Wall Street's terrible Tuesday: Dow sinks 207 amid credit and consumer concerns.
Stocks slumped for the fourth straight session Tuesday on fresh worries about the mortgage and credit markets and disappointing profit forecasts from retailers Home Depot and Wal-Mart Stores. More here...if you can 'afford' to click :-)

International:
Four suicide bombings kill 175 in Iraq
Four suicide bombers struck nearly simultaneously at communities of a small Kurdish sect in northwestern Iraq late Tuesday, killing at least 175 people and wounding 200 more, Iraqi military and local officials said.

The death toll was the highest in a concerted attack since Nov. 23, when 215 people were killed by mortar fire and five car bombs in Baghdad's Shiite Muslim enclave of Sadr City. And it was most vicious attack yet against the Yazidis, an ancient religious community in the region whose members are considered infidels by some Muslims. Get the specifics here.

U.S. to Designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard as Terrorists
The United States has decided to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country's 125,000-strong military branch, as a "specially designated global terrorist," according to U.S. officials, a move that allows Washington to target the group's business operations and finances.
The Bush administration has chosen to move against the Revolutionary Guard Corps because of what U.S. officials describe as the group's growing involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as its support for extremists throughout the Middle East, the sources said. The decision follows congressional pressure on the administration to toughen its stance against Tehran as well as U.S. frustration with the ineffectiveness of U.N. resolutions against Iran's nuclear program, officials said. Read on truth-seeker...

Netanyahu sweeps Israel's Likud race
Benjamin Netanyahu easily defeated a radical Jewish settler in the race to lead Israel's hardline Likud Party on Tuesday, a party official said, boosting his ambitions to reclaim the country's premiership. While Netanyahu's victory had been all but assured, a strong showing by challenger Moshe Feiglin could have shored up Israel's extreme right and hurt Netanyahu's efforts to rehabilitate Likud after it was trounced in national elections last year. Recent polls have crowned Netanyahu, Likud's leader since late 2005, as the front-runner for Israel's top job. Details

National:
Judge: Reporters Must Reveal Sources in Anthrax Leak Case
Five journalists must identify the government officials who leaked them details about a scientist under scrutiny in the 2001 anthrax attacks, a federal judge said Monday.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton ordered the reporters to cooperate with Steven J. Hatfill, who accused the Justice Department and FBI of violating the federal Privacy Act by giving the media information about the FBI's investigation of him. Just the facts here...

In Other News:
CARVILLE: How Karl Rove lost a generation of Republicans...

ROVE: Dems in danger of repeating mistakes of Vietnam...

Fox’s Right-Wing Alternative To Daily Show Fails: In January, Fox announced that it would begin airing the “Half Hour News Hour” on Sunday nights, the so-called “right-wing answer to ‘The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.‘” “You can turn on any show and see Bush being bashed,” said creator Joel Surnow, producer of Fox’s 24. “There really is nothing out there for those who want satire that tilts right.” As Fox has learned, that’s because no one wants to watch that kind of satire. Details

Live on the radio airwaves August 15, at 1:06 p.m. ET, Karl Rove will be a guest on The Rush Limbaugh Show. This is the former Deputy Chief of Staff’s first exclusive interview since his resignation from the Bush Administration.

Wednesday a three-judge panel will hear arguments on whether a legal battle relating to Bush’s NSA spy program “can go forward.” “The outcome could determine whether the courts will ever rule on the legality of surveillance conducted by the NSA without judicial oversight between 2001 and January 2007.”

The New York Times reports Defense Secretary Robert Gates “keeps his own counsel on Iraq.” Gates has “avoided showing his hand about whether changes will be needed when the Bush administration completes its war strategy review next month.”

From The Right: Dennis Prager: If It's Bad for America, It's Good for Democrats One of the two major political parties of the United States has linked all its electoral hopes on domestic pathologies, economic downturns and foreign failure.

From the Left: Marc Ash: Karl Rove, by What Measure Genius? Truthout's Executive Director, Marc Ash, writes: "I never thought Karl Rove was a genius. Rove is not brilliant; he's ruthless. There is a difference. What makes Rove dangerous is he will take risks no one else will take. Risks are like straws on a camel's back: one too many and you, and the camel are undone."

Quote Of The Day: Gen. Casey: ‘Iraq Will Be A Remarkable Country In A Decade’ If We Stick With Occupation. Don't believe me...hear for yourself.

(Sources: AP, Reuters, DrudgeReport, CNN, FOXNews, ThinkProgress, NYT, TownHall, WashingtonPost, NewsMax, USAToday)