Short of Perjury  —  I find myself in an unaccustomed and unexpected position: defending Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.  —  Gonzales fans, if there are Gonzales fans left, except for the only fan who counts: Don't take any comfort from my assessment.  —  In his Senate testimony last week …

Alaska Senator's Home Is Raided  —  Stevens Scrutinized In a Wide Inquiry Into Corruption in the State  —  Agents from the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service raided the Alaska home of Sen. Ted Stevens (R) yesterday as part of a broad federal investigation of political corruption in the state …

Cheney Says He Is A 'Unique Creature,' Refuses To Say He Is Part Of Executive Branch  —  In June, House investigators revealed that Vice President Dick Cheney had exempted his office from an executive order order designed to safeguard classified national security information by claiming …

A new low of mindlessness for our media  —  It is difficult to remember a media spectacle to match yesterday's grand pagent where Ken Pollack and Michael O'Hanlon were paraded across virtually every network and cable news show and radio program and heralded as "war opponents" and "Bush critics" …

CNBC's Faber: News Corp. to Succeed In Buying Dow Jones  —  Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. will succeed in its months-long effort to acquire Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, CNBC's David Faber reported.  —  A definitive agreement is expected as early as tonight, Faber said, citing people familiar with the situation.

Bread and a Circus, Part I of II  —  [Note: Before we begin, a huge congratulations to Iraq for winning the Asian Cup in soccer.  As an American, I felt a sense of jubilation when Iraq took the title.  I have temporarily left Iraq, for my only "break" this year, and am in Singapore.

New York Times Pulitzer Prize winner John Burns on Iraq, Iran and how the surge is working.  —  The Hugh Hewitt Show  —  HH: Pleased to welcome back to the Hugh Hewitt Show John Burns of the New York Times.  Mr. Burns, welcome, it's been about six months since we spoke, and I gather you're in Baghdad today?

The Whys of Mating: 237 Reasons and Counting  —  Scholars in antiquity began counting the ways that humans have sex, but they weren't so diligent in cataloging the reasons humans wanted to get into all those positions.  Darwin and his successors offered a few explanations of mating strategies …

Hillary on needle exchange: "As much spine as we possibly can"  —  There are few differences between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on details of domestic policy, but previously unreported exchanges at recent New York meetings revealed one.  Obama favors federal funding …

War, chaos and Bush's faith  —  In the last few weeks, as the dreadful consequences of George W. Bush's "war on terror" continue to unfold in Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Palestine, a disturbing thought is rising to the surface: There may be no way to clean up the mess he has made.

US House wants Japanese sex slaves apology  —  WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives Monday rebuked US ally Japan and called for an apology for the sexual slavery inflicted by its wartime military on 200,000 Asian "comfort women."  —  In a resolution passed by a voice vote …

Ellison returns from trip to Iraq  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Keith Ellison made a weekend trip to Iraq, where a pair of sheiks urged Congress' only Muslim lawmaker to help in countering al-Qaeda's vision of Islam.  —  Ellison, D-Minn., said he met in Ramadi in Anbar province with the two sheiks …