National Review's Wise Latina Caricature Inexplicably Asian  —  As part of a cover package called “The Wise Latina,” the folks over at the conservative National Review—apparently flummoxed by the very idea of a “wise Latina”—have caricaturized the Puerto Rican-descended Sonia Sotomayor as an Asian Buddhist.

Sotomayor's Revealing Joke About Supreme Court Justices Making Policy  —  In a May 2006 speech, Judge Sotomayor tells “a joke that [she thinks] aptly describes the difference between supreme court, circuit court, and district court judging”:  —  It involves three judges who go duck hunting.

Palin takes low-key return to the road  —  SENECA FALLS, N.Y. — Governor Sarah Palin paused Friday afternoon at the in front of a monument bearing the Declaration of Sentiments, an early feminist touchstone.  —  “We anticipate no small amount of ridicule,” she read, and remarked: “Some things never change.”

IT TAKES REAL EFFORT TO BE THIS AWFUL.... Once in a while, Sean Hannity's painful on-air antics are so over the top, they're almost hard to believe.  —  Last night, for example, whining incessantly about President Obama's speech in Cairo, Hannity told Fox News viewers that the president …

Barack and Michelle Obama decline dinner with the Sarkozys  —  The Obamas turn up in Paris this evening, but have declined a dinner invitation from the couple next door: the Sarkozys.  —  President Obama's reluctance to spend more than minimum time with the French leader on his visit for the D …

U.S. Charges Couple With Spying for Cuba  —  WASHINGTON — The Justice Department charged Friday that a former State Department analyst and his wife worked as spies for Cuba for nearly 30 years, using a short-wave radio to pass on secret diplomatic information to their Cuban handlers.

Newsweek's Evan Thomas: Obama Is ‘Sort of God’  —  Newsweek editor Evan Thomas brought adulation over President Obama's Cairo speech to a whole new level on Friday, declaring on MSNBC: “I mean in a way Obama's standing above the country, above - above the world, he's sort of God.”

Dem Leadership Moves to Kill Photo Amendment  —  THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned that Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership is moving to strip the Lieberman-Graham amendment blocking the release of detainee photos from the supplemental appropriations bill now in conference.

Exclusive: Mudd Withdraws as DHS Intelligence Chief (Updated)  —  The White House confirmed this afternoon it was withdrawing Phil Mudd from Senate consideration to be the Department of Homeland Security's intelligence chief.  —  Mudd, a career CIA employee who is currently the head of FBI counterterrorism, said the choice was his.

Video: Han Solo takes on the Emperor?  —  Earlier today, I was flipping through some of my e-mailed links and noticed a curious ad in the New York Times.  It featured Harrison Ford with the tagline, “Let's not jeopardize another 1.2 million jobs.”  I decided to check it out and see exactly what cause Ford was fronting.

The Internet Lynching of Marcus Epstein  —  Last month the left wing blog, One People's Project, posted a story about one Marcus Epstein.  Within this story it was reported that two years ago next month Marcus assaulted a black woman in Georgetown calling her the “n” word.

Inhofe Rips Obama As ‘Un-American,’ Suggests He's On The Side Of Terrorists  —  Reacting to President Obama's outreach to the Muslim world yesterday, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) decried the president's speech as “un-American” and even suggested Obama might be on the side of terrorists:

Coleman: GOP Needs To Compete On “The Ethernet”  —  Former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) spoke to a friendly conservative video-blogger yesterday at the at the Conservative Heartland Leadership Conference in St. Louis, and said Republicans need to more effectively organize around the newer modes of communication — like the “ethernet”:

U.S. May Permit 9/11 Guilty Pleas in Capital Cases  —  The Obama administration is considering a change in the law for the military commissions at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that would clear the way for detainees facing the death penalty to plead guilty without a full trial.

The May Unemployment Numbers are Here, and Worse Than Predicted  —  While I was waiting for May's numbers to be released I did a quick Google News search on “unemployment.”  Here is the first set of entries that popped up: … You get the feeling that there's a little pre-spin effort afoot?

Labour suffers wipeout in its worst local election results  —  Gordon Brown was dealt another huge blow last night when Labour lost all its remaining county councils in its worst ever local election results.  —  Counties turned from red to blue in quick succession as the Labour vote collapsed in its heartlands.

Conservatives Shift in Favor of Openly Gay Service Members  —  Weekly churchgoers also show double-digit increase in support from 2004  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans are six percentage points more likely than they were four years ago to favor allowing openly gay men and lesbian women to serve in the military, 69% to 63%.

Intel firestorm: GOP reveals briefing info  —  Republicans ignited a firestorm of controversy on Thursday by revealing some of what they had been told at a closed-door Intelligence Committee hearing on the interrogation of terrorism suspects.  —  Democrats immediately blasted the GOP lawmakers …

The Settlements  —  Charles Krauthammer has a misleading and evasive column about the Israeli settlements issue.  He does not deal with the legality of these towns—he can't, of course, because they are illegal under the fourth Geneva Convention, which provides rules for occupying powers.

MSNBC Shrugs About Liz Cheney's Over-Exposure: “Liz Is A Great Guest”  —  MSNBC is shrugging off the growing criticism of the extensive airtime the network has granted Liz Cheney to mount a political defense of her father and a political offensive against the Obama administration …

Eureka!  Writers Get Paid  —  I confess to never having read Harlan Ellison's novels but he has just become my hero — and a hero to all professional writers everywhere — since I watched this A-plus rant of his against all those who expect writers to offer their work gratis.

It Could Be Worse  —  Much has been made of President Obama's “on the other hand” transition, in his speech yesterday, from the Holocaust to the travails of the Palestinians.  Some thought that he implied a kind of equivalence.  But the appalling Tom Brokaw reminded us that it could have been worse …

Justice Department Launches Investigation into Federal Crimes in Connection with the Murder of Dr. George Tiller  —  The Department's Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Kansas have launched a federal investigation into federal crimes in connection with the murder of Dr. George Tiller.

Ex-President Carter praises Obama Mideast policy  —  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who helped broker the 1979 Camp David peace accords, said Israel faced a make-or-break moment after President Barack Obama called on the Jewish state to freeze settlement building.

The Bleak Jobs Outlook  —  David Madland's analysis of the latest jobs numbers reflects the fact that notwithstanding improvements in the rate of change the situation is still very bad and this chart remains alarming:  —  Of course for people who haven't lost their jobs, 401(k) …

Is Obama Trying To Overthrow Bibi?  —  It seems to me that Obama is trying to force the collapse of Netanyahu's government.  I base this mostly on intuition.  Of course, the Obama Administration would never claim to be interfering in the internal politics of another country …

Exclusive: Corporations behind effort to label Sonia Sotomayor a racist  —  How corporations are buying the judiciary: Part I  —  Corporate interests posing as a grassroots conservative group are behind attacks on President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, a RAW STORY investigation has found.

Rahm's Whipping on the Afghanistan War Supplemental — Will You?  —  Rahm Emanuel is exerting pressure on progressive members of Congress to switch their votes and help pass the supplemental bill.  The bill would not only fund the war in Afghanistan, it would also include IMF funding …

McHugh on DADT: I have no interest in excluding people ‘otherwise qualified to serve.’  —  After President Obama named Rep. John McHugh (R-NY) as his nominee for Secretary of the Army, progressives have been working to better understand McHugh's current position on “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” the ban on gays serving openly in the military.