Summary J.D. Hayworth -- who is seeking to unseat Sen. John McCain of Arizona in the Aug. 24 Republican primary -- makes illegal immigration the subject of his first TV buy. The ad attacks the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 for potentially costing U.S. taxpayers $2.6 trillion and "rewarding illegal aliens ...

Republican Susana Martinez bashes her opponent, Democrat Diane Denish, over unemployment, the state jet and a Christmas card in her latest ad in New Mexico's gubernatorial campaign. While some of the accusations contain grains of truth, the ad presents little evidence to back up its broad charge that Denish, who ...

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made a false claim about the size of government spending being proposed by the Obama administration. On NBC's "Meet the Press" July 25, he said the president is proposing spending "as a share of our economy" that is "lower" than it was during the Bush administration and ...

This week, according to readers, we picked on Democrats too much and didn't pick on the media enough. In the FactCheck Mailbag, we feature some of the e-mail we receive. Readers can send comments to editor@factcheck.org. Letters may be edited for length.   Too Nonpartisan Your singling ...

This week's Replay starts off with a dust-up about Fox News' handling of – what else? – the Shirley Sherrod story. We also found misleading statements about unemployment and New Jersey's budget.  Dean: Fox 'Absolutely Racist' On "Fox News Sunday," former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean accused Fox News Channel of ...

Republican Sharron Angle's latest attack ad gets the facts about Nevada's miserable economy right, but invites a questionable conclusion. The ad is called "Please Stop," and it mocks Democratic Sen. Harry Reid's campaign slogan of "no one can do more" for Nevada. In the ad, Angle concedes that Reid "has ...

Democratic candidates in Colorado's Senate primary are attacking each other's acceptance of PAC money -- but one is being misleading, while the other fails to tell the full story. First out of the box was Andrew Romanoff, accusing incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet of taking "nearly a million dollars from Washington special ...

In episode 21 of FactCheck Radio, we look at the well-known case of USDA employee Shirley Sherrod -- an incident that shows, once again, context matters. Plus, we highlight false and misleading claims by President Obama, Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold and his GOP opponent Ron Johnson, and New York Democratic ...

Republican Meg Whitman's latest ad accuses Democratic rival Jerry Brown of having "no plan" for California should he be elected governor. Brown calls it a "televised lie." We find that Whitman's ad fudges the facts -- but just a little. The Los Angeles Times vetted this ad quickly, posting its findings ...

Let’s Get to Work, a political committee largely financed by Florida gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott’s wife, is at it again -- falsely claiming that Attorney General Bill McCollum used a “chartered airplane” to commute to work and charged taxpayers $280,000. McCollum has access to a state plane, ...

It's time to invest in jobs.It's really not that hard.  Paul and Brad and their assorted brethren try to dumb it down for the masses, but too often eyes glaze over at even the mention of marginal rates and unemployment extensions, austerity versus stimulus, deficits and debt, stocks, bonds, markets ...

Video here. (Do we) find a cost of freedom buried in the ground? Mother Earth will swallow you Lay your body down Find a cost of freedom buried in the ground. Mother Earth will swallow you Lay your body down.

"You've convinced me - now go out and force me to do it." ~FDRBubba has certainly been in the news a bunch lately between his go-between role in the Sestak non-job offer nonsense and stumping for Blanche Lincoln, insulting her progressive opposition just for sport.I was reminded of his excuse ...

Video here Don't know where you been I don't know what you do But I'm so tired of lies Why should I keep track of you? If you won't be True to me Then feel free to leave But don't forget I let you in And now I let you out again You have yet to win My heart, my friend Don't ...

So, what's going on in the world of Zen Comix? I'm not posting regularly, but I'm writing some stuff for a longer, offline project. I'm going outside to smell the strawberries and apple blossoms. I still visit some of my favorite , funny sites, and if I'm motivated enough, I ...

PHOENIX — The sheriff of Arizona's most populous county is making room in a vast outdoor jail and determined to round up illegal immigrants to fill it. Police from the U.S.-Mexico border to the Grand Canyon are getting last-minute training. And protests and marches are planned throughout Phoenix.

Arizona's new immigration law takes effect Thursday, creating a potentially volatile mix of police, illegal immigrants and thousands of activists, many planning to show up without identification as a show of solidarity.

At least one group plans to block access to federal offices, daring officers to ask them their immigration status.

