Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell admits he made a little mistake and totally lied to Congress about the whole illegal spying on everybody and how it foiled a major terror plot in Europe — total bullshit, sorry, whoops! [MSNBC/Newsweek]

Terrorist Surveillance Program ruled to be in violation of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
Osama bin Laden, reached by phone, calls news “thrilling.”
NSA officials forced to put giant glass to walls of telecommunications companies, lean in close. MORE »

• Israel will continue to bomb Lebanon for another week or two; then the US will send in Condoleezza Rice. Meanwhile, as a debate continues over Israel’s use of possibly “disproportionate” force, hundreds of Americans were evacuated from Beirut. [NYT, NYT, WP]

• Bush’s seeming inability or unwillingness to handle North Korea and Iran with the same swagger that met foreign threats of his first term has angered conservative intellectuals and pundits. [WP]
• The USDA somehow ended up in a crooked powdered-milk racket. [WP]
• Stem cell research has slowed over the last few years, and the bill passed by the Senate yesterday would help reverse that trend — if not for Bush’s expected veto, which congress is not expected to overturn. [NYT, WP]
• In what some critics call “a politically motivated interference in Justice Department affairs,” President Bush blocked the DoJ’s own internal affairs office from investigating the NSA wiretapping program. [WP]
• The Senate unanimously passed a resolution endorsing Israel’s bombing campaign against Lebanon yesterday. [WP]
• President Bush will address the NAACP at its national convention. [WP]
• A House hearing on immigration reform devolved into sniping at the Senate and the president. [NYT]

• Ever wonder what passive-aggressive uptight agriculture administrators do when they boil over? Now you know.

• Katherine Harris’s senate campaign reminds us of a kitchy 60’s feminist empowerment fantasy but we’re not sure which one. Oh well, there’s not many better ways to spend a weekend then smoking a joint and watching them all.
• When times are desperate, and you just have to meet Tim Russert, you might want to try showing up on Nebraska Ave. Sunday morning - you know what time - with a nice floral arrangement and a card addressed to, “the most interesting and important man on television.” We’re not sayin’, we’re just sayin’.
• As the Vanity Fair cover fades from memory, Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame decide it’s time to get theirs, hold press conference to let us know. Dick Cheney is shaking in his Allen Edmonds.
• Thanks to Arlen Specter using his “serious face” in negotiations with the White House, a secret court is now allowed to put it’s quarter in the slot and get a 30 second peek at the steamy domestic spying program.
• Is this heaven Osama? No. It’s Indiana, the place where terrorists’ dreams come true.
• We love going Bananas for the semi-monthly “Castro’s dead” rumors.
• The National Press Club makes an honest reporter out of the new and improved Jeff Gannon.
• Wonk’d, Washington’s celebrity sighting column of record, is entered as “Exhibit-W” in the trial for infamous Duke “laxer” Collin Finnerty.

Arlen Specter announced today that the administration has tentatively agreed to let the secret FISA court do a “one-time review” of the illegal NSA domestic spying program that has been in operation for years and will continue to be in operation indefinitely. President Bush reserves the right to change any bit of the deal he feels like changing. Mr. Specter said the agreement reflected the fact that “the president does not have a blank check.” MORE »

Peter Hoekstra, wishing to appear slightly interested in this whole “oversight” business, made a big point of demanding that the White House fill him in on an intelligence program they’d been hiding from the Intelligence Committee, so that the Intelligence Committee could hide it from the American public. We’re so very proud. MORE »

• The Supreme Court strikes down the Bush Administration’s plan to try Guantanamo detainees before military commissions, as violative of both U.S. law and the Geneva Conventions. [NYT, WSJ, USAT, WP]

• The Court’s ruling places constitutional limits on Bush’s use of executive power in the war on terror and raises questions concerning how the Guantanamo Bay detainees’ cases should now be handled. Republicans are hoping to craft a legislative fix. [WP, NYT, LAT]
• As midterm elections approach, Senate Republicans are trying to figure out how to move forward on immigration reform and reach a compromise with their colleagues in the House. [WP]
• The House Republicans’ aggressive stance on immigration may harm Bush’s effort to improve the GOP’s standing with Latino voters. [WP]

  MORE »

• Polling shows an increase in support for President Bush, as well as a sharp divide in public opinion over setting a deadline for Iraq withdrawal. [WP]

• Bush condemns the media’s disclosure of the Administration’s secret bank-records surveillance program, calling it “disgraceful.” [WP; NYT]
• A deeply divided Supreme Court strikes down Vermont’s restrictions on campaign contributions and campaign spending by candidates. [NYT; LAT; WP]
• Condoleezza Rice defends Afghan President Hamid Karzai, denying reports that his foreign and Afghan support is eroding. [WP]
• Rush Limbaugh is detained for over three hours at a Florida airport, after being found in possession of a bottle of Viagra without a prescription. [AP]

• The would-be Sears Tower attackers rounded up in Florida last week were incompetent boobs who thought jihadists wore uniforms. The undercover agent who caught them provided them with pretend Islamic Army Boots. [Herald-Sun]

• Arlen Specter says the White House and Congress are close to an agreement to put the NSA wiretapping program under court authority. [NYT]
• Peter King, head of the House Homeland Security Committee, would like to prosecute the New York Times for revealing the existence of the administration’s secret financial-monitoring program. [WP]
• Torrential weekend rain crippled much of Washington, flooding much of the area and felling a tree on the White House lawn. [WP]
• As more Americans embrace calls for withdrawal, congressional Democrats are complaining that a privately-presented Pentagon Iraq plan closely resembles their failed “troop drawdown” resolution. [WP, WP]

• President Bush is turning 60 next week. [WP

* Jonah Goldberg really wants some holographic technology, ’cause regular internet porn just isn’t doing it for him any more. [The National Review] MORE »

• The Senate Indian Affairs Committee released its final report on Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon’s Indian casino lobbying deals. The report disputes claims made by Bob Ney. The Justice Department investigation is ongoing. [WP, ABC]

• Using “broad new interpretation of the Treasury Department’s administrative powers to bypass traditional banking privacy protections” and a declaration of emergency, the Bush Administration has been secretly tapping into confidential international finance records for years. [WP, NYT]
• The Senate voted against withdrawal from Iraq, with Democrats failing to establish a timeline for departure. Senator Joe Lieberman voted against two Democratic amendments calling for withdrawal. [CSM, WP, WP]
• Seven people were arrested in Miami and charged with plotting terrorist attacks on a number of buildings, including the Sears Tower in Chicago. [St Petersburg Times]