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

11:00 AM ET, June 5, 2009

Top Items:

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, The Plum Line, Taylor Marsh 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.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, The Moderate Voice, American Footprints, CNN, Middle East Strategy …, Commentary, The Washington Independent, ATTACKERMAN, Betsy's Page, Clive Crook, Politics Daily, Think Progress, The Cable, Grist and American Thinker

Adam Horowitz / Mondoweiss:

Max Blumenthal: Feeling the Hate In Jerusalem on Eve of Obama's Cairo Address — Max Blumenthal writes: On the eve of President Barack Obama's address to the Muslim world from Cairo, Egypt, I stepped out onto the streets of Jerusalem with my friend Joseph Dana to interview young Israelis …

Discussion: Israel Matzav, The Mahablog, Gawker, ATTACKERMAN and TBogg

Gershom Gorenberg / American Prospect:
House Hunting in the West Bank

Discussion: South Jerusalem, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, Matthew Yglesias, Los Angeles Times, Think Progress and ATTACKERMAN

Jack Healy / New York Times:

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: Matthew Yglesias, Washington Monthly, Economix, TalkLeft, Donklephant, The Agonist, The Page 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: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, DailyFinance, TIME.com, Hot Air, Calculated Risk, Salon, NewsBusters.org, BizzyBlog and Real Clear Politics

Jeannine Aversa / Associated Press:

Jobless rate hits 9.4 percent in May; layoffs slow — Jobless rate jumps to 9.4 percent in May, even as layoffs slow to 345,000 — WASHINGTON (AP) — With companies in no mood to hire, the unemployment rate jumped to 9.4 percent in May, the highest in more than 25 years.

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

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: CBS News, Commentary, Hot Air, Fox News, Washington Post, Outside The Beltway and 24Ahead

Washington Post:
Ethnicity and Gender Play Prominent Roles in Sotomayor's Speeches

Discussion: New York Times, The Note, Washington Times, Law Blog, The BLT, USA Today and Slate

Peter Baker / The Caucus:
New Documents Reveal Sotomayor's White House Contacts

Discussion: Omaha World-Herald, Glenn Thrush's Blog and Above the Law

John Stanton / Roll Call:
Reid Dares Fellow Democrats to Oppose Sotomayor

Discussion: DownWithTyranny! and Weasel Zippers

The Ninth Justice:
Olbermann's Mosquito Bites

Discussion: Commentary, TBogg and Bench Memos

Stephen Gutowski / NewsBusters.org:

Liberal Writer Fired By AOL News For Reporting Vile Playboy List — Editor's Note/Update below. — AOL News has been bending over backwards lately to make sure that the do not cover the controversy surrounding Playboy.com writer Guy Cimbalo's vile attack on conservative women.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, Don Surber, Flopping Aces, YID With LID, Riehl World View and five feet of fury.

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Are House Democrats about to block Obama's new secrecy law? — Earlier this week, I noted that the Senate had passed — with Obama's support — a pernicious amendment to the spending supplemental bill, jointly sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman, that empowers Obama and the Pentagon …

Discussion: TalkLeft and Campaign Silo

David Rogers / The Politico:
Democrats punt on war bill

Discussion: The Page

Mike Allen / The Politico:
Obama takes aim at Osama

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Reaction and Crooks and Liars

Eamon Javers / The Politico:
A political pattern to stimulus tour

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and Taegan Goddard's …

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: Fox News, QandO, PoliBlog, The Page, ProfessorBainbridge.com, ScrappleFace and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

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, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Raw Story and Taegan Goddard's …

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

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
Inhofe Rips Obama As ‘Un-American,’ Suggests He's On The Side Of Terrorists

Discussion: NPR, Washington Monthly and Christian Science Monitor

New York Times:
Merkel Backs Obama on Push for Mideast Accord

Discussion: MSNBC and The Page

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, Glenn Thrush's Blog, Townhall.com, The Plum Line, NewsBusters.org, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and Don Surber

Megan McArdle:

Elizabeth Warren and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Utterly Misleading Bankruptcy Study — Elizabeth Warren has another study out showing that medical expenses contribute to more than half of all bankruptcies—indeed, this time, it's 70%, up from the 50% she found in 2001.

Discussion: Marginal Revolution, Cold Fury, protein wisdom, MoJo Blog Posts, JustOneMinute and Patterico's Pontifications

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: Wonk Room, Washington Post, Felix Salmon, DailyFinance, naked capitalism and Dealbreaker

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: The Caucus

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: Greg Mankiw's Blog, New York Times, The Washington Independent, TPMDC, Washington Post, Prairie Weather and The Caucus

Sean Cockerham / Anchorage Daily News:

Lawmakers muster votes to override governor — STIMULUS: Palin makes Alaska the sole state to reject energy cost relief. — scockerham@adn.com — Legislative leaders say they appear to have enough votes to override Gov. Sarah Palin's veto of $28.6 million in federal stimulus money for energy cost relief.

Discussion: Glenn Thrush's Blog

Peter Hamby / CNN:

Palin: Government wants to ‘control the people’ — (CNN) - Alaska governor Sarah Palin let loose Wednesday on the Obama administration for enacting fiscal policies that “fly in the face of principles” and “defy Economics 101.” — In a speech introducing Michael Reagan …

Discussion: Conor Clarke, Think Progress, Washington Monthly, Pundit & Pundette, Conservatives4Palin.com, Say Anything, The Political Carnival, The Atlantic Politics Channel, AMERICAblog News and The Huffington Post

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:

Crist Way Ahead of Rubio in Florida Primary — A new Strategic Vision poll in Florida finds Gov. Charlie Crist (R) crushing Marco Rubio (R) in a Republican Senate primary, 59% to 22%. — In general election match ups, Crist runs way ahead of Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-FL), 59% to 29%.

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Stuart Taylor / National Journal Online:

Race: Sotomayor And Obama Versus Voters — IT'S CLEAR THAT AMERICANS WANT RACIALLY PREFERENTIAL AFFIRMATIVE-ACTION PROGRAMS ABOLISHED. — Conservative critics of Judge Sonia Sotomayor may be digging themselves into a hole if they keep hurling the tired old “liberal activist” slogan at her.

Discussion: TalkLeft, The Ninth Justice and Power Line

Yoanisanchez / Generation Y:

Doors that open, bars that close — None of the presidents who yesterday approved the readmission of our Island to the Organization of American States held public office in 1962 when the Cuban government was expelled from that organization. However, the repeal of that resolution has found …

Discussion: Babalú Blog

Ylan Q. Mui / Washington Post:

A Race to Keep Up With the Tightwads — Up and Down the Block, People Are Sharing Tips on Making Do — In these recessionary times, people like Seigrid Walker are no longer concerned about keeping up with the Joneses. Now the goal is to fall far behind them.