Key Rove aide fingered in US Attorney investigation to step down; Could face subpoena  —  Multiple sources reported today that a top aide to President George W. Bush's key adviser Karl Rove will soon step down from her job in the White House.  The aide, Sara M. Taylor, was identified …

Giuliani Sees Policy Role for Wife  —  Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani told ABC News's Barbara Walters that he would welcome his wife, Judith, at White House Cabinet meetings and other policy discussions if he were elected president next year.  —  "If she wanted to," Giuliani said in the …

Gonzales defends his role in firings  —  BOSTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, amid a growing clamor for his resignation, acknowledged Friday confusion about of his role in firing eight U.S. attorneys but said he doesn't "recall being involved in deliberations" over which prosecutors were to be ousted.

Rush Limbaugh:  —  Don't fire Gonzales even though he's incompetent because winning elections is much more important: … More Rush: "USA Today's got a poll: 'Do you think something's wrong about the firing of eight US attorneys?'  72% said yes. 72% of the American people …

Heads of Arab States Prod Israel to Embrace Peace Offer  —  The leaders of 21 Arab governments on Thursday called on Israel to embrace a peace initiative that would have it withdraw from the land it occupied in the 1967 war in exchange for full diplomatic relations with them, saying the window would not remain open for long.

FOX NEWS, BLACK CAUCUS TEAM FOR DEBATES  —  WASHINGTON — Fox News, rebounding from a presidential debate squabble with Democrats, has a new deal with an old debate partner.  The cable news network will co-sponsor primary debates for each party's presidential field this fall in association …

Which Is 'The Real War'?  —  "Our bill calls for the redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq so that we can focus more fully on the real war on terror, which is in Afghanistan."  —  The Senate and the House have both passed bills for ending the Iraq war, or at least liquidating the American involvement in it.

DISAPPEARING ICE DISAPPEARED!  At HuffPo, Mooney described three parts—of an ongoing, four-part problem:  —  THE STORY OF CHRIS AND THE BIG HORNY MONSTER: Who should Democrats nominate for the White House?  At THE HOWLER, we haven't decided.  But if you still don't understand the venom aimed …

Okay, we have a winner!  Today's Peter Pan Press Award — which our panel of judges awards periodically to outstanding examples of childish, inane, we'll-never-grow-up political coverage or analysis — goes to...  Margaret Carlson!  And an honorable mention goes to Chris Matthews!

"The USMC/Iraqi team was sluggin' it out side by side."  (Chlorine Gas Attack Update)  —  Lt. Col. Clayton Fisher, commander of MiTT 6 at the brigade level (and my chaperone on an IA mission) was injured in Wednesday's chlorine truck bomb attack on the Fallujah Government Center and left this comment:

Transplant Update (Update: Success!)  —  I have a few moments to update everyone on the First Mate's progress.  She went into surgery around 9:15 CT, about an hour ago.  The donor went into surgery earlier, as is normal, and everything we see tells us that both surgeries are going smoothly.

Controversial leader of family planning office resigns  —  WASHINGTON — The head of the federal office responsible for providing women with access to contraceptives and counseling to prevent pregnancy resigned unexpectedly Thursday after Medicaid officials took action against him in Massachusetts.

TIME TO ADMIT OVERSIGHT?  —  Is Time trying to bury the attorney general scandal that's seized Washington, D.C., for the past three months?  In just the last week, new documents emerged contradicting Alberto Gonzales's account of his role in the firings, a low-level Department …

Report Faults Interior Appointee  —  Landowner Issues Trumped Animal Protections, IG Says  —  A senior Bush political appointee at the Interior Department has repeatedly altered scientific field reports to minimize protections for imperiled species and disclosed confidential information …

15 Britons In a Sea Of Intrigue  —  BERLIN — We are in a season of skulduggery in the Middle East, with a strange series of events that all involve the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.  The murky saga is a reminder that the real power in Iran may lie with this secretive organization …

Both Sides Must Stop This Mad Confrontation, Now  —  There is no agreed maritime boundary between Iraq and Iran in the Persian Gulf.  Until the current mad propaganda exercise of the last week, nobody would have found that in the least a controversial statement.