On the Ground with Lamont/Lieberman  —  E.J. Dionne repeats a piece of conventional wisdom that irks the hell out of me every time I hear it - if Lieberman loses the primary and runs as an independent it will distract everyone from the true villain, the GOP, and therefore we should just give him a pass.

Sox standout Lowell: Castro killed my kin  —  Charging Fidel Castro with the deaths of his relatives, Cuban-American Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell declared last night: "I hope he does die."  —  Castro's health:  —  "Castro killed members of my family," Lowell told the Herald …

Marine Names Murtha in Defamation Suit  —  Congressman Discussed Killings Involving Serviceman's Squad in Haditha, Iraq  —  A Marine Corps staff sergeant who led the squad accused of killing two dozen civilians in Haditha, Iraq, will file a lawsuit today in federal court in Washington claiming …

Hezbollah fires record number of rockets  —  BEIT HILLEL, Israel - Hezbollah launched its deepest strikes yet into Israel on Wednesday, firing a record number of more than 190 rockets.  An Israeli-American was killed as he fled for home by bicycle, and a stray rocket hit the West Bank for the first time.

9/11 Panel Suspected Deception by Pentagon  —  Allegations Brought to Inspectors General  —  Some staff members and commissioners of the Sept. 11 panel concluded that the Pentagon's initial story of how it reacted to the 2001 terrorist attacks may have been part of a deliberate effort …

White House Proposal Would Expand Authority of Military Courts  —  A draft Bush administration plan for special military courts seeks to expand the reach and authority of such "commissions" to include trials, for the first time, of people who are not members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban …

Evolution's foes lose ground in Kansas  —  Darwin's defenders increase their strength on Board of Education  —  TOPEKA, Kan. - Conservative Republicans who approved classroom standards that called evolution into question lost control of the state Board of Education in Tuesday's primary election.

Ex-Aide: Harris Hid Subpoena  —  More from this channel:  —  This feature requires the Macromedia Flash Plugin.  Please visit http://www.macromedia.com/go/ getflashplayer to download this plugin.  —  WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris received a grand jury subpoena …

Hill fries free to be French again  —  The fries on Capitol Hill are French again.  —  So is the breakfast toast in the congressional cafeterias, with both fries and toast having been liberated from the appellation "freedom."  —  Three years after House Republicans trumpeted the new names …

One War  —  In its war on terror, the U.S. would never accept the limits being pushed on Israel.  —  WASHINGTON—On Sept. 11, 2001, a freedom-loving nation was attacked by a terrorist organization operating from the territory of a sovereign state with the acquiescence, if not the active complicity, of the latter's government.

We Shouldn't Ignore World Opinion  —  "The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."  — Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor and stoic philosopher, 121-180 A.D.  —  It's an appealing thought, but there is something to say for being in the insane majority.

Washington Traffic Jam?  Senators-Only Elevator  —  In addition to lofty issues of war and peace, the Senate is grappling with another urgent matter: the senators-only elevators at the Capitol are being overrun by the unelected.  —  "I hesitate to say that it's a big problem," …

Green Helmet Guy: Abdel Qader  —  Green Helmet Guy, the "rescue worker" who posed for photo ops with children's bodies in Qana, is interviewed by Al Jazeera in Arabic, in a video clip at YouTube: Eye witness.  —  From Allison Kaplan Sommer, who provides this summary via an Arabic-speaking friend:

Iraq vows security takeover this year  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq - President Jalal Talabani said Wednesday that Iraqi forces will assume security duties for the whole country by the end of the year, taking over responsibility from U.S. and other foreign troops now policing all but one of the 18 provinces.

Guilt vs Shame  —  When the West moved from a predominantly Shame based culture (which is tribal) to a guilt based culture (Judeo-Christian) modernity ensued.  Developmentally, guilt is a later, more mature (and more differentiated) affect than shame and cultures that achieve the level …

Mideast Lessons From 1973  —  Groping for a way to understand the ruinous mess in the Middle East, I find myself looking backward to an earlier ruinous mess, the Yom Kippur War of October 1973.  —  That long-ago war, like the current one in Lebanon, began with an Arab sneak attack …