Sarkozy Sets a New Course for Relations With U.S.  —  Two days before the first round of the presidential election last month, Nicolas Sarkozy donned a red checked shirt, jeans and cowboy boots, mounted a small white horse named Universe and rode around the Camargue country in France's deep south.

World Bank Panel Finds Wolfowitz at Fault; Aide Resigns  —  A committee of World Bank directors has formally notified Paul D. Wolfowitz that they found him to be guilty of a conflict of interest in arranging for a pay raise and promotion for Shaha Ali Riza, his companion, in 2005.

September Could Be Key Deadline in War  —  Lawmakers Call for Proof of Progress by Fall  —  Congressional leaders from both political parties are giving President Bush a matter of months to prove that the Iraq war effort has turned a corner, with September looking increasingly like a decisive deadline.

The Realignment of America  —  The native-born are leaving "hip" cities for the heartland.  —  In 1950, when I was in kindergarten in Detroit, the city had a population of (rounded off) 1,850,000.  Today the latest census estimate for Detroit is 886,000, less than half as many.

A Sinking Presidency  —  The president still exudes confidence, but his ship of state is taking on water-fast  —  President Bush's admiration for Abraham Lincoln knows no bounds.  In a recent meeting at the White House, Bush told visitors how Lincoln (whose portrait he has installed in the Oval Office) …

Man who would be Reagan doesn't wow 'em  —  NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — ''Will he announce?'' asked the Lincoln Club of Orange County's publication in preparation for Fred Thompson's appearance at the organization's 45th annual dinner here Friday night.  A rumor, totally unfounded …

Sunni demand could unravel Iraqi government … BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Iraq's top Sunni official has set a deadline of next week for pulling his entire bloc out of the government — a potentially devastating blow to reconciliation efforts within Iraq.  He also said he turned down an offer …

For the Legacy of These Men, You Should Call Congress and Stop This Bill.  —  These are the heroes of Guam.  The men of the United States military who rescued Guam from the Imperial Japanese.  These men shed their blood that Guam might be free.  —  And yet, the House Majority Leader thinks this is not enough.

Golden Gordon  —  My friend Scott at Power Line, who writes beautifully and with such depth about music and musicians, tonight talks about Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot.  In his post, "For Lightheads Only," he discusses the phenomenon of Lightfoot's popularity on tour maybe 20 years after he stopped charting songs:

McCain swears off tribal money, but accepts contributions from lobbyists  —  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who led the Senate Indian Affairs Committee investigation into the Jack Abramoff scandal, has sworn off taking tribal money in his presidential campaign but continues to accept donations …

Hamas Uses Mickey Mouse Look-Alike to Teach Terror to Kids on TV  —  He looks like Mickey Mouse and sounds like Mickey Mouse, but what he's saying is hardly the fairytale stuff of Disney.  —  A Mickey Mouse look-alike named Farfur is teaching Palestinian children the ABCs of terror on Hamas' official television station, Al-Aqsa TV.

Ted Rall's Good Taste  —  I'm not sure if this fits into the category of A-n C—  r — where it's best not to even highlight the idiocy and offensiveness of someone who feeds off of outrage.  Nonetheless, I feel compelled to take note of this latest Ted Rall cartoon, titled …

Poll: Giuliani, McCain lead the pack  —  Asked whom they would most likely support for the Republican nomination, 25 percent of people who identified themselves as Republicans or leaning Republican cited the former mayor of New York and 23 percent cited the senator from Arizona.  (Full Poll Results [PDF] )