Mesopotamia: The Champions of Asia  —  I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said hat today has been as exciting as one of those election days in Baghdad.  Our national soccer team is playing for the Asian cup for the first time in its history.  By comparison this is as if the American team …

Conservatives Refuse To Appear On Fox News To Publicly Defend Gonzales  —  On Fox News Sunday this morning, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA) refused to defend Attorney General Alberto Gonzales against accusations that he may have perjured himself before Congress.

A Proposal To CNN  —  The Republican reluctance to engage in the scheduled September YouTube debate has created a fierce debate in the blogosphere, including something of a civil war at Hugh Hewitt's Townhall blog.  Hugh himself has adamantly insisted that Republican candidates eschew …

Sudan: Jews behind Darfur conflict  —  Sudanese defense minister says '24 Jewish organizations fueling conflict in Darfur'  —  Sudan's defense minister, Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein, has accused "24 Jewish organizations" of "fueling the conflict in Darfur" last week in an interview with a Saudi newspaper.

Strike Up The Band  —  On the Stephanopoulos bobble head roundtable this morning, Cokie Roberts raised the baton and started the drumbeat: the Democrats risk moving waaaaay too far to the left and that is going to be a biiiiig problem for them "just like it was in Vietnam."  Yes, she said it out loud.

Same Old Question, Different Answer.  Hmmm.  —  THE war in Iraq is the single most important continuing news issue right now.  Public opinion about the war is a critical part of that story.  That's why when a finding about the war in a New York Times poll could not be easily explained …

Official: U.N. troop standards too low  —  VIENNA, Austria — U.N. standards for selecting peacekeepers are too low, and soldiers from countries whose armies are suspected of abuse should not be considered for peacekeeping duty, the U.N.'s chief anti-torture investigator said.

The Summer of Skepticism  —  When spectators jeered Michael Rasmussen, a world-class Danish cyclist, at the end of a long day's climb through the Pyrenees in the Tour de France last week, they turned the sporting world upside down.  —  The fans were not upset because Rasmussen had performed badly.

Gingrich predicts Clinton/Obama ticket  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats will nominate Hillary Rodham Clinton for president in 2008 and Barack Obama will be her running mate, former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich predicts.  —  The GOP will have three "formidable" choices in Mitt Romney …

Zimbabwe's Leader Says He'll Print More Cash  —  Pledge Comes Despite Inflation-Fueled Crisis  —  President Robert Mugabe has promised to print more money to fund municipal projects, a government newspaper reported Saturday.  The pledge came despite hyperinflation that has created severe shortages …

Pace U's Koran-flusher: Examining the (presumptive) charges; Update: Unconstitutional?  —  The word from LGF is that he's being charged with two felonies, criminal mischief and aggravated harassment.  Fair or not?  Let's look at the statutes.  —  Criminal mischief is section 145 of the NYS Penal Code.

Three in 10 Call SCOTUS 'Too Conservative'  —  Poll Finds Figure Is Considerably Higher Than Two Years Ago  —  Three in 10 Americans say the Supreme Court is "too conservative," up sharply from two years ago and now substantially more than call it "too liberal."

After the Next 9/11  —  Americans are stupid about risk, me included.  It's nuts to fear plane crashes more than car crashes; loopy to be more afraid of online sexual predators than of lightning; irrational to pay more attention to shark attacks than to climate change.

A Crude Awakening  —  C&L July Film of the Month: A CRUDE AWAKENING The Oil Crash  —  Documentary by Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack … If An Inconvenient Truth could be considered The Wizard of Oz of environmental documentaries, then A Crude Awakening would have be considered the Rosemary's Baby of that same genre.

Answering to No One  —  The Post's recent series on Dick Cheney's vice presidency certainly got my attention.  Having held that office myself over a quarter-century ago, I have more than a passing interest in its evolution from the backwater of American politics to the second most powerful position in our government.