For Giuliani, Ground Zero as Linchpin and Thorn  —  As Rudolph W. Giuliani campaigns around the country highlighting his stewardship of New York City after the Sept. 11 attacks, he is widely hailed for bringing order to a traumatized city.  But he has also raised the hackles of rescue …

Race for '08: Clinton widens her lead in California  —  New survey shows Clinton dominating the Democratic field in California - Obama said to be losing his luster  —  Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A4  —  Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is expanding …

Edwards, Foreclosure Critic, Has Investing Tie to Subprime Lenders  —  As a presidential candidate, Democrat John Edwards has regularly attacked subprime lenders, particularly those that have filed foreclosure suits against victims of Hurricane Katrina.  But as an investor …

Short of Purple Hearts, Navy tells vet to buy own  —  PEARLAND — Korean War veteran Nyles Reed, 75, opened an envelope last week to learn a Purple Heart had been approved for injuries he sustained as a Marine on June 22, 1952.  —  But there was no medal.  Just a certificate and a form stating that the medal was "out of stock."

[TS] Op-Ed Columnist: The Ascent of a Common Man  —  John Edwards is a culturally conservative anti-Washington liberal.

Democrats and Cannibals  —  The Kos kids try but fail to devour party moderates.  —  Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar is today fond of quoting a famous Lyndon Johnson line: "You know the difference between cannibals and liberals?  Cannibals only eat their enemies."

Army Reports Brass, Not Bloggers, Breach Security  —  For years, the military has been warning that soldiers' blogs could pose a security threat by leaking sensitive wartime information.  But a series of online audits, conducted by the Army, suggests that official Defense Department websites …

The Padilla Conviction  —  It is hard to disagree with the jury's guilty verdict against Jose Padilla, the accused, but never formally charged, dirty bomber.  But it would be a mistake to see it as a vindication for the Bush administration's serial abuse of the American legal system in the name of fighting terrorism.

A Billion Dollars Later, New Orleans Still at Risk  —  NEW ORLEANS — Six inches.  —  After two years and more than a billion dollars spent by the Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild New Orleans's hurricane protection system, that is how much the water level is likely to be reduced …

For immediate release  —  Financial market conditions have deteriorated, and tighter credit conditions and increased uncertainty have the potential to restrain economic growth going forward.  In these circumstances, although recent data suggest that the economy has continued to expand at a moderate pace …

Hatred Begins at Home  —  The NYPD looks at what turns young Westerners into jihadis.  —  Whenever I think of war, I think of this: It was 1982 or '83, I was in Northern Ireland, and a local reporter was showing me around Derry, then a center of the Protestant-Catholic conflict.

Pentagon Paid $998,798 to Ship Two 19-Cent Washers  —  Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) — A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to an Army base in Texas, U.S. officials said.

Construction Woes Plague U.S. Embassies  —  The new air-conditioning system in the $66 million U.S. Embassy in Mali broke down in June, sending office temperatures soaring to 100 degrees.  An electrical fire erupted in the rehabilitated annex to the embassy in Rome.

Yet Again: AFP's Photo Woes Continue  —  Fresh off of being caught trying to pass off unfired civilian ammunition as evidence of soldiers shooting into the home of an elderly Iraqi woman, the French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) has been caught once again in a photography scandal involving …

I-75 Blog: Waiting on the Expressway Authority  —  Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting today to discuss controversial $10-million federal earmark for interchange at Coconut Road.  The Southwest Florida Expressway Authority is meeting afterward to also discuss I-75, although in a more general sense.

O'Reilly: "I think everybody's got to relax on all this gay stuff" … On the August 15 edition of his Fox News television show, Bill O'Reilly responded to a viewer's email questioning his August 14 remarks about Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM), who had, at a presidential forum the week before …

Best.  Movie.  Line.  Ever.  —  "Sometimes being a bitch is all a woman has to hold onto."  "Dolores Claiborne", not Hillary's forthcoming campaign slogan.