To Save a Revolution  —  You could sense the hurt and anger as Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora pleaded this week to the U.S. ambassador and other diplomats in Beirut for a halt to Israeli attacks on Lebanese targets.  "The country has been torn to shreds," he said.  "I hope you will not let us down."

President Bush Addresses NAACP Annual Convention  —  Washington, D.C.  —  African American History  —  THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much.  (Applause.)  Thank you very much.  Bruce, thanks for your introduction.  Bruce is a polite guy — I thought what he was going to say, it's about time you showed up.

Exiled Bakri in SOS plea  —  EXILED preacher of hate Omar Bakri has begged the Royal Navy to rescue him from war-torn Beirut.  —  The Muslim cleric who fled Britain last year, tried to board a ship full of women and children yesterday but was turned away.  —  He also wrote to the British …

In Mideast Strife, Bush Sees a Step To Peace  —  President Bush's unwillingness to pressure Israel to halt its military campaign in Lebanon is rooted in a view of the Middle East conflict that is sharply different from that of his predecessors.  —  When hostilities have broken out in the past …

Despite Ties to Hamas, Militants Aren't Following Political Leaders  —  JABALIYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza, July 20 — Five men in black hoods emerged from a dimly lighted street of stark concrete houses and garbage-strewn lots.  With Israeli drones buzzing overhead, they kept the meeting short.

Pentagon OKs $6 bln in arms sales to Saudi Arabia  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration said on Thursday it approved the sale to Saudi Arabia of 24 UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters, radios, armoured vehicles and other military equipment worth more than $6 billion (3.25 billion pounds).

WHERE'S GEORGE?  AND WHERE'S DOUG?  —  My previous post about the much-quoted "George Harleigh" (said to be a SIU political science professor who worked for Nixon and Reagan administrations) has received enough attention that I thought it merited a new post.

Iran leader asks Germany for help on Zionism  —  German government official says a letter written by Iranian President Ahmadinejad to German Chancellor Merkel asks her to help solve Palestinian problem, deal with Zionism.  Official says letter 'rather weird'

Third time's not the charm: Sunday-morning talk shows still imbalanced … On February 14, Media Matters for America released a comprehensive study analyzing the guest appearances on ABC's This Week, CBS' Face the Nation, and NBC's Meet the Press from 1997 through 2005.

The Allure of the Tool Belt  —  THE evening he made the awkward toast, David Mager was not aware — not consciously, at least — that his longtime girlfriend was involved with the contractor.  As far as he was concerned, it was just a joke, a teasing reference to the amount …

STOCHASTIC BLOGGING....I found myself uninspired by the news today and unable to find anything I felt like blogging about, so instead I played hooky for a couple of hours and went to see A Scanner Darkly.  It turned out to be — interesting.  And remarkably faithful to the book, too …