EDWARDS IN A BIZ HATE & $WITCH  —  John Edwards, who yesterday demanded Democratic candidates return any campaign donations from Rupert Murdoch and News Corp., himself earned at least $800,000 for a book published by one of the media mogul's companies.  —  The Edwards campaign …

House erupts in chaos  —  In a massive flare-up of partisan tensions, Republicans walked out on a House vote late Thursday night to protest what they believed to be Democratic maneuvers to reverse an unfavorable outcome for them.  —  The flap represents a complete breakdown in parliamentary procedure …

BEAUCHAMP INVESTIGATION CONCLUDED  —  After a thorough investigation that lasted nearly a week the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division has concluded that the allegations made by Private Thomas Scott Beauchamp, the "Baghdad Diarist", have been

KOS: "WE ARE THE CENTER!"  —  Is left-wing blog entrepreneur Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, AKA "Kos," the new liberal king maker of the Democratic Party?  At his opening day press conference for the annual YearlyKos Convention in Chicago, Kos told the assemblage: "There is no Jesse Jackson wing of the Democratic Party anymore.

Doesn't Sound Like A Funding Issue  —  MnDOT officials had concerns about the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River last winter, focusing on the same fatigue and potential cracking that has grabbed the focus of the post-collapse coverage.  Engineers debated whether to apply patches …

ACID FLASHBACK  —  Last night the whole YearlyKos aggregation finally gathered in one place, a sort of cozy airplane hangar somewhere within McCormick Place.  The room was so spacious that the audience—something like fourteen hundred people—could be comfortably seated at big round tables rather than rows of seats.

Romney: Hezbollah role model for U.S.  —  Urges emulating welfare projects used by terror group against Israel  —  JERUSALEM - Republican presidential candidate Gov. Mitt Romney has cited the social welfare network of the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group as a role model the U.S. should copy to help promote …

Gates Offers Blunt Review of Progress in Iraq  —  Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday that he was discouraged by the resignation of the Sunnis from Iraq's cabinet and that the Bush administration might have misjudged the difficulty of achieving reconciliation between Iraq's sectarian factions.

Flying Saucers Go Into Production  —  A "flying saucer" that glides three metres above the ground and carries two people has gone into commerical production.  —  US company Moller International has begun to manufacture parts for its Jetsons-like personal flying pod, the M200G Volantor.

Judge Backs C.I.A. in Suit on Memoir  —  Valerie Wilson may be the best known former intelligence operative in recent history, but a federal judge in New York ruled Wednesday that she was not allowed to say how long she worked for the Central Intelligence Agency in the memoir she plans to publish this fall.

DNC shares oppo game plan with netroots  —  CHICAGO — It is not true that Democrats don't listen to Republicans.  They do.  —  The Democrats are listening to every word the Republican presidential candidates say, writing it down and even videotaping them whenever possible.