RAND SIMBERG: ONE SMALL LAUNCH OF A ROCKET, One Giant Leap for Commercial Spaceflight.

ANN ALTHOUSE: Did you notice how Sonia Sotomayor has backed away from any identification with Obama’s notion that “empathy” is a component of judging?

UPDATE: Mike Seidman: “Yesterday, Judge Sotomayor explicitly repudiated the President.” But read the whole thing, as he has a deeper point. And there’s a response.

RANDY BARNETT: Sotomayor Again Misstates Fundamental Rights Doctrine. “This is both a grossly incorrect (and empty) understanding of the doctrine governing the protection fundamental rights and an inaccurate statement of the precedents concerning the incorporation of the right to keep and bear arms into the Due Process Clause of the Constitution.”

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Another FBI Probe Involves Murtha.

IN THE MAIL: From Inman Majors, his novel, Wonderdog. Heh. I’ve been reading his The Millionaires, which is set in the town of “Glennville,” and now this.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Rep. Perlmutter part owns ‘green’ bank he helped: Provision in bill would aid family members, political donor. “Rep. Ed Perlmutter of Colorado inserted a provision into the recently passed House climate change bill that would drum up business for ‘green’ banks, such as the one he has invested in and his family and a political donor helped found in San Francisco. . . . Mr. Perlmutter, a two-term Democrat, has two investments in the 3-year-old New Resource Bank, which calls itself the nation’s first green bank.”

Sounds like there’s plenty of “green” involved, all right.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FACT CHECK: Don’t quote Sotomayor on that, Senator.

In endorsing Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy did some creative rewriting of history. And he put quote marks around it.

Trying to head off criticism of a controversial comment, Leahy misquoted Sotomayor’s own words in kicking off the second day of her confirmation hearings. . . .

LEAHY SAID: “You said that, quote, you ‘would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would reach wise decisions.'”

THE FACTS: If that’s all Sotomayor said, the quote would barely have mattered to opponents of her nomination. The actual quote, delivered in a 2001 speech to law students at the University of California at Berkeley, was: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

Leahy’s revision dropped the controversial part of the phrase, the part that has attracted charges of reverse racism.

Sotomayor said her words have been misunderstood. She said she intended to tell students that their experiences would enrich the legal system. But she softened her language Tuesday, say that no ethnic, racial or gender group has an advantage in judging.

I wouldn’t regard Leahy as a reliable source on these things.

Plus, Leahy explains his “wise Latina” misquote, but the video shows…

MICKEY KAUS: “The network of community colleges is a powerful lobby. Solid citizen advocates in every district. They just got $12 billion from Obama. But do they do much good?”

MICHAEL BARONE: The Price of Leaving The Stimulus To Congress.

POLITICAL WIRE: SENSING WEAKNESS? Clinton Asserts Herself. Plus this: “Interesting side note: The White House scheduled a Rose Garden appearance for President Obama to discuss health care at the same time Clinton will begin her speech.”

SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN AND THE COMMERCE CLAUSE: “Either Senator Feinstein misspoke, or she needs better staff.”

JAMES JOYNER ON OBAMA’S FIRST PITCH: “What I found interesting is the camera angle: The showed the windup and the pitch but not the landing. There’s a consensus in the righty blogosphere that, despite standing in front of the mound, he was short. But, unless they showed a different angle later, how would anyone know?” My guess is that the White House media shop negotiated that camera angle.

UPDATE: Reuters video: Pitch fell short. They report the “jeers” along with the “cheers,” too. More here.

MEGAN MCARDLE ON ANTIBIOTICS AND RESISTANCE. I think you can make a better case for regulating antibiotics than heroin: Misusing antibiotics can endanger countless others, while misusing heroin mostly endangers oneself.

BUSINESS ADVICE from a teenaged girl.

WASHINGTON POST: The Deep-Pockets Mirage: House Democrats would have us believe that the rich can pay for it all.

NAZIS AT THE CANADIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION? I’d say they’d fit right in.

THE E.F.F. faces off against the Obama Administration on warrantless wiretapping.

NATIONAL HEALTH IN BRITAIN: A 9-month wait for arthritis treatment: Delay can mean a lifetime of agony for victims.

HARRY POTTER DVDs at half price today. The Insta-Daughter went to the midnight premiere — will post a report when she’s awake enough to relay one. . . .

ANDY KESSLER: The Bernanke Market: We won’t get real growth until Congress and Treasury get policy right.

I SHOULD’VE POSTED THIS YESTERDAY: Stephen Green rounds up the Sunday shows.

SHOCKING NEWS FROM RICH HAILEY: “A man carrying a gun ate lunch in a restaurant that serves alcohol. Nobody was harmed in the course of the meal.” Good grief. What are the odds on that?

SHOULD WE WORRY ABOUT INFLATION YET? “The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods rose 1.8 percent in June, the Labor Department reports. That’s a big step up from a 0.2 percent increase in May and a 0.3 percent increase in April.” Maybe yes, maybe no. But if so, then at least the stimulus is having some effect!

ROGER KIMBALL: Steven Rattner redux, or Why You Were Right to think that Czars are Un-American.

KEITH HENNESSEY: Does the House really want to raise taxes on eight million uninsured people? “The President has said he would not allow taxes to be raised on anyone with less than $250,000 of income. . . . If you’re a single person with income of $44,000 or higher, then you’re above 400% of the poverty line. You would not be subsidized, but would face the punitive tax if you didn’t get health insurance. This bill leaves an important gap between the subsidies and the cost of health insurance. CBO says that for about eight million people, that gap is too big to close, and they would get stuck paying higher taxes and still without health insurance.” Much more at the link.