Myth of Consensus Explodes: APS Opens Global Warming Debate  —  “Considerable presence” of skeptics  —  The American Physical Society, an organization representing nearly 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on climate change and is now proclaiming that many of its members disbelieve in human-induced global warming.

Bush ‘a total failure,’ Pelosi says  —  (CNN) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called President Bush “a total failure” on Thursday, among the California Democrat's harshest assessments to date of the president.  —  “God bless him, bless his heart, president of the United States — a total failure …

Obama's Greatest Admirer  —  Barack Obama wants to speak at the Brandenburg Gate.  He figures it would be a nice backdrop.  The supporting cast — a cheering audience and a few fainting frauleins — would be a picturesque way to bolster his foreign policy credentials.

Terrorism Funds May Let Brass Fly in Style  —  The Air Force's top leadership sought for three years to spend counterterrorism funds on “comfort capsules” to be installed on military planes that ferry senior officers and civilian leaders around the world, with at least four top generals involved …

A Cast of 300 Advises Obama on Foreign Policy  —  WASHINGTON — Every day around 8 a.m., foreign policy aides at Senator Barack Obama's Chicago campaign headquarters send him two e-mails: a briefing on major world developments over the previous 24 hours and a set of questions …

An unusual new privilege claim shields Cheney in Plame probe.  —  The Bush administration today unveiled a set of novel and controversial legal arguments in refusing to disclose key details about Vice President Dick Cheney's role in the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

Tony Snow: Farewell To the Light Heart  —  ‘He Looked at the World in a Joyful Way’  —  Yesterday's funeral for Tony Snow was a grand send-off: a Mass, a tribute by President Bush, and more than 1,000 mourners, including an all-star lineup of Washington's political and media elite.

Hearing-Gate Exposed!  McCain Has Worse Afghanistan Hearing Record Than Obama  —  ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports from Capitol Hill: The McCain campaign criticism of Sen. Barack Obama's hearing record on Capitol Hill led us to put the shoe on the other foot.

As Price of Grain Rises, Catfish Farms Dry Up  —  LELAND, Miss. — Catfish farmers across the South, unable to cope with the soaring cost of corn and soybean feed, are draining their ponds.  —  “It's a dead business,” said John Dillard, who pioneered the commercial farming of catfish in the late 1960s.

Poll: Obama backers are more excited than McCain's  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — John McCain is facing an excitement deficit.  —  While overall interest in the presidential campaign has swelled since last fall, backers of Barack Obama are more fired up and express more loyalty to their candidate than McCain's do …

George W. Bush Sewage Plant plan is on ballot  —  (07-17) 14:57 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco voters will be asked to decide whether to name a city sewage plant in honor of President Bush, after a satiric measure qualified for the November ballot Thursday.

Israel makes arrests in alleged plot against Bush  —  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel accused six Arabs on Friday of trying to set up an al Qaeda cell in Israel and said one of them had proposed attacking helicopters used during a visit by President George W. Bush.

McCain gets Social Security but criticizes system  —  KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Although Republican presidential candidate John McCain has called Social Security “a disgrace,” he still cashes his own retirement check every month.  —  “I'm receiving the benefits, the system is broken and …

Rulings Clear Military Trial of a Detainee  —  WASHINGTON — Court rulings on Thursday cleared the way for the first trial at the American detention camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, opened in 2002 to hold suspects captured in the campaign against terrorism.