"Our message for that day is: 'Don't comply, don't buy,'" said activist Liz Hourican, whose group, CodePink, plans to block the driveway for immigration offices in downtown Phoenix.

As both sides prepare, a federal judge is deciding whether to step in and block the law. It requires officers enforcing other laws to check a person's immigration status if they suspect the person is in the country illegally. It also bans illegal immigrants from soliciting work in a public place.

Police across the state scrambled on Tuesday to train officers, including on how to avoid racial profiling, and plan for a potential influx of detainees.

The hardest-line approach is expected in the Phoenix area, where Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio plans his 17th crime and immigration sweep. He plans to hold the sweep, regardless of any ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton.

Arpaio, known for his tough stance against illegal immigration, plans to send about 200 deputies and volunteers out, looking for traffic violators, people wanted on criminal warrants and others. He's used that tactic before to arrest dozens of people, many of them illegal immigrants.

"We don't wait. We just do it," he said. "If there's a new law out, we're going to enforce it."

He said that the space he made in the complex of military surplus tents can handle 100 people, and that he will find room for more if necessary.

Elsewhere in the state, police officials said they didn't expect any dramatic events. They were busy wrapping up training sessions this week, with some agencies saying that untrained officers will not be allowed on the streets.

Many of the state's 15,000 police officers have been watching a DVD released this month that signs that might indicate a person is an illegal immigrant are speaking poor English, looking nervous or traveling in an overcrowded vehicle. It warned that race and ethnicity do not.

Some agencies added extra materials, including a test, a role-playing exercise or a question-and-answer session with prosecutors.

Critics of the law among police chiefs remain, saying that the law is so vague that no amount of training could eliminate potential confusion.

"Am I going to sit here and say I think every officer has a clear understanding of the law when they leave the training?" Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villasenor said. "No, because I think the law is poorly constructed."

Arizona's law gives police two options to confirm whether a detainee is an illegal immigrant.

Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declined to comment on preparations or the role federal authorities would play in enforcing the law, except to say ICE "focuses first on criminal aliens who pose a threat to our communities."

Arpaio vowed to arrest all illegal immigrants and make them spend time in his jail. Other police officials said they'd try to get the Border Patrol involved as often as possible to avoid the time and cost of booking the detainees into jail.

Prosecutors are also preparing for a potential influx of cases. They are reminding officers that they are required to explain the circumstances of the original stop, why they suspected the person was an illegal immigrant and any comments made by the suspect.

A march from the state Capitol is planned at 4:30 a.m., followed by a prayer service, a rally outside Arpaio's office and later that afternoon a concert outside a Maricopa County jail, according to the Los Angeles-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

The protesters both from Arizona and elsewhere plan to show up without identification and hold peaceful rallies.

"It's defiance, to see if they want to come and arrest those people," said Pablo Alvarado, the executive director of the NDLON. "We dare them to come and ask."

Associated Press writer Jacques Billeaud contributed to this report.

KILLEEN, TX - The owners and organizers behind an anti-war coffeehouse near Fort Hood have been fighting against mounting financial pressure.

"Under the Hood" is a cafe for soldiers and their families to "gather, relax and speak freely about the wars and the military" says its website.

But that draw hasn't been earning them the donations in recent months to keep their doors open.

"Two months ago when we were looking at the books, it was clear that Under the Hood would not be around for too much longer if we did not start engaging a larger group of small donors, the big checks, the grant funding has just not been there," said Matthis Chiroux, coffeehouse organizer.

That same dip in checks received coincided with the current economic recession that has hit many non-profits especially tough.

Veterans in Killeen however voiced opinions that it has less to do with the recession, and more to do with the "hard sell" they face in a military town.

"Good. Good,  I couldn't support that, if they're against the war, I'm against them," said Billy Reiken, a Vietnam veteran in response to their financial problems.

 "We're not pro-war, we're pro-support," said Bob Brown, commander of the American Legion post in Killeen.

The possibility of closing became all too real two months ago when coffeehouse organizers realized they may not make it three more months.

With the help of a recent anti-war convention in Austin and also a protest held outside Fort Hood earlier this month, organizers saw more donations come in.

"We are good until the first of the year, December or so, and we have fundraising and people have offered fundraising for us, so we are hoping for the best," said Cindy Tomas, Under the Hood owner.

As far as its presence in Killeen and in proximity to Fort Hood, "It should be a hard sell for them to do anything around here," Rieken said.

Six House members crossed the Capitol to stage a "sit-in" in the Senate chamber  to protest what they believe to be GOP obstruction of jobs legislation.

