Video at RCP.

Video at RCP:

ABC News: In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Boumediene said the interrogators at Gitmo never once asked him about this alleged plot, which he denied playing any part it.

“I’m a normal man,” said Boumediene, who at the time of his arrest worked for the Red Crescent, providing help to orphans and others in need. “I’m not a terrorist.”

Rasmussen video here.

From K-State:

NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR TO BE NEW ADVISER TO K-STATE’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

MANHATTAN — Stephen L. Wolgast, news design editor for the New York Times, has been named the new adviser to Kansas State University’s student newspaper, the K-State Collegian. Wolgast also will serve as an instructor of journalism and digital media in K-State’s A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications. (more…)

Video at RCP.

Video at RCP.

Video at RCP.

Video at RCP.

Source:

The deal that enabled the Republicans to woo Democratic Sens. Pedro Espada and Hiram Monserrate to their side in today’s coup has been months in the making and will result in an unusual degree of power-sharing in the chamber, according to one insider with knowledge of the deal.

Assuming it all holds - and that isn’t a foregone conclusion (I smell a major lawsuit) - here’s what we know:

Aside from Democratic Senate President Pedro Espada Jr., shown here being sworn in to his new leadership post along with Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos in the wake of the coup, there will be as many as 10 Democrats who get committee chairmanships.

(Whether the Democrats will keep the committees they were given after Malcolm Smith won the last leadership battle or if they will be shifted around wasn’t immediately clear).

Apparently, Sen. Hiram Monserrate, who, as you’ll recall, is right now fighting felony assault charges that could lead to the loss of his seat entirely if he’s convicted, will be…wait for it…vice chair of the Rules Committee.

Don’t forget that Espada, too, is under investigation by AG Andrew Cuomo’s office.

This whole deal was engineered with a big assist from Mr. Reform himself, Tom Golisano, (and his adviser, Steve Pigeon, who is close to Espada going back years, I’m told).

“It’s going to be shockingly nonpartisan; it’s all about procedural reform,” said my source. “I don’t think you’re going to see the Republicans taking a huge victory lap.”

Economist:

IT WAS a terrible night for European socialists, but also a worrying night for those who believe in a Europe of open borders. As elections for a new European Parliament ended on Sunday June 7th, after four days of voting in 27 countries, it became clear that not only Britain’s Labour Party had received a pasting. In the words of the socialists’ leader in the Euro-parliament, the centre left suffered a “very bitter evening”, confirming their failure to take advantage of a financial crisis that might have been tailor-made for critics of free market excesses.

At the same time, the vote for mainstream conservative parties in several countries only held steady or even slightly fell, against a backdrop of the lowest ever turnout for a Euro-election, with just 43% bothering to vote. In many countries, large protest votes went to populist, fringe and hard-right politicians vowing to close borders, repatriate immigrants or even dismantle the European Union in its current form.

Guardian:

Europe’s mainstream centre-left parties suffered humiliation last night when four days of voting in the EU’s biggest-ever election concluded with disastrous results for social democrats.

Results from the national rounds of the European parliament election across the 27 member states also showed support for centre-right Christian democrats diminishing in places, but nonetheless notching up handsome victories in several key states.

In Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary and the Czech Republic, the centre right won the elections, with stunning defeats for the left in certain cases.

In the EU’s biggest country, Germany, returning 99 of the parliament’s 736 seats, the Social Democrats (SPD), the junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s grand coalition, sunk to an all-time low, with 21% of the vote.

The result was slightly worse than a ­dismal performance five years ago that all the opinion polls had predicted would not be repeated.

“The result is significantly worse than we expected,” said Franz Müntefering, the SPD’s chairman. “This is a difficult evening.”

Poll:

After two weeks of volatility, these figures put the President’s ratings back in the range they’ve occupied for the past three months. With just a handful of exceptions, the number who Strongly Approve of the President’s performance has been between 34% and 38% every day since early March. That’s a very narrow range moving just two points above or below today’s level.

On the negative side, the number who Strongly Disapprove has generally stayed between 27% and 32%. However, that figure has bounced around quite a bit over the past two weeks. Following the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the number who Strongly Disapproved fell to 26% for a day. That was the lowest level of such disapproval since March 4. A week later, following the GM bailout, the number who Strongly Disapproved moved to the highest level yet recorded at 34%.

Poll:

Only 42% of those who currently own a General Motors car are even somewhat likely to buy a GM product for their next car. That figure includes just 30% who are Very Likely to do so.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 43% of current GM owners are not likely to buy another GM car, while 16% are not sure. (more…)

Rasmussen:

These numbers are largely unchanged in surveys going back to 2006.

