State of Emergency Declared in Iraq, 7 People Arrested in Domestic Terrorist Plot & Ralph Reed Collects Big Bucks in God's Behalf in Today's Details

-Social Security numbers and other personal data for 28,000 sailors and members of their families have been found on a civilian Web site, triggering a criminal investigation. The Navy said Friday the information was in five documents and included people's names, birth dates and Social Security numbers. Navy spokesman Lt. Justin Cole would not identify the Web site or its owner, but said the information had been removed. He would not provide any details about how the information ended up on the site. DETAILS

-A bipartisan Senate report released on Thursday documented more than $5.3 million in payments to Ralph Reed, the former director of the Christian Coalition and a leading Republican Party strategist, from an influence-peddling operation run by the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff on behalf of Indian tribe casinos. The report by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee portrayed Mr. Reed, now a candidate for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in his home state of Georgia, as a central figure in Mr. Abramoff's lobbying operation, the focus of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department. (God sure does require a lot of cash to be on the side of Republicans.) DETAILS

-The Iraqi government declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew Friday after insurgents set up roadblocks in central Baghdad and fired on U.S. and Iraqi troops outside the heavily fortified Green Zone. (Because the insurgency is in its last throes - blah, blah, blah.....) DETAILS

-Seven people were arrested Thursday in connection with the early stages of a plot to attack Chicago's Sears Tower and other buildings in the U.S., a federal law enforcement official said. (Sadly, I don't trust my governments take on this. This story makes me think of the 2004 election cycle and the use of 'terror alerts'. I suspect this is the same thing - except NOW it also involves the presidents illegal wiretapping policy. Designed to make it palatable to the public in the WEEKS before the election. Im not a conspiracy theorist - I just don't trust them - and neither should you.) DETAILS

-Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, the only Democrat in President Bush's Cabinet, will step down next month. DETAILS

-Republican Senator, Rick Santorum, down 18 percent in the polls in his own re-election bid... "joined" by the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Pete Hoekstra of Michigan... in pimping part of a two-month old military intelligence report describing the existence of old munitions shells with chemical weapons that are degraded, unusable, and non-threatening....see our friends at CrookandLiars for the rest of the DETAILS

-Under a secret Bush administration program initiated weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, counterterrorism officials have gained access to financial records from a vast international database and examined banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and others in the United States, according to government and industry officials. DETAILS

-Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) further inflamed his party's liberal base yesterday by opposing two Senate measures seeking to limit the scope of the war in Iraq. In doing so, Lieberman may have further jeopardized his chances of defeating businessman Ned Lamont in the state's Aug. 8 primary. Lamont, a political unknown until a few months ago, has drawn national attention and rising poll numbers at home in recent weeks -- especially after he drew support from a third of the delegates at a recent state party convention. DETAILS