Rockets hit Lebanon despite cease-fire  —  BEIRUT, Lebanon - Tens of thousands of Lebanese jammed bomb-cratered roads Monday as they returned to still-smoldering scenes of destruction after a tenuous cease-fire ended 34 days of vicious combat between Israel and Hezbollah.

Democrats See Security as Key Issue for Fall  —  After being outmaneuvered in the politics of national security in the last two elections, Democrats say they are determined not to cede the issue this year and are working to cast President Bush as having diminished the nation's safety.

'Macaca' or 'Macaque'  —  News breaking out of Virginia is that Senator George Allen called a person a 'macaca' while on the campaign trail.  The person was dark skinned and, as it happens, working for Jim Webb's campaign.  —  There has been some question as to what this word 'macaca' means …

Muslims face extra checks in new travel crackdown  —  THE Government is discussing with airport operators plans to introduce a screening system that allows security staff to focus on those passengers who pose the greatest risk.  —  The passenger-profiling technique involves selecting people …

President Discusses Foreign Policy During Visit to State Department  —  Washington, D.C.  —  In Focus: Global Diplomacy  —  THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon.  Today I met with members of my national security team, both here at the State Department and at the Pentagon.

Our World: The Olmert government must go  —  From all sides of the political spectrum calls are being raised for the establishment of an official commission of inquiry to investigate the Olmert government's incompetent management of the war in Lebanon.  These calls are misguided.

From TPM Reader DN ...  I have mixed feelings about what DN has to say.  But I do recognize a lot in it I identify with.  TPM has always been pretty aggressive and pugilistic in its politics.  The site, after all, started during the 2000 recount, the founding political bad act from which, you might say, everything else followed.

CNN Int'l snubs Israeli civilians  —  Highly unbalanced report mostly ignores plight of Israeli civilians, portrays Israelis as soldiers and politicians in suits, while coverage from Lebanon features in-depth interviews with Lebanese civilians and images of children and ruins …

Israel humbled by arms from Iran  —  Abandoned Hizbollah positions in Lebanon yesterday revealed conclusive evidence that Syria - and almost certainly Iran - provided the anti-tank missiles that have blunted the power of Israel's once invincible armour.  —  After one of the fiercest confrontations …

Bush Signs Law to Save War Memorial Cross  —  President Bush on Monday signed a law transferring a 29-foot-tall Latin cross high on a hill in San Diego to the federal government, stepping into a long-running dispute over the separation of church and state.  —  Mr. Bush, in the latest unusual …

Senate rivals' lieutenants launch ideological salvoes  —  So much for civility in the now three-way race for the U.S. Senate.  —  In separate e-mails sent to reporters over the weekend, top officials in the campaigns of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman and his Democratic challenger …

Wimmin at War  —  It is 25 years since the Greenham Common protests began.  Sarah Baxter was there, but now asks why feminist ideals have become twisted into support for groups like Hezbollah  —  When Ann Pettitt, the mother of two young children, and her friends set off in August 25 years ago …

Defeatism and attacks on the Commander-in-Chief during a time of war  —  We have a rule in our country that "attacking the Commander-in-Chief during a time of war" helps The Terrorists and emboldens our enemies.  Joe Lieberman put it this way: "in matters of war, we undermine presidential credibility at our nation's peril."