Judge Sotomayor also criticized conservative attacks on Supreme Court decisions in recent terms that mentioned foreign law -- including decisions striking down the death penalty for juveniles and striking down a Texas law barring sodomy.

"In both those cases the courts were very, very careful to note that they weren't using that law to decide the American question," she said. "They were just using that law to help us understand what the concepts meant to other countries, and to help us understand whether our understanding of our own constitutional rights fell into the mainstream of human thinking."

Ripping renditions of "Little Wing" and "Voodoo Chile"...the groove of "Presence of the Lord" gets me everytime.  Great to hear the Blind Faith stuff too.

So What if Holocaust Museum Shooter is White Christian: We Know Who Crescented, er . . . Created This Atmosphere

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According to Donald Trump..
"Carrie refused to appear at around 30 events on behalf of Miss California USA. He says Prejean was contractually bound to appear and she just wouldn't do it. He doesn't think her attitude has anything to do with her politics."

"To me she was the sweetest thing. Everyone else -- she treated like s**t."

"Judge Sonia Sotomayor once described herself as `a product of affirmative action' who was admitted to two Ivy League schools despite scoring lower on standardized tests than many classmates," according to videos released to the Senate Judiciary Committee. She also defended the value of diversity, saying, "I accept that different experiences in and of itself, bring merit to the system."

WASHINGTON -- The IRS is weighing a proposal to deem one-quarter of employees' use of work cellphones as personal use and therefore subject to tax as a fringe benefit.

The proposal is one of several options the IRS put forward this week on the tax treatment of employer-provided cellphones. Current law already requires that the value of those cellphone services be included in a worker's gross income, unless the employee keeps detailed records showing that the cellphone is used for work only.

But as a practical matter, many companies don't enforce the record-keeping requirements. The IRS proposals from this week aim to simplify the requirements and aid enforcement of the law.

The IRS notice might re-energize an effort by cellphone companies such as Verizon Communications Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp. to repeal the 20-year-old law that classifies work cellphones as a fringe benefit subject to personal income tax.

The IRS in the past couple of years has begun to question employer deductions for cellphone services during tax audits, said Jot Carpenter, vice president of government affairs for CTIA-The Wireless Association, a trade group of cellphone equipment manufacturers and service providers.

Mr. Carpenter has been pressing lawmakers to repeal the requirement, arguing that the current widespread use of cellphones for work wasn't contemplated by the 1989 law, which targeted "CEOs and rich people."

"The idea that you should keep a log saying, 'I made a call saying I will be late for dinner again,' that's a totally cumbersome and burdensome requirement that most employers and employees are not going to comply with," said Mr. Carpenter.

The IRS, in a Monday notice, proposed options intended to simplify the requirement for employers. One proposal is a "safe harbor" that would deem 75% of work cellphone usage to be for work, and 25% to be personal. Under that scenario, employer deductions would be limited accordingly and employees would be taxed on the value of the personal use.

As an alternative approach, employees could satisfy the requirement by showing proof that they maintain a personal cellphone for use during work hours. Or, IRS could set a certain number of minutes that would be considered "minimal personal use" and thus disregarded for tax purposes.

In a third option, employers could use statistical sampling to determine what portion of their workers' use of cellphones is personal and how much work-related.

A similar measure has already passed the U.S. House of Representatives. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said earlier on Thursday she wanted to look closely at the Senate's bill. "But from what I have seen so far, I believe it will be possible for us to accept their bill and send it right on to the president."

No mention of the Detainee photo amendment:

Link

Harry Reid slipped Lieberman-Graham into the supplemental almost without notice on May 21:

    Mr. REID. Therefore, Mr. President, I make a point of order en bloc that all pending amendments are not in order postcloture except the following: Leahy, No. 1191; Brown, No. 1161; Corker, No. 1173; Kaufman, No. 1179, as modified; McCain, No. 1188; and Lieberman-Graham, No. 1157; further, that amendments No. 1161, No. 1173, No. 1188, and No. 1157 be modified with changes at the desk, and once those are modified, the above six amendments, as modified if modified, be agreed to en bloc; that the motions to reconsider be laid on the table en bloc; and the following amendments be considered and agreed to in the order listed: Lincoln, No. 1181 and Hutchison amendment No. 1176, as modified; and that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table; further, that the bill, as amended, be read a third time and the Senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill; that upon passage, the Senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the House, and that the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees, with the Senate Appropriations Committee appointed as conferees.

Joe Lieberman will add this to every bill to go out of the Senate and Harry Reid will help him, because he doesn't want Lieberman to force a big showdown where all the Democrats in the Senate are forced to oppose the President in order to oppose the bill.

But don't get too excited just yet.

Here's the letter, with what I think are the most important parts of it in bold:

June 11, 2009

The Honorable David R. Obey
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Chairman Obey and Chairman Inouye:

I am writing to urge you to oppose the McConnell Amendment, which is being offered in conference on the supplemental appropriations bill.

As you know, I have no higher priority than ensuring the safety of our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Given the singular importance of providing funding for our troops, it is essential that Congress pass the supplemental appropriations bill.  Passage of the McConnell Amendment would unnecessarily complicate the essential objective of supporting the troops, and would accomplish no substantive purpose.

On May 13, I announced I would resist the release of additional detainee photos because I did not believe it would add any additional benefit to our understanding of what happened in the past, and that the most direct consequence of releasing hem would be to further inflame anti-American opinion and to put our troops in great danger.  Earlier today, the Second Circuit granted the Government's motion that will stay the earlier court order to release the detainee photos, and we will now move forward with a petition to the Supreme Court to appeal the case.

I deeply appreciate all you have done to help with the effort to secure funding for the troops, and assure you that I will continue to take every legal and administrative remedy available to me to ensure the DoD detainee photographs are not released.  Should a legislative solution prove necessary, I am committed to working with Congress to enact legislation that achieves the objectives we share.

I look forward to working with ou on this and other issues affecting the security of our nation.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama