Justice Weighed Firing 1 in 4  —  26 Prosecutors Were Listed As Candidates  —  The Justice Department considered dismissing many more U.S. attorneys than officials have previously acknowledged, with at least 26 prosecutors suggested for termination between February 2005 and December 2006 …

ALERT: SHUTTING DOWN THE FLOOR  —  House Republicans are shutting down the floor, because the Democrats are threatening to change a rule and deny Republicans any opportunity to offer a motion to recommit on the "paygo" provisions of their legislation.  That's a lot of wonky talk; bottom line …

Hamas blames world, Israel and Arabs  —  The international community, Israel and Arab countries are to blame for the current inter-Palestinian fighting in the Gaza Strip for failing to life an economic siege on the Palestinians, a senior Hamas official said Wednesday.

Wolfowitz Said to Push for Deal to Quit  —  After six weeks of combating efforts to oust him as president of the World Bank, Paul D. Wolfowitz began Wednesday to negotiate the terms under which he would resign, in return for the dropping or softening of the charge that he had engaged in misconduct, bank officials said.

Alberto Gonzales Carefully Tailors Warrantless Wiretapping Testimony  —  PBS Frontline's "Spying on the Home Front" last night was downright chilling.  Although there were no major blockbuster revelations, they painted a very clear and complete picture of the Bush administration's vastly …

What Could Possibly Be So Bad?  —  I did not get a chance to see the full Comey testimony until today and it is a doozy, all right.  (If you haven't see it yet, check out the YouTube)  —  Glenn Greenwald says most of what needs to be said in this piece, and The Muckraker and FDL also fill in some gaps.

The Wages of Weakness  —  Bernard Lewis is our greatest living scholar of the Islamic world.  In today's Wall Street Journal, he drew lessons from our Cold War experience and applied them to the current situation in the Middle East.  Lewis's arguments are powerful; doubly so …

Debates: DNC Announces Six; Two On CNN, Two On NBC/MSNBC  —  The Democratic National Committee has officially announced "the dates, media sponsors and cities for the six DNC sanctioned debates."  —  CNN and NBC get two and ABC and CBS get one each.  Fox News isn't included.  Here's the list:

A Disaster: The GOP Caves On Border Security  —  Word is leaking that the GOP in the Senate are on the verge of agreeing to an immigration bill that has —as a concession to the GOP— less than half of the fencing promised by law last year.  —  White flag time on the border, and a national security and thus a political disaster.

Immigration-Reform Update  —  Senate Repubicans met today and it appears that the majority of them are willing to sign on to a White House-Kennedy "comprehensive" reform.  Some have convinced themselves that the measure represents a good trade, i.e. amnesty for 12 million …

don't...stop...thinking about her morals  —  hillary.com wants us to vote for hillary's theme song.  they've provided a list of suggestions to choose from.  —  we think it's more appropriate to suggest our own nominations.  —  for example, sammy davis, jr:  —  or some elton john:  —  or ace of base:

Seeing Jose Padilla for the first time  —  Let's all welcome Lew to Firedoglake - he'll be covering the Padilla trial for us - and he'll be on the Thom Hartmann show on Air America tomorrow!  —  Seeing Jose Padilla for the first time in person - after five years of studying the man …

It's Our Cage, Too  —  Torture Betrays Us and Breeds New Enemies  —  Fear can be a strong motivator.  It led Franklin Roosevelt to intern tens of thousands of innocent U.S. citizens during World War II; it led to Joseph McCarthy's witch hunt, which ruined the lives of hundreds of Americans.

Dan Rather makes his acting debut  —  NEW YORK - Dan Rather going Hollywood?  —  There were gasps of surprise at ABC's fall-schedule announcement this week when the veteran TV newsman popped up as an actor in clips for "Dirty Sexy Money," a new drama about a wealthy, misbehaving New York family.

Party men, Townhall, and war.  —  A truly remarkable series of events has transpired in the past few days, and we are faced with a split in the online right that is both portentious — and necessary.  Before we get into the details of the division, we must step back a bit and ask why we participate …