These House Democrats sat quietly in the back of the chamber and were approached by both Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois and Republican Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah, who shook the hands of the upper chamber visitors.

Democratic Reps. Donna Edwards of Maryland, Carolyn Kilpatrick of Michigan, Danny Davis of Illinois, Ed Perlmutter of Colorado, Gwen Moore of Wisconsin and Jackie Speier of California seated themselves in the area from which Senate staffers ordinarily watch their bosses on the floor.

Nothing really came of the silent protest.

But it was the second planned trip from the House side of the Capitol to the Senate — with the first being last week — and this brief sojourn to the upper chamber drew the attention of reporters when Senate Press gallery staffers announced their presence on the floor.

The orchestrated "sit-in" was a modest illustration of House frustration over the dozens of major pieces of legislation that have cleared the lower chamber only to be stuck in legislative limbo in the Senate. In addition to a pending small-business jobs bill, the House has passed climate change legislation, campaign finance reform and a tax extenders package — all of which await Senate approval.

This has been a tough week for the Defense Department. WikiLeaks released thousands of government documents on the Afghanistan war, and an even bigger treasure trove on Iraq may be next, while a government audit just reported that the Pentagon cannot account for more than 95 percent of $9.1 billion in Iraq reconstruction money.

But at least the cash will keep coming. With the August recess looming, the House just approved a $59 billion bill to continue war funding and to increase spending on operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, by a comfortable 308–114 vote. That's the good news for the Pentagon.

The bad news? The antiwar caucus is growing by leaps and bounds: 102 Democrats, including Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey (D-Wis.), voted against the bill (although Obey shepherded the bill to the floor, so his was a protest vote). That's a substantial increase when only 32 Democrats declined to support a larger war-spending bill a year ago.

With only 12 Republicans joining them, the antiwar Democrats in the House do not, by themselves, have the power to reverse the escalation in the AfPak theater. But what their displeasure signals—amid rising casualties, rumblings from Senate Foreign Relations chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.), an anti-Afghanistan war gaffe from Republican Party chairman Michael Steele, and the recent controversy over comments by ousted Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal—is that the once near-unanimous support for the U.S. presence in Afghanistan is becoming controversial, particularly on the left.

That, in turn, could mean that there will be pressure on President Obama to move more quickly toward an Afghanistan withdrawal from within his party's grassroots in the run-up to his reelection bid in 2012. Just this week, liberal commentator Arianna Huffington told NEWSWEEK's Daniel Lyons that the editors of her popular Web site, the Huffington Post, uniformly oppose the Afghanistan war as unnecessary. That may be a bellwether of rising sentiment on the left.

BOISE - U.S. military commanders ordered all operations stopped in the moments after Spc. Bowe Bergdahl was reported missing in Afghanistan June 30, 2009, new secret military documents reveal.

Within hours, soldiers started looking for the Hailey, Idaho, native using various tactics including drones, a paratrooper, a tracking dog team and several fighter jets. They went active the same morning Bergdahl went missing.

Soliders also breached two enemy locations in the search but had nothing serious to report, according to the leaked documents.

Posted to the website WikiLeaks, 90,000 pages of secret military documents reveal new information on U.S. armed forces operations throughout Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Several pages of the leaked documents highlight how Spc. Bergdahl was captured. The events surrounding his disappearance have been under much speculation and rumors.

The Pentagon has previously said Bergdahl was captured after lagging behind on a patrol. One radio traffic transmission included in the report, apparently from the Taliban, says Bergdahl was captured while he was unarmed and stopping to go to the bathroom.

The radio traffic also reveals the Taliban lined "lots of I.E.D.s on the road" to prevent rescue teams from finding Spc. Bergdahl.

The documents also uncover new information regarding talks with Taliban "elders" about a possible release.

It reads: "The elders were asked by the Taliban to a trade between the U.S. and Taliban. The Taliban Terms are 15 of their Taliban brothers in U.S. jail and some money in exchange for Pvt. Bergdahl. The elders assured me that Pvt. Bergdahl is alive and that he in not being harmed."

"The elders are going to to have another meeting with themselves to discuss helping us this afternoon. They requested to have another meeting with me the same time tomorrow."

Read the full report.

The last time the world saw Bergdahl was April 7, 2010 by the Taliban. In the video Bergdahl pleads for an end to the war and a release of the prisoners being held by the U.S.