Romney speaks up for sons' decisions  —  BETTENDORF, Iowa - Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Wednesday defended his five sons' decision not to enlist in the military, saying they're showing their support for the country by "helping me get elected."

THEY WANT TO FIRE ALBERTO GONZALES AND GIVE HIM NEW EAVESDROPPING POWERS?  —  Happy six-month anniversary, U.S. attorney scandal!  (And what do you get for the scandal that has everything?)  —  The half-birthday of the purge scandal's explosion onto the front pages last February brings …

The Democratic Candidates Forum  —  The following is the transcript of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. candidates forum, as provided by Federal News Service.  —  PARTICIPANTS:  —  MODERATOR: KEITH OLBERMANN: These formalities out of the way, the lucky recipient of our first question has been determined by lottery.

INSTAPUNDIT IS SIX YEARS OLD TODAY: Here's what it looked like that first week.

Terrorists teaming with drug cartels  —  Islamic extremists embedded in the United States — posing as Hispanic nationals — are partnering with violent Mexican drug gangs to finance terror networks in the Middle East, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration report.

Prosecutor: Islamic students had pipe bombs  —  Tampa, Florida - When 24-year-old Ahmed Mohamed and 21-year-old Yousef Megahed appeared in court, there was no question in the prosecutor's mind what this was all about.  She says Mohamed was in possession of pipe bombs and materials that could have been made to make more bombs.

"To set the ship on a better course, you have to be ready to sink it."  —  The debate over bipartisanship continues.  I wrote a response to the many responses I got, on this blog and others, to my initial article calling for more bipartisanship in the Washington Post.

Free Lunch on Health?  Think Again  —  The great hope of every health care reformer is that better care will mean cheaper care.  —  The three leading Democrats running for president have all put this idea at the center of their plans.  Rudy Giuliani, the first Republican candidate to offer …

Facts?  In the Lede?  Shocking!  —  Via Brian Beutler, the AFP tries a revolutionary experiment in writing their story in such a way as to make readers better informed about the issue at hand rather than more familiar with the president's propaganda.  Here's the lede: … Oh, my!

Bonds Makes History With 756th Home Run  —  SAN FRANCISCO: Barry Bonds hit No. 756 to the deepest part of the ballpark Tuesday night, and hammered home the point: Like him or not, legitimate or not, he is baseball's new home run king.  —  Bonds broke Hank Aaron's storied record in the fifth inning …

U.S. Set for a Crackdown on Illegal Hiring  —  In a new effort to crack down on illegal immigrants, federal authorities are expected to announce tough rules this week that would require employers to fire workers who use false Social Security numbers.  —  Officials said the rules would be backed …

Democratic Leaders Move the Goalposts on Iraq  —  It appears that today is a watershed day with regard to US policy in Iraq.  Democratic leaders now acknowledge that the surge is working.  The only catch is, they say it's no surprise, they've known it for a while, and it's nothing significant.

General Blames Clerical Errors In the Case of Missing Arms  —  Bookkeeping deficiencies allowed thousands of weapons issued to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005 to then go missing, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said yesterday.  —  "Some percentage" …

Excerpts from Associated Press interview with Don Young  —  Q. You've been in the news a lot lately for things other than making laws.  Specifically, we'd like to ask you if you can talk about some of these things that we've not heard addressed before, like your relationship with Jack Abramoff.

Clark County Republican leader elected to national post  —  Clark County's Republican Party chairman has been elected head of the Young Republican National Federation.  —  Glenn Murphy Jr., a 33-year-old from Utica, was elected to the chairman's post July 7 in Hollywood, Fla. …

Disaster looms as 'Saddam dam' struggles to hold back the Tigris  —  As world attention focuses on the daily slaughter in Iraq, a devastating disaster is impending in the north of the country, where the wall of a dam holding back the Tigris river north of Mosul city is in danger of imminent collapse.