God's army has plans to run the whole Middle East  —  Hezbollah, the group at the heart of the Lebanese conflict, is the spearhead of Iran's ambitions to be a superpower, says Iranian commentator Amir Taheri  —  'You are the sun of Islam, shining on the universe!

No More Joe  —  `Dead Wrong' On The War And Defense Of Bush, White House Excesses  —  Joe Lieberman and I have been friends and colleagues for 38 years.  We ran for and won seats in the Connecticut legislature as a team of reformers in 1970.  He was my state senator and I was his state representative.

Saudis ask Bush to intervene in Mideast  —  WASHINGTON - Saudi Arabia asked President Bush on Sunday to intervene in Israel's military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon to stop the mounting deaths.  —  "We requested a cease-fire to allow for a cessation of hostilities," …

Why Iran Isn't Cheering  —  Hizballah may be Tehran's client, but the conflict hasn't been welcomed by many Iranians  —  Parvin Heydari, an Iranian mother of two, was flipping back and forth between the nightly news and Oprah when a bulletin on an Iranian state channel caught her attention.

ACLU Sues for Anti-Gay Group That Pickets at Troops' Burials  —  KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas church group that protests at military funerals nationwide filed suit in federal court, saying a Missouri law banning such picketing infringes on religious freedom and free speech.

Iraqi Parliament Speaker Says Invasion and Aftermath Are the 'Work of Butchers'  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 22 — The speaker of the Iraqi Parliament criticized the American government's involvement in Iraq on Saturday, likening the invasion and its consequences to "the work of butchers" …

We Have To Talk To Bad Guys  —  Although the fighting in the Middle East is still raging, it is not too soon to start drawing lessons from these tragic events.  Even if this situation begins to cool, there are so many other flashpoints in the Middle East and so many other potential hot spots …

Still More Greenwald Sock Puppetry Exposed  —  Sock puppetry on the Internet is one thing - it's bad enough.  Now it seems a hidden studio camera has caught blogger and best selling author Glenn Greenwald using a sock puppet in a recent appearance with Al Franken on Air America.  This is going too far!

Conspiracy Theories 101  —  Andes, N.Y.  —  KEVIN BARRETT, a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, has now taken his place alongside Ward Churchill of the University of Colorado as a college teacher whose views on 9/11 have led politicians and ordinary citizens to demand that he be fired.

I.R.S. to Cut Tax Auditors  —  The federal government is moving to eliminate the jobs of nearly half of the lawyers at the Internal Revenue Service who audit tax returns of some of the wealthiest Americans, specifically those who are subject to gift and estate taxes when they transfer parts …

Another Kind of Gore '08 Bandwagon  —  It is difficult to speculate about the politics of global warming without speculating about former vice president Al Gore.  He says he's campaigning only against greenhouse gases these days, but as he basks in the success of his new movie …

American Landis wins Tour de France  —  PARIS - The highs and lows of Floyd Landis' nail-biter of a bike race ended without a hitch Sunday as he won the Tour de France and kept cycling's most prestigious title in American hands for the eighth straight year.  —  The 30-year-old Landis …

Josh Bolten squirms during Stem Cell questions  —  I doubt Josh Bolten will be back on MTP anytime soon.  I'll post more of his appearance, but Timmeh made Bush's stem cell veto laughable and indefensible,  —  Video-WMP Video-QT (9 min)  —  Once Tony Snow called it murder-it was downhill from there as it should be.

FDL Book Salon — The Age of Fallibility, Part II  —  (Please welcome George Soros, who is joining us in the comments to discuss his book The Age of Fallibility: Consequence of the War on Terror.  Week one of the discussion can be found here.)  —  Since FDL has been open for business …