By comparison, 49% have a favorable view of Wal-Mart’s business rival Costco, including 19% who are very favorable toward the business. Just 16% have an unfavorable opinion of Costco, with seven percent (7%) very unfavorable. In part that’s because 35% of adults aren’t familiar enough with Costco to have an opinion of it.

For investors, however, there’s very little difference between the two. Sixty-two percent (62%) of investors have a favorable view of Wal-Mart, while 59% feel that way about Costco.

Three-out-of-10 Americans (30%) shop at Wal-Mart at least once a week. Twenty-six percent (26%) rarely or never shop at the store.

Just five percent (5%) shop at Costco once a week or more, while 74% rarely or never shop there.

Women are slightly more likely than men to shop at Wal-Mart, while both patronize Costco at roughly the same rate.

Rasmussen:

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% now trust the GOP more to handle economic issues, while 39% trust Democrats more.

This is the first time in over two years of polling that the GOP has held the advantage on this issue. The parties were close in May, with the Democrats holding a modest 44% to 43% edge. The latest survey was taken just after General Motors announced it was going into bankruptcy as part of a deal brokered by the Obama administration that gives the government majority ownership of the failing automaker.

Voters not affiliated with either party now trust the GOP more to handle economic issues by a two-to-one margin.

Separate Rasmussen tracking shows that the economy remains the top issue among voters in terms of importance.

Republicans also now hold a six-point lead on the issue of government ethics and corruption, the second most important issue to all voters and the top issue among unaffiliated voters. That shows a large shift from May, when Democrats held an 11-point lead on the issue.

Source:

The paper has said that if employees reject the package, it will cut their pay 23 percent. The union, the Boston Newspaper Guild, has vowed to challenge a unilateral reduction with federal regulators - though it may not be able to block one from taking effect - raising the prospect of continued conflict with The Globe’s owner, The New York Times Company.

Jerusalem Post:

At the outpost, which they named Oz Yehonatan, the settlers built a wooden structure they mockingly called the “Obama Hut,” saying it was a sign of appreciation for the US president for his actions that had led to a dramatic rise in the number of outposts.

On Thursday,
settlers and right-wing activists once again rebuilt the illegal Maoz Esther outpost that was dismantled on Wednesday by security forces.

reuters:

RIYADH (Reuters) - King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has urged U.S. President Barack Obama to impose a solution on the festering Arab-Israeli conflict if necessary, a Saudi newspaper said on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia and other Arab states want Obama to get tough with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has balked at Palestinian statehood and defied U.S. calls to halt the expansion of Jewish settlements.

King Abdullah told Obama during his visit to Riyadh last week that Arab patience was wearing thin and that a solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict would be the “magic key” to all issues in the region, al-Hayat said, quoting what it called informed sources.

Reuters:

Under pressure from U.S. President Barack Obama over settlements in the occupied West Bank and Palestinian statehood, which Netanyahu has not endorsed, the Israeli leader said he would set out his policies in a major speech later this month.

“I want to make clear, it is our intention to achieve peace with the Palestinians and with the countries of the Arab world while attempting to reach maximum understanding with the United States and our friends in the world,” Netanyahu said.

CNN:

The Brazilian navy and air force said they found nine bodies in the Atlantic Ocean, where the Airbus A330-200 went down. The crew of a French vessel taking part in the search has found eight, military officials told reporters Sunday evening.

Air France 447 disappeared over the Atlantic early Monday. The jet was en route to Paris, France, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with 228 passengers and crew aboard.

AFP:

A Swedish party that wants to legalise Internet filesharing and beef up web privacy scored a big victory Sunday by winning a European parliament seat, results showed.

The Pirate Party won 7.1 percent of votes, taking one of Sweden’s 18 seats in the European parliament, with ballots in 5,659 constituencies out of 5,664 counted.

“Privacy issues and civil liberties are important to people and they demonstrated that clearly when they voted today,” one of the party’s candidates, Anna Troberg, told Swedish television on Sunday.

Reuters:

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden’s Pirate Party, striking a chord with voters who want more free content on the Internet, won a seat in the European Parliament, early results showed on Sunday.

The Pirate Party captured 7.1 percent of votes in Sweden in the Europe-wide ballot, enough to give it a single seat. The party wants to deregulate copyright, abolish the patent system and reduce surveillance on the Internet.

Reuters:

The far-right British National Party won its first seat in the European Parliament yesterday, a breakthrough that will add to pressure on Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The BNP gained the seat in the northern English region of Yorkshire and Humber at the expense of Brown’s Labour Party, which has been hurt by a scandal over politicians’ expenses and questions over Brown’s leadership.

Labour also lost a seat in Wales, a traditional stronghold, where its share of the vote slumped 12 points to 20 percent and it was beaten into second place by the centre-right Conservatives.

