memeorandum: Employment Situation Summary (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

2:40 PM ET, June 5, 2009

Top Items:

Job Losses Slow; Unemployment at 9.4% — The United States economy lost 345,000 jobs in May, the government reported on Friday, a sharp slowing in the pace of job losses that fueled hopes that the economy was on its way toward a recovery. — The recession continued to take a toll …

Discussion: Economix, Matthew Yglesias, FP Passport, Los Angeles Times, Gawker, Think Progress, Washington Monthly, The Page, Donklephant, Truthdig, The Agonist, Newsweek Blogs and Time

Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Employment Situation Summary — Technical information: — Household data: (202) 691-6378 USDL 09-0588 — Establishment data: (202) 691-6555 Transmission of material in this release — http://www.bls.gov/ces/ is embargoed until 8:30 A.M. (EDT), Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Friday, June 5, 2009.

Discussion: Hot Air, Outside The Beltway, BizzyBlog, DailyFinance, TIME.com, Calculated Risk, NewsBusters.org, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Salon, Real Clear Politics and Conservatives4Palin.com

Geoff / Innocent Bystanders:
The May Unemployment Numbers are Here, and Worse Than Predicted

Discussion: BizzyBlog and Cold Fury

Jeannine Aversa / Associated Press:
Jobless rate hits 9.4 percent in May; layoffs slow

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, MSNBC, Don Surber, The Strata-Sphere, Fox News, Gateway Pundit, Moonbattery and Donklephant

Calculated Risk:
Unemployment Compared to Stress Test Scenarios, and Diffusion Index

Discussion: BizzyBlog and DailyFinance

Jared Allen / The Hill:

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 …

Discussion: Emptywheel, American Street, TPMMuckraker, PERRspectives, protein wisdom, Wake up America, YID With LID, Raw Story and Cold Fury

The Corner:

The End of America's Strategic Alliance with Israel? — From an Israeli perspective, Pres. Barack Obama's speech today in Cairo was deeply disturbing. Both rhetorically and programmatically, Obama's speech was a renunciation of America's strategic alliance with Israel.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Mondoweiss, Gateway Pundit, Taylor Marsh, Wake up America, PoliGazette, The Mahablog, Newshoggers.com and Israel Matzav

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

Barack Obama's Israeli Settlements Canard — President Obama repeatedly insists that American foreign policy be conducted with modesty and humility. Above all, there will be no more “dictating” to other countries. We should “forge partnerships as opposed to simply dictating solutions,” he told the G-20 summit.

The Independent:
Robert Fisk: Words that could heal wounds of centuries

Discussion: Middle East Strategy …, South Jerusalem, Guardian, PoliGazette and The Opinionator

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Keeping Them Honest — “I appreciate your efforts, and look forward to working with you so that the Congress can complete health care reform by October.” So declared President Obama in a letter this week to Senators Max Baucus and Edward Kennedy. The big health care push is officially on.

Discussion: Commentary, Incertus, Prairie Weather, Blog entry, Washington Post, The Washington Independent, AMERICAblog News, The Caucus, Ezra Klein and The Note

Greg Mankiw / Greg Mankiw's Blog:

What's the point of a public option? — In the national debate over health insurance reform, a key issue is whether the government should offer a “public plan” to compete with private insurers. For example, in today's NY Times, Paul Krugman writes,

Discussion: Obsidian Wings and Marginal Revolution

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Blue Dog Public Plan Ideas Are Not What Deficit Control Looks Like

Discussion: Ezra Klein, TPMDC, Hullabaloo, Dynamist Blog, Grasping Reality …, Open Left and Wonk Room

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:

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:

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, NPR, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Monthly, Blogs and Stories, Wall Street Journal, D-Day, Raw Story, Salon and TPMDC

Mike Allen / The Politico:
Obama takes aim at Osama

Discussion: Washington Monthly, PoliticalBase.com Blog, Crooks and Liars and The Reaction

Seth Stern / Legal Beat:

Sotomayor Repeatedly Referenced ‘Wise Woman’ in Speeches — Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is greeted by Sen. Arlen Specter before a meeting on Capitol Hill Thursday. (Getty) — Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor delivered multiple speeches between 1994 and 2003 in which she suggested …

Discussion: McClatchy Washington Bureau, CBS News, Washington Post, The Campaign Spot, Omaha World-Herald, Roll Call, Commentary, Hot Air, Flopping Aces, Outside The Beltway, Fox News and 24Ahead

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Racist Knows the Pain of Being Called Racist

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Dana Bash / CNN: Sessions knows what it's like to be called ‘racist’

Wall Street Journal:

Nominee's Criminal Rulings Tilt to Right of Souter — WASHINGTON — While Judge Sonia Sotomayor stands in the liberal mainstream on many issues, her record suggests that the Supreme Court nominee could sometimes rule with the top court's conservatives on questions of criminal justice.

