Senate Votes To Expand Warrantless Surveillance  —  White House Applauds; Changes Are Temporary  —  The Senate bowed to White House pressure last night and passed a Republican plan for overhauling the federal government's terrorist surveillance laws, approving changes that would temporarily …

It's Official: Beauchamp's Claims Debunked by Army Internal Investigation  —  Col. Steven Boylan, Public Affairs Officer for U.S. Army Commanding General in Iraq David Petraeus, just emailed me the following in response to my request to confirm an earlier report that the U.S. Army's investigation …

MnDOT chose 'most cost efficient' of 3 options  —  A consultant advised adding steel plates.  The agency, worried that drilling would weaken the span, opted for inspections instead.  —  More than a year before the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed, a consulting firm advised the state …

Candidates court bloggers, avoid commitment  —  CHICAGO — The second YearlyKos convention is a show of strength for the new blogging establishment: A parade of major Democratic politicians, including the leaders of the House and Senate and almost every presidential candidate …

Confirmation: GOP Won the Vote  —  Congressional Quarterly seems to have the definitive article on the furor in the House the other night.  They lead with the news of a 'ceasefire,' but later confirm that the vote ought to have been a Republican win.  —  The piece leads with the creation …

In Iraq, a Perilous Alliance With Former Enemies  —  FORWARD OPERATING BASE ISKAN, Iraq — Inside a brightly lit room, the walls adorned with memorials to 23 dead American soldiers, Lt. Col. Robert Balcavage stared at the three Sunni tribal leaders he wanted to recruit.  —  Their fighters had battled U.S. troops.

Gonzales Now Says Top Aides Got Political Briefings  —  Justice Department officials attended at least a dozen political briefings at the White House since 2001, including some meetings led by Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, and others that were focused on election trends prior …

The Turn  —  Defeatists in retreat.  —  Hot July brings cooling showers, / Apricots and gillyflowers, as Sara Coleridge's doggerel has it.  But for the American antiwar movement, this July brought only a cold drizzle, wilted blossoms, and bitter fruit.  —  For the Iraq war's opponents, July began as a month of hope.

Joe Lieberman, from his indie perch  —  It may have been collateral damage, but the fiery end to Joe Lieberman's political career as an orthodox Democrat ranks among the most dramatic casualties of the Iraq war on the home front.  A year ago this week, Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic vice …

Aborigine wins payout for stolen childhood  —  Man awarded £220,000 after removal from family led to lifelong depression  —  "The best thing is knowing they never forgot me, my mum and dad.  They didn't want to let me go.  There's proof of that."  —  Clutching a mug of tea …

Thug, Dictator, and Useful Idiot  —  Sean Penn is The Useful Idiot. … (Hat tip: Geepers.)

Bush surveys bridge, pledges aids  —  MINNEAPOLIS - President Bush surveyed Minneapolis' collapsed highway bridge from the ground and air Saturday, viewing the concrete slabs and twisted steel that once spanned the Mississippi River.  He pledged to help cut the red tape to reconstruct the span.

Obama v. HRC: not just shadow-boxing  —  Kevin Drum thinks that the Obama-HRC foreign policy spats are shadow-boxing, fuelled by the desire of both campaigns to get ink, and that the dispute conceals basic agreement.  —  I don't think either half of that is right.  —  It seems to me that there are real differences here.

ISRAEL: THE OUTSIDE STORY  —  Israel is a vibrant country without peer in ways that Americans would appreciate if they were aware of them.  Yet as a result of Israel's depiction in the mainstream media, Israel's image in the United States and elsewhere inverts reality.

PAPER BALLOTS FOR CALIFORNIA!  - SECRETARY OF STATE ANNOUNCES DE-CERTIFICATION/RE-CERTIFICATION PLANS FOR E-VOTING SYSTEMS  —  Blogged by Brad Friedman from Plano, TX, with help from Emily Levy of VelvetRevolution.us and Tom Courbat of SAVE R VOTE...  In a dramatic late-night press conference …