`Vets For Freedom' Creates Stir  —  Group With GOP Ties Backs Lieberman; White House Declines To Endorse Schlesinger  —  Connecticut's U.S. Senate race continued Monday along its unpredictable way: The White House declined to endorse the nominee of state Republicans - and a new "Vets for Freedom" …

Hezbollah Balks At Withdrawal From the South  —  Hezbollah refused to disarm and withdraw its fighters from the battle-scarred hills along the border with Israel on Tuesday, threatening to delay deployment of the Lebanese army and endangering a fragile cease-fire.

Allen Sorry for Calling Man 'Macaca'  —  RICHMOND, Va. — Sen. George Allen apologized Tuesday for remarks that offended a man of Indian descent who was tracking the Republican's re-election campaign for Democratic challenger Jim Webb.  —  S.R. Sidarth said he felt Allen was singling …

Iraqi Death Toll Rose Above 3,400 in July  —  July appears to have been the deadliest month of the war for Iraqi civilians, according to figures from the Health Ministry and the Baghdad morgue, reinforcing criticism that the Baghdad security plan started in June by the new Iraqi government has failed.

Liberal agonies  —  Leader  —  "Why are the liberals always on the other side?" asks the fictional French military commander Colonel Mathieu when he is challenged, in The Battle for Algiers, for using torture to fight terror.  The film suggests that torture works as a tool of immediate necessity …

Have you heard the one about the Jews?  —  As a writer on The Ali G Show I can do insulting jokes.  But the anti-Jewish sentiment at Edinburgh is shocking  —  THERE'S NOTHING I like more than a Jewish joke.  It's the anti-Jewish ones I'm not so keen on.  —  Wandering through the streets …

The Era of Networked Journalism Begins  —  Today marks a key moment in the evolution of the Web as a reporting medium.  The first left-right-center coalition of bloggers, activists, non-profits, citizens and journalists to investigate a story of national import: Congressional earmarks and those who sponsor and benefit from them.

Happy Birthday Fidel  —  San Franciscans honor the life of the world's longest reigning revolutionary leader  —  Members of Dance Brigade perform a dance ode to honor the life of Cuban President  —  Fidel Castro at Dance Mission Theater on Saturday.  —  The event was co-sponsored by Casa Cuba Resource Center.

Kossacks : 'Mike Wallace was totally rude and a jingoistic idiot'  —  While many commentators have roundly criticized Mike Wallace for letting the Iranian President walk all over him in the recent 60 Minutes interview, the reality-based community at Daily Kos is upset that Wallace was so terribly rude to Amadinnerjihad:

TAKE SOME GODDAMN RESPONSIBILITY!!!!  —  [Offensive?  Unsuitable?  Report this comment.]  —  Professor Plum: ""the alleged plot has been foiled".  This is a contradiction in terms because if the plot is alleged and is yet to be proven how can it be foiled?".

Actual praise for a TV anchor  —  Chuck Roberts on CNN Headline News, interviewing Ned Lamont, just apologized for these comments by saying this:  —  You know, I owe you an apology.  Last week, I led into an interview with a guest analyst and really botched the set-up.

Salon's shameful six  —  There was Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004.  Here are the six states where vote suppression could cost voters their voice — and Democrats the election — in 2006.  —  Eva Steele has a son in the military who is supposed to be fighting for freedom in Iraq …

Little Green Footballs, Staged War Photos, and the Story the Press Won't Tell  —  As Little Green Footballs, the right-wing warblog, continues to be toasted in the press for helping ferret out a Reuters news photo that was marginally altered to show a smoldering, bombed-out Beirut in the wake …

Snow White's dwarfs more famous than US judges: poll  —Text+NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three quarters of Americans can correctly identify two of Snow White's seven dwarfs while only a quarter can name two Supreme Court Justices, according to a poll on pop culture released on Monday.

Iran: Victory celebrations, threats to Israel  —  Thousands of citizens take to streets chanting, 'Lebanon won, Israel destroyed'; dozens of ambulances hold procession in show of empathy with casualties of war.  Senior religious figure in Iran warns: 'If Israel and US attack us, we will shoot missiles at Tel Aviv'

EXCLUSIVE: Lou Beres of the Christian Coalition Confesses to Molesting Family Members  —  GayRightsWatch.com Exclusive:.  In a just released police report (pdf), Lou Beres, former head of the Oregon Christian Coalition, finally confessed to the charges that he so vehemently denied last October.

War Warps the Mind a Little  —  The events in this essay took place on August 11 and 12.  —  NORTHERN ISRAEL - War does strange things to the mind.  The first time you hear the loud BOOM, BANG, and CRASH of incoming and outgoing artillery, you will jump.  You will twitch.  You will want to take cover.

Orla Guerin - Busted!  —  Two reports from Bint Jbeil from yesterday's news, one from Orla Guerin on the BBC (watch the full report here**) and the other from Alex Thomson on Channel 4 News (click here to view.  Window Media Player only. 2 mins in.)  (Added emphasis mine in all spoken extracts)

What If 9/11 Never Happened?  —  A counterhistory.  —  T  —  here are days in New York—surprisingly many of them, all things considered—when it's almost possible to forget that we are living in an age of terror.  And then there are days, like last Thursday with its headlines out of London …

Notices to be posted about Nevada candidate's death  —  RENO, Nev. (AP) - Nevada Republicans will get another reminder of the death of one of their statewide candidates when they vote in Tuesday's primary.  —  Under state law, election officials must post notices at polling places notifying voters …

Lebanese rescuer 'Green Helmet' injured  —  TYRE, Lebanon - A civil defense worker who has drawn controversy for holding up the bodies of children killed in Lebanon said Tuesday he was lightly injured fighting a weekend fire sparked by an Israeli bomb.  —  Salam Daher, dubbed the Green Helmet …

Cardin promises cancer cure … With a month to go before primary voters head to the polls to choose Senate nominees, Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin kicked off yesterday a weeklong effort to highlight his congressional record and vision on health care by making the mother of all campaign promises - to cure cancer.

HALF AN HOUR WITH BENJAMIN NETANYAHU  —  I just had the opportunity to participate, along with half a dozen or so other bloggers, in a conference with Benjamin Netanyahu.  The former (and I hope future) Prime Minister spoke with us for half an hour, most of which involved answering our questions.