Arabs press Syria to help end violence  —  SIDON, Lebanon - Mideast diplomats were pressing Syria to stop backing Hezbollah as the guerrillas fired more deadly rockets onto Israel's third-largest city Sunday.  Israel faced tougher-than-expected ground battles and bombarded targets in southern Lebanon, hitting a convoy of refugees.

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" …

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.

Study: Ex-Rep. Made Use of 'Black' Budgets  —  WASHINGTON - An independent investigation has found that imprisoned former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham took advantage of secrecy and badgered congressional aides to help slip items into classified bills that would benefit him and his associates.

Into the Fray  —  After years of pulling away from Mideast diplomacy, the White House is forced, reluctantly, to undergo sudden immersion  —  President George W. Bush has always done the middle East his way.  —  When he became the first President to formally call for the creation of a Palestinian state …

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 …

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.

Mayhem at the Defend Hizballah Rally!  —  This past Friday, the Muslim American Society held their "Justice for Palestine and Lebanon Protest" at Boston's City Hall Plaza referred to at the end of this post.  The Boston Globe has its report here: Muslims, Christians protest bombardment of Lebanon

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 …

Two killed in rocket strikes on Haifa; city comes under repeated fire  —  Israel Defense Forces officials admitted Sunday that efforts at reducing or preventing Hezbollah rocket fire have yet to bear fruit.  —  The IDF believes that unless the pace of the army's anti-Hezbollah operations …

Failure to solve Palestinian question empowers Iran  —  Afew years back, when folks talked airily about "the Middle East peace process" and "a two-state solution," I used to say that the trouble was the Palestinians saw a two-state solution as an interim stage en route to a one-state solution.

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!