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This Week with George Stephanopoulos marks the passing of pioneer comedian George Carlin, fast food entrepreneur Wilbur Hardee and costume designer Kermit Love as well as 20 service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to icasualties.org, the total casualty count for Iraq is now 4,427 and per IBC, there were 178 Iraqi civilians killed during that same time period.

Glenn Greenwald writes a post called : Keith Olbermann: Then and now.

Olbermann responds to Glenn here. 'Well, You Stumped Me'

Markos joins in Countdown:

MOULITSAS: Well, if that's the strategy, he has said nothing to indicate that and this is not the sort of thing that I think you have to keep quiet and secretive. I mean, if that's his strategy, he can say, "This is a bill that's flawed," but, really at the end of the day he has a chance to stand for the Constitution and to show that he will protect it against forces that seek to undermine it and he will show that he has, like I said before, that he is a leader and will take the mantle of leadership on this issue and take control of the Democratic Party.

Glenn then continues:

Markos -- who observed: "I don't think he's going to lose any support, I mean, let's be honest. I mean, it's either Obama or John McCain" -- nonetheless added:
I think what's at stake, though, is a lot of the intensity of support for Barack Obama. And he spent the last two years telling us how he's going to be the leader of the free world, not to mention the Democratic Party and this nation . . . . I don't want to hear him talk about leadership. I don't want to hear him talk about defending the Constitution; I want to see him do it.
That is precisely the point, and of course those who believe in defending core constitutional liberties shouldn't remain quiet when any politician -- including Obama -- takes actions to erode them

John Dean clarifies a statement he made on KO's show here....

I gotta go with Glenn on this one...And Jane follows up with this:

It's also interesting to note that the tools created to help organize Obama supporters against his opponents are now being used to organize themselves to communicate with him. There's a new group on "MyBarackObama.com" called "Senator Obama -- Please Vote Against FISA." Stop by and tell the Senator that you'll be voting for him in November and hoping that in the meantime, he does the right thing.

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McSame's BFF Sen. Joe Lieberman appeared on Face The Nation to talk up McCain and his plan for Iraq, using those same old tired Republican talking points, which as we all know, are less than factually-based:

SCHIEFFER: That of course begs the question if he's ready to be president. Do you believe that Barack Obama is not ready to be president?

LIEBERMAN: Let me put it affirmatively, which is what I really mean, because ultimately, we rarely make a choice between perfect and terrible. John McCain is more ready to be President, on foreign and domestic policy, because of his extraordinary experience. And it's good experience. It's experience where he's had the guts to do what's right for his country, including in Iraq, where he opposed the administration's policy for a long time. The surge was implemented by President Bush, it's now working. Senator Obama, unfortunately, like a lot of the Democratic leadership, continues to take a position that we ought to withdraw, which to me is "retreat, accept defeat" even though the new policy is working. I hope that Barack Obama goes to Iraq and frankly, I hope he changes his position, because if we had done what Senator Obama asked us to do for the last couple of years, today, Iran and al Qaeda would be in control of Iraq. It would be a terrible defeat for us and our allies in the Middle East and throughout the world. Instead, we have a country that's defending itself, that's growing economically, where there's been genuine political reconciliation and where Iran and al Qaeda are on the run. And that's the way it ought to be.

SCHIEFFER: You're saying if we had done a drawdown, as Senator Obama had suggested, that Iran would now be in control of Iraq?

LIEBERMAN: Yeah, and here's what I mean: And it's not just Sen. Obama, it's generally the leadership of the Democratic Party. On this issue, I respectfully but deeply disagreed. Because, they were saying a year ago, two years ago, Iraq was lost. They were saying...they were proposing amendments that would have ordered our withdrawal, a retreat of our forces, to begin and end rather rapidly. If that had happened, in Iraq today, there wouldn't be an Iraqi government, there'd be chaos, there'd probably be genocide, definitely civil war. And the main beneficiaries of that would be Iran and al Qaeda. Instead, al Qaeda is on the run, and on the verge of a terrible defeat, one of our most significant victories over them since 9/11, maybe the most significant. Iran is being pushed back. And just a couple of weeks ago, Prime Minister Maliki of Iraq went to Tehran and Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader Khamenei pleaded with Maliki, "don't enter into a long term strategic agreement with America," and he said, "sorry, folks, I want to have good neighborly relations with you, but the Americans are our friends. We appreciate what they've done for us and we're sticking with them."

