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.

Rocking the Hard Place  —  SARA TAYLOR PLAYS THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE LIKE A HARP.  —  It's not that I don't want to feel sorry for Sara Taylor.  I do.  As she reminds us dozens of times today, she's been put in an impossible situation: caught between her desire to testify truthfully …

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 …

U.S. Warns Of Stronger Al-Qaeda  —  Administration Report Cites Havens in Pakistan  —  Six years after the Bush administration declared war on al-Qaeda, the terrorist network is gaining strength and has established a safe haven in remote tribal areas of western Pakistan for training and planning attacks …

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.

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 …

Wishful Thinking on Iraq  —  IT SEEMS like just weeks ago, because it was, that Congress approved funding for the war in Iraq and instructed Gen. David H. Petraeus to report back on the war's progress in September.  Now, for reasons having more to do with American politics than with Iraqi reality, September isn't soon enough.

Initial Benchmark Assessment Report  —  This report to Congress is submitted consistent with Section 1314 of the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007 (Public Law 110-28) (the "Act").  It includes an assessment …

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.

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.

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.

"My Oath, Like Your Oath, Is to Uphold the Constitution"  —  This is some good indignation right here from Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT) in response to Sara Taylor's view that her oath of office was an oath of personal loyalty to George W. Bush:  —  Expressing good, old-fashioned outrage …

Obama launches book clubs to win over voters  —  PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Stealing a page from Oprah Winfrey — his close friend and fellow Chicago celebrity — Sen. Barack Obama launched book clubs in a dozen New Hampshire towns and online this week.  —  His life story is the first topic of discussion.