Court decides endangered species, religion, student speech, campaign finance cases; four new grants  —  Amid several 5-4 rulings on the merits, the Supreme Court on Monday granted four cases for review next Term, including a significant test case on the use of references to the O.J. Simpson …

McCain could pull out of race by autumn  —  Presidential hopeful drops campaign staff as Republican consultants predict he'll be gone by September  —  THE former presidential front-runner, John McCain, may drop out of the 2008 race by September if his fundraising dries up and his poll ratings continue …

Reclaiming Control of U.S. Security in the Middle East  —  With the Iraq war well into its fifth year, the Bush administration still lacks a realistic plan for the Middle East and Iraq.  The United States must reclaim control of its core national security interests by taking active steps …

Too little, too late: Gore blames scientists for climate crisis  —  US could have acted sooner if experts had reached consensus  —  In an extraordinary outburst aimed at America's failure to tackle global warming, Al Gore says that if scientific agreement on the climate crisis had been reached sooner …

Drilling for Justice  —  Army officers have been pleased with Michael Gordon's portrayal of the events in Baqubah.  —  On 19 June American forces sealed off Baqubah and began attacking targets within the city.  The immediate goal of Arrowhead Ripper was to free Baqubah of al Qaeda …

Obama Iowa TV Ads … Choices

Plaintiff Gets Nothing in $54M Case of Missing Pants  —  Ruling for Dry Cleaner May Spell Bigger Woes for D.C. Judge Roy Pearson  —  The D.C. administrative law judge who sued his neighborhood dry cleaner for $54 million over a pair of lost pants found out this morning what he's going to get for all his troubles.

Murdoch Reaches Out for Even More  —  In the fall of 2003, a piece of Rupert Murdoch's sprawling media empire was in jeopardy.  —  Congress was on the verge of limiting any company from owning local television stations that reached more than 35 percent of American homes.

Sessions says support for immigration bill is eroding  —  Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a key opponent to the bipartisan immigration bill that will be taken up again next week, said Sunday that support for the legislation "continues to erode."  —  Sessions noted that some of the senators …

Just 22% Favor Stalled Immigration Bill  —  As the Senate prepares to resume debate the "comprehensive" immigration reform bill, the legislation continues to face broad public opposition.  In fact, despite a massive White House effort, public opinion has barely moved since the public uproar stalled the bill just over two weeks ago.

Do we really want our President to be hip?  —  ALL OVER America, millions of voters don't know — or care — that Mike Gravel has an "artistic" side or that Hillary Clinton likes Celine Dion.  —  Yes, it's hard to believe if you're a tuned-in, turned-on popular culture vulture umbilically connected to the blogosphere/videosphere.