White House Backs Gonzales on Testimony  —  The White House offered a vigorous defense of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales today, insisting that he had not given misleading testimony to Congress, but that national security factors prevented further clarification for now.

Kos: Tillman Murdered for Chomsky Admiration, Antiwar Views  —  It's about time someone finally connected Noam Chomsky to Pat Tillman's death.  Another Kos diarist goes off the deep end.  This time with help from the AP which leads yet another story about the tragic death of Pat Tillman with this:

'No more confirmations of Bush high court nominees'  —  New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a powerful member of the Democratic leadership, said Friday the Senate should not confirm another U.S. Supreme Court nominee under President Bush "except in extraordinary circumstances."

Let the Cleavage Conversation Begin  —  Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign has sent out a fundraising letter calling a Washington Post fashion writer's column on Clinton's cleavage "grossly inappropriate" and asking donors "to take a stand against this kind of coarseness and pettiness in American culture."

Bob Dole Says Thompson Will Benefit From McCain's Lost `Buzz'  —  Bob Dole says his preferred presidential candidate, Arizona Senator John McCain, is fading and that his support is likely to be ``picked up'' by Fred Thompson, who is expected to announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination in September.

Edwards: "They want to shut me up"  —  MyDD flags an intense minute and a half from John Edwards in Creston, Iowa, yesterday in which he heatedly tells an audience that the attention to trivia (I assume the reference here is to his haircuts) is "not an accident" and that "they want to shut me up" …

Another Thompson resignation  —  Another aide to Fred Thompson's campaign-in-waiting resigned last night, two sources close to the campaign confirm.  Tom Frechette had been effectively serving as campaign manager Tom Collamore's deputy.  Collamore was removed from his post Tuesday and given a "senior adviser" role.

Public Divided as to Whether New President Should Meet with Heads of Iran, Syria, North Korea  —  Forty-two percent (42%) of Americans say that the next President should meet with the heads of nations such as Iran, Syria, and North Korea without setting any preconditions.

Army Private Discloses He Is New Republic's Baghdad Diarist  —  The New Republic's anonymous "Baghdad Diarist" identified himself yesterday as Scott Thomas Beauchamp, an Army private in Iraq, and disputed as "maddening" accusations that he had invented his accounts of cruelty by American soldiers.

Is the War Lost?  Three Inconvenient Truths About Iraq Right Now  —  Democratic Party opponents of the Iraq War are now deeply invested in a withdrawal strategy.  They argue, as Harry Reid has phrased it, that the war is lost.  But there are three inconvenient truths...

Bush Administration Subpoenas Michael Moore  —  For the filming of his documentary SiCKO, Michael Moore took sick 9/11 workers to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to help them obtain free medical care.  "The (rescue workers) just want medical attention!"  Moore shouts into a loudspeaker in the movie …

Freed man still in limbo … Mark O'Hara clutches his only belongings, his legal papers, as he uses a borrowed cell phone Wednesday in an attempt to get a ride home to Dunedin from the Orient Road Jail in Tampa.  —  Times]  —  TAMPA - Mark O'Hara left jail without handcuffs Wednesday …

Lawyers sap our will to combat terrorism  —  We lack the toughness of our European neighbours  —  Many jihadis seek to create a global caliphate, ruled by Sharia.  At best, Christians, Hindus, and Jews would live in a state of submission tantamount to second-class citizenship.

US ordered to pay $101.7m in false murder convictions  —  FBI withheld evidence in '65 gangland slaying  —  A federal judge held the FBI "responsible for the framing of four innocent men" in a 1965 gangland murder in a landmark ruling yesterday and ordered the government to pay …