Losing a seat to the BNP will give fresh ammunition to Brown’s critics in the Labour Party after a traumatic week in which six senior ministers quit the government, one of whom called on Brown to quit and said he was an electoral liability.

Bloomberg:

June 7 (Bloomberg) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy led pro-business parties in defeating socialists in European Parliament elections, lessening the pressure for more stimulus measures to fight the deepest recession since World War II.

Amid signs the economic slump is bottoming out, the continent’s top two leaders escaped the drubbing in European Union-wide elections that was handed to U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and socialists in smaller countries including Spain, Austria, Portugal, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovenia.

Merkel’s Christian Democrats and allied Christian Social Union racked up 38 percent of the German vote, beating the rival Social Democrats with 20.8 percent, according to preliminary results. Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement scored 28 percent, beating the Socialists with 16.8 percent.

Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of technology heavyweights, including chiefs of IBM (IBM.N) and Motorola Inc (MOT.N) enlisted a former Clinton administration economist to beat back President Barack Obama’s plan to boost some taxes on overseas profits.

The Technology CEO Council recruited Robert J. Shapiro, a former top Commerce Department official, who wrote a report released on Monday arguing that significant jobs losses could occur under Obama’s plan.

Last month, Obama introduced a proposal to raise $210 billion over a decade in part by tightening tax rules on income earned abroad. The administration says current policy spurs job creation overseas, while U.S.-based multinational companies say precisely the opposite is true.

Shapiro acknowledged his job loss estimates don’t correspond to Obama’s proposal, because the report examines elimination of tax deferral of foreign income, while Obama’s plan is a modified version of that.

Reuters:

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities endorsed a controversial proposal to support communities that refuse to buy products from countries that put trade restrictions on products and services from Canada.

The measure is a response to a provision in the U.S. economic stimulus package passed by Congress in February that says public works projects should use iron, steel and other goods made in the United States.

The United States is Canada’s largest trading partner, and Canadians have complained the restrictions will bar their companies from billions of dollars in business that they have previously had access to.

Source:

Could the flat tax come to California?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said today that he would like to see such “radical” proposals come out of a commission now studying an overhaul of the state’s tax system. The governor told the editorial board of the Sacramento Bee that he hoped the commission would not be afraid to propose something like “a 15%  straight tax.” (more…)

UK Guardian:

The franchisee, a Memphis-based company called the Mirabile Investment Corporation (MIC) that owns more than 40 Burger Kings across Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi, has described Burger King as acting “kinda like cockroaches” over the controversy. MIC says it does not believe Burger King has the authority to make it take the signs down.

The dispute began to sizzle last week, when a local newspaper reporter in Memphis, Tennessee, noticed the signs outside two restaurants in the city and contacted the corporation to establish if the message represented its official viewpoint. Burger King’s headquarters in Miami said it did not, adding that it had ordered MIC to take the signs down.

But a few days later readers of the Memphis paper said they had seen about a dozen Burger King restaurants across the state displaying the signs and that some had yet to be taken down. Media attempts to contact MIC to establish why it was taking an apparently defiant stance were rebuffed, but the Guardian managed to grill MIC’s marketing president, John McNelis.

UK Telegraph:

Guo Shuqing, the chairman of state-controlled China Construction Bank (CCB), also said he is exploring the possibility of issuing loans to trading companies in yuan, allowing Chinese and foreign companies to settle their bills in yuan rather than in dollars.

Mr Guo said the issuing of yuan bonds in Hong Kong and Shanghai would help to develop the debt markets in China and promote the yuan as a major international currency.

Prime Buzz:

Gubernatorial candidate Sam Brownback today announced his statewide co-chairs for his 2010 campaign.

Brownback picked Overland Park attorney John D. Petersen and Wichita City Councilwoman Sue Schlapp.

Petersen served as state finance chair for Gov. Bill Graves. He is a former deputy chief counsel to Sen. Bob Dole and chief counsel to former Kansas Gov. Mike Hayden.

Prime Buzz:

Sen. Pat Roberts says he’ll oppose any health care reform package that includes a public health insurance option to cover those who can’t get private insurance at an affordable cost.

“It won’t work. It hasn’t worked in other countries,” the Kansas Republican told reporters Monday.

Video here.

Roberts and eight other GOP senators released a letter to the White House Monday that says a public health insurance option would be unfair to private insurers because they couldn’t compete with the government.

Drudge:

“America is digging a deeper hole and how are we paying for this government largesse. We’re borrowing. We’re borrowing from China and we consider that now we own sixty percent of GENERAL MOTORS - or the U.S. government does… But who is the U.S. government becoming more indebted to? It’s China. So that leads you to have to ask who is really going to own our car industry than in America.”

AP:

A federal appeals court in New York approved the sale Friday but gave opponents until 4 p.m. EDT Monday to try to get the Supreme Court to intervene. Ginsburg issued her order right before the deadline.

