United States to Israel: you have one more week to blast Hizbullah  —  Bush 'gave green light' for limited attack, say Israeli and UK sources  —  The US is giving Israel a window of a week to inflict maximum damage on Hizbullah before weighing in behind international calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon …

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 …

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 …

Keep it up  —  Glenn Greenwald - like David Neiwert - spends a lot of his time cataloging, recording, and referencing the extremist, often eliminationist rhetoric which has become the standard form of "debate" in the modern right-wing media.  This is exhausting, thankless work - I tried …

In Connecticut, Can Republicans Push Schlesinger?  —  Hartford Courant columnist Kevin Rennie sends us this exclusive dispatch on the Republican jockeying to come up with a better U.S. Senate candidate in Connecticut.  —  Having failed last week to escort Republican U.S. Senate nominee Alan Schlesinger …

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.

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 …

Chicago Weighs New Prohibition: Bad-for-You Fats  —  CHICAGO, July 14 — In Grant Park, this city's front yard along Lake Michigan, a dizzying pack of people filled the streets evening after evening, all holding their gazes firmly on the little plates in their hands, loaded with catfish beignets …