International:
Myanmar protests push Iran down U.N. agenda

President George W. Bush announced new U.S. sanctions against Myanmar on Tuesday and Western leaders warned the southeast Asian nation's army rulers against crushing pro-democracy protests by force.

Urging all countries to "help the Burmese people reclaim their freedom," Bush told the annual U.N. General Assembly he was imposing financial sanctions and a visa ban on more members of the junta, their supporters and relatives. Details

Here We Go Again??? House Votes to Tighten Sanctions on Iran
The House of Representatives passes a bill that tightens existing sanctions on Iran, specifically on companies that invest more than $20 million in the Islamic regime, including in its oil industry.

France says nuclear weapons in Iran's hands 'unacceptable'

French President Nicolas Sarkozy piled pressure on Iran at the United Nations Tuesday, saying it would be unacceptable for the Islamic republic to get hold of nuclear weapons.

Sarkozy's comments came just hours before Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was due to address the world body, in a speech expected to attempt to play down fears of Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

"Iran has the right to nuclear energy," Sarkozy told world leaders at the General Assembly's 62nd session here. "But allowing Iran to have nuclear weapons would mean an unacceptable risk for regional and world stability."

National:
U.S. Homes Post Steepest Price Drop in 16 Years

The decline in U.S. home prices accelerated nationwide in July, posting the steepest drop in 16 years, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday.

Home prices have fallen by more every month since the beginning of the year. Get more here...

Bush Blasts Myanmar Dictatorship
"Every civilized nation also has a responsibility to stand up for the people suffering under dictatorship," the president said. "In Belarus, North Korea, Syria and Iran, brutal regimes deny their people the fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration" of the United Nations. FULL STORY

Lieberman-Kyl Amendment Is ‘Dangerous,’ ‘Puts Us On Record’ In Support Of Iran War
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) spoke forcefully this afternoon on the Senate floor against the Lieberman-Kyl amendment. Durbin described the “sense of the Senate” legislation as a “dangerous effort to put us on the record for the use of military force in Iran.”

Next On the National Agenda?

The Politico reported yesterday that President Bush has been "diligently" listening to the agenda of Norman Podhoretz -- the "patriarch of neoconservatism" who has repeatedly called for war against Iran -- and recently enlisted Podhoretz to discuss his views on Iran. In a meeting that "was not on the president's public schedule," Bush and Karl Rove "sat listening to Norman Podhoretz for roughly 45 minutes at the White House." Bush has loyally supported Podhoretz's agenda in the past. In 2004, he bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Podhoretz, calling him a "fierce intellectual man" with "fine writing" and a "great love for our country."

Today, Podhoretz's calls for bombing Iran are being echoed in the administration. Vice President Cheney reportedly considered a plan to allow Israel to conduct missile strikes against Iran "in an effort to draw a military response from Iran, which could in turn spark a U.S. offensive against targets in the Islamic Republic." Podhoretz has argued that "if we were to bomb the Iranians as I hope and pray we will, we'll unleash a wave of anti-Americanism all over the world that will make the anti-Americanism we've experienced so far look like a lovefest." By enlisting Podhoretz's advice, Bush is demonstrating that there isn't any idea too radical for him to consider.

In Other News…
Violent crime rose nearly two percent last year, slightly more than expected, the FBI reported on Monday. "The number of big-city murders also increased, by 1.8 percent, the same rate as homicides nationwide."

In a victory for the Bush administration, a special military appeals court ruling "removed a legal hurdle that has derailed" trials for detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The ruling allows prosecutors to introduce new evidence that defendants labeled "enemy combatants" are actually "alien unlawful enemy combatants," as the law requires for them to be tried in military tribunals.

Following large protests last week supporting six African-American teenagers in Jena, LA, white supremacists have begun calling for retaliatory violence. The threats include the posting on a neo-Nazi website of the names, addresses and phone numbers of some of the six teenagers and their families. In an interview, the Mayor of Jena, Murphy McMillin, "praised efforts by pro-white groups to organize counter-demonstrations."

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said of the autoworkers strike: "Job security is one of our primary concerns. ... We're talking about investment and we're talking about job creation" and preserving benefits, he said. Negotiators were to return Tuesday morning for their 22nd straight day of bargaining.

"The world's top leaders should meet every three months, starting next year, until a plan is drawn up to reduce emissions blamed for global warming, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore said on Monday."

A suicide bomber in Iraq blew himself up on Monday "at a banquet intended to be a reconciliation feast between provincial officials and former Sunni insurgents in Diyala Province, killing 16 people and wounding at least 28."

From The Right: Dennis Prager: Does the Left Value Truth? There are conservatives who lie and there are liberals who lie. Neither blue nor red has a monopoly on truth-tellers. However...

From the Left: Tom Krisher and Dee-Ann Durbin: United Auto Workers Vote for National Strike In the end, the first nationwide strike against General Motors Corp. in 37 years came because the United Auto Workers want something that GM will find difficult to promise: Job security.

Quote Of The Day: "Now there is no choice. I'm preparing a lawsuit."-- Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), quoted by the Miami Herald, on appealing the DNC's sanctions against Florida at the 2008 convention.

(Sources: TownHall, TruthOut, AP, FOXNews, ThinkProgress, NewsMax, DrudgeReport, NYT, Breitbart, AFP, WhiteHouse website, ThePolitico, Haaretz, PoliticalWire, PoliticalCartoons.com, LAT)