Today’s Must Read: Joe Lieberman: the man, the movie lover, the lorax.

Another US helicopter down just north of Baghdad.

This article in the Washington Post notes that the US military in Iraq has already adjusted procedures for helicopter missions after the four shoot downs over the previous two weeks.

Late Update: Reports say seven killed.

Rudy: For ‘partial birth’ abortion before he was against it.

Study finds that recent federal investigations of Democrats far outnumber investigations of Republicans.

In some respects, I know this is like flogging a dead horse. But here’s another example of why the Washington Times doesn’t operate like a actual newspaper or follow any journalistic standards. You remember last week there was this dust-up over Nancy Pelosi’s use of Air Force jets for travel purposes. After the piece ran in the Times, it came out the Denny Hastert had had just the same use of Air Force jets since 9/11. The difference is that the plane Hastert used won’t fly cross-country without refueling. Here’s the Times at the story again today. It’s basically a rehash. But they again fail to mention this salient point, which more or less exposes the whole story as bogus.

Late Update: I didn’t see this when I first read this story. But buried down deep in the article there is this passage: “Mrs. Pelosi wants a larger aircraft that can fly to her home district of San Francisco nonstop. She also wants to be able to ferry other members of the congressional delegation, family members and her staff.” So, my bad, they did mention it, though it was buried. And of course they included the further claim about wanting to ferry other, a claim for which there appears to be no basis. The general point about the lack of any journalistic ethics or standards at the Washington Times, alas, still very much applies.

The Times has a piece today about how the Pentagon is worried that the ‘surge’ can’t succeed unless other civilian government agencies send their folks in too. Spencer Ackerman talked to a source at the State Department who explains why they’re not eager to head to Baghdad.

Is this really true? Have the two liberal bloggers working on the John Edwards campaign really been fired?

The surge focuses on Baghdad. But, according to the recent National Intelligene Estimate on Iraq, one of the upcoming flashpoints in the war is the multiethnic city of Kirkuk — a city the Kurds are coming closer and closer to controlling.

The Iraqi President’s son, a representative of the Kurds, tells us that the fight over the city is bound to be “messy.”

Def Sec Gates: Senate debate of anti-escalation resolution doesn’t hurt troop morale, after all.

As noted below, Rudy is flip-flopping badly on a key issue for social conservatives: Whether he backs a ban on “partial birth” abortion. Here’s another damning piece of evidence.