Depending on your political persuasion, Karl Rove is either a clever, bare-knuckles brawler who has mastered the arena of American politics, or a dirty dealing smear-meister who's plumbed new depths in negative politics. Either way, revelations that Rove was the White House source who "outed" CIA operative Valerie Plame in 2003 in order to punish her husband have put George W Bush's closest advisor in the hottest water of his political career.

Annette and Colm O'Carolan see no point in replacing their rotting kitchen ceiling, because if they did, it would only be a short time before it would have to replaced again and the bathroom floor above too. For now, it's just going to have to stay like that while Lewis, their autistic, 14-year-old son is denied the educational services he needs. Filling up the bath with water and flooding the bathroom repetitively is all that there is at home to keep him calm and occupied this past two-and-a-half years.

There is little in-depth or consistent coverage of development aid in Irish media, Conor Brady reports

Oireachtas Committee hears complaints about RTÉ, funding and regulation. Hilary Curley reports

The past few months have been personally fulfilling as I discovered the meaning of independence. For the first time in my life, I have 100 per cent of the decision-making power. In the past, other people played a role in determining what I did, when I did it and how I did it. The provision of a personal assistant has given me this autonomy. I just completed a BA degree and I plan to start an LLB degree in September at NUI, Galway. My interest in the law stems largely from a desire to ensure that rights and privileges of people with disabilities have a clear expression in Irish law.

'I am in a constituency of stars, yet no one outside Tallaght really knows who I am." Charlie O'Connor, backbench Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin South West, enjoys his anonymity.

The copper beech provides good shade against the scorching sun. And if you hide underneath its thick foliage, in the most aggressive downpour, you will remain dry.

Fintan O'Toole and Tony Kinsella make the case why Americans shouldn't rule the world, and
why a
stronger
European Union
could stop it. Mary
Van Lieshout reviews

For every hour of the day and night there is a different way of being idle, which is why Tom Hodgkinson has written his book in 24 chapters. At 8am ('Waking Up Is Hard to Do'), true idlers turn off their alarms, flop over in bed and go back to sleep.

In a well-known spoof of a typical talk-radio exchange, two callers debate a fatuous point. The first says: "Right-thinking people in the US are sick and tired of being told that ordinary, decent people are fed up with this country being sick and tired. I'm certainly not and I'm sick and tired of being told that I am." The second caller retorts, "Well, I meet a lot of people, and I'm convinced that the vast majority of wrong-thinking people are right." A conservative housewife, listening to the blather, snaps, "Liberal rubbish!" and turns the dial.