Iran Is Found To Be a Lair of Al Qaeda  —  Intelligence Estimate Cites Two Councils  —  WASHINGTON — One of two known Al Qaeda leadership councils meets regularly in eastern Iran, where the American intelligence community believes dozens of senior Al Qaeda leaders have reconstituted …

Democrats Maneuver To Force Iraq Votes  —  Senate Democratic leaders are planning a rare all-night session tonight, employing theatrics and scheduling votes that they hope will chip away at Republican resolve to back President Bush's Iraq war strategy.  —  Majority Leader Harry M. Reid …

Obama's Camp Cultivates Crop in Small Donors  —  Senator Barack Obama was the guest of honor at a dinner at the luxurious Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco this spring with a few hundred lawyers, executives and investors.  The guests drank a boutique beer with Mr. Obama's face on the label …

The Hand That Controls the Sock Puppet Could Get Slapped  —  Correction Appended  —  On the Internet nobody knows you're a dog — or the chief executive of a Fortune 500 company.  —  Or so thought John Mackey, the chief executive of Whole Foods Market, who used a fictional identity …

Scaife-Owned Newspaper Calls for Iraq Troop Withdrawal — Questions Bush's 'Mental Stability'  —  NEW YORK The Pittsburgh newspaper owned by conservative billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife yesterday called the Bush administration's plans to stay the course in Iraq a "prescription for American suicide."

2008 Nomination Contests Holding Steady With Clinton and Giuliani on Top  —  No further decline in McCain's support despite rough patch on campaign trail  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A new Gallup survey, conducted July 12-15, 2007, finds little change from earlier this month in public preferences …

No Magic Bullets For Iraq  —  Leave Washington in the winter, return in midsummer.  First you'll be surprised by the heat, then by the humidity.  Then you'll be surprised by the certainty.  —  Out in the world, there are shades of gray.  Here inside the Beltway, there are black-and-white solutions.

Belabor the Point  —  Democrats find one government office they want to cut back.  It's the one that exposes union corruption.  —  The new Democratic Congress has finally found a government agency whose budget It wants to cut: an obscure Labor Department office that monitors the compliance of unions with federal law.

Georgia Board Grants Stay Of Execution to Consider Case  —  One day before he was to die by lethal injection, convicted cop killer Troy Davis received a 90-day stay of execution Monday from a Georgia clemency board, allowing him time to press his case that he has been the victim of mistaken identity.

Romney spent $300 on makeup 'consulting'  —  What kinds of things do you think of when you hear "communications consulting"?  —  Speechwriting?  Message strategy?  —  Well, "communications consulting" is how presidential candidate Mitt Romney recorded $300 in payments to a California company …

Libertarians and the War  —  Ron Paul doesn't speak for all of us.  —  While the number of Americans who self-identify as "libertarian" remains small, a substantial proportion agree with the core stances of limited constitutional government in both the economic and social spheres …

Superman  —  Superman  —  Route Tampa is the major supply route for Coalition forces in Iraq.  Billions of dollars' worth of gear and supplies are pumped up the northbound artery, while rumbling down the southbound vein back to Kuwait are damaged vehicles, units returning from a year or longer at war and convoys of empty trucks.

Read the "confidential memo" from the Minnesota Republican Party that is the basis of CREW's FEC complaint  —  CREW filed a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint today against the Republican Party of Minnesota and its former treasurer, Marina Taubenberger, alleging multiple egregious violations …

Iraq Report: Major offensive underway in Babil  —  Iraqi and U.S. forces have launched a multi-brigade operation south of Baghdad as the pursuit of al Qaeda in Iraq continues in Diyala and the north.  Al Qaeda in Iraq and allied insurgent groups conducted multiple mass casualty attacks …

TNOYF vs. CAIR's Ibrahim Hooper On BBC Radio  —  Potfry was on BBC Radio last night with Ibrahim Hooper from CAIR, discussing Islamic Rage Boy.  —  For those of you who don't know Islamic Rage Boy, his history at TNOYF can be found here.  —  The BBC Radio page, and audio of the debate, is here.