Fred Thompson running for president  —  Fred Dalton Thompson is planning to enter the presidential race over the Fourth of July holiday, announcing that week that he has already raised several million dollars and is being backed by insiders from the past three Republican administrations, Thompson advisers told The Politico.

Right-wing noise machine: Plame not covert  —  (updated below - updated again - Update III)  —  NBC News, yesterday: … The right-wing noise machine spent the last two years repeatedly, continuously and emphatically telling their followers the exact opposite:

Economix: Truth, Fiction and Lou Dobbs  —  The whole controversy involving Lou Dobbs and leprosy started with a "60 Minutes" segment a few weeks ago.  —  The segment was a profile of Mr. Dobbs, and while doing background research for it, a "60 Minutes" producer came across a 2005 news report …

Media Embarrassment Over Socialist Rhetoric?  —  Hillary Clinton announced that she would campaign on a platform that would emphasize the need for collective economics and move away from individual performance and success.  It could be called an extension of "It Takes A Village," …

SAS team ready for Iraq hostage hunt  —  Michael Evans, Defence Editor of The Times  —  A British hostage-crisis team of up to 20 specialists, including SAS and police experts, is on standby in London ready to leave for Baghdad and help find the five Britons kidnapped by insurgents …

Advisers Fault Harsh Methods in Interrogation  —  As the Bush administration completes secret new rules governing interrogations, a group of experts advising the intelligence agencies argue that the harsh techniques used since the 2001 terrorist attacks are outmoded, amateurish and unreliable.

Some Hitherto Staunch G.O.P. Voters Souring on Iraq  —  Through four elections, Debbie Thompson has supported Representative Mark Steven Kirk, a Republican and staunch backer of the Bush administration's policies in Iraq.  —  But Ms. Thompson, a mother of two from this affluent suburb of Chicago …

Dry Run Confirmed  —  A declassified report confirms that Annie Jacobsen accurately recounted suspicious activities on a Northwest flight from Detroit to Los Angeles in the summer of 2004, and that a number of Syrians attempted a dry run for a terror attack.

Justices' Ruling Limits Suits on Pay Disparity  —  The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it harder for many workers to sue their employers for discrimination in pay, insisting in a 5-to-4 decision on a tight time frame to file such cases.  The dissenters said the ruling ignored workplace realities.

A Special Blogger Poll On The Senate Immigration Bill  —  Right Wing News emailed more than 240 right-of-center bloggers and asked them to answer 8 questions.  The following 51 blogs responded,  —  Aaron's CC, Absinthe & Cookies, The Absurd Report, Argghhhh!, Baldilocks, The Baseball Crank …

Dying for an Iraq That Isn't  —  Of all the absurdities attending our unending war in Iraq, the greatest is this: We are fighting to defend that which is not there.  —  We are fighting for a national government that is not national but sectarian, and has shown no capacity to govern.

Lieberman in Iraq sees "progress," says so-called surge "would start to break the insurgency"  —  What a coincidence.  Two years after Cheney said the insurgency was in its last throes, Joe Lieberman made essentially the same prediction.  —  CNN reports that Lieberman is on an unannounced "surprise" visit to Baghdad.

GOP plots blue-slip attack  —  House conservatives are ready to stop the Senate immigration bill in its tracks with a potent procedural weapon should the contentious measure win passage in the upper chamber.  —  The trump card conservatives may hold is a constitutional rule that revenue-related bills must originate in the House.

The persecution of Lina Joy, continued  —  No, you cannot convert: Three cheers for sharia!  —  Last August, I wrote about the plight of an ex-Muslim woman in Malaysia named Lina Joy.  She had converted to Christianity and wanted to marry a Christian man.

A Full Tank of Hypocrisy  —  It's one of those delicious moments when Washington's hypocrisy is on full and unembarrassed display.  On the one hand, some of America's leading politicians condemn high gasoline prices and contend that they stem from "gouging" by oil companies.