Breaking: Reid Yanks Defense Authorization Bill To Force GOP's Hand  —  Ratcheting up the stakes in the wake of the GOP's successful blocking of a vote on Iraq withdrawal just moments ago, Harry Reid just announced on the Senate floor that he won't allow a vote on the entire Defense Authorization bill until …

US: Top al-Qaida in Iraq figure captured  —  BAGHDAD - The U.S. command said Wednesday the highest-ranking Iraqi in the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq has been arrested, adding that information from him indicates the group's foreign-based leadership wields considerable influence over the Iraqi chapter.

Legal odds against Vick just got much longer … A grand jury indicted Atlanta Falcons' quarterback Michael Vick on Tuesday, which at least partially answers one question that has lingered since the news first broke about an alleged dogfighting operation on property owned by Vick in Virginia: Was Vick involved?

Flynt Ready to Implicate Another Senator  —  Larry King interviewed Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt last night on how he linked Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) to an alleged prostitution ring.  Flynt now says he's got information linking another U.S. Senator to a sex scandal.

A Resolute Condoleezza Rice  —  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been at George W. Bush's side since he was sworn in as President in 2001, first as National Security Advisor and now as the nation's top diplomat.  Like the President, she has been pilloried for not adequately recognizing …

Townsend: 'I Don't Know' If Al Qaeda Was In Iraq Before The War  —  Yesterday's National Intelligence Estimate concluded that al Qaeda remains strong in Iraq and has been energized by the Iraq war.  It stated: … Today in an interview with NPR, Homeland Security Advisor Frances Fragos Townsend argued …

Fishy behavior  —  People Magazine reports that former Vice President Al Gore's youngest daughter, Sarah Gore, 28, married businessman Bill Lee at the Beverly Hills Hotel earlier this month.  For the rehearsal dinner, at Beverly Hills' Crustacean restaurant, executive chef Helene An prepared …

North to Alaska  —  Rep. Don Young attacked his fellow Republicans on the House floor Wednesday, as he defended education funds allocated to his home-state of Alaska.  —  "You want my money, my money," Young stridently declared before warning conservatives that, "Those who bite me will be bitten back."

Generation Chickenhawk: the Unauthorized College Republican Convention Tour

Hummer Owner Gets Angry Message  —  Vandals Batter D.C. Man's SUV, Slash Its Tires and Scratch In an Eco Note  —  On a narrow, leafy street in Northwest Washington, where Prius hybrid cars and Volvos are the norm, one man bought a flashy gray Hummer that was too massive to fit in his garage.

R. Milhous Giuliani  —  With the same rootless confidence that causes people to ignore hurricane warnings, many social conservatives remain in denial about Rudy Giuliani's chances of winning the Republican nomination.  —  But with three debates and eight months as the Republican front-runner under his belt …

Wash. Post's Murray: GOP won't support Iraq withdrawal because "[t]hey're just not willing to do that to the military"  —  On the July 18 edition of MSNBC Live, during a discussion of Senate Republicans' move blocking an up or down vote on a Democratic amendment aimed at withdrawing troops from Iraq …

I'm Done Defending the Iraq Policy  —  I'm bailing out.  I will no longer defend the policy of keeping U.S. troops in Iraq to assist the Iraqi central government in the ongoing civil war.  While our men and women in the military suffer casualties daily, the Iraqi government refuses …