CAN MITCH DANIELS SAVE THE GOP?

I’M SHOCKED, SHOCKED: EU turns blind eye to corruption in eastern gas trade.

MEET THE NEW BOSS, YADA, YADA:

I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until the ABA denounces as “contrary to the rule of law and our constitutional system of separation of powers” President Obama’s use of signing statements to voice constitutional concerns about legislation he signs into law. See ABA Task Force on Presidential Signing Statements and the Separation of Powers Doctrine, Report at 5 (July 24, 2006) (“ABA Task Force Report”). The President quietly issued another such signing statement on Tuesday, the fourth constitutional signing statement of his young presidency. . . . President Obama has issued more constitutional signing statements than President Bush had at this point in his presidency.

When Bush did it, it was a lawless practice, giving rise to the fierce moral urgency of replacing him with a Democrat . . . who’d do the same thing.

COMPARING THE MAY UNEMPLOYMENT NUMBERS with predictions.

A CHEERFUL PERSPECTIVE: “Remember the stress tests? The baseline scenario had unemployment in 2009 at 8.4%, rising to 8.9% under the more adverse scenario. Well, we’re only up to May, and already it’s at 9.4%.”

Related: Unemployment Compared to Stress Test Scenarios, and Diffusion Index.

A FUN RANT FROM HARLAN ELLISON: Pay the writer! (Thanks to Max Boot at Commentary.)

CONSEQUENCES OF CHINA’S MALE SURPLUS, with bonus Heinlein reference.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: “Crunch Berries” aren’t real berries. In other news, Captain Crunch not an actual captain. . . .

SOUTH CAROLINA, THE STIMULUS, AND fake state “spending crunches.”

MURTHA UPDATE: 2 former drug dealers tied to Murtha-backed firm.

Related: Defense firm, a Murtha backer, got money from drug dealer. “A Johnstown-area defense firm under investigation for possible contract fraud received an infusion of cash during its start-up years from a narcotics trafficker with whom one of the company’s founders admitted engaging in the drug trade.” Funny how all this is coming out after the election.

HEH: You Bought It, You Own It: “Senator Lamar Alexander introduced the ‘Auto Stock for Every Taxpayer Act’ today, which would ‘require the Treasury to distribute to individual taxpayers all its stock in General Motors (GM) and Chrysler within one year following the emergence of the companies from bankruptcy proceedings.'”

ADVICE TO MEN from Frank Miniter, author of The Ultimate Man’s Survival Guide.

“ALL IS PROCEEDING AS I HAVE FORESEEN:” Lack Of Coherent Dem Response On Torture Taking Toll, Helping Cheney. “Some striking new polling from Gallup suggests that the lack of a coherent response to Dick Cheney’s torture offensive is taking its toll on at least one high-profile Democrat while simultaneously helping Cheney begin to salvage his reputation. The Gallup poll finds that two of the leading officials on either side of the torture argument — Cheney and Nancy Pelosi — have equally poor favorability ratings. But here’s the key point: They are at parity because Cheney’s ratings have gone up and Pelosi’s have dropped during the period that both were heavily identified with the torture issue. Pelosi’s favorability rating is at 34%, down eight points from six months ago. Cheney’s is at 37%, up seven points in the same time period. Cheney’s rating is actually higher than Pelosi’s.”

ANOTHER BUSTED APPOINTMENT: Mudd Withdraws as DHS Intelligence Chief. “Phil Mudd, a career CIA employee who is President Obama’s nominee to be the Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence chief, has asked that his name be withdrawn from consideration, according to an authoritative source.” No word as to why. Taxes? Based on past experience, that’s the way to bet, but it could easily be something else.

TREASURIES: Exit The Safe Haven. “The 10-year Treasury bond paid a 3.83% yield Friday afternoon, up from 3.6% in the last week of May and a 52-week low of 2.07%. One worry is that higher yields on benchmark government bonds will translate into steeper borrowing costs for home buyers and businesses, besides making the U.S. government’s deficit spending more expensive.”

Related: Interest rates soar on jobs data, putting housing at risk. “The Treasury bond market is in cardiac arrest today over the May employment report: Yields are soaring, dealing another blow to investors who’ve been hiding out in government bonds — and threatening another big jump in mortgage rates.”

HEH: Obama taps anti-abortion activist to faith-based health post. “President Barack Obama has tapped an anti-abortion activist to a senior Health and Human Services ‘faith-based’ position just a week after the murder of prominent abortion doctor George Tiller.” And it sounds like another round of Who Are The Rubes? is underway.

HIGH-SPEED RAIL rarely turns a profit.

UNCOMMON KNOWLEDGE: Peter Robinson interviews Andew Breitbart.

TIANANMEN, 20 years on.

MICHAEL S. MALONE: “One of the most frustrating features of the current era in high tech – that is, the years since the bursting of the dot.com bubble and 9/11 – has been comparative lack of competition.”

ISRAELI REACTIONS to Obama’s speech in Cairo.

IN THE MAIL: From Kevin Price, The Successful Retirement Guide: Hundreds of Suggestions on How to Stay Intellectually, Socially and Physically Engaged for the Best Years of Your Life.

McDONALD’S, INTERSTATE 74, Illinois.

(Blogging from the road, yesterday.)

DO BRAS PREVENT SAGGY BREASTS? “There is, so far as [The Straight Dope] can discover, zero evidence that bras prevent saggy breasts.” I recommend bralessness. At least don’t let fear of drooping breasts stop you.