Study group chair: Hit al Qaeda in Pakistan  —  (CNN) — U.S. forces should go into Pakistan to rout al Qaeda from the safe haven it has found in the mountains on the border with Afghanistan, a co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group said.  —  Former Rep. Lee Hamilton, who also served …

After GOP Iraq-Withdrawal Filibuster, Reid Sets Aside Defense Authorization Bill  —  In an in-your-face response to Republicans continuing to block a full Senate vote on withdrawing American troops from Iraq, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) just moments ago set aside …

Flynt Ready to Implicate Another Senator  —  Larry King interviewed Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt last night on how he linked Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) to an alleged prostitution ring.  Flynt now says he's got information linking another U.S. Senator to a sex scandal.

A Resolute Condoleezza Rice  —  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been at George W. Bush's side since he was sworn in as President in 2001, first as National Security Advisor and now as the nation's top diplomat.  Like the President, she has been pilloried for not adequately recognizing …

North to Alaska  —  Rep. Don Young attacked his fellow Republicans on the House floor Wednesday, as he defended education funds allocated to his home-state of Alaska.  —  "You want my money, my money," Young stridently declared before warning conservatives that, "Those who bite me will be bitten back."

Hummer Owner Gets Angry Message  —  Vandals Batter D.C. Man's SUV, Slash Its Tires and Scratch In an Eco Note  —  On a narrow, leafy street in Northwest Washington, where Prius hybrid cars and Volvos are the norm, one man bought a flashy gray Hummer that was too massive to fit in his garage.

Legal odds against Vick just got much longer … A grand jury indicted Atlanta Falcons' quarterback Michael Vick on Tuesday, which at least partially answers one question that has lingered since the news first broke about an alleged dogfighting operation on property owned by Vick in Virginia: Was Vick involved?

Ex-Cheney aide gets 10 years in prison in spy case  —  NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - A former White House official who took top secret documents from U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's office and gave them to opposition figures in the Philippines was sentenced on Wednesday to 10 years in prison.

John Edwards On What It Means To Be A Democrat  —  John Edwards concludes his Road To One America poverty tour today with a major speech in Kentucky, the site where Robert F Kennedy ended a similar trek in 1968.  The washingtonpost.com has a remarkably uncynical interview with Edwards …

Sex Ed for Kindergarteners 'Right Thing to Do,' Says Obama  —  ABC News' Teddy Davis and Lindsey Ellerson Report: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told Planned Parenthood Tuesday that sex education for kindergarteners, as long as it is "age-appropriate," is "the right thing to do."

Generation Chickenhawk: the Unauthorized College Republican Convention Tour

Fact or Fiction?  —  A mission for milbloggers:  —  The New Republic runs a piece in this week's issue titled "Shock Troops" (sub. req.) and authored by Scott Thomas—described by the magazine as a "pseudonym for a soldier currently serving in Baghdad."  "Thomas" is the author …

Wash. Post's Murray: GOP won't support Iraq withdrawal because "[t]hey're just not willing to do that to the military"  —  On the July 18 edition of MSNBC Live, during a discussion of Senate Republicans' move blocking an up or down vote on a Democratic amendment aimed at withdrawing troops from Iraq …

Billing Records Resurrected?  —  The Los Angeles Times will report in the next day or so that billing records have been found at Arent Fox which show some consultations between Fred Thompson and the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association.

Transformer explosion rattles Manhattan  —  NEW YORK (CNN) — One person died and 26 were injured after a steam pipe burst in midtown Manhattan Wednesday, causing a transformer to explode and sending thick plumes of steam and ash into the air near Grand Central Terminal, New York officials said.