The downtown Sheraton in Denver was handing out WOODEN key cards, made of WOOD, as part of the Democrats’ secret plan to embarrass themselves in front of the nation with their deliriously impractical solutions to such urgent problems as America’s overreliance on plastic hotel key cards. Of course these wooden key cards did not work right and clerks had to give people plastic cards so that they could actually get into their rooms. Next thing you know, we will be hearing that the DNC-endorsed woven hemp condoms for local courtesans weren’t such a hot idea either. [New York Sun]

Henry the Intern is on sabbatical. The Daily Briefing isn’t, though it is a bit later than usual.

• President George W. Bush makes a surprise visit to Iraq to visit with new Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who has just announced a new security plan for Baghdad. [NYT, WP]

• Karl Rove’s attorney announces to the media that his client will not be indicted in Patrick Fitzgerald’s Valerie Plame leak case. Rove is “delighted, obviously….” [WP, NYT]
• Israeli airstrikes kill 10 people in Gaza, hours after “hundreds of Palestinian police loyal to Abbas went on a rampage against the Hamas government.” [NYT]
• The FBI released the 2005 crime statistics, showing an overall nationwide rise in violent crime of 2.5 percent, fueled by a “a surge of killings and other attacks in many Midwestern cities.” Robbery was up 14.6 percent in DC, though rapes and murders were down. [WP]
• David H. Safavian becomes the first person to go to trial on charges related to the Jack Abramoff scandal, with prosecutors accusing him of “doing Jack Abramoff’s bidding” as a federal procurement officer. [WP]
• The EPA loosened a rule designed to keep groundwater near oil drilling sites clean after a well-connected Texas oilman wrote a letter to Karl Rove. Environmentalists are accusing the administration of “political payoff,” due to Rove’s forwarding of the letter to White House environmental advisors with a note reading “get a response ASAP.” [LAT]

• Pentagon commits $300m to “psychological warfare operation” that “includes plans for placing pro-American messages in foreign media outlets without disclosing the U.S. government as the source”; bumper stickers and t-shirts are also being considered. [USAT, USAT]
• Army approves new, classified rules for interrogation. Official: “This is a stick in McCain’s eye. It goes right up to the edge. He’s not going to be comfortable with this.” [NYT]
• Pentagon is reportedly monitoring the activities of “peaceful anti-war and counter-military recruitment groups.” [NBC, Reuters]
• Administration is debating the need for new nuclear warheads; “the U.S. could someday spend billions of dollars replacing much of the current arsenal.” [WSJ]
• Democrats press for subpoenas of White House officials regarding government response to Katrina. [WP]
• Texas prosecutors are investigating possible ties between Rep. Tom DeLay and lobbyist Brent Wilkes, who was linked to former Rep. Randy Cunningham. [NYT]
• House nears passage of tough border security bill. [NYT]
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce splits with Republican leadership over immigration bill. [WP]

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