As you might have heard, a mysterious “gas” odor has come over Manhattan today – of all places. This wouldn’t be such an intriguing news story if it was a mysterious odor over Des Moines, for example.  I posted a poll on the message boards asking you what you think it is. You can vote here.

Terrorists who forgot to put poison in it
A gas leak somewhere that will probably explode
Osama’s really lame sequel to 9/11
New York always smells like gas
Something river-related
One guy: Bill Treyburg
Other (post your own)

Wow, how often do I link to the New York Times?  President Bush is setting a new timetable for Iraq, giving the Iraqi government some deadlines or “goals” to reach a series of benchmarks.
Among these “benchmarks” are steps that would draw more Sunnis into the political process, finalize a long-delayed measure on the distribution of oil revenue and ease the government’s policy toward former Baath Party members, the officials said.
Nancy Pelosi, new speaker of the house, had this to say:
“If the president wants to add to this mission, he is …