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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

No shocks in HRC book leaks  —  The most striking thing about today's Washington Post get of two, embargoed, much-anticipated investigative books about Hillary Clinton is what's not there: a single, memorable new fact that changes the way the public will view Clinton.

From Brooks Brother Rioter to Judge  —  Monica Goodling says she was given the green light to hire immigration judges based on their political qualifications.  So how'd that happen?  And who's been getting the gig?  —  As a story in The Legal Times last year explained …

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 …

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" …

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?

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 …

Iraq War Takes Helicopters Needed for U.S. Disaster Missions  —  Justin Rood Reports:  —  While the Defense Department has pushed extra equipment to units in hurricane-prone states in part to compensate for what has been ordered to Iraq, an ABCNews.com investigation has found some Plains …

Cheney's Iran Fantasy  —  I can confirm, through military and intelligence sources, part of Steve Clemons' account of Cheney's crazed bellicosity regarding Iran.  In fact, having just received a second-source confirmation of the following story, I was intending to post it today: