Two-Thirds of Americans Want Iraq Withdrawal, Phone Jamming Scheme Leads to White House & Neo-Nazi's Infiltrating Military in Today's Details

-A new Gallup poll finds that roughly 2 in 3 Americans urge a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, with 31% wanting this to start immediately. Gallup's director, Frank Newport, sums up the results today: "Taken together, it is perhaps fair to say that a significant majority of Americans would like the United States to either withdraw troops from Iraq or make specific plans to do so, although there is no majority demand that troops be withdrawn immediately." DETAILS

-The fourth man indicted in a New Hampshire phone-jamming scheme -- in which Republican operatives jammed the phone lines of Democratic get out-the-vote efforts in a 2002 Senate race -- will argue at trial that the Bush Administration and the national Republican Party gave their approval to the plan, according to a motion filed by his attorney Thursday. DETAILS

-Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) posted new documents, detailing additional visits from former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff' to The White House. The documents are a partial response to a suit by CREW against the Secret Service. DETAILS

-A decade after the Pentagon declared a zero-tolerance policy for racist hate groups, recruiting shortfalls caused by the war in Iraq have allowed "large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists" to infiltrate the military, according to a watchdog organization. DETAILS

-Authorities have disrupted foreign terrorists plotting to attack the transportation tunnels running beneath the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey, the FBI announced Friday. (Sorry for being cynical but I am not buying these uncovered terrorists plots. We had terror alerts in the run up to the 04 election then relative calm since then. SUDDENLY we have lots of terrorists activities in the news....seems fishy to me.) DETAILS

-Oil prices eased for the second day in a row on Friday after briefly hitting record territory above $75 a barrel on geopolitical tensions and rising gasoline demand. DETAILS

-President Bush will hold a news conference Friday in Chicago as the White House explores new venues for putting the president before the public. DETAILS

-Employers boosted payrolls by a tepid 121,000 in June — an improvement from the previous month but new evidence that companies are reluctant to bulk up their work forces in the face of high energy prices and slowing economic growth. DETAILS