Pentagon 'three-day blitz' plan for Iran  —  THE Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians' military capability in three days, according to a national security expert.  —  Alexis Debat, director of terrorism …

"We Are Going To Hit Iran.  Bigtime"  —  I have a friend who is an LSO on a carrier attack group that is planning and staging a strike group deployment into the Gulf of Hormuz.  (LSO: Landing Signal Officer- she directs carrier aircraft while landing) She told me we are going to attack Iran.

So who's to blame for the fact that General Petraeus' aggressive PR surge is showing signs of success in advance of the September showdown between the White House and Congress over Iraq?  —  Kevin Drum has a provocative post up in which he concludes that the liberal blogosphere and liberal establishment …

Schumer: Dems can win Craig's seat  —  Less than an hour after Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) announced his resignation on Saturday, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Democrats can win his seat next year.  —  Schumer, head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, called the bathroom incident …

Welcome, Stranger.  Here's a Speeding Ticket.  —  DRIVING through a tiny Vermont town a few weeks ago on my way to drop off my daughter at camp, I saw flashing yellow lights appear in my rearview mirror.  —  My car had picked up speed coming down a hill, and a police officer pulled me over.

Wallace Brings Up Moyers Dispute, Refuses To Acknowledge His Own Inaccurate Reporting  —  For the last several weeks, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace has attacked PBS's Bill Moyers for criticizing Karl Rove for cynically invoking Christianity for political purposes while telling others that he is an agnostic.

Democrats to Avoid Fla., Mich.  —  Four Early-Primary States Get Candidates to Sign Pledge  —  The Democratic candidates have signed a pledge that would forbid them from campaigning in states such as Michigan and Florida that have sought to move their presidential primaries into January 2008.

The Former-Insurgent Counterinsurgency  —  Checkpoint 20 was the last piece of American-controlled terrain on the road to Hawr Rajab and our linkup point with Sheik Ali Majid al-Dulaimi.  Before heading out, Lt. Col. Mark Odom surveyed the terrain from the rooftop of the nearby American combat outpost …

Wrong...Very, Very Wrong, Part Deux  —  Last week, I detailed a bit of the background information that I have heard on the Southwick nomination to the 5th Circuit, and the SJC vote that allowed the nomination out of committee.  After the piece went up here, I was contacted by no fewer than five sources …

7 Questions as the Race for the White House Accelerates  —  Not a juggernaut, but it is the best campaign on the block right now.  That's a view widely shared among Democratic strategists and emphatically asserted by some veteran Republicans sizing up the race.

Iraq Far From U.S. Goals for Energy  —  Iraq's crucial oil and electricity sectors still need roughly $50 billion to meet demand, analysts and officials say, even after the United States has poured more than $6 billion into them over more than four years.  —  Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 …

Dems should be like Bush  —  The line from the left is that we neo-cons so screwed things up that the world has turned against the United States; restoring American prestige overseas will require multiple terms by Jimmy Carter acolytes Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards — so hated is George Walker Bush.

"YEAH, I CAN'T REMEMBER"  —  In most interviews and press conferences, the president seems almost allergic to contemplation.  Bush avoids discussion of his legacy, his previous decisions, his place in history, even what he might do after his presidency ends.

What maketh a neo-con?  [Jamie]  —  There's been a lot of discussion on the blog about the use—and abuse—of the label "neo-con." Which has got me thinking—what is it that causes people to label others this way?  And why is it that people who would never consider themselves neo-conservatives are labeled as such?