Shiite Cleric Appears in Iraq After Stay in Iran  —  The powerful Iraqi cleric Moktada al- Sadr surfaced in his home base of Kufa in southern Iraq today, delivering a sermon in a local mosque after what American intelligence officials called a four-month sojourn in Iran.

Inquiry widens into Justice Department hiring  —  The move follows testimony by a former Gonzales aide that she had considered politics in screening applicants.  —  WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has broadened an internal investigation into whether aides to Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales …

NBC: CIA warned of risks of war in the Mideast  —  Pre-war reports say agency predicted dangers of toppling Saddam's regime  —  Men place the coffin of an attack victim atop a vehicle in Baghdad on Friday.  —  NBC News Investigative Unit  —  In a move sure to raise even more questions …

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.

Books Paint Critical Portraits of Clinton  —  2 Biographies Detail Marital Strife and Driving Ambition  —  Two new books on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York offer fresh and often critical portraits of the Democratic presidential candidate that depict a tortured relationship …

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 …

Video: Boehner gets emotional during Iraq war funding debate  —  House minority leader John Boehner was brought to the brink of tears this evening during debate in the House over the Iraq spending bill, which eventually passed, 280-142.  CNN reports: … Blowback

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 …

SHE'S DEFACE OF ROSIE REVENGE  —  ROSIE O'Donnell left "The View" with a bang, not a whimper, following her on-air smackdown with co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck on Wednesday.  —  Yesterday, Rosie's chief writer, Janette Barber, was allegedly escorted from the building after she was caught drawing moustaches …

Letting Fear Rule  —  Nativism Is a Recipe for Long-Term GOP Losses  —  In 1882, Congress passed and President Chester Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act.  Today we don't name laws as bluntly as we used to.  But anti-immigrant sentiments are very much alive, this time expressed …

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" …

RONALD REAGAN ON IMMIGRATION: Conservative Republican have been outdoing each other in claiming the mantle of Ronald Reagan.  Ironically, however, many conservatives are simultaneously outdoing each other in advocating immigration restriction - a stance Reagan would probably have abhorred.

OSTRICH IS STUPID!  We libs still have our heads in the sand.  We've met Stupid—and Stupid is Us:  —  PROVING IT ALL WEEK LONG: It's obvious how it's going to go as the press corps pretends to discuss Al Gore's book.  Gore has said our discourse is broken—and our pundits are going to rush out to prove it.

Silence on al-Qaida torture  —  Yesterday, Matt Drudge broke this story: … The link was to The Smoking Gun, which reported: … What was Amnesty International's reaction? … Yet Amesty International just 3 days ago called for the US to close Guantanamo Bay.  —  Where did USA Today play the torture book story?

Prosecutors: Up to 3 years for Libby  —  WASHINGTON - Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby betrayed the public's trust and deserves to spend 2 1/2 to 3 years in prison for obstructing the CIA leak investigation, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said Friday.

IRAQ DOMINATES PEJ'S FIRST QUARTERLY NCI REPORT  —  Looking more closely at the cable universe itself—among the three channels as well as across day parts—PEJ found distinct differences between the three channels, far more than discerned between the three commercial network channels or newspapers.

Now here's a thing.  On the way to the tree house this morning with my breakfast tray (did I mention that recent upgrades to Treehouse 1.0 include a dumb waiter—essential for the citizen who wants to eat brekkie amid the leaves, with birds singing dawn songs all around him as he scarfs down his Quaker Oats) …