Cheney Makes Surprise Visit to Baghdad  —  Vice President Dick Cheney made an unannounced visit to Baghdad today, meeting with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders to pressure them to show more progress in quelling violence in Iraq, and to do so quickly.

Giuliani gave to Planned Parenthood  —  Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani in his campaign appearances this year has stated that he personally abhors abortion, even though he supports keeping a legal right to choose.  But records show that in the '90s he contributed money …

Democrats bear responsibility for restoring habeas corpus  —  The Military Commissions Act of 2006 is, without question, the single worst law enacted during the Bush presidency, and is one of the most destructive laws passed in the last several decades.  It is not merely a bad law.

Obama Overstates Kansas Tornado Deaths  —  RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Barack Obama, caught up in the fervor of a campaign speech Tuesday, drastically overstated the Kansas tornadoes death toll, saying 10,000 had died.  —  The death toll was 12.  —  "In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas.

Pelosi threat to sue Bush over Iraq bill  —  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is threatening to take President Bush to court if he issues a signing statement as a way of sidestepping a carefully crafted compromise Iraq war spending bill.  —  Pelosi recently told a group of liberal bloggers …

Axis of Soros  —  The men and motives behind the World Bank coup attempt.  —  Mark Malloch Brown spoke Monday to a crowded auditorium at the World Bank's headquarters, warning that the bank's mission was "hugely at risk" as long as Paul Wolfowitz remained its president.

"FRANCE WILL NOT ABANDON THE WOMEN WHO ARE CONDEMNED TO THE BURQA" President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy's first speech to the French nation concluded with a wonderful endorsement of human rights.  (Video here.)  —  Sarkozy spoke from a prepared text , which appears on his official campaign websites.

DeLay: FBI 'running amok'  —  Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) is calling on the Justice Department either to drop its investigation of his wife and former political associates or else to bring charges quickly.  —  DeLay said he has given the FBI documents exonerating his wife …

National Poll: Presidential Campaign 2008  —  This WNBC/Marist Poll reports:  —  · Hillary Clinton is not only the Democratic favorite for her party's nomination but, for the first time, she edges both Rudy Giuliani and John McCain: Senator Hillary Clinton still outpaces her Democratic rivals by a wide margin.

Commanders in Iraq See 'Surge' Into '08  —  Pentagon to Deploy 35,000 Replacement Troops  —  The Pentagon announced yesterday that 35,000 soldiers in 10 Army combat brigades will begin deploying to Iraq in August as replacements, making it possible to sustain the increase of U.S. troops there until at least the end of this year.

Hitler-Stalin For The Terror Age  —  Steven Stalinsky notices a strange trend in international relations in today's New York Sun.  A marriage of convenience has begun to grow between two factions that seem entirely incompatible in all respects but one: … It's the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact for our age.