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 …

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.

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. 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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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 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) …

U.S. Pushed Fiat Deal on Chrysler  —  Internal Emails Reveal Resentment; Court Upholds Pact  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration rushed an alliance between Chrysler LLC and Fiat SpA despite Chrysler's worries about Fiat's financial health and its willingness to share technology, according to internal company emails.

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.

DHS intel nominee withdraws (UPDATED)  —  The White House nominee to be the undersecretary of intelligence and analysis at the Department of Homeland Security has withdrawn, he and the White House said in statements Friday.  —  The withdrawal of the nomination of Philip Mudd …

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.

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.

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”:

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%.

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 …