Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The U.S. economy has lost jobs for six months in a row: “The economy is likely to keep stumbling at least through the rest of the year, analysts agreed Thursday, after a disappointing government report showed that payroll jobs fell by 62,000 in June.” The employment numbers for April and May were also revised, and both were worse than previously believed.
* Paul Krugman adds some disconcerting context to the latest data: “The U.S. economy needs to add more than 100,000 jobs each month just to keep up with growth in the working-age population. Over the past 6 months, nonfarm payroll employment has fallen more than 400,000. So job creation this year has fallen well over a million jobs short.”
* If only we’d move troops out of Iraq: “The Pentagon has extended the tour of 2,200 Marines in Afghanistan, after insisting for months the unit would come home on time.”
* Conyers isn’t letting Rove off the hook: “The standoff between the House and the Bush administration over the congressional testimony of top White House aides continued on Thursday when House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) threatened to hold Karl Rove in contempt if he follows through on his refusal to respond to a committee subpoena.”
* The courts aren’t buying what Bush’s lawyers are selling: “A federal judge in California said Wednesday that the wiretapping law established by Congress was the ‘exclusive’ means for the president to eavesdrop on Americans, and he rejected the government’s claim that the president’s constitutional authority as commander in chief trumped that law.”
* We can pretty much forget about the Bush administration striking a long-term security arrangement with Iraqi officials before the end of the year.
* $145: “Oil prices raced above $145 a barrel for the first time Thursday as traders added to their bets on the commodity ahead of the long holiday weekend.”
* If you haven’t read the story about how, exactly, Colombian officials freed the hostages yesterday, you really should. It’s quite a tale.
* Not good: “Yesterday, in the Viacom v. Google litigation, the federal court for the Southern District of New York ordered Google to produce to Viacom (over Google’s objections): ‘all data from the Logging database concerning each time a YouTube video has been viewed on the YouTube website or through embedding on a third-party website.'”
* Also not good: “The Justice Department is considering letting the FBI investigate Americans without any evidence of wrongdoing, relying instead on a terrorist profile that could single out Muslims, Arabs or other racial and ethnic groups.”
* I guess Republicans will have to work harder: “According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Wednesday, 35 percent of Americans believe a terrorist attack somewhere in the United States is likely over the next several weeks. The figure is the lowest in a CNN poll since the September 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.”
* I wish I knew why McCain’s associates keep questioning Wesley Clark’s military service.
* I often wish Andrea Mitchell were a better journalist, Part I and Part II.
* Ted Kennedy isn’t going to let a brain tumor get in his way; he has work to do.
* I just couldn’t bring myself to suffer through Douglas Feith’s latest op-ed. Matt Duss is a more patient man than I.
* I’m only vaguely aware of who Monica Crowley is, but anyone in her position should realize that plagiarists usually get caught.
* We’re #8! “The U.S. has done the least among the world’s eight largest economies to address global warming, a study released Thursday found. The G-8 Climate Scorecards 2008, released Thursday ahead of next week’s gathering of the Group of Eight on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, also found that none of the eight countries are making improvements large enough to prevent temperature increases that scientists think would cause catastrophic climate changes.” (thanks to R.K.)
* And finally, I haven’t been to McDonald’s in years, but if it’s going to annoy the American Family Association, I might just have to make a trip: “Today, the right-wing American Family Association (AFA) announced a boycott of McDonald’s. According to AFA, Ronald McDonald and his gang are part of giant gay agenda.” Of course, the AFA thinks everyone is part of a giant gay agenda, so McD’s probably shouldn’t worry too much.
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.