WASHINGTON — A Republican civil war is raging, with righter-than-thou conservatives dominating ever more primaries in a fight for the party's soul. And the Democrats hope to benefit.

Sophomores at James Madison Preparatory School in Tempe marched in formation Tuesday as their history teacher — dressed as a Union officer in authentic Civil War regalia — barked orders.

LOCUST GROVE, Va.  -  Wal-Mart wants to build a Supercenter within a cannon shot of where Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant first fought, a proposal that has preservationists rallying to protect the key Civil War site.

ATLANTA — Pants. On. The. Ground. With those four words, "General" Larry Platt has gone from "American Idol" reject to Internet sensation.

DETROIT - Nearly 50 years ago, Rosa Parks made a simple decision that sparked a revolution. When a white man demanded she give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus, the then 42-year-old seamstress said no.

Crack! The sound of a single shot echoes off Picacho Peak, sparking a volley of gunfire. Black powder rises from the battlefield as soldiers, snug and warm in their wool uniforms, fall like dominoes in this bloodless reenactment of the Civil War.

Governments always seek to accumulate power. Always. It is a natural, almost organic, all but automatic tendency, governments aggrandizing themselves the way some organisms surround and absorb their food.

Scottsdale City Hall receptionist Shirley Lehner does her best to spread Christmas cheer — a job that has become increasingly difficult in recent years.

Phil Gates doesn’t want to go to prison for 60 hours, much less 60 days. But just before Thanksgiving, the former Scottsdale Unified School District superintendent knew that’s where he was heading.

A scheduled walkout of Arizona State University students from classes to protest possible war in Iraq fizzled Wednesday, but Books Not Bombs advocates held heated shouting matches with a small group of students supporting President Bush and U.S. military action.

NEW YORK - Odetta's monumental voice rang out in August 1963 when she sang "I'm on My Way" at the historic March on Washington, where Martin Luther King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.

And so, with a resounding, bone-rattling crash, the conservative era ends. Now the scattered and demoralized armies of the right will turn on each other with such ferocity it will make the brutal opening scene of "Gladiator" look like a slap fight at a slumber party. It's about to get mercenary in the woodshed.

By Tom Purcell, guest commentary

It is now a crime in Arizona to use the names or images of dead military personnel for commercial purposes.

LOS ANGELES - George Lucas is revisiting familiar space in the heart of Hollywood to unveil his new "Star Wars" adventure.

Can’t they put something new on TV?

I pulled into the parking lot Friday at Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek just as the Civil War was breaking out in an adjacent field.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush marked the anniversary of the Iraq war Sunday by touting the efforts to build democracy there and avoiding any mention of the daily violence that rages three years after he ordered an invasion.

WASHINGTON - President Bush's decision to send 21,500 more combat troops to Iraq drew heavy fire from both Democrats and some Republicans on Thursday despite a plea by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for a "national imperative not to fail."

U.S. students would get an F if they were graded on their knowledge of Memorial Day, according to results from a survey that tested the knowledge of young people on war-related questions from U.S. history.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Roadside bombings killed at least seven Iraqi policemen on Monday's third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion, and authorities said they found 14 bullet-riddled bodies dumped in the capital.

The American Civil Liberties Union is asking a federal judge to void a new Arizona law making it a crime to sell products that use the names of dead military personnel, in what may be the first such challenge of any law of this kind in the nation.

WALPOLE, N.H. - Two troubling statistics fueled the creation of "The War," the 14-hour documentary about World War II from acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns. Burns thought he was done with war movies after his series, "The Civil War."

WALPOLE, N.H. - Two troubling statistics fueled the creation of "The War," the 14-hour documentary about World War II from acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns. Burns thought he was done with war movies after his series, "The Civil War." But he changed his mind after realizing that America was losing its grip on the facts of World War II.