Appeals Court Orders Enemy Combatant Free by Military  —  In a stinging rejection of one of the Bush administration's central assertions about the scope of executive authority to combat terrorism, a federal appeals court ordered the Pentagon to release a man being held as an enemy combatant.

Majority of Republicans Doubt Theory of Evolution  —  More Americans accept theory of creationism than evolution  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The majority of Republicans in the United States do not believe the theory of evolution is true and do not believe that humans evolved over millions of years from less advanced forms of life.

Video: Dennis Miller goes nuclear on Harry Reid  —  The e-mails are flooding in.  You want it?  You got it.  —  If Rasmussen's right, this should resonate broadly.  —  Blowback

New L.A. Times/Bloomberg Poll  —  John McCain's presidential candidacy clearly is struggling, and a just-completed Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll is not going to buoy his camp's spirits.  —  We won't reveal the exact numbers here; for that, you can check The Times website later today for all the numbers and analysis.

THAAAT'S What We Were All Waiting For?  Angry 'Sopranos' Fans Crash HBO Website  —  The line to cancel HBO starts here.  What a ridiculously disappointing end lacking in creativity to The Sopranos saga.  But if you're one of those who found it perversely interesting, then don't bother to read on.

Richard Rorty, 75; Leading U.S. Pragmatist Philosopher  —  Richard Rorty, 75, an intellectual whose often deeply unconventional approach to mainstream philosophic thought brought him wide public recognition as one of the leading thinkers of his era, died June 8 at his home in Palo Alto, Calif. He had pancreatic cancer.

Huckabee: 'Most' Prisoners In The U.S. 'Would Love' To Be In Guantanamo  —  Former Secretary of State Colin Powell condemned the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay yesterday, calling it "a major problem for America's perception" and charging, "if it was up to me, I would close Guantanamo — not tomorrow, this afternoon."

Poll: Rural Vote No Longer a Lock for Republicans  —  · A new national poll indicates rural Americans are no longer reliably Republican, and the Bush administration's conduct of the war in Iraq seems mainly to blame.  —  People from the nation's smallest places had the biggest impact in the last two presidential elections.

The No-Confidence-in-Gonzales Vote  —  The Republican leadership in the Senate is confident it can win a planned preliminary vote on a resolution expressing no confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.  A vote is scheduled later today on a Democratic attempt to end debate and move on to a vote on the resolution.

Wealth gap grows across EU  —  From Antwerp to Milan, rich regions begin to resent continent's subsidy culture  —  A convinced "European" at ease in the globalised world of internet banking, Mark has just returned from Budapest and Bratislava and is preparing to travel to Prague.

Libby's Supporters Who Wrote to Judge Learn That Letters Take on New Life on the Web  —  In what may be a sign of things to come, the lawyers for I. Lewis Libby Jr. last month invoked the rarely used courtroom tactic: the "bloggers can be mean" defense.  —  The issue was whether to release …