Credit Democrats Who Visit Iraq, They're Calling It As They See It  —  Day by day, I am more surprised at the turn in the Iraq debate.  I know this is going to sound like pie-in-the-sky optimism, but I wonder if by the time General Petraeus makes his report, there will be something of a consensus …

It Shouldn't Have Taken the Deaths of Three Miners to Get the Media to Focus on Mine Safety  —  So last night, suddenly, after the tragic second collapse at the Utah mine, there was a dramatic shift in the TV coverage of the story.  All at once, faux folksy mining boss Bob Murray …

Jenna and Henry: Now They're Really, Really Official  —  Back in February 2005, Laura Bush was asked about the guy her daughter Jenna was seeing.  "This is not a serious boyfriend — I hate to have to be the one to say it on television," said the first lady.  "But he's a very nice young man."

Thompson: Roe 'bad law and bad medicine'  —  DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) - Likely Republican White House hopeful Fred Thompson told CNN Friday that he would push for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and would work to overturn Roe v. Wade if elected president.

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.

Snow to leave White House before Bush  —  WASHINGTON - White House press secretary Tony Snow said Friday he'll leave sometime before the end of the Bush presidency because of financial pressures.  —  He declined to say when he would depart, but that, "I'm going to stay as long as I can."

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 …

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."

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 …

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 …

MICHIGAN TO MOVE UP ITS PRIMARY  —  From NBC News' Chuck Todd  —  According to sources inside both parties, the two state parties in Michigan have agreed to move the state's primary — legislatively — to Jan. 15.  This is a compromise date out of respect for Democratic Sen. Carl Levin …

On Iraq Regime Change, 2007 Cheney Contradicts 2000 Cheney While Dismissing 1994 Cheney  —  Earlier this week, a video from 1994 of Dick Cheney discussing why the first Bush administration didn't move "into Baghdad" during the Gulf War surfaced on the internet and spread like wildfire.

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.

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 …

Poll: Americans Want to Win  —  47 percent of Americans now think we're making progress in Iraq, despite the best effort by our major news media organizations to ignore this, to bury it, to cast it in the worst possible light.  —  This is before our top generals have had the opportunity to address Congress and the nation.