Ron Paul Tops McCain in Cash on Hand  —  ABC News' George Stephanopoulos Reports: Though often regarded as a longshot candidate for president, Republican Ron Paul tells ABC News that he has an impressive $2.4 million in cash on hand after raising an equal amount during the second quarter …

Appeals Court Rejects Lawsuit on Surveillance  —  A divided federal appeals court today dismissed a case challenging the National Security Agency's program to wiretap without warrants the international communications of some Americans, reversing a trial judge's order that the program be shut down.

Thompson, as a lobbyist, took abortion rights assignment  —  A spokesman for the presidential hopeful denies he did the work, a claim an ex-colleague calls "bizarre."  —  Former Tennessee Sen. Fred D. Thompson, who is campaigning for president as a "pro-life" Republican …

exclusive: rupert murdoch buys dow jones, owners of the wall street journal  —  Rupert Murdoch has succeeded with his $5 billion bid for Dow Jones.  Negotiations are now complete and a formal announcement is expected next week.  —  Rupert Murdoch has succeeded with his $5 billion bid for Dow Jones …

Poll: Americans Evenly Divided On Impeachment Of Bush, Majority For Targeting Cheney  —  Does the conventional wisdom that impeachment would be politically radioactive still hold true in the post-Libby commutation political world?  A new poll from American Research Group shows a startling result …

Baqubah Update: 05 July 2007  —  Today marks "D +16" of Operation "Arrowhead Ripper," the Battle for Baqubah.  Arrowhead Ripper kicked off on 19 June 07.  I have several dispatches in the works about the major events since that time.  Although the serious fighting seems to be over …

David Shuster dismantles Fouad Ajami's comparison of Libby to our fallen soldiers  —  David Shuster filled in for Chris Matthews this evening on "Hardball" where he interviewed neo-con author, Fouad Ajami, and absolutely shredded him over his Wall Street Journal OpEd comparing Scooter Libby to fallen U.S. Soldiers in Iraq.

The Taliban Challenges Jawa, Jawa Responds  —  No joke, the Taliban have posted a message on a well-known Islamic forum addressing me, Rusty Shackleford, indirectly.  In it, they gloat that their website is back online.  I'll just add: for now.  —  Here's a rough translation:

Iran's Proxy War  —  Tehran is on the offensive against us throughout the Middle East.  Will Congress respond?  —  Earlier this week, the U.S. military made public new and disturbing information about the proxy war that Iran is waging against American soldiers and our allies in Iraq.

War Costs Soar by a Third; Total Could Top $1.4 Trillion  —  It's not just the troops that are surging.  War costs are up for American operations in Iraq and Afghanistan* — way up, more than a third higher than last year.  In the first half of this fiscal year, the Defense Department's …

Anti-American July 4th  —  July 4th in San Francisco.  So many things to do!  —  After attending the AK Press "F**k the Fourth" party as a pre-holiday warm-up, I was hungry for some more Independence Day patriotism — San Francisco style.  —  I was tempted at first by a public event celebrating the …

Land Politics: Progressives' Big Opportunity in the West  —  Tired and worn out from the difficult slog of a populist campaign in the red state of Montana, I penned three articles (in the Washington Monthly, the American Prospect and In These Times) in December of 2004 showing how the politics …

"They don't own the Democratic Party"  —  Joe Biden talks about lefty bloggers, the perils of candor in a YouTube age, Dick Cheney's secret thoughts, and how many troops a Biden administration would keep in Iraq. … Joe Biden speaks during a news conference at the Iowa statehouse in Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday, July 3, 2007.

Doolittle calls for pullback in Iraq  —  Criticizing 'quagmire,' he sees advisory role for U.S.  —  Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A1  —  Rep. John Doolittle, questioning whether the Iraq war is worth the continued loss of American lives, said Thursday that U.S. troops …