Cardinals defeat New York Mets 9-6.

So Taguchi laughed, and it felt so good.

"I can't explain. It's unbelievable," he said. "Who expected that I would hit a home run? Maybe nobody. Even me."

After Scott Spiezio saved the Cardinals in the seventh with a two-run triple that was nearly a home run, Taguchi hit a tiebreaking homer off closer Billy Wagner leading off a three-run ninth inning that lifted St. Louis to a 9-6 victory over New York on Friday night.

From United Press International:

U.S. and European diplomats have said the U.N. Security Council is nearing final agreement on a plan to force sanctions and an arms embargo on North Korea.

Diplomats said Japan and the council's five permanent members -- the China, France, Great Britain, Russia and the United States -- have created a document outlining a compromise on the sanctions, a response to the country's recent nuclear test.

The compromise included assurances China requested from the United States that the resolution would not be later used for military action against North Korea, The Washington Post reported. The document was sent to heads of state Thursday for approval.

"I don't want to say we've reached agreement, but many, many of the significant differences have been closed," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said. "But I'm very pleased with the progress we've made and I think it's close to the point where we will have an agreement."

The United States agreed to tone down language in a draft of the resolution that called for a ban on North Korean trade in luxury goods, a ban on travel for individuals involved in the country's weapons programs and the freezing of those people's assets. China called the measures too harsh and pushed for a series of penalties focusing on weapons programs.

From United Press International:

Experts have said North Korea's likely next step after developing a nuclear weapon is to create a means of missile transport for the warheads.

Kim Tae-woo, a senior analyst with the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul, said the North's medium-range Rodong and longer-range Taepodong missiles could eventually be converted to carry nuclear weapons, the Voice of America reported Friday.

Kim said a warhead would need to weigh less than 2,200 pounds to be placed on a Taepodong and less than 1,102 pounds to fit on a Rodong.

Daniel Pinkston, a Korea specialist and East Asia Director at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, Calif., told Voice of America that mounting a nuclear weapon on a missile is a complex process. He said most experts believe North Korea's nuclear weapons to be large and basic.

"You have to think about ... integrating that (weapon's) design with the missile," he said. "You can't just stick anything on top of it, right? It's just like putting a big flatbed truck and weld it on top of the missile, it's not going to fly."

From United Press International:

The U.S. general in charge of Iraq says there has been significant progress in quelling violence in Iraq with the exception of Baghdad.

At a Washington briefing, U.S. Army Gen. George Casey said despite the daily news of sectarian violence in the capital, much of the rest of the country was relatively calm and the training and development of Iraqi security forces was making headway.

He said he had no immediate plans to ask for more U.S. troops to bolster the 140,000 there but said it remained an option, The Washington Post reported.

"There's no question locally, more troops will have some affect on the levels of violence, but whether more U.S. troops for a sustained period will get us where we're going faster is an open question," Casey said.

He said despite Iraqi government pleas for peace between Sunni and Shiite Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan, sectarian violence has increased, and will likely continue to mount through the end of the period on Oct. 22.

A lucrative land deal benefiting U.S. Senate minority leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) deserves full scrutiny by the Senate ethics committee.

In 1998, Reid purchased undeveloped residential property on the outskirts of Las Vegas for $400,000. He bought one lot outright, and a second lot with a partner, Jay Brown. In 2001, Reid sold the land for the same price to a corporation created by Brown. Reid retained an ownership stake in the corporation and continued to pay taxes on the property. There was no written agreement; Brown told the Associated Press that the two had been friends for 35 years and didn't need one.

So the Senate Democratic leader engaged in a seven-figure handshake and didn't feel the need to disclose all the details. Experts on Senate ethics rules say Reid should have disclosed the sale in 2001 on his annual ethics report, and informed Congress of his part-ownership in Brown's corporation. Reid didn't.

After the land was rezoned for a shopping center, the corporation sold it in 2004. Reid received $1.1 million in the sale, turning a neat profit of nearly $700,000 in six years.

While now insisting he did nothing wrong, Reid is also offering to make a "technical change" to his earlier ethics reports if the ethics committee so desires. Simply giving the Democratic leader a mulligan is hardly the way to handle this case. When the Senate debated ethics reforms earlier this year, Reid was out in front to demand the toughest of standards from lawmakers.

"Americans have been shocked and even disgusted by revelations of corruption in our current system by Republican lobbyists, senior Bush Administration officials, members of Congress, and former congressional staff," Reid said in March. "The scandals have shown that some outsiders and insiders believed they could act with impunity."

That's how this case looks, too. Unless Reid comes up with a better explanation for this lack of disclosure, Democrats should not keep him as their leader in the new Congress in 2007.

GOP USA profiles James Moore and WATCH D.O.G.S..

A school safety expert says if the crisis of violence in America's schools is going to be curbed, it's necessary for fathers and father figures to play a more active role in their children's lives.

James Moore is the founder and president of the Springhill, Arkansas-based group WATCH D.O.G.S. His organization encourages fathers to get involved in the lives of their kids and other children by consistently visiting their schools and being "extra eyes and ears" on their campuses.

There are days in this profession.

Against the backdrop of North Korea testing a nuclear weapon, Mark Foley disgracing both his position and our party, and polling that makes you want to sit down and cry, you cannot help but doubt yourself. There are so many days here where you can't imagine that anything good will ever happen. You're buried under a black fog of partisanship and self-promotion and stupidity and a brand of politics that's just plain mean.

