Two of Seven Soldiers Who Wrote 'NYT' Op-Ed Die in Iraq  —  NEW YORK The Op-Ed by seven active duty U.S. soldiers in Iraq questioning the war drew international attention just three weeks ago.  Now two of the seven are dead.  —  Sgt. Omar Mora and Sgt. Yance Gray died Monday in a vehicle accident …

New UC Irvine Law School Hires Chemerinsky as Dean, Then Fires Him for Political Reasons  —  I have all of the following from a reliable source.  —  About a week ago, Erwin Chemerinsky, the well-known constitutional law scholar at Duke, signed a contract to be the inaugural Dean …

U.S. Confirms Israeli Strikes Hit Syrian Target Last Week  —  After days of silence from the Israeli government, American officials confirmed Tuesday that Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes inside Syria last week, the first such attack since 2003.  —  A Defense Department official …

High School Bans American Flag  —  SAMPSON COUNTY, N.C. - On the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, students at one high school were not allowed to wear clothes with an American Flag.  —  Under a new school rule, students at Hobbton High School are not allowed to wear items with flags …

(Updated) Petraeus Shouldn't Know if Iraq Makes Us Safer  —  Lefty blogs are making a huge deal of the fact that Petraeus didn't have an opinion on the wisdom of fighting a war in Iraq.  Here, from DailyKos: … And here's Andrew Sullivan: … But the key point for these folks prior …

Tony Snow says farewell to White House  —  Tony Snow's last on-camera press briefing as White House press secretary is underway.  —  Snow opened the briefing by saying: "This job is the most fun I have ever had."  —  He started his thanks by naming his predecessor Scott McClellan, and joked about his early days.

Led Zeppelin confirm reunion gig  —  Rock group Led Zeppelin are to reform for a tribute concert to the Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun.  —  Singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones will perform together for the first time in 19 years.

MoveOn's 'Betray Us' ad a smart move  —  We could be wrong, but here's a prediction about the power of viral campaigns: By the time the dust settles on the storm kicked up by MoveOn.org's highly provocative "Petraeus/Betray Us" ad in The New York Times on Sept. 10, the online group will have seen …

CBS News Gets Snippy When Fact Checked  —  This MoveOn.org Video on Katie Couric and CBS News' repetition of Bush Administration talking points and lack of critical reporting has stirred up quite the hornet's nest at CBS.  We posted this over the weekend, along with a number of other folks …

Bush Flashback: 'Setting A Date For Withdrawal Is Setting A Date For Failure'  —  Tomorrow, President Bush will deliver a prime-time address to the nation about progress in Iraq.  In that speech, he is expected to endorse Gen. David Petraeus's recommendations to bring home 30,000 troops from Iraq by July 2008.

Freedom Fetishists  —  The cultural contradictions of libertarianism.  —  More than perhaps any other American political group, libertarians have suffered the blows of caricature.  For many people, the term evokes an image of a scraggly misfit living in the woods with his gun collection …

Warner to make a bid for Senate  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner intends to run for the Senate next year, Democratic officials said Wednesday, assuring his party a competitive race for a seat long in Republican hands.  —  Warner scheduled an e-mail announcement of his plans for Thursday.

Plagiarism at the HuffPo  —  Most of us are used to a certain level of crackpottery over at the Huffington Post, where many of the bloggers are, to put it lightly, possessed of some silly political ideas: Cindy Sheehan ranting about the Bush junta, b-list celebrities lecturing on conservationist toilet paper use, etc.