Pulp Fiction  —  I am going to write a completely speculative piece on the fighting in Lebanon.  It's born of a need to make sense of events which on the face of it are incomprehensible, though by so doing the post detaches itself from verifiable fact.  The reader is warned.

For Some Jews, Israel and Iraq Cloud View on Lieberman  —  HARTFORD, July 26 — Lesley Korzennik walked into a diner in Norwalk recently hoping to vent her frustrations with Senator Joseph I. Lieberman — over his continued support for the war, among a litany of other things.  "I'm furious at him," she said.

Hezbollah was using UN post as 'shield'  —  Canadian wrote of militia's presence, 'necessity' of bombing  —  Joel Kom, with files from Steven Edwards, CanWest News Service, The Ottawa Citizen  —  The words of a Canadian United Nations observer written just days before he was killed …

Cabinet rejects IDF call to expand war  —  While approving the call-up of three reserve divisions, the security cabinet on Thursday decided against significantly widening the IDF's operations in southern Lebanon, rejecting a recommendation by Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz to escalate the offensive against Hizbullah.

Chicago Council Passes 'Living Wage' Act  —  CHICAGO — The City Council brushed aside warnings from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to approve an ordinance that makes Chicago the biggest city in the nation to require big-box retailers to pay a "living wage."  —  The ordinance, which passed 35-14 Wednesday …

Al-Qaida calls for holy war against Israel  —  CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader issued a worldwide call Thursday for Muslims to rise up in a holy war against Israel and join the fighting in Lebanon and Gaza until Islam reigns from "Spain to Iraq."  —  In the message broadcast …

Israel OKs call-up of 30,000 reservists  —  JERUSALEM - Israel's government decided Thursday not to expand its battle with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon for now, but authorized the army to call up 30,000 reserve soldiers in case the fighting intensifies.  Lebanese officials estimated a civilian death toll as high as 600.

Even neoconservatives now accepting defeat in Iraq  —  David Frum was one of the leading neoconservative advocates of the invasion of Iraq.  The former Bush speechwriter is a true believer, having co-authored a radical neoconservative book with Richard Perle entitled An End to Evil …

A Few Questions  —  Why does the president call the secretary of state "Condi"?  And what exactly is his philosophy?  —  Why does President Bush refer in public to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as "Condi"?  Did Dwight Eisenhower call his Secretary of State "Johnny"?

Reynolds airs his ads early  —  Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), who is in charge of keeping Congress in GOP hands this fall, surprised the political establishment yesterday by airing an early television advertisement that made no mention of his party affiliation.

Conrad Burns chastises Hotshots over Billings fire  —  HELENA - Republican Sen. Conrad Burns chastised a group of firefighters over the weekend for doing a "poor job" of squelching a 92,000-acre blaze near Billings, a state report shows.  —  Burns and the firefighters …

Acid Tests  —  No Child Left Behind is beyond uninformative.  It is deceptive.  —  Test scores are the last refuge of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).  They have to be, because so little else about the act is attractive.  —  NCLB takes a giant step toward nationalizing elementary …

Iran: The Next War  —  Even before the bombs fell on Baghdad, a group of senior Pentagon officials were plotting to invade another country.  Their covert campaign once again relied on false intelligence and shady allies.  But this time, the target was Iran.  BY JAMES BAMFORD

Rice has Mideast on her mind at Asian summit  —  KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took a day off from her bid to untangle the Middle East crisis, but fallout from the fighting trailed her to an East Asia security summit.  —  Rice flew all night from Europe to Malaysia …

Hamdan Hoax, Part 3  —  THE MISTAKEN DEFENSE OF SENS. KYL AND GRAHAM.  —  Yesterday, the National Review Online's Ramesh Ponnuru accused Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens of making "simple factual mistakes" in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the ruling that scuttled the Bush administration's unworthy efforts …

Source: Reuters  —  July 27 (Reuters) - The following are security and other developments in Iraq on Thursday as of 1430 GMT.  —  Asterisk denotes new or updated items.  —  BAGHDAD - The toll from a car bombing and mortar attacks in central Baghdad climbed to at least 27 people killed and 101 wounded, Interior Ministry sources said.

Administration and Critics, in Senate Testimony, Clash Over Eavesdropping Compromise  —  WASHINGTON, July 26 — Senior Bush administration officials said Wednesday that it would be impractical for them to obtain individual warrants every time they needed to eavesdrop on a conversation suspected of involving Al Qaeda.