Leader Of Conservative Opposition To Sotomayor Was Nailed For Hacking And Spying On Senate Dems  —  Manuel Miranda is back!  —  The New York Times reports that a coalition of heavyweight conservative groups has signed a letter pressuring Senate Republicans to filibuster Sonia Sotomayor.

Recruiter Shooting Suspect Under FBI Investigation  —  Man Accused of Killing One Recruiter, Wounding Another, Spent Time in Yemen  —  The suspect arrested in the fatal shooting of one soldier and the critical injury of another at a Little Rock, Ark., Army recruiting booth today …

Obama to Name N.Y. Congressman the Army Secretary  —  Representative John M. McHugh, a Republican congressman from New York, will be nominated by President Obama to be secretary of the Army, according to officials, as the administration continues to reach into the ranks of the opposition for executive appointments.

Justices Gone Wild  —  Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings won't happen for over a month, but it's easy to predict how they will go.  In a series of preening, long-winded questions, the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will attempt to divine Sotomayor's position on a variety …

O'Reilly Responds To The Tiller Murder: ‘No Backpedaling Here...Every Single Thing We Said About Tiller Was True’  —  After yesterday's brutal shooting of George Tiller, a Kansas doctor who administered abortions, many anti-choice groups quickly condemned the murder and attempted to separate themselves from the actions of the killer.

Obama says Iran's energy concerns legitimate  —  LONDON — President Barack Obama suggested that Iran may have some right to nuclear energy _ provided it proves by the end of the year that its aspirations are peaceful.  —  In a BBC interview broadcast Tuesday, he also restated plans …

Playboy 's “Top 10 Conservative Women We Hate to Love”  —  The Playboy article linked to on this blog listed 10 conservative women “they love to hate” adding their reasons why.  The blog included the link but only used the names of the women listed.  But the Playboy article also included …

CNN Poll: Many Americans hold unfavorable view of Muslim world  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Hours before President Barack Obama departs for a trip to the Middle East, a new national poll suggests that only one in five Americans has a favorable view of Muslim countries.

How Obamas' romantic £120 trip to Broadway racked up a £45,000 bill  —  ...that's for three private jets, two helicopter rides, extra planes for security and closing roads for motorcade  —  It was a campaign pledge that Barack Obama didn't dare break - a promise to take his wife …

A Saga of Decline and Denial  —  DETROIT — The beginning of the end for General Motors Corp. as an independent company was marked by a denial.  —  Rick Wagoner, then GM's chief executive, stepped up to a podium in a Dallas hotel July 10 to address an audience of Texas business leaders …

Poll: Most oppose closing Gitmo  —  WASHINGTON — Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to closing the detention center for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay and moving some of the detainees to prisons on U.S. soil, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds.  —  By more than 2-1, those surveyed say Guantanamo shouldn't be closed.

Foreclosures: No End in Sight  —  A continuing steep drop in home prices combined with rising unemployment is powering a new wave of foreclosures.  Unfortunately, there's little evidence, so far, that the Obama administration's anti-foreclosure plan will be able to stop it.

The Quagmire Ahead  —  On Jan. 21, 1988, a General Motors executive named Elmer Johnson wrote a brave and prophetic memo.  Its main point was contained in this sentence: “We have vastly underestimated how deeply ingrained are the organizational and cultural rigidities that hamper our ability to execute.”

A New Iran Overture, With Hot Dogs  —  SAN SALVADOR — Having sent the Iranian people a video greeting on their New Year, President Obama is now inviting them to help celebrate a quintessentially American holiday, the Fourth of July.  —  Last Friday, the State Department sent a cable …

Cheney mixes up Obama, Osama  —  Former Vice President Dick Cheney confused the president of the United States with the world's most-wanted terrorist in a speech on Monday.  —  Speaking at the National Press Club, Cheney answered a question as to why his administration had not caught Osama bin Laden.

Kim Jong Il selects youngest son as successor  —  Kim Jong Il has selected his 26 year-old son to succeed him as leader of North Korea, the Associated Press reports.  —  Kim Jong Un is the youngest of Kim Jong Il's three sons.  As the AP reports, the son is already being called “Commander Kim” in the communist country.

Why Obama Voted Against Roberts  —  ‘He has used his formidable skills on behalf of the strong in opposition to the weak.’  —  The following is from then-Sen. Barack Obama's floor statement explaining why he would vote against confirming Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts (September 2005):