Ginsburg could decide on her own whether to end the delay, or she could ask the full court to decide. It is unclear when she or the court will act.

Chrysler said it had no comment until it receives further information from the court.

Chrysler claims the agreement with Fiat is the best deal it can get for its assets and is critical to the company’s plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The Star:

“But it’s great to see people waving at you as you’re driving down the highway and roads. It shows that the French understand what America did for them and a lot of other people.”

WSJ:

Roger Federer entered last weekend with 13 Grand Slam titles to his name and a permanent saved seat at the best table in the tennis pantheon’s VIP-only area, but without a victory at the French Open. Following his straight-set demolition of Robin Soderling in Sunday’s French Open final, the biggest question facing him from the flattering tennis media is a much less irksome one for him - is he the greatest ever, or just one of the greatest?

Club for Growth:

FL GOV. CHARLIE CRIST: Crist signed a no-tax pledge when he was running for governor of Florida a few years ago. Now, as the state’s top elected official, he has proceeded to break that very pledge by signing a tax hike into law last week as part of the state budget. But Crist didn’t stop there. Earlier this week, he signed another tax hike…this time a 20% tax increase on businesses. Crist sure is some “Republican.”

UNKNOWN SAN FRANCISCO BUREAUCRAT: Larry Moore was a homeless alcoholic living on the streets of San Francisco 11 months ago, but he straightened his life out, seized the “American Dream”, and started his own shoeshine business. Through a lot of hard work, his eventual success was showcased in the local paper. This new attention prompted a city bureaucrat to seek him out and demand that he fork over $491 for a sidewalk vendor permit…or else risk getting his business shut down. Talk about beating a man when he’s down! Just as success is realized, the government tries to take it away. You can read the infuriating details here.

REPS. HENRY WAXMAN and ED MARKEY: These two gentlemen are the original sponsors to the dangerous cap-and-trade bill that is making its way through the U.S. House right now. As chairman of the committee of juridiction, Waxman had a tough time even convincing his fellow Democrats to support the bill. One news report suggested that Waxman was trading votes for “special treatment” to affected companies located in lawmakers’ districts. And then in another controversy, Waxman said, “I certainly don’t claim to know everything that’s in this bill.” Did we mention that he was one of the lead sponsors?

REP. JOHN MURTHA: This 35-year veteran of the House is one of the biggest porkers in Congress. And he’s not bashful about it either. One Beltway reporter said, “Murtha is now associated with so many pay-to-play allegations that it’s getting hard to keep up.” Rep. Jeff Flake tried to defund one of Murtha’s earmarks that didn’t even seem to exist. Another attempt was made to shut down an airport in Murtha’s district (named after John Murtha, of course) that received $150 million in earmarks, but only averages 3 flights per weekday. When asked about possible corruption charges, Murtha replied, “If I’m corrupt, it’s because I take care of my district.” Perhaps, but at the expense of everyone else.

NRO:

Watching Fox News Sunday, I caught a panel on which Obama economic advisor Austin Goolsbee conceded that the administration had previously predicted unemployment would top out at around 8%, that it was now up to 9.4%, and that double-digit unemployment was a distinct possibility in the near future. Goolsbee didn’t resort to the administrations’s blather about “saving or creating jobs,” but he did repeat its fustian about how last month’s loss of 345,000 jobs (resulting in a half percentage point jump in the jobless rate) is somehow good news because it beat predictions (I don’t recall him saying whose) of even more dire loss numbers. It made me wonder why, if those predictions either existed or were serious, the Obama administration would have previously predicted that unemployment would top out at 8%?

Will:

The government’s $50 billion — so far — acquisition of the shadow of GM will injure, with unfair financial advantages, the surprisingly healthy U.S. auto company, Ford. Of course, the government does not intend that injury, any more than it intended to cause protests in Mexico over the high price of corn tortillas, a result of Washington’s mandate that Americans burn corn (ethanol) in their cars. (more…)

Reid Wilson.

The next governor of Virginia will have little impact on the heated debate over the Employee Free Choice Act, but that’s not stopping one candidate from using the controversial issue to win headlines.

Former Attorney General Bob McDonnell (R) has spent several weeks repeatedly bringing up the legislation, the so-called “card check” measure that would make it easier for unions to form. At a time when Virginia, like the rest of the nation, is hemorrhaging jobs, McDonnell casts card check as bad for businesses that need all the help they can get to begin rehiring employees.

Source:

Sen. Arlen Specter, addressing a crowd of union activists outside of the Democratic Committee meeting in Pittsburgh on Saturday, urged them to look at the breadth of his job-producing past and votes alongside labor when considering who they’ll back for Senate in 2010. (more…)