CIA Admits That Info About Torture Briefings For Dems May Not Be Accurate  —  As I noted below, newly released documents appear to show that according to the CIA, officials briefed Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats back in 2002 about the use of torture techniques on terror suspects.

Palin pulls out of White House Correspondents' Dinner  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will miss a chance to chat up President Obama this weekend because she's cancelling plans to attend the White House Correspondents' dinner, but she's got a good excuse.

Someone at Best Western gets it  —  If this ad doesn't present a story worth telling, nothing does:  —  With props to Bob McCarty.

Stressing the Positive  —  Hooray!  The banking crisis is over!  Let's party!  O.K., maybe not.  —  In the end, the actual release of the much-hyped bank stress tests on Thursday came as an anticlimax.  Everyone knew more or less what the results would say: some big players need to raise more capital …

Diminished Conservative Groups Gear Up for Supreme Court Nomination Battle  —  Conservatives Prepare For Underdog Role  —  When John G. Roberts Jr. was nominated to the Supreme Court as chief justice, a pro-Republican group called Progress for America had $18 million in the bank.

Jerusalem worried over breakdown of U.S.-Israel cooperation under Obama  —  Senior officials in Jerusalem expressed concern recently over the sharp decline in the coordination between Israel and the United States on security and state affairs since President Barack Obama's entered the White House …

Dissident Chrysler Group Is Likely to Disband  —  The withdrawals of OppenheimerFunds and Stairway Capital Management will likely drop the group, calling itself the Committee of Non-TARP Lenders, below 5 percent of Chrysler's $6.9 billion in secured debt, this person said.

U.S. Jobless Rate Hits 8.9%, but Pace of Losses Eases  —  The United States economy lost 539,000 jobs in April, the government reported on Friday, a sign that the relentless pace of job losses was starting to level off slightly.  —  A year ago, the loss of more than half a million jobs …

Obama sends handwritten letter to gay soldier ousted from the military promising to repeal DADT.  —  In January, Sandy Tsao, an army officer based out of St. Louis, MO, told her superiors that she is gay — a violation of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law.  Tsao then wrote to President Obama …

Arabic Linguist Fired From Army For Being Openly Gay  —  In spite of President Obama's declared stance against the “don't-ask-don't-tell” policy that keeps openly gay individuals out of the military, the U.S. Army on Thursday told Lt. Dan Choi he is being dismissed for publicly revealing his homosexuality.

Your Yard Sale Is Illegal  —  Thinking of having a yard sale this weekend?  Before you do, be sure to consult CSPC Publication #254 [PDF].  —  This handy 28-pager from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reminds the American people that, thanks to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act …

The NYT Finally Prints “Torture”  —  Here we have it in broad daylight: the New York Times' cowardice in the face of its own government.  In an obit today, the editors manage to use the word “torture”.  It's in an obit.  The obit runs:  —  Col. Harold E. Fischer Jr. …

It's Church not Prayer That Makes Us Good  —  Mike Gerson has a column up today laying out some of the key findings to be featured in Bob Putnam and David Campbell's upcoming book, “American Grace,” that I mentioned on Wednesday.  —  In a nutshell, writes Gerson:

U.S. threatens to rescind stimulus money over wage cuts  —  The Obama administration threatens to rescind billions in stimulus money if Gov. Schwarzenegger and lawmakers do not restore wage cuts to unionized home healthcare workers.  —  Reporting from Sacramento — The Obama administration …

Under Restructuring, GM To Build More Cars Overseas  —  The U.S. government is pouring billions into General Motors in hopes of reviving the domestic economy, but when the automaker completes its restructuring plan, many of the company's new jobs will be filled by workers overseas.

Obama and the 9/11 Families  —  The president isn't sincere about ‘swift and certain’ justice for terrorists.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  In February I was among a group of USS Cole and 9/11 victims' families who met with the president at the White House to discuss his policies regarding Guantanamo detainees.

Canadian Exceptionism  —  Canada is one of the few countries without a major banking crisis.  Weirdly, this was also true in 1930.  I've seen this list of the success factors for Canadian banks in several places.  I want to believe it, but . . .  ..it doesn't seem to be as simple as “Canadian banks are more tightly-regulated”.

Sessions: Gay Supreme Court Nominee “Would Be A Big Concern”  —  Yesterday morning, Jeff Sessions made news after he appeared on Morning Joe and said, of the pending SCOTUS nomination, “I don't think a person who acknowledges that they have gay tendencies is disqualified per se for the job.”

The President's Name Trips Up a Would-Be Voice of the News  —  The Amazon Kindle, an electronic reader, has been lavished with praise by hopeful newspaper and book executives who say they believe it has the potential to do for newspapers and books what the iPod did for music.

N.Y.'s Junior Senator Gains a Defender: The Senior Senator  —  WASHINGTON — At a recent Capitol Hill fund-raising event, Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand rose to thank her donors.  It was important for her to raise money now, she told them, because she might face a Democratic primary challenge next year.