Bush and Libby  —  The commutation is a profile in non-courage.  —  President Bush's commutation late yesterday afternoon of the prison sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby will at least spare his former aide from 2 1/2 years in prison.  But by failing to issue a full pardon …

Clash at Islamabad's Red Mosque  —  Batan-wielding, burka-clad, sharia-enforcing women of the Lal Masjid.  Click to view.  —  Pro-Taliban students at the Lal Masjid attack Pakistani Rangers, one killed; The Lal Masjid calls for sucide attacks  —  Pakistani security forces have clashed …

Al Qaeda In Iraq Behind U.K. Bomb Plot?  —  Sources Tell CBS News Suspects Recruited By Leader Of Terror Group's Iraq Branch  —  (CBS/AP) British intelligence services increasingly believe that the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow bare the fingerprints of al Qaeda in Iraq, CBS News has learned.

'Don't tell British about the EU treaty'  —  By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels and Brendan Carlin in London  —  The new European Union treaty will mean "transfers of sovereignty" from Britain and Gordon Brown is right to hide the fact from the public, an EU leader admitted yesterday.

U.S. Says Iran Helped Iraqis Kill Five G.I.'s  —  Agents of Iran helped plan a January raid in Shiite holy city of Karbala in Iraq in which five American soldiers were killed by Islamic militants, an American military spokesman said Monday.  The charge was the most specific allegation …

L33T Justice  —  According to the Dictionary of Video Game Theory, an "exploit" is — … I'd been working on this post vis a vis the Gonzales situation.  The DoJ situation, in it's own way, magnificent.  They're averaging a DoJ resignation a week over the attorney scandal.

Short on Money, McCain Campaign Dismisses Dozens  —  The presidential campaign of Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who once seemed poised to be his party's nominee in 2008, acknowledged yesterday that it was in a political and financial crisis as a drop in fund-raising forced …

Webb's deployment amendment will open debate on defense bill  —  As the Pentagon continues to work on a new rotation strategy that Defense Secretary Robert Gates proposed earlier this year, the Senate will begin debate on the 2008 defense authorization bill with a vote on Sen. Jim Webb's …

How Conservatives Enhanced Online Voice  —  Talk Radio Blends  —  With Blog Postings  —  To Boost Message  —  Political activism on the Internet — and in the so-called blogosphere, in particular — has long been considered a liberal stronghold.  But conservative bloggers show increasing signs of their own coming of age.

Human greed takes lion's share of solar energy  —  HUMANS are just one of the millions of species on Earth, but we use up almost a quarter of the sun's energy captured by plants - the most of any species.  —  The human dominance of this natural resource is affecting other species …

Romney Holds Nine-Point Lead in New Hampshire  —  Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has the lead in the first Rasmussen Reports poll of New Hampshire's Republican Presidential Primary.  Romney currently attracts support from 26% of Likely Primary Voters, nine points more than his nearest competitor.

Mistrust Puts Up A Wall  —  The United States is a cranky nation in a crabby mood.  To relieve our distemper, we need the leadership we're now lacking and a citizenry with greater hope in its democratic capacities.  —  The defeat last week of the immigration bill is the most obvious manifestation …

Hillary Clinton breaks out Bubba in Iowa  —  DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Bill Clinton, one of the most popular figures in Democratic politics, embarked Monday on a Fourth of July tour with his wife, White House hopeful Hillary Clinton, in the leadoff voting state of Iowa in an effort to boost her campaign.

Credibility Explosion  —  Confederate Yankee this morning has a picture provided by Multi-National Corps-Iraq which purports to be of Iranian explosives seized in Iraq.  —  The Yankee accepts this provenance without question, but I think there are good reasons to look twice at it.

A Local Lesson That Democrats Fail  —  The eight Democratic presidential candidates assembled in Washington last week for another of their debates and talked, among other things, about public education.  They all essentially agreed that it was underfunded — one system "for the wealthy, one for everybody else," as John Edwards put it.