White House Misses Noon Deadline For Gonzales Testimony  —  Yesterday, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) gave the "Bush administration 18 hours to resolve the controversy over apparent contradictions in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's congressional testimony" about domestic spying programs.  Specter stated:

Public Confidence in Presidential Hopefuls on Key 2008 Election Issues  —  No candidate has a clear edge on Iraq  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A new Gallup Panel survey finds each of the five best-known 2008 presidential candidates scoring similarly in ratings of public confidence in their ability …

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.

BREAKING... Home Depot dumps O'Reilly: "We will not... advertise on the Bill O'Reilly show"  —  Home Depot seems to have had a change of heart.  They're now unequivocally telling their customers that they will not advertise on Bill O'Reilly's show.  Oddly, however, they're now also claiming …

New Polls: IA, NH, SC  —  ARG is out with a new round of '08 polls in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.  All surveys were conducted July 26-30.  Headlines on the Democratic side: Obama has moved into a tie with Clinton in New Hampshire and surged ahead of her in South Carolina, while Richardson is up and Edwards is down in Iowa.

Bloggers unleash fury on optimistic op-ed  —  Brookings scholars Michael E. O'Hanlon and Kenneth M. Pollack used the most established of platforms, the Op-Ed page of The New York Times, to offer the most politically incorrect of arguments on Monday: "We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms."

Dick 'Fourth Branch' Cheney strikes again  —  We all had a good laugh last month when Dick Cheney's office argued, in all sincerity, that the Vice President could ignore executive orders because he's not part of the executive branch of government.  Eventually, the Bush gang dropped the argument …

Warrant served at Ted Stevens' Girdwood home  —  FBI, IRS examine residence; remodeling job under scrutiny  —  Federal law enforcement agents raided U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens' Alaska home in Girdwood on Monday, hauling off undisclosed items from inside and taking extensive pictures and video.

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?

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 …

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 …

Brown Disappoints Critics of Iraq War  —  Britain's new prime minister, Gordon Brown, has disappointed American and British critics of the war in Iraq by declaring that he believes the West is involved in a "generation-long battle" against radical Islamic terrorism, that he believes …

Thompson on Horseback  —  It's a shame that Fred Thompson is too young to have played Matt Dillon, the no-nonsense marshal of Dodge City in the long-running radio and television series "Gunsmoke."  That role on the radio went to William Conrad (later TV's "Cannon") and on television to James Arness.

Consumer Confidence Hits 6-Year High  —  Consumer Confidence Rebounds in July to 6-Year High Amid Healthy Employment Outlook  —  NEW YORK (AP) — Consumer confidence hit a six-year high in July, a widely watched gauge of sentiment showed on Tuesday, as Americans shrugged off falling home prices …

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.