International:

Russia said flying more missions near U.S. territory

Russian bombers are flying more missions than normal near U.S. territory, including Alaska, demonstrating their long-range strike capability, U.S. and Canadian officials said on Monday.
Russian aircraft carrying cruise missiles ran an aviation exercise near Alaska two weeks ago, according to Canadian Col. Andre Dupuis, an officer at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a U.S.-Canadian operation responsible for protecting both countries' airspace.

"They didn't do it to practice alone. They're making a point, doing it outside of their normal training cycle," he told Reuters. "They maintain capability." Read on...

U.N. Web site hacked with anti-war post

Computer hackers posted an anti-war message on the U.N.'s official Web site, claiming that U.S. and Israeli policies in the Middle East were taking innocent lives, the United Nations said.

The first attack on a U.N. Web page reserved for statements from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon occurred at about 9 a.m. Sunday morning, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said. The Web site of the U.N. Department of Public Information was then attacked as was the U.N. Cyberschoolbus site for teachers and students and the U.N. Economic and Social Council's site.

National:

(In Case You Haven't Heard)...Bush Adviser Karl Rove to Resign at End of Month

Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political strategist and good friend, has announced his resignation, effective Aug. 31.

"Mr. President, I am grateful for the opportunity you gave me to serve our nation, I am grateful for being able to work with the extraordinary men and women you brought into this administration and I am grateful to have been a witness to history.," Rove said on the White House lawn before leaving with Bush and their families on Air Force One bound for Texas. Read the full story here...

Secrecy may be spy program's defense

The Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program has a built-in feature the Justice Department believes may shield it from ever being challenged as unconstitutional: secrecy.

The administration has acknowledged it intercepted some U.S. telephone conversations without warrants as it hunted for terrorists.

Whose calls? The government isn't saying. And since only those who were spied on have grounds to sue, it's almost impossible to mount a successful legal challenge. Interesting...

In Other News...

When asked whether he was leaving to avoid congressional scrutiny, Karl Rove told the WSJ: “I’m not going to stay or leave based on whether it pleases the mob.” And Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has made clear he’s not going to determine his subpoenas based on whether Rove stays or leaves. Leahy issued the following statement this morning, explaining the Senate Judiciary Committee “will continue its investigation” into Rove. Read here

Katrina Aid Goes Toward Football Condos: With large swaths of the Gulf Coast still in ruins from Hurricane Katrina, rich federal tax breaks designed to spur rebuilding are flowing hundreds of miles inland to investors who are buying up luxury condos near the University of Alabama's football stadium. Details here.

DHS Granting Millions for Surveillance Cameras: The department won’t say exactly how much money is being spent on the surveillance systems. But an investigation by the Boston Globe found that at least tens and probably hundreds of millions of dollars are being spread around the country for those systems as part of Homeland Security grants. Read on.

From The Right: Robert D. Novak: House of Corruption? Murtha is called "King Corruption" by Republican reformers, but what happened after midnight Aug. 5 is not a party matter.

From The Left: Jonathan Alter: How Fear Destroyed the Fourth Amendment "I hate to sound melodramatic about it, but while everyone was at the beach or 'The Simpsons Movie' on the first weekend in August, the US government shredded the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, the one requiring court-approved 'probable cause' before Americans can be searched or spied upon. This is not the feverish imagination of left-wing bloggers and the ACLU. It's the plain truth of where we've come as a country."

Quote Of The Day (so good it HAD to be on video):

Video Surfaces of Cheney, in 1994, Warning That An Invasion of Iraq Would Lead to 'Quagmire'

(Sources: AP, FOXNews, Reuters, ThinkProgress, TownHall, TruthOut, NewsMax, EditorAndPublisher, WSJ, Breitbart, ...and last but not least YOUtube (priceless))