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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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"?

BACK TO BAGHDAD  —  THE NEW STRUGGLE IN IRAQ  —  July 27, 2006 — WHEN I visited Baghdad in March, there was no civil war.  There is no civil war in Iraq today.  But it's beginning to look as if there might be one tomorrow.  —  Something vital has changed.  In Baghdad.

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.

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.

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

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 …

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 …

The Bolton Nomination, Act II  —  Bush Presses Anew for Confirmation of Controversial Envoy  —  UNITED NATIONS, July 26 — U.N. Ambassador John R. Bolton's blunt diplomatic style has made him a political rock star among conservative Republicans who relish his routine exposure of U.N. foibles and criticism of its bureaucrats.

A Winning Strategy for the Democrats: Barter for Free Trade  —  To understand why Democrats can't win elections, all you had to do was attend yesterday's symposium at the Brookings Institution put on by the Hamilton Project, an effort by the (Bill) Clinton economic braintrust to generate new ideas and a Democratic election agenda.

The Bush Administration Draft Hamdan Response Bill  —  Here's one version of the draft legislation that the Bush Administration is considering in the wake of Hamdan.  I think it's fair to assume that it's a work in progress.  There's also reason to believe that this is not the entirety of the proposals …

Simmering Rage Within the GOP  —  My weekend visitor was one of the founders of the postwar Republican Party in the South, one of those stubborn men who challenged the Democratic rule in his one-party state.  He was conservative enough that in the great struggle for the 1952 nomination …