PRESIDENT BUSH 'ASSASSINATED' IN NEW TV DOCUDRAMA  —  This is the dramatic moment when President George Bush is gunned down by a sniper after a public address at a hotel, in a gripping new docudrama soon to be aired on TV.  —  Set around October 2007, President Bush is assassinated as he leaves the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago.

Is a Dem Also Holding Up the Porkbusting Bill?  —  There's a loose thread to this "secret hold" story, and it bothers us.  —  By this morning, the dogged persistence of hundreds of bloggers and blogreaders garnered denials from 98 senators saying they did not hold up the Coburn/Obama spending transparency database bill.

State on Verge of Greenhouse Gas Restrictions  —  The Senate votes to slash emissions 25%, the first such action in the nation.  Business groups are angry, but the governor is on board.  —  SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders agreed Wednesday on a plan to cut …

Lieberman, 'Snakes' and the seductive mythology of the blogosphere  —  If ever America needed a wake-up call about the mythology of blogging, we got it this month.  —  On Aug. 8, Connecticut businessman Ned Lamont defeated U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary …

U.S. Drafting Sanctions as Iran Ignores Deadline  —  With Iran defying a Thursday deadline to halt production of nuclear fuel, the United States and three European allies are assembling a list of sanctions they would seek in the United Nations Security Council, beginning with restrictions …

Burns says terrorists drive taxis by day  —  BELGRADE, Mont. - Republican Sen. Conrad Burns (news, bio, voting record), whose recent comments have stirred controversy, says the United States is up against a faceless enemy of terrorists who "drive taxi cabs in the daytime and kill at night."

We're Not Winning This War  —  Despite Some Notable Achievements, New Thinking Is Needed on the Home Front and Abroad  —  Are we winning the war?  The first question to ask is, what war?  The Bush administration continues to muddle a national understanding of the conflict we are in by calling it the "war on terror."

Gingrich: Powerful Pelosi 'would be a disaster'  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. - Ex-U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday that the thought of California Rep. Nancy Pelosi becoming the next leader of the House and being third in line to the presidency is frightening.

National Guardsman Brutally Attacked In Pierce County  —  PARKLAND, Wash. — The Pierce County Sheriff's Department is searching for five people who allegedly attacked a uniformed National Guardsmen walking along 138th Street in Parkland Tuesday afternoon.  —  The soldier was walking …

Pentagon sees risk in troops' loan debt  —  'Payday' lenders prey on military, report says  —  As many as one in five members of the armed services are being preyed on by loan centers set up near military bases that can charge cash-strapped military families interest of 400% or more, a new Pentagon report has found.

No Day at the Beach  —  Bloggers Struggle With What to Do About Vacation  —  A banner stripped across the top of the Daily Dish declares that the popular Web log's host, Andrew Sullivan, has "gone fishing."  Mr. Sullivan declared a two-week vacation and opted to leave his political blog behind.

Positive Press on Iraq Is Aim of U.S. Contract  —  U.S. military leaders in Baghdad have put out for bid a two-year, $20 million public relations contract that calls for extensive monitoring of U.S. and Middle Eastern media in an effort to promote more positive coverage of news from Iraq.

There Is Silence in the Streets; Where Have All the Protesters Gone?  —  It was almost painful the other night to hear Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young sing about a war whose purpose Americans never really understood, started by a president who didn't tell the truth and then waged the war ineptly.

Cousin: Rampage driver became enraged after argument with mother  —  The arguments began over the weekend.  Omeed Popal begged his father for permission to return to Afghanistan to be with his new bride.  —  The tension heightened Tuesday morning when his mother, like his father, refused to let him go.

Pinocchio and friends converted to Islam  —  Malcolm Moore in Antalya  —  Pinocchio, Tom Sawyer and other characters have been converted to Islam in new versions of 100 classic stories on the Turkish school curriculum.  —  "Give me some bread, for Allah's sake," Pinocchio says to Geppetto …

Back to the Congressional Future  —  Let's think about how the Democrats would govern.  —  With a little more than two months to go before midterm elections, the polls show Democrats well positioned to win the House after 12 years out of power.  So it's not too soon to consider who these Democrats are and how they would govern.

Hizbullah presents: How to recruit children  —  Alongside weapons, rockets and explosives found by IDF soldiers in southern Lebanon, troops also discover booklets containing questions for children on terror group, its struggle.  Goal: Conveying messages to youth, who will later become organization's future terrorists

Bush Team Casts Foes as Defeatist  —  President Bush and his surrogates are launching a new campaign intended to rebuild support for the war in Iraq by accusing the opposition of aiming to appease terrorists and cut off funding for troops on the battlefield, charges that many Democrats say distort their stated positions.

LAW: Is Requiring Basic Competence by Teachers Racially Discriminatory?  —  If you are tempted to wonder at why our public schools operate at such a disadvantage, two recent decisions by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit help illustrate the problem.

Lebanese PM: Aid won't go to Hezbollah  —  STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Lebanon's prime minister urged world donors Thursday to help his country recover after Israeli bombing wiped out "15 years of postwar development" in 34 days of fighting with Hezbollah guerrillas.

Mind the Gap  —  Democratic voters have unambiguously repudiated the Bush doctrine.  The same can't be said for Democratic foreign policy elites.  —  It is becoming increasingly obvious that Democrats have a stronger grasp on national security issues than do Republicans.  Democratic voters, at least.