Israeli ground troops enter Lebanon  —  JERUSALEM - Israel declared Tuesday it was ready to fight Hezbollah guerrillas for several more weeks, raising doubts about international efforts to broker an immediate cease-fire in the fighting that has killed more than 260 people and displaced 500,000.

Bush Blocked Justice Department Investigation  —  Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee today that President Bush personally halted an internal Justice Department investigation into whether Gonzales and other senior department officials acted within …

Brownback Holds Up Drawing Of Embryo, Asks 'Are You Going To Kill Me?'  —  Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) is leading the opposition to the H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act.  On Saturday, the Washington Post reported that Brownback has used a deceptive and false report …

Turkey signals it's prepared to enter Iraq  —  ANKARA, Turkey - Turkish officials signaled Tuesday they are prepared to send the army into northern Iraq if U.S. and Iraqi forces do not take steps to combat Turkish Kurdish guerrillas there — a move that could put Turkey on a collision course with the United States.

ROVING HANDS  —  Most of the commentary I've seen regarding President Bush's impromptu shoulder-rub/aborted massage of German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the G8 summit has treated the incident as a light, wacky divertissement, much like Bush's goofball attempt to make a dramatic exit …

Reed concedes  —  Former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed conceded defeat about 9:50 p.m. in Georgia's Republican primary for lieutenant governor.  —  "Tonight my candidacy for lieutenant governor comes to an end," he said.  —  He promoied to work for the GOP ticket, including Sen. Casey Cagle …

I Condemn It All  —  Many serious leftists have arrived at the Sadly, No! web site through favorable links supplied by a serious and well-respected Constitutional lawyer named Glenn Greenwald.  Ace is going to kill me for this, but I'll provide you the links.

Memo Pad: Fan Mail  —  FAN MAIL: If you falsely yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater and everyone tramples each other to death, you get sent to jail.  So what should be done with Ann Coulter, who has argued that The New York Times should have been blown up by Timothy McVeigh …

U.N.: 14,000 Iraqis killed in 2006  —  Holy city bomb kills 45; Armed robbers hit Baghdad bank  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — More than 14,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq in the first half of this year, an ominous figure reflecting the fact that "killings, kidnappings and torture remain widespread" …

Jordanian who killed 2 U.S. soldiers dies  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq - A Jordanian who killed two U.S. soldiers last month was fatally wounded in a clash with security forces, a senior Iraqi official said Tuesday.  Diyar Ismail Mahmoud, known as Abu al-Afghani, was identified as the killer of the two soldiers …

House Rejects Gay Marriage Ban Amendment  —  The House on Tuesday rejected a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, ending for another year a congressional debate that supporters of the ban hope will still reverberate in this fall's election.  —  The 236-187 vote for the proposal …

Oman trade pact bad for US security -lawmakers  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional opponents of a free-trade pact with Oman raised concerns on Tuesday about provisions they said could jeopardize U.S. port security, but other lawmakers said they were misstating the facts.