THURSDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* With Senate Republicans ruling out a filibuster, Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination is on track for a confirmation vote in early August — before the chamber breaks for recess.
* The U.N. has approved new sanctions against North Korea. (Let me guess — Kim Jung Il will consider this an “act of war.”)
* Former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson gets an earful from Congress.
* Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) raised a few eyebrows during today’s hearings when he said he was looking forward to doing “that crack cocaine thing” with Sen. Patrick Leahy and Wade Henderson, the president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. He then conceded that he “misspoke.”
* That lawsuit filed by the Birther in the Army resisting deployment? It’s already been thrown out.
* I’ll have more on this in the morning, but the AP has gone into some additional details to back up the “$1.5 trillion” figure. The explanation, however, isn’t entirely satisfying.
* John Yoo, still lying.
* Former Reps. Mickey Edwards (R-Okla.) and Chris Shays (R-Conn.) have conceded that, during the Bush years, congressional Republicans put their party’s interests over the Constitution. Nice of them to notice.
* NASA has refurbished video of the original moon landing.
* A right-wing Republican candidate for the state legislature in Virginia told an audience recently, “We have the chance to fight this battle at the ballot box before we have to resort to the bullet box.”
* Rep. Joe Courtney (D) of Connecticut makes a good case for health care reform, by telling his congressional colleagues, “When I listen to the hysterical descriptions of what is in this legislation, I would remind many members to look at themselves in the mirror. Because what they are presently entitled to as members of Congress is exactly what this legislation is proposing to create for all Americans.”
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
