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 …

Breaking: Reid Yanks Defense Authorization Bill To Force GOP's Hand  —  Ratcheting up the stakes in the wake of the GOP's successful blocking of a vote on Iraq withdrawal just moments ago, Harry Reid just announced on the Senate floor that he won't allow a vote on the entire Defense Authorization bill until …

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.

Generation Chickenhawk: the Unauthorized College Republican Convention Tour

R. Milhous Giuliani  —  With the same rootless confidence that causes people to ignore hurricane warnings, many social conservatives remain in denial about Rudy Giuliani's chances of winning the Republican nomination.  —  But with three debates and eight months as the Republican front-runner under his belt …

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 …

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 …

I'm Done Defending the Iraq Policy  —  I'm bailing out.  I will no longer defend the policy of keeping U.S. troops in Iraq to assist the Iraqi central government in the ongoing civil war.  While our men and women in the military suffer casualties daily, the Iraqi government refuses …

Ron Paul Will Place Second at Ames  —  You heard it here first.  —  He leads the second tier in cash-on-hand.  He was able to get 1,200 people out to the Hy-Vee (has any candidate done something that big on their own, not at an RPI event?).  His home base in Texas isn't that far of a drive …