Sotomayor Surprises Sessions  —  Jess Bravin reports on Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing.  —  Ouch!  —  Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.), seeking to discredit Judge Sonia Sotomayor's judicial philosophy, cited her 2001 “wise Latina” speech, and contrasted the view that ethnicity …

The ‘Cap And Tax’ Dead End  —  There is no shortage of threats to our economy.  America's unemployment rate recently hit its highest mark in more than 25 years and is expected to continue climbing.  Worries are widespread that even when the economy finally rebounds, the recovery won't bring jobs.

America's Affordable Health Choices Act  —  The Chairmen of the three Committees with jurisdiction over health policy in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced comprehensive health care reform legislation on July 14 that will reduce out-of-control costs, encourage competition among insurance plans …

Sanford's office couldn't locate missing governor  —  E-mails, phone calls outline efforts to contact, cover for AWOL leader  —  Gov. Mark Sanford's chief of staff, Scott English, called the governor's cell phones 15 times during the governor's secret trip to Argentina to visit his lover last month.

The Same-Sex Marriage Switch  —  Former President Bill Clinton has come out in support of same-sex marriage.  —  After speaking at the Campus Progress National Conference in Washington, DC, on July 8, the former president was asked if he supported same-sex marriage.

Steele: GOP woos blacks with “fried chicken and potato salad”  —  The Young Republicans convention was held in Indianapolis last weekend and their election of a racist, middle-aged woman as President isn't the only controversial item to come out of the GOP gathering.

Empathetic, moi?  —  The Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are making a major effort to show that empathy is no part of Sonia Sotomayor's judicial decisionmaking.  Senator Schumer, in particular, made this the centerpiece of his questioning.  He flagged certain cases …

Isaac Chotiner Gets Jonah Goldberg Wrong  —  So Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently said this in an interview with Emily Bazelon: … Ginsburg is saying that her perception of the situation in 1980 is that there was a lot of concern on the right about Bell Curve-style dysgenics and that, therefore …

Ensign to stay in Senate, seek reelection  —  Fallout from affair, including ethics complaints, leaves him undeterred  —  WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. John Ensign said Monday that not only does he have no intention of resigning in light of his affair and his parents' payout to the woman's family …

Hamas says Israel dumping aphrodisiac gum on Gaza  —  GAZA CITY (AFP) — Hamas suspects that Israeli intelligence services are supplying its Gaza Strip stronghold with chewing gum that boosts the sex drive in order to “corrupt the young,” an official said on Tuesday.

Another Phony Scandal  —  With Speaker Pelosi caught in the web of her own deceit over what the CIA told her about “torture,” and the Obama administration in the middle of its latest 180-degree reversal over CIA interrogators (Attorney General Holder is now considering prosecutions despite Obama's promise …

The CIA Plan to Kill Al Qaeda Leaders: I see that I'm quoted by Mark Mazetti and Scott Shane in their New York Times article today, CIA Had Plan to Assassinate Qaeda Leaders (July 13, 2009).  I'm trying hard to maintain radio silence and not blog to let my shoulder heal up, but let me say something very brief about this.

White House: Dad not buried at Burr Oak  —  The White House has corrected an earlier report and now says Michelle Obama's father is not buried at Burr Oak Cemetery, the Alsip facility involved in a grave desecration scandal.  —  Earlier today, Camille Johnston, the first lady's communications director …

Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies  —  It could be a combination of 19th-century mechanics, 21st-century technology — and a 20th-century horror movie.  —  A Maryland company under contract to the Pentagon is working on a steam-powered robot that would fuel itself by gobbling …

The Little Scandal That Could  —  “We're not there yet,” one Democratic source on Capitol Hill said last week, when asked about the prospect for hearings on the Obama administration's firing of AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin.  Congressional investigators are still conducting interviews …

The Economy Is Even Worse Than You Think  —  The average length of unemployment is higher than it's been since government began tracking the data in 1948.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  The recent unemployment numbers have undermined confidence that we might be nearing the bottom of the recession.

The Small Business Surtax  —  The Obama Democrats pick income redistribution over job creation and economic growth.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Jason Furman owes an apology to Michael Boskin, the Stanford economist who wrote a year ago on these pages that Barack Obama would raise American income tax rates nearly to 60%.

Bride's bouquet brings down plane  —  The traditional throwing of a bride's bouquet for luck ended in disaster at an Italian wedding when the flowers caused a plane to crash.  —  The bride and groom had hired a small plane to fly past and throw the bouquet to a line of women guests, Corriere della Sera reported.

Bare-Faced Go-Away Bird  —  First, I'm going to Rwanda this weekend, on vacation.  I'm looking forward to it immensely, especially since I discovered that the Bare-Faced Go-Away Bird, which topped my list of Best Bird Names Ever nearly five years ago, lives there.  (And did you know that the name ‘Watusi’ comes from the Tutsi?

A Bit More About Hillary...And a Tidbit About Her Friend Sidney  —  Apropos my last posting: what J.F.K. did was to substitute Mac Bundy for his secretary of state Dean Rusk.  —  What Barack Obama has done is make himself his own secretary of state.  No crime.

Obama Birther Soldier is a FreeRepublic Poster  —  Maj. Stefan F. Cook, who is refusing to be deployed because of his belief in conspiracy theories about President Barack Obama's citizenship, is a member of, and frequent poster at, the conservative Website FreeRepublic.

Sen. Reid adds to campaign finance advantage  —  WASHINGTON—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has raised more than $3.2 million during the past three months.  —  The haul gives Reid more than $7.3 million in the bank and widens an already significant financial advantage as he seeks re-election to a fifth term representing Nevada.