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Today marks the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraqi urban areas, the result of a deadline contained in the Status of Forces Agreement (SoFA) that the Bush administration negotiated and the Obama administration embraced. It is a milestone on the road to Iraqi sovereignty and a useful moment, I think, to consider three widespread -- and to some extent inter-related -- arguments that were made about Iraq in recent years.

Brian and Doris Johnson have passed out free Bibles at the Twin Cities Pride Festival for 11 years, but this year their free gifts got them arrested. After being told they couldn't have a booth at this year's festival, the family came anyway and ended up behind bars for trespassing. The Pride Festival started Saturday in Loring Park and is considered the third-largest GLBT celebration in the nation. Since the festival rented out the entire park, police said they could choose which vendors to allow in the park. The Johnsons are born-again Christians and believe homosexuality is a sin. Pride...

UPDATE 6/30/09 3:20 pm :A spokesman from Rep. Carnahan's office has responded to McArthur's Bakery and told the Washington Times, "I think there's been confusion about the issue generally, and I think the estimate that I have seen are the fact that small businesses

Coleman: the GOP's million-dollar man GOP senators, the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee insist that the Coleman challenge has been worth the money — for now. Over the past three months, the NRSC spent nearly $1 million to pay his legal bills, and since Election Day, Republican senators and the RNC have pumped in hundreds of thousands of dollars more. -snip- Coleman’s legal challenge has reached the Minnesota Supreme Court, but many legal experts believe that the court’s decision — expected any day — will affirm that Franken won last November’s election. If that happens, Coleman...

Fox 2 has learned that at least four Cody High School students in Detroit have been shot at the corner of W. Warren and Southfield Road. Police say as many as six people may have been been shot. We're told summer school had just let out at nearby Cody High School. A Detroit Public School spokesperson confirms that four of the shooting victims are Cody High School students. We have not yet identified the other victims. Earlier video shows a woman being handcuffed and placed in a police car, then taken away. We do not know at this time if...

The government of Hungary voted to cut income taxes Monday to pull itself out of recession, and America's media for the most part ignored it. At the same time, German chancellor Angela Merkel is pushing for lower taxes to help her nation's economy, and our press have similarly been less than enthusiastic about sharing the news. One of the exceptions in both cases is the Wall Street Journal which reported the following Tuesday:

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Tuesday said President Obama is “very interested in moving ahead” with a controversial trade agreement with the South American nation. Uribe described a Monday afternoon meeting with Obama as constructive, and said the trade deal was vital to bringing prosperity to his country. “We need the free trade agreement as a sign to investors from all over the world to be much more confident in Colombia,” Uribe said in comments at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Uribe met with Obama on Monday at the White House. They discussed the trade deal, as well as the weekend...

The Industrial Revolution (1820-1870) ushered in significant advances in agriculture which resulted in an increased supply of food and raw materials. Developments in technology resulted in increased production, efficiency, profits, commerce, both foreign and domestic. Industries directly affected were textiles, coal mining, iron, transportation, and steam. The United States was second only to England in the production of wealth and export of goods. The American economy was strong and the dollar was gaining global recognition and nations were waiting in line for America’s exports and the American currency. But this rapid growth began to decline around the turn of the...

Canton -- Team USA's David Wilson sat on a table and stared straight ahead in Team USA's locker room, chewing on his mouthpiece and cradling the American flag in his lap. "Special," Wilson said quietly when asked how it felt to be chosen by his teammates as the USA flag bearer for the inaugural IFAF Junior World Championship at Fawcett Stadium. "My brother is watching on the Internet right now." Wilson's older brother, Ronald, is aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, stationed in San Diego. And, how ironic is it that Reagan's middle name was Wilson? Wilson, from Danville, Va., and...

June 29, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin announced today she does not support a controversial piece of federal climate change legislation that is making its way through Congress. The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 is authored by U.S. Representatives Henry Waxman and Ed Markey. Governor Palin is concerned about the economic and environmental impacts the legislation could have on Alaska. “This bill does not offer enough flexibility to states to meet national standards and goals,” Governor Palin said. “Flexibility is particularly important for Alaska. Our cold climate and rural populations make it difficult for Alaskans...

President Obama announced tougher energy efficiency requirements for certain types of fluorescent and incandescent lighting on Monday, the latest step in the administration’s push to cut the country’s energy use. The new rule , scheduled to take effect in 2012, will cut the amount of electricity used by affected lamps by 15 to 25 percent and save $1 billion to $4 billion a year for consumers, the White House said. “Now I know light bulbs may not seem sexy,” Mr. Obama said, “but this simple action holds enormous promise because 7 percent of all the energy consumed in America is...

It appears as if the spirit of the 9th and 10th Amendments are alive and kicking in Arizona: Voters in Arizona will decide next year whether residents will be subject to mandates in the pending health care reform that President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are promoting. At least five other states - Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota and Wyoming - have considered proposals to take pre-emptive action against the pending federal mandates, but those proposals have either not made it out of committee, failed to get enough votes from one side of the legislature, or are still being...

It was Nancy Pelosi’s star turn. (The blindingly white pant suit — Armani? Lovely.) The House speaker giving the closing argument at the end of the cap-and-trade debate that she personally pushed to the floor. The final pitch. “Just remember these four words for what this legislation means: jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. Let’s vote for jobs.” Then the victorious vote. The greatest achievement of her legislative career. “An extraordinary piece of legislation,” said President Obama. But what did Pelosi really accomplish, other than momentarily satisfying the powerful Green Lobby? 1) Getting major energy and environmental legislation passed in the House...

Actually, he says, it’s more like “rooting against the world,” echoing Krugman’s declaration this morning that opposing C&T constitutes “treason to the planet.” I wonder who came up with this new lefty talking point, in which disagreeing with leftist solutions to environmental problems constitutes the rape of Gaia herself. (Among the rapists in this case: 44 Democrats.) Suspicions, as always, fall on Rahm, although in fairness it’s Pelosi who’s traditionally been most apt to label her opponents unpatriotic or un-American for refusing to embrace the left’s agenda. No matter. File this one away in your “dissent is not patriotic” cabinet....

These are the most intelligent and least intelligent dogs, according to The Intelligence of Dogs by Stanley Coren. “Over 200 professional dog obedience judges, ranked 110 dog breeds on the basis of their intelligence.” Coren is a dog expert and a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia. Here are his top and bottom choices. MOST INTELLIGENT 1. Border collie The border collie is energetic, intelligent, keen, alert and responsive. An intense worker of great tractability, it is affectionate toward friends but may be sensibly reserved toward strangers. When approached, the border collie stands its ground. 2. Poodle...

HB 2439, the AzCDL-requested CCW training reform bill that now includes "Petty Offense" and "Defensive Display" language, is scheduled for a Senate Third Read vote this afternoon (6/30/09). We expect it to pass. From there it will be sent to the House for concurrence votes and a Final Read vote before it can be sent to the Governor. All this must occur before the Legislature shuts down the 2009 session which we are told will be TONIGHT. Rather than wait for the passage of HB 2439 in the Senate, we need to put immediate pressure on House members to support...

I think we now know who California's ideological heir to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is. It's current California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass. Everyone is focused on one quote from her LA Times interview, and no doubt this quote is worthy of focus. --- "How do you think conservative talk radio has affected the Legislature's work? Bass: The Republicans were essentially threatened and terrorized against voting for revenue. Now [some] are facing recalls. They operate under a terrorist threat: "You vote for revenue and your career is over." I don't know why we allow that kind of terrorism to...

A local corruption reporter in Russia died of head injuries on Monday in what police said Tuesday was a drunken fall. Colleagues, on the other hand, are sure it was a revenge attack for muckraking journalism. Vyacheslav Yaroshenko, 63, the editor of a Rostov-on-Don newspaper whose name translates as Corruption and Crime died Monday of a severe head injury sustained April 30. Police say Yaroshenko was drunk and hit his head on the stairs, but colleagues claim Yaroshenko was attacked. "I have no doubt that the attack was directly connected to Yaroshenko's writing and is payback for his journalistic work,"...

Washington (AP) - President Barack Obama is vowing to sign climate change legislation and overhauls in health care and financial regulations this year and is dismissing his critics as naysayers. Obama warned more than 400 of the Democratic Party's top fundraisers Monday evening that winning policy fights will become more difficult. Obama ran through a list of successful administration initiatives, including a $787 billion economic stimulus, a budget resolution, a fair-pay bill and a reversal on a ban on federal funding of stem cell research.

Federal agents have launched an investigation into the Luzerne County Sheriff's Department following a dispute over the handling of an internal probe into the discovery of drugs in a department vehicle, county officials said Monday. A sheriff's deputy tipped officials off to the drug discovery while complaining about the department's failure to file a formal report with the district attorney's office or police, Commissioner Maryanne Petrilla said. "(The) deputy came to the administration and said that this was discovered and not reported," Petrilla said. County officials confronted Sheriff Michael A. Savokinas, who claimed he had made a report to the...