Discussion: New York Times, CBS News, Washington Times, USA Today, The Caucus, The Note and The Washington Independent

Stuart Taylor / National Journal Online:
Race: Sotomayor And Obama Versus Voters

Discussion: The World Newser, The Ninth Justice, pandagon.net and Power Line

Big Tent Democrat / TalkLeft:
Stuart Taylor: Conservative Roberts Court Is Judicially Activist

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns and Money, The Washington Independent and Lean Left

Wall Street Journal:

FDIC Pushes Purge at Citi — Bair Wants to Shake Up Management, Sought to Cut Rating of Bank's Health — WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is pushing for a shake-up of Citigroup Inc.'s top management, imperiling Chief Executive Vikram Pandit, people familiar with the matter said.

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, The New Republic, DailyFinance, The Foundry, Felix Salmon, naked capitalism, Wonk Room and Dealbreaker

Yalman Onaran / Bloomberg:
Bank Profits From Accounting Rules Masking Looming Loan Losses

Discussion: The Reaction and Balloon Juice

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Cheney and Pelosi Have Poor Ratings in Common — Pelosi's ratings down, while Cheney's improved from record low — PRINCETON, NJ — Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Vice President Dick Cheney have little in common politically, but they receive almost identical image ratings from the American public.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Fox News, Brendan Nyhan, Glenn Thrush's Blog, The Plum Line, Commentary, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, NewsBusters.org, Townhall.com and The New Argument

Deborah Solomon / Wall Street Journal:

White House Set to Appoint a Pay Czar — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to appoint a “Special Master for Compensation” to ensure that companies receiving federal bailout funds are abiding by executive-pay guidelines, according to people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: Hot Air, Fox News, Blog entry, Dealbreaker, Scared Monkeys, Salon, PoliBlog, ScrappleFace, ProfessorBainbridge.com, QandO, The Page, protein wisdom and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Michael Andrews / DailyTech:

NASA Study Acknowledges Solar Cycle, Not Man, Responsible for Past Warming — Report indicates solar cycle has been impacting Earth since the Industrial Revolution — Some researchers believe that the solar cycle influences global climate changes. They attribute recent warming trends to cyclic variation.

Discussion: Cold Fury and Watts Up With That?

P.J. Gladnick / NewsBusters.org blogs:
NASA Study Makes ‘Amazing’ Discovery: Sun Heats Earth

Discussion: protein wisdom

Nicholas Kulish / New York Times:

Rift With Germany Is Next on Diplomatic Agenda — DRESDEN, Germany — After mending fences with the Muslim world in Cairo on Thursday, President Obama might want to keep his diplomatic tools handy for his stopover here, to repair his increasingly strained relationship with Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Discussion: Don Surber and RedState

Washington Wire:
Remarks From Obama, Merkel News Conference

Discussion: Weekly Standard, No Sheeples Here! and Wonk Room

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

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 …

Discussion: Raw Story, Daily Kos, Eschaton, Washington Monthly, The Political Carnival and Talking Points Memo

Stephen Gutowski / NewsBusters.org blogs:

Liberal Writer Fired By AOL News For Reporting Vile Playboy List — Editor's Note/Update below: AOL editor's email and further business connections revealed. — AOL News has been bending over backwards lately to make sure that they do not cover the controversy surrounding Playboy.com …

Discussion: Townhall.com, Hot Air, media lizzy & friends, Michelle Malkin, Daily Dose, Don Surber, Flopping Aces, YID With LID, Blogcritics, Riehl World View and five feet of fury.

Peter Hamby / CNN:

Wilder: Virginia Democrats ‘not energized’ in governor's race — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Douglas Wilder, who became the country's first African-American governor when Virginians elected him in 1989, thinks that no matter who emerges victorious from the state's Democratic gubernatorial primary on Tuesday …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Sarah Posner / American Prospect:

ABORTION FOE TO LEAD HHS FAITH-BASED OFFICE. — President Obama has appointed Alexia Kelley, executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG), to head the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Feministing, Raw Story and Feministe

Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:

Rove: ‘Who Cares’ Whether Muslims ‘Approve Or Like The President Of The United States’? — Last night, Karl Rove went on Fox News and lambasted President Obama's speech in Cairo, saying that he would give him a grade of “D minus” on the “important parts of the speech.”

Discussion: INSTAPUTZ and Wonk Room