Israel strikes come within 10 miles of Beirut  —  Prime minister says assaults over captured prisoners will be 'very painful'  —  Among the sites targeted by Israeli warplanes was the Qassmieh Bridge in southern Lebanon.  At least two civilians have died in the attacks.  —  FREE VIDEO

Beyond the Poll Numbers, Voter Doubts About Clinton  —  Anna Shelley, a mother of three from Utah, says she is ready for a female president, and she is sure that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has what it takes.  —  But Shelley, a Democrat, is not sure she could ever pull a lever for Clinton.

Disgusting: DCCC Uses Dead Soldiers to Raise Money  —  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has a new fundraising pitch going out.  It uses September 11th and our troops to raise money.  But, instead of using those images to show Democrats would be tougher on terrorists …

Syria blames Israel for escalation  —  Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa denied his country had a role in either the Hamas or Hezbollah abductions.  —  "It's up to the resistance - both the Lebanese and the Palestinian - to decide what they are doing and why are they fighting," al-Sharaa told reporters in Damascus.

Deafening silence in the blogosphere  —  While trying to deal with the tragedy in Mumbai, I have been wondering what the coverage of the story tells us about ourselves.  —  I was not surprised by MSM coverage in America: poor in local papers, better in papers with a large desi population or those with an international audience.

Justice Department Lawyer To Congress: 'The President Is Always Right'  —  The Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday heard testimony from Steven Bradbury, head of the Justice Department's office of legal counsel.  When questioned by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) on whether the President's interpretation …

Gorbachev: 'Americans Have a Severe Disease'  —  15 Years After Being Deposed From Power, Former Leader Discusses Russia, U.S.  —  July 12, 2006 — Mikhail Gorbachev is generally regarded as the man who broke down the "iron curtain" that separated the communist world from the West and thawed …

Chances of Voting Rights Act renewal dim  —  WASHINGTON - A conservative backlash to the massive street demonstrations over immigration is aggravating Republican leaders' carefully orchestrated plans to renew the landmark Voting Rights Act before the fall elections.

Bell drops out of U.S. Senate race  —  He says he hasn't raised enough funds  —  Veterinarian Ford Bell, a Democrat who made universal health care and quick withdrawal from Iraq central points in his U.S. Senate campaign, abandoned his long-shot Senate run Tuesday.

'La Raza' schools: Your tax dollars at work  —  "La Raza" is Spanish for "The Race."  —  It's bad enough the White House lent its prestige to The Race's annual conference.  But did you know the Bush administration has forked over millions of federal tax dollars directly to The Race?

Is the Daily Kos About to Implode?  —  It appears that the post-Yearly Kos month from hell is continuing for Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, the proprietor of the Internet's premier liberal blog Daily Kos.  After receiving some extremely negative press from major publications such as the New York Times …

Novak: Rove was a source in outing Plame  —  WASHINGTON - Columnist Robert Novak said publicly for the first time Tuesday that White House political adviser Karl Rove was a source for his story outing the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame.  —  In a column, Novak also says his recollection …

Couric's Twin Cities visit a well-oiled machine  —  The hugely popular media star held a closed-to-the-media "listening session," then attended a fundraiser for a local charity.  —  It was a well-orchestrated media event that excluded the media, a private invitation-only meeting in the brand …

Once Again, Gazans Are Displaced by Israeli Occupiers  —  SHUKA, Gaza Strip, July 11 — Khairi Edbary and his family of eight normally share a tiny concrete house with his brother and his family of eight, with a raw dividing wall of concrete blocks providing a touch of privacy.

Airwaves Again Safe for "South Park" Scientology Spoof  —  Comedy Central is finally respecting Cartman's authoritay.  —  One week after South Park's controversial "Trapped in the Closet" episode garnered an Emmy nomination, and nearly four months after it was abruptly pulled from rotation on the cable net …

General Sees Need for More U.S. Forces in Baghdad  —  By PAUL von ZIELBAUER and DAVID S. CLOUD  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 12 — Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the senior American commander in Iraq, said today that "terrorists and death squads" were responsible for the surge in sectarian killings …

Wall Street Rift: Journal Reporters Reject Gigot Line  —  The Wall Street Journal news staff can live with occasional opposition from the paper's editorial page.  What it can't live with is the editorial page's support.  —  "People feel like we're walking around with knives in our backs," one news staffer said.

GOP Senator Criticizes Appeals Court Nominee  —  A key Senate Republican clashed yesterday with President Bush's pick for a federal appeals court, taking aim at the nominee's past support for harsh interrogation methods at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The extinction of mass culture  —  The advent of 300 channels and the Internet has fragmented audiences - and the explosion of choice has left us poorer  —  NEW YORK (Fortune) — Quick: Name the biggest star in prime-time television.  —  Now: Name a star created by the Internet.