Skeptical of Performers' Motives, Public Tunes Out Live Earth Event  —  The Live Earth concert promoted by former Vice President Al Gore received plenty of media coverage and hype, but most Americans tuned out.  Just 22% said they followed news stories about the concert Somewhat or Very Closely.

White House Debate Rises on Iraq Pullback  —  White House officials fear that the last pillars of political support among Senate Republicans for President Bush's Iraq strategy are collapsing around them, according to several administration officials and outsiders they are consulting.

All Grown Up — and Going to War  —  July is a month I sincerely hoped would never come.  —  At the end of this month, my young son, my only child, deploys with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit.  His departure had been six months away, three months; now it is a matter of weeks.

Who Runs the CIA?  Outsiders for Hire.  —  Red alert: Our national security is being outsourced.  —  The most intriguing secrets of the "war on terror" have nothing to do with al-Qaeda and its fellow travelers.  They're about the mammoth private spying industry that all but runs U.S. intelligence operations today.

Muqtada al Sadr back in Iran  —  Muqtada al-Sadr.  —  Mahdi Army leader leaves Iraq and goes to Iran for second time this year  —  Muqtada al Sadr, the leader of the Shia Mahdi Army and the Sadrist bloc in parliament, has left Iraq and is in Iran, military sources told Reuters.

Job Vacancies At DHS Said To Hurt U.S. Preparedness  —  A Fourth of Top Positions Not Filled, Report Says  —  The Bush administration has failed to fill roughly a quarter of the top leadership posts at the Department of Homeland Security, creating a "gaping hole" in the nation's preparedness …

Alas, Poor Couric  —  But pity her not.  —  F  —  rom outside the sleek glass chamber of the CBS Evening News set, you can see her: alone in a prim black pantsuit and pearls, shuffling a stack of papers at the wide, half-moon desk.  Sitting stiff and still, she looks dwarfed under …

Edwards to announce poverty tour  —  Can JRE pull off a JFK, or an RFK (asks Politico chief political writer Mike Allen, who is sharing guestblogging duties while Ben is on vacation)?  John Edwards plans to announce Monday that he'll take a break from fund-raising and campaigning …

Why Bush Gave Scooter Libby a Pass  —  As is often the case in the Bush White House, it was a decision made swiftly, and with stealth.  For weeks, allies of I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby had aggressively lobbied the president to pardon Dick Cheney's former chief of staff.

CIA leak: Now it can be told  —  Sun-Times columnist and famous Washington insider Robert Novak is one of the most controversial political reporters in America.  In the sweeping memoir The Prince of Darkness, the private man opens up for the first time about his life and career.

What does Al know that we don't?  —  Why, given the opportunity that's been presented to him on a silver Prius, is this man not going to run for (and win) the presidency of the United States?  If ever there was a clarion call to be answered it is this one: heed the will of the majority of the people …

Ron Paul on This Week  —  In case you accidentally switched on your TV's George Stephanopoulos filter, here's the freshly YouTubed video of Ron Paul on This Week.  —  Here's the closing exchange on Paul's viability. … Also, Stephanopoulos starts off the broadcast with some video of the …

Son is Gore's Al-batross  —  With Al Gore in the news for battling global warming and Al Gore 3rd in the news for getting toasted, my favorite NYPD detective recalled a story that helps explain how father and son each became a particular kind of loser.  —  The story was told to the detective …

Pennsylvania government partially shuts down  —  HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) — Gov. Ed Rendell said he was optimistic that he and the Legislature could soon break a budget stalemate that caused him to order a partial shutdown of government services Monday.

The Public Editor  —  Clark Hoyt became The Times's third public editor on May 14, 2007.  He succeeded Byron E. Calame , who had held the position for two years.  The first was Daniel Okrent, named in 2003.  Mr. Hoyt will also serve for a fixed term of two years.

Blackwater manager blamed for 2004 massacre in Fallujah  —  When four Blackwater USA security guards were ambushed and massacred in Fallujah in 2004, graphic images showed the world exactly what happened: four men killed, their bodies burned and dragged through the streets.

Three men in jail over bomb at church  —  Three Burleson men who belong to a "radical Christian activist group" were in the Johnson County Jail on Friday night after a church deacon caught two of them attempting to ignite an explosive device on Independence Day at a church under construction in north Burleson, authorities said Friday.