Today's Details

-President Bush said today the government is doing "everything in our power to protect" the American people from another terrorist attack but warned again that terrorists have the advantage when attacking the United States. He said America was "safer than it has been, but it's not yet safe. The enemy has an advantage when attacking our homeland." (Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah......) DETAILS

-Vice President Dick Cheney has hired a lawyer to defend him against the Valerie Plame/Joseph Wilson civil suit, court documents reveal. The lawyer, Emmet T. Flood of Williams & Connolly, certainly has White House experience: he was a member of former president Bill Clinton's impeachment defense team. DETAILS

-About 300 U.S. soldiers who just weeks ago returned home to Alaska after a year in Iraq are being ordered back to try to help bolster security in Baghdad, the U.S. Army said on Monday. DETAILS

-The number of alleged and substantiated violations by U.S. military recruiters increased by more than 50 percent in one year, a rise that may reflect growing pressure to meet wartime recruiting goals, according to a Government Accountability Office report released yesterday.Allegations of wrongdoing by military recruitment personnel rose from 4,400 cases in fiscal 2004 to 6,600 cases in fiscal 2005, with substantiated cases increasing from 400 to almost 630, according to the report. The number of cases found to be criminal violations more than doubled, from 33 to 68. DETAILS

-The government's new order that all airline passengers put their shoes through X-ray machines won't help screeners find a liquid or gel that can be used as a bomb. The machines are unable to detect explosives, according to a Homeland Security report on aviation screening recently obtained by The Associated Press. The Transportation Security Administration ordered the shoe-scanning requirement as it fine-tunes new security procedures. (Another failed safety measure brought to you by the Republican Party.) DETAILS

-The slowdown in the once-sizzling housing market is spreading, with 28 states and the District of Columbia reporting spring sales declines, led by big drops in former boom areas of Arizona, Florida and California. DETAILS

-Nevada Republicans will get another reminder of the death of one of their statewide canidates when they vote in Tuesday's primary. Under state law, election officials must post notices at polling places notifying voters that treasurer candidate Kathy Augustine is dead, even though her name remains on the ballot. Election officials didn't have enough time to remove her name. DETAILS

-Rising temperatures will increase the risk of forest fires, droughts and flooding over the next two centuries, UK climate scientists have warned. DETAILS

-Israel began slowly pulling out forces from southern Lebanon and made plans to hand over territory Tuesday on the first full day of a tense cease-fire that already has been tested by skirmishes and rocket fire. DETAILS