Dem angst escalates  —  A group of Senate Democrats is growing increasingly angry about Sen. Joe Lieberman's (D-Conn.) campaign tactics since he lost the Democratic primary last week.  —  If he continues to alienate his colleagues, Lieberman could be stripped of his seniority within …

Israel threatens to resume war if Hizbullah refuses to disarm  —  The IDF will have to resume operations in Lebanon if the expanded United Nations force being assembled does not fulfill its obligation to dismantle Hizbullah, an official in the Prime Minister's Office warned on Tuesday.

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 …

Andrew Sullivan blogs from a parallel world  —  After a somber beginning, the president finally found his voice last night.  It's been hard for him to connect viscerally to the public, and the formality of a congressional address doesn't exactly help.  He remains awkward, stiff, emotionally detached.

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.

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 …

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 …

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.

Mr. Ahmadinejad's Neighborhood  —  Iran's rulers have learned to play the media game.  —  An old line that used to make the rounds at CBS News held that the last thing the CEO of a major corporation wanted to hear was "Mike Wallace on line one."  —  Anyone who has ever seen my former colleague in action gets the joke immediately.

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 …

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 …

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)