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.

New Scrutiny of Judge's Most Controversial Case  —  WASHINGTON — Near the end of a long and heated appeals court argument over whether New Haven was entitled to throw out a promotional exam because black firefighters had performed poorly on it, a lawyer for white firefighters challenging …

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.”

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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) …

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.

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”:

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 …

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%.

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:

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.

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?

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.