You know what they say, denial ain't just a river in Egypt. But I have to hold up this lovely little soundbyte as the MOST egregious:

(The Democratic leadership in Congress) were proposing amendments that would have ordered our withdrawal, a retreat of our forces, to begin and end rather rapidly. If that had happened, in Iraq today, there wouldn't be an Iraqi government, there'd be chaos, there'd probably be genocide, definitely civil war

Reality to Lieberman: There IS chaos, there IS genocide and what the hell do you think the combat is but a civil war?

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Neocon Bill Kristol made his usual appearance as part of the "Power Panel" on Fox News Sunday this morning and was surprisingly supportive of Hillary Clinton. In a rather tongue-in-cheek fashion, Bill decries the misogyny that he says plagued the Democratic primaries, and that Republicans are much more open to a strong woman:

"...I think Hillary Clinton was gracious. She's put behind her the horrible sexism and misogyny the Democratic primary voters demonstrated, which I'm appalled by personally, never would have happened in the Republican Party. You know, we're - Republicans are much more open to strong women, and that's why John McCain's going to put Sara Palin , the Governor of Alaska on the ticket."

How sweet of Bill to show such compassion for -- wait, wasn't it Bill who said this last February?

"Look the only people for Hillary Clinton are the Democratic establishment and white women… it would be crazy for the Democratic party to follow the establishment that’s led them to defeat year after year… White Women are a problem - but, you know… we all live with that…"

Yes, it sure was. Because we know there was zero sexism coming from the right during the primary season, right? There was nary a peep on FOXNews about Hillary losing male votes because her voice was shrill, or that her tears were just a political stunt, while male candidates of both parties getting choked up was just a sign of their passion, right? Save it, Bill. Even in jest, it just makes you look petty.

This tournament was incredible. I never watched one as close as I did before. Tivo power....The ESPN announcers do not hold back their sharp criticism of players and the officials. Here's an example----- "name of player....has just disgraced his country." Some of it is supplied by Andy Gray...

It was very refreshing....

UPDATE: Spain wins 1-0...

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During a speech to the National Association of Latino Elected & Appointed Officials John McCain is asked what he would do to insure that all working and middle class Americans can realize the American dream of home ownership in an era of skyrocketing foreclosures and predatory sub-prime loan programs. For reasons that presumably make sense to him, he launches into a discussion of NCLB and education funding, holding up New York City and New Orleans as examples of Republican success stories in education. Successes, really? Talk about being McOut of Touch.

Your question comes to the heart of what Americans are sitting around the kitchen table tonight and saying "how are we going to afford our home loan mortgage payment," some of...many hundreds of thousands have suddenly and recently lost their jobs. Owning one's own home is part of the American dream. I made a proposal that people who are primary owners of primary residence can go down and get a FHA-guaranteed loan, a 30 year loan that's guaranteed by the FHA at the new value of their home, so they'd be able to make their payments. Now the legislation that was winding its way through the Congress and unfortunately, again, did not pass before the United States Senate went out of session. Again, incredible that Congress should go on vacation while Americans are trying to stay in their homes. That's why...I mean, they also re-authorized No Child Left Behind, with the lessons we learned in the intervening years since we passed it, in a bi-partisan fashion, I would fully fund those programs that have never been fully funded. But let me also say to you: choice and competition. I believe that every family in America should have the same choice that Cindy and I did. We chose to send our children to a Catholic school. That was because we were able to do so. So I believe that charter schools work. I believe that they're not much better than public education, but they provide competition. There are two examples I'd like to mention very briefly: New York City and New Orleans. If you missed it, there is now a dramatic uptick in the performance of school children in New York City, a place where a lot of experts thought there would never be improvement. We ought to go up there and see what Mr. Klein and Mayor Bloomberg and others have done and dedicated educators have done in New York City. New Orleans, they had to start at square one, as you know. There are now 30 charter schools in the city of New Orleans. Anyone will tell you that they're starting to see a dramatic improvement in the quality of education in the city of New Orleans. My friends, choice and competition, reward the teachers, God bless them, find bad teachers another line of work. Choice and competition.

I'll bet Mr. "Choice and Competition" has never seen this documentary.

Well, I know who Jane would pick...but in another case of Strange Bedfellows, Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr can't find much to argue with:

[What] George W. Bush has done to the fabric of our constitutional government, to Separation of Powers, to a government of limited powers, to destroy the notion that we are a nation of laws, not of men, is something that is absolutely unforgiveable, irresponsible and terribly, terribly destructive of our notion of government. President Clinton, certainly had my problems with him, but what he did in terms of perjury and obstruction was bad, but it was not destructive of the very systemic foundations of our country.

