On Scene: How Operation Swarmer Fizzled  —  Not a shot was fired, or a leader nabbed, in a major offensive that failed to live up to its advance billing … Four Black Hawk helicopters landed in a wheat field and dropped off a television crew, three photographers, three print reporters …

NPR Survey: Republicans Lose Ground on Foreign Policy, National Security; Opportunity for Democrats  —  Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and Public Opinion Strategies  —  "...in this poll, when asked which party they trust more on issues such as the Iraq war, foreign ownership of U.S. ports …

Time for Facts, Not Resolutions  —  We understand the frustration that led Senator Russell Feingold to introduce a measure that would censure President Bush for authorizing warrantless spying on Americans.  It's galling to watch from the outside as the Republicans and most Democrats refuse …

DISCLAIM THIS  —  So, the MSM is slowly picking up on the historic release of thousands of documents from Saddam Hussein's archives.  But not without making a concerted effort to downplay and undermine the story.  Readers are calling attention to the disclaimers included in this ABC News story.

Campaign Finance and Blogs: A Simple and Non-Legal Explanation  —  I updated this to include the media exemption, which I had forgotten.  —  Ok, so campaign finance regulations make my head hurt, so I'm going to try to explain the basic idea behind the differing bills instead of the legal ins-and-outs …

Teflon Europe  —  The prison at Guantanamo Bay was designed to interrogate terrorists and jihadists swept up from the battlefield: the idea was to keep them as prisoners of war in a war that was undeclared, and as enemy combatants without uniforms or officers.

What Democrats Want  —  JEROME ARMSTRONG AND MARKOS MOULITSAS are pioneers.  Armstrong founded MyDD.com, arguably the first political blog of real prominence.  As for Moulitsas, he's the founder and proprietor of Daily Kos, by far the most widely read of all political blogs.

The Reward for Lawbreaking Act of 2006  —  It's here.  Glenn Greenwald has the goods.  I don't have much to add to his thorough summary.  (If I see something else important in the bill on a closer read over the weekend, I'll post about it here.)  Basically, instead of doing something …

Harris advisers urged her to quit  —  Katherine Harris' chief political strategist said Thursday that he suggested she abandon her bid for the U.S. Senate because it would be a "tough row to hoe" given the numerous setbacks the campaign had suffered.  —  But Harris refused.

MAGICAL THINKING  —  Another important piece by David Ignatius today (linked to by Jonah earlier).  He argues that we finally have an effective counter-insurgency strategy in Iraq.  A lot of people have written this lately, usually with the implicit suggestion that this is some sudden development …

Jessica Simpson, Smiling Up a Storm  —  Jessica Simpson is 30 minutes late; the scrum in Room 1539 of the Longworth House Office Building is getting vicious.  AP, People and "Inside Edition" are here, bumping up against Christian Broadcasting Network, ESPN, Modern Health Care — all snarling for a good angle.

Who were those guys?  —  Agents posed as journalists before visit  —  There was a whirlwind of activity in the days prior to President Bush's arrival at a home on the beach in Gautier last week, with government officials and Secret Service scouting a location and checking the neighborhood where Bush would stop.

Port Security: GOP Really Doesn't Get It  —  Via Kevin Drum, and a report from ThinkProgress, I was interested, and literally angry, to learn that House Republicans blocked a budget resolution amendment today that would have provided money for U.S. customs agents to inspect high-risk cargo …

Flying Cow Leaves Two Police Cars in Flames  —  Watch this story...  Talk about a wild night near Seguin.  A cow came flying out of its trailer, sent DPS and police scrambling, and left two police cars going up in flames.  —  "It was almost hard to believe," said Detective Sergeant Maureen Watson.