Bush to Declare Gains in Iraq on Some Fronts  —  The Bush administration will assert in the next few days that progress in carrying out the new American strategy in Iraq has been satisfactory on nearly half of the 18 benchmarks set by Congress, according to several administration officials.

Farewell to a Lady  —  "My mother," Lynda Bird Johnson once told me, "thinks well of everybody.  She's even sure the Devil's been maligned.  Just got a bad press."  —  I got to know the First Lady during the time her daughter worked for me when I was editor of McCalls.

Specter says Dems broke their promise  —  Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has fired an early volley in what Senate Republicans and conservative activists predict will escalate into another pitched battle with Democrats on judicial nominees.

Intelligence Briefing on the Hill Today  —  The top intelligence analysts for the CIA, Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) provided a Global Security Assessment to the full House Armed Services Committee today.

McCain Call Raises an Ethics Question  —  About 3 p.m. Tuesday, Senator John McCain ducked off the Senate floor, entered the Republican cloakroom and took out his mobile phone.  Just hours after accepting the resignation of his two top campaign aides, he was making a conference call …

Rep. Bob Allen arrested on sex charge  —  TITUSVILLE - State Rep. Bob Allen was arrested Wednesday afternoon at a local park after offering to perform a sex act on an undercover officer in exchange for $20, police said.  —  Allen, R-Merritt Island, was booked into the Brevard County jail …

Flynt is tracking 20 congressional sex scandal leads  —  Larry Flynt, the porn-industry magnate who first linked Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) to the escort service of the "D.C. Madam," said Wednesday that his investigators are tracking more than 20 leads on alleged congressional sex scandals.

Firefighters Rip Giuliani, Call Him 'Urban Legend'  —  New DVD Criticizes Former NYC Mayor  —  Giuliani's Campaign Calls Video 'Mockumentary'  —  (CBS) NEW YORK The International Association of Firefighters has gone on the offensive against "America's Mayor" Rudy Giuliani …

Fear and Loathing at Live Earth  —  "I think that they should take a look at what their companies are doing and just ask themselves as human beings whether or not this is the way they want to spend their lives, if this is the way they want to earn a living, if this is the kind of contribution …

Lazy, Stupid or Willfully Ignorant?  —  Right now, all the talk in DC is whether there has been any progress in Iraq.  No one can wait till September.  They need to know now.  Primarily, it appears, because they need to kill the war for their own domestic political reasons before it kills them.

Whatever Happened to Lynne Stewart?  —  PASSION DISTORTS PERSPECTIVE.  Nowhere is that more evident than in Rep. John Conyers' inquiry into the commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence.  —  Yesterday, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee wasted a calendar day holding hearings on …

FRED THOMPSON: "A LAWYER WHO IS A PROSPECTIVE CANDIDATE"  —  Fred Thompson has sent us the following column on the subject of his career in the practice of law.  We are delighted to bring it to our readers: … Supplementing Senator Thompson's historical observations …

A Nuclear Ruse Uncovers Holes in U.S. Security  —  Undercover Congressional investigators set up a bogus company and obtained a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March that would have allowed them to buy the radioactive materials needed for a so-called dirty bomb.

'A dead Iraqi is just another dead Iraqi... You know, so what?'  —  Interviews with US veterans show for the first time the pattern of brutality in Iraq  —  It is an axiom of American political life that the actions of the US military are beyond criticism.  Democrats and Republicans praise the men and women in uniform at every turn.