Spencer Ackerman on whether Special Operations Forces have their own Pentagon-approved rules for detainee abuse — away from the prying eyes of military investigators and Congress.

Whenever you hear the administration crowing about the progress the Iraqi parliament has made towards passing its oil law, keep this in mind.

From Landay at McClatchy …

Wrangling between Bush administration aides and U.S. intelligence agencies is holding up talks with Moscow on future monitoring of the thousands of nuclear weapons that the United States and Russia still aim at one another.

The 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) established the elaborate scheme of inspections, data sharing, advance missile test notifications and satellite surveillance. But the accord will expire in December 2009, and the U.S. spy satellites that locate and count Russian missile sites are stretched thin by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, concerns about North Korea’s and Iran’s nuclear programs and other threats, current and former U.S. officials and experts said.

Administration policymakers argue that the monitoring system is an outdated vestige of the Cold War that restricts the Pentagon’s ability to respond to new threats. They want to replace it with an informal system of looser inspections that would allow the United States to do things such as replacing nuclear warheads with conventional warheads on intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Mitt Romney tries yet again to explain his shifting positions on abortion. Very, very slowly…

Fred Thompson likely to announce Presidential bid after July 4. That and other political news of the day in today’s Election Central Happy Hour Roundup.

Obama, Clinton and Edwards giving speeches today to two of their toughest constituencies: Big Labor and the liberal activists of the Take Back America 2007 conference. That and other political news of the day in today’s Election Central Morning Roundup.

Late Update: In his speech, Obama is planning to emphasize his early opposition to the war.

Today’s Must Read: yet another former Justice Department official’s testimony is called into question. This time it’s voter suppression svengali Hans von Spakovsky.

What will America stand for in the world in the Post-Bush Era?

In The Idea that Is America, Princeton Dean and TPMCafe regular Anne-Marie Slaughter argues that we cannot give up the idea of a values-based foreign policy and must reengage the America traditions of liberty, democracy, equality, tolerance, faith, justice, and humility. By reconnecting with those American and universal values we can reclaim our moral standing on the global stage.

She’ll be discussing the argument in TPMCafe’s Book Club this week with Rachel Kleinfeld, Bruce Jentleson, David Shorr, Suzanne Nossel, Lee Feinstein, Michael Levy and David Rieff. Check it out.

Okay, I think we may have both the necessary and sufficient reason why Hillary Clinton shouldn’t be allowed to be president: her campaign song is by Celine Dion. Truly too horrifying to comtemplate.

Obama, Clinton and Edwards all spoke before ASFCME today — and one thing they all appeared to agree upon was that we’ll be staying in Iraq in some capacity for some time to come.

Video highlights here.