Morning Constitutional – Friday 30 April 2010

Good morning everybody. A very happy early May Day and Derby Day to all of you. Now, your morning constitutional:

Oil from the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico has reportedly reached shore overnight, although not confirmed by officials yet. Officials are stopping any new drilling until the spill is fully investigated.

Hawaii’s legislature passed a civil unions bill yesterday giving gay couples the same rights as married straight couples. The bill is sent to Gov. Lingle, a Republican, who remains undecided on whether to veto, sign or pass the bill. The bill did not pass with enough votes to override a veto.

The Belgian lower house of Parliament Thursday passed a ban banning women from wearing full-face Islamic veils in public.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin tracks polar bears, orders clean-up of polluted arctic territories.

House Minority Leader John Boehner promises to repeal health care reform if Republicans gain majority in the House.

The Economist re-draws the map of Europe.

Democrats unveil their framework for reforming immigration. Included: more border security, biometric Social Security cards, and a path for undocumented to become legal.

FiveThirtyEight unveