Okay, it's admittedly not hard to have fun at Joe Lieberman's expense, but this one's too good to pass up.  —  This morning Lieberman and his chief flack Marshall Wittmann put out a press release containing Lieberman's usual attacks on Democrats over Iraq.  The duo faulted "Congressional critics" …

Fox-Backed Democrat Debate Called Off  —  Sept. 23 Debate Will Not Be Held; Major Candidates Had Been Planning To Skip  —  (AP) Fox News and a black political group say they will not hold a Sept. 23 Democratic presidential debate in Detroit, which the leading candidates already were planning to skip.

Sen. Warner: Start bringing troops home by Christmas  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — One of the Senate's top Republicans has called on President Bush to start bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq by Christmas, telling reporters Thursday that a pullout was needed to spur Iraqi leaders to action.

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery: "To Build One America, End the Game"  —  Hanover, New Hampshire  —  August 23, 2007  —  This election is unlike any we have faced before.  The stakes are higher.  And the challenges we face as a nation are greater than at any time in memory.

Arizona's Rep. Rick Renzi to Retire  —  WASHINGTON — Three-term Rep. Rick Renzi, an Arizona Republican facing a federal inquiry into his family's insurance business, said Thursday he will not seek re-election next year.  Renzi becomes the fifth GOP House member in recent weeks to announce retirement plans …

Mexican Senate sides with mom deported from USA  —  MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican Senate committee passed a measure Wednesday urging President Felipe Calderon to send a diplomatic note to the United States protesting the deportation of an illegal migrant who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year.

Why America's Pullout From Vietnam Worked  —  The truth behind Bush's mangling of Cold War history.  —  The Soviet Union was in its final days of existence when I visited Vietnam in late December of 1991.  The cold war was about to end forever with the collapse of one of the two adversaries that had kept it going for 40-odd years.

Arizona School Suspends 13-Year-Old Boy for Drawing Gun  —  MESA, Arizona — Officials at an Arizona school suspended a 13-year-old boy for sketching what looked like a gun, saying the action posed a threat to his classmates.  —  The boy's parents said the drawing was a harmless doodle and school officials overreacted.

Daily Show: Three Generations of "America to the Rescue"  —  In perhaps the most brilliant segment on "The Daily Show" I've ever seen, last night Jon ran through the last three decades of United States intervention in the Middle East to show how incoherent, ass-backwards and counter-productive it has been.

Military Coup Planned for Iraq?  —  A rumor is circulating among well-connected and formerly high-level Iraqi bureaucrats in exile in places like Damascus that a military coup is being prepared for Iraq.  I received the following from a reliable, knowledgeable contact.

NYC Muslim Calls Korean Hostages "Terrorists", Smiles at thought of Daniel Pearl Style Beheading  —  American Muslim convert and New York City native Yousef al-Khattab outdoes himself and compares the Korean hostages to "terrorists" and suggests that because they are guilty of the "crime" …

Giuliani hires controversial image firm  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani has a new team of media consultants with a strong record of electing GOP candidates, sometimes using controversial ads.  —  The team is led by Heath Thompson and his Dallas-based firm, Scott Howell & Company.

More Iraqis Said to Flee Since Troop Rise  —  The number of Iraqis fleeing their homes has soared since the American troop increase began in February, according to data from two humanitarian groups, accelerating the partition of the country into sectarian enclaves.

FBI's release of ferry passenger photos resented  —  For Arabs and Muslims across the Puget Sound area, a rise in the nation's threat level or a bombing halfway around the world often can mark a period of unease.  —  In the years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, leaders in that community …