87% Expect Sotomayor Will Be Confirmed, 45% Say She Should Be  —  Eighty-seven percent (87%) of voters nationwide believe Judge Sonia Sotomayor will be confirmed as the next U.S. Supreme Court justice.  That figure includes 59% who believe her confirmation is Very Likely.

Furor grows over partisan car dealer closings  —  Evidence appears to be mounting that the Obama administration has systematically targeted for closing Chrysler dealers who contributed to Repubicans.  What started earlier this week as mainly a rumbling on the Right side of the Blogosphere …

Abu Ghraib abuse photos ‘show rape’  —  Photographs of alleged prisoner abuse which Barack Obama is attempting to censor include images of apparent rape and sexual abuse, it has emerged.  —  At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another …

National security adviser downplays N. Korea threat  —  President Obama's national security adviser on Wednesday said that North Korea's recent nuclear detonation and missile tests are not “an imminent threat” to the safety and security of the United States.

Video: O'Reilly smears Hot Air  —  Ah, there's nothing like yanking a comment out of context and using it to smear the entire site, even though neither Ed nor I have ever referred to Obama as “Hussein.”  Bonus points to O'R for referring to the comment in question as a “blog posting” even though it's anything but.

Specter Tops Toomey By 9 Pts.  In Pennsylvania Senate Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; New Democratic Senator Has Big Primary Lead  —  Former U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey, the likely Republican challenger in the 2010 Pennsylvania Senate race, has gained some ground and now trails newly-converted Democratic …

New Investor Worry: Treasury Selloff Spiking Interest Rates  —  The stock market is watching the bond market, wary a spike in interest rates will derail a fragile economic recovery and snuff the market's rally.  —  Stocks tumbled Wednesday, but the real drama was in Treasurys and mortgages.

Shhhh.  Newspaper publishers are quietly holding a very, very important conclave today.  Will you soon be paying for online content?  —  Here's a story the newspaper industry's upper echelon apparently kept from its anxious newsrooms: A discreet Thursday meeting in Chicago about their future.

The Peter Principle  —  We hang together or hang separately. … All of us, every single person regardless of political persuasion who reads this, have a tendency to deny our friends and fellow travelers at times.  All of us.  —  Peter, under pressure and fear, denied Christ not just once, but three times.

Mortgage Delinquencies, Foreclosures, 30-Year Rates Increase  —  Mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures rose to records in the first quarter and home-loan rates jumped to the highest since March as the government's effort to revive the housing market lost momentum.

FBI planning a bigger role in terrorism fight  —  Bureau agents will gather evidence to ensure that criminal prosecutions of alleged terrorists are an option.  The move is a reversal of the Bush administration's emphasis on covert CIA actions.  —  Reporting from Washington …

‘Israel guilty for collapse of truce’  —  Article's topics: Amnesty, Operation Cast Lead, Hamas, Cease Fire  —  In its 2009 annual report, formally released on Thursday, Amnesty International places sole blame on Israel for the breakdown in the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that led to Operation Cast Lead.