and Richard Nixon have in common? They hate leakers.

Jittery in Baghdad, and Not Feeling Any Safer

The State Department and other government agencies are having trouble filling great, career-enhancing jobs in Baghdad as part of the new Iraq reconstruction push. Many agency employees are hesitant to sign up for these new "provincial reconstruction teams" because they think they might be killed. Iraqi Embassy employees have been increasingly jittery about working for foreigners.

You, Too, Can Ask the Ayatollah

Now that the British are leaving Shiastan and things are relatively quiet, folks there can fret about the more typical concerns of daily life. And many are logging on to the official Web site of the revered Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani for answers.