Andrews says he heard racist strategy from Clinton camp  —  A Democratic superdelegate from New Jersey said this week he is worried that unifying the party behind Barack Obama may be difficult because the Clinton camp “has engaged in some very divisive tactics and rhetoric it should not have.”

Black Group Offended by Delivery of T-Shirt  —  The president of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation is disturbed by an offensive t-shirt the group received in the mail Wednesday, the day after Barack Obama claimed his party's presidential nomination.  The shirt has a cartoon image …

The Sleazy GOP Attack Machine Kicks Into High Gear: Welcome to “F**K Whitey” and “RadicalVille”  —  It's only been three days since Sen. Barack Obama historically won the Democratic nomination for president of the United States.  But the Republican venom against the candidate and his wife Michelle is starting to spew.

You buying it?  —  Spiritual wise ones say: This sure ain't no ordinary politician.  You buying it?  —  I find I'm having this discussion, this weird little debate, more and more, with colleagues, with readers, with liberals and moderates and miserable, deeply depressed Republicans …

Dow Slides Nearly 400 Points; Oil Surges  —  The markets opened lower on Friday and then just kept falling, hit by remarkable rise in the price of crude oil and a spike in the unemployment rate.  —  Wall Street suffered its worst losses in more than two months.

3 A.M. For Feminism  —  Clinton dead-enders and the crisis in the women's movement.  —  Amy Siskind, a 42-year-old mother of two from Westchester, stood in a Washington, D.C., park on the last day in May, telling a few hundred cheering people that she would not, under any circumstances, vote for Barack Obama.

City's Top Crane Inspector Is Arrested  —  The city's chief crane inspector was arrested on Friday and charged with taking bribes to approve cranes under his review and for taking money from crane operators who sought to ensure that they would pass the required licensing exam, an official involved in the case said.

Clarke On Iraq War Architects: 'We Shouldn't Let These People Back Into Polite Society'  —  Noting that “prominent Democrats” had ruled out impeachment, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann asked former counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke on his show last night, what “remedy” there could be for the lies …

Dems yank global warming bill  —  Apparently three days of debate was enough for what many senators called “the most important issue facing the planet.”  —  With little chance of winning passage of a sweeping 500-page global warming bill, the Senate Democratic leadership is planning to yank …

Unemployment Rate Jumps to 5.5% As Economy Continues to Shed Jobs  —  WASHINGTON — The U.S. unemployment rate posted its sharpest one-month increase in 22 years last month, suggesting U.S. consumers already facing a housing slump and soaring gasoline prices now confront even more pressure from a weakening jobs market.

US walking away from U.N. rights forum -diplomats  —  Source: Reuters  —  The United States has quietly informed Western allies of its intention to walk away from the U.N. Human Rights Council, diplomatic sources said on Friday.  —  The U.S. delegation has observer status, with the right to speak …

We need a new business cycle vocabulary  —  Today's employment report wasn't as bad as the markets seem to have thought: the big jump in the unemployment rate was due to a jump in labor force participation — maybe by teens looking for gas money? — rather than a large drop in employment.