O'Donnell Will Not Be Back on 'The View'  —  ABC Announces Early Departure for Host  —  The saga is over.  —  Rosie O'Donnell will not be returning to "The View."  —  In a statement today, Brian Frons, the president of Disney-ABC's Daytime Television Group, said, "We had hoped that Rosie …

McCain responds and then some  —  McCain responds to Obama in tough enough, if predictable, language:  —  "While Senator Obama's two years in the U.S. Senate certainly entitle him to vote against funding our troops, my service and experience combined with conversations with military leaders …

Shiite Cleric Resurfaces With Anti-U.S. Sermon  —  The populist Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr appeared in public for the first time in months on Friday, delivering a fiercely anti-American sermon and offering himself in a new guise as a nationalist intent on bridging the divide between Iraq's warring communities of Shiites and Sunnis.

Fact-Checking Valerie Plame Wilson, Pt. 1  —  The Senate Intelligence Committee has just released a new report as part of its continuing investigation into prewar intelligence.  In the report, the committee's vice chairman, Republican Sen. Christopher Bond, has included a set of "additional views" …

Libby On The Verge Of Sentencing  —  There has been a lot of grist from the Beltway rumor mill of late on Scooter Libby and his upcoming sentencing hearing — but it has amounted to a whole lot of speculation and innuendo and wishful thinking, and not much substance with any real factual basis in which to dig.

Fewer candidates apply for positions as U.S. attorneys  —  WASHINGTON - The Bush administration's decision to fire nine U.S. attorneys last year has created a new problem for the White House: The controversy appears to be discouraging applications for some of the 22 prosecutor posts that President Bush needs to fill.

See You in September  —  "Let's grow up, conservatives!"  —  Barry M. Goldwater's declaration at the 1960 Republican National Convention was designed to quell a rebellion against Richard M. Nixon, whom conservatives saw as selling out to liberals on various platform planks.

THE END OF THE DREAM....Everyone knows that income inequality has been widening dramatically in the past three decades, as the rich get (lots) richer and the working class mostly stagnates.  But hey — this is America!  At least we still have lots of social mobility, right?

Saudis arrest Christian for entering Mecca  —  Saudi officials have arrested a man in Mecca for being a Christian, saying that the city, which Muslims consider to be holy, is off-limits to non-Muslims.  —  Nirosh Kamanda, a Sri Lankan Christian, was detained by the Saudi Expatriates Monitoring Committee …

Prosecutors: Up to 3 years for Libby  —  WASHINGTON - Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has shown no remorse for corrupting the legal system and deserves to spend 2 1/2 to three years in prison for obstructing the CIA leak investigation, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said Friday.

FW students protest TAKS decision  —  FORT WORTH — Students who had been planning to walk across the stage at graduation ceremonies this weekend were instead walking a picket line Thursday morning.  —  The Trimble Tech High School seniors marched in front of Fort Worth Independent School …

Throw a pebble at Goliath: don't buy Israeli produce … So writes David Hirsh on Comment is free, on the vote next Wednesday at a conference held by the University and College Union (UCU), arguing against what he calls "the boycott movement".  —  So the boycott movement allegedly …

John Boehner's Crying Game  —  House Minority Leader John Boehner wept Thursday night, as he delivered the final Republican appeal on behalf of funding President Bush's perpetual war in Iraq.  —  This is obviously a serious matter for the tear-inclined Ohio congressman …

GEN Petraeus' Chief Counter-Insurgency Adviser on "Iraqi Narratives"  —  This morning I participated in a telephonic question and answer session with Dr. David Kilcullen, senior counter-insurgency advisor to Gen. David Petraeus and Multi-National Force -Iraq.