You can watch more of Jane and Barr's Bloggingheads segment here.

Open Left: The corroded corruption at the heart of 'moving to the center.'

cab drollery: Folksier Than Thou

Bark Bark Woof Woof: The genesis of an email smear campaign.

Publius Endures: Religious Right = a 'Leave Us Alone" coalition?

Firedoglake: The Conservative "civility" scam.

The Opinion Mill's Sunday Bookchat reveals: How Iraq descended into chaos, how a plane crash laid for foundations for the national security state, how Oliver Stone poisoned the well of truth about John F. Kennedy and how the Confederacy set out to win the war by other means

And this man is asking us to trust him with our economy?

Newsweek:

When you're poor, it can be hard to pay the bills. When you're rich, it's hard to keep track of all the bills that need paying. It's a lesson Cindy McCain learned the hard way when NEWSWEEK raised questions about an overdue property-tax bill on a La Jolla, Calif., property owned by a trust that she oversees. Mrs. McCain is a beer heiress with an estimated $100 million fortune and, along with her husband, she owns at least seven properties, including condos in California and Arizona.

San Diego County officials, it turns out, have been sending out tax notices on the La Jolla property, an oceanfront condo, for four years without receiving a response. County records show the bills, which were mailed to a Phoenix address associated with Mrs. McCain's trust, were returned by the post office. According to a McCain campaign aide, who requested anonymity when discussing a private matter, an elderly aunt of Mrs. McCain's lives in the condo, and the bank that manages the trust has not been receiving tax bills on the property. Shortly after NEWSWEEK inquired about the matter, the McCain aide e-mailed a receipt dated Friday, June 27, confirming payment by the trust to San Diego County in the amount of $6,744.42. County officials say the trust still owes an additional $1,742 for this year, an amount that is overdue and will go into default July 1. Told of the outstanding $1,742, the aide said: "The trust has paid all bills shown owing as of today and will pay all other bills due." Read on...

This situation has nothing to do with the ongoing mortgage foreclosure crisis brought on by 8 years of Republican rule and deregulation, this is about a real failure of personal responsibility on the part of the McCains. I realize that they live an elite life of luxury and privilege and have more money and assets than 99% of Americans will ever know in their lifetime, but this is ridiculous. They didn't pay the taxes on this home for four years. Don't they pay people to pay their bills for them? Is this representative of the way John McCain will run OUR budgets? No matter how much cash they have or how many vacation homes they have to keep track of, it pales in comparison to running the U.S. economy. What a huge embarrassment for the GOP candidate and his party.

Sunday Morning - Velvet Underground

I remember this song from my childhood and had no idea until a couple of years ago that this was Lou Reed. Go figure that this came from the same man who gave us Heroin and Walk On The Wild Side. And like Reed, I'd like to think that this Sunday's shows show some diversity of product, a show of not trying to do the same thing time after time, but sadly, no such luck. Basically all the same faces, pushing all the same narratives. Holy Joe Lieberman will be on Face The Nation, no doubt to blame the Democrats for something in his unending search to kiss up to the Republican Party. Hopefully, Wes Clark will get a chance to rebut some of Lieberman's neo-con lies. Alternative presidential candidates Bob Barr and Ralph Nader will be on Late Edition and This Week, respectively. Given how disappointing the Democratic majority has acted this week, I just might pay a little more attention to them.

ABC's "This Week" - Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill.; Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn.; Ralph Nader, independent presidential candidate.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.; retired Gen. Wesley Clark.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif., Dave Freudenthal, D-Wyo., and Bill Ritter, D-Colo.

CNN's "Late Edition" - U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker; Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Govs. Jon Corzine, D-N.J., and Bobby Jindal, R-La.; Terry McAuliffe, campaign chairman for Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"Fox News Sunday" - Gov. Ed Rendell, D-Pa.; former Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Bob Barr, Libertarian presidential candidate.

"The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Katty Kay, David Gregory, Gloria Borger and David Brooks. Topics: Will Hillary's troops climb aboard the Obama bandwagon? What should Obama look for in a running mate? Meter Questions: Can McCain escape the bad economy by warning that Obama will raise taxes? YES: 5 NO: 7; Will Hillary get on board convincingly for Obama? YES: 9 NO: 3

So what's catching your eye this morning?