Then, it happens. A company, which two people imagined, twenty invested in, and sixty-seven worked for, sells for $1.65 billion or roughly $24,626,866 every employee. Twenty-four months ago, You Tube was a dream. No one could have imagined it would influence popular culture or political campaigning, much less make any investor a multimillionaire.

On these days, I think about the North Koreans, Somalis, and Iranians. How many of their dreams could have materialized in this nation? How many of them have ever lacked the fear to dream?

There are still days… Days when your workload piles up and a countdown starts in your head. Days when the time you spend on the phone outweighs the time you get to sleep. Days when you spend more time screaming at the opposition than you spend talking with your family. Yes there will always be those days when you want to put your hand through a window and your head in a hole. But, every now and again, you have to think… God, what a country.

Raymond Smalley

Philadelphia Inquirer discusses school safety.

The news zoomed around the world: A sick, violent and well-armed man easily entered a school in the quiet Amish town of Paradise, Pa., and shot 10 girls, killing five and seriously wounding five others.

You would think such an abomination would make every school district chief and every building principal in this region, so close to Paradise, conduct an immediate review of their security procedures.

You would think.

Think again.

Recently, I have heard assertions and stereotypes that have disgusted me. Republicans have evaded questions by refusing to state the obvious about Mark Foley or his scandal. They have instead asserted the repugnant myth about homosexuals being more likely to molest.

These draconian stereotypes make me ill. Since when does gay mean you cant keep your hands to yourself? This scandal did not occur because Mark Foley is a homosexual. It occurred because he is a parasite. Heterosexuals have committed similar offenses with young women. Where are the stereotypes about fifty-year olds and their mid life crises?

Mark Foley’s episode is a result of a miserable human being acting reprehensibly. It is not a result of homosexuality.

Raymond Smalley

From Prospect.org:

Missouri congressman Emanuel Cleaver certainly agrees. At a Congressional Black Caucus social function last month, he told me that while some McCaskill supporters in Kansas City had been complaining that Claire has been largely ignoring them, he believed “her rural strategy is a must” and that she will have to campaign hard in rural Missouri to stand any chance of defeating Talent.

From United Press International:

Claims of widespread voter fraud at U.S. polling booths are exaggerated, an independent report done for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission says.

The report was prepared by Tova Wang, an elections expert at the Century Foundation think tank and Arkansas lawyer Job Serebrov four months ago but not made public.

It claims most election fraud occurs in the absentee ballot process, such as through coercion or forgery, but that other crimes are overstated, USA Today reported.

"There is widespread but not unanimous agreement that there is little polling-place fraud, or at least much less than is claimed, including voter impersonation, 'dead' voters, non-citizen voting and felon voters," the report said.

From United Press International:

U.S. U.S. President George Bush said Wednesday bilateral talks with North Korea have not worked and he will not make the same mistake again.

Bush told a Rose Garden news conference the U.S. diplomatic hand is much stronger with China, South Korea, Japan and Russia backing it up.

"North Korea has been trying to acquire weapons and bombs for a long time, long before I came into office," Bush said.

"Going it alone with North Korea didn't work. I learned a lesson from that. The best way to convince Kim Jong Il is to have others sent the message."

Bush characterized North Korea's leader as intransigent.

"It is his unwillingness to choose a better way forward for his country," Bush said, that has made the negotiation process so difficult.

From United Press International:

U.S. President George Bush expressed confidence Wednesday that Republicans will retain control of Congress in the November elections.

At a White House news conference, Bush admitted the situation in Iraq will be a drag on GOP candidates, but, he said, the economy and security are the trump issues.

"The situation in Iraq is tough on the American psyche," Bush said. "It's serious business ... (People) want to know, we have a plan to win. No question this is an issue but so's the economy."

Bush said the economy has added 6.6 million jobs since August 2003, gas prices are down and "tax cuts are working."

Bush warned that cutting and running in Iraq will mean terrorists on the U.S. doorstep.

"The American people know our biggest job is to protect this country from further attacks," he said.

From United Press International:

A U.S. citizen believed to be a fugitive in Pakistan was indicted in California Wednesday on charges of treason and aiding al-Qaida.

The U.S. Justice Department said Adam Gadahn, 28, is the first U.S. citizen charged with treason since the World War II era. A conviction on treason carries penalties up to the death penalty.

Gadahn, a former Orange County, Calif., resident, is also known as Azzam al-Amriki or Azzam the American. Of Jewish-American ancestry, he converted to Islam as a teenager. He has been out of the country since 1998.

He appeared in several videotapes broadcast between October 2004 and Sept. 11 of this year, the department said. In the first tape, Gadahn said he had joined al-Qaida, and that "the streets of America shall run red with blood."

Al-Qaida has taken responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2006, terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington.

In September 2005, Gadahn called the attacks "the blessed raids," referred to other attacks and said, "Tomorrow, Los Angeles and Melbourne, Allah willing."

Earlier this summer, Gadahn appeared in another videotape that also contained statements from Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The indictment was handed down in Santa Ana, Calif.

Kansas City Star details Supreme Court decision.

Missouri voters can consider a proposal to raise the state's tobacco tax on Nov. 7, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The court unanimously held that proponents of the increase collected enough valid signatures from voters to secure a ballot spot for proposed Amendment 3 to the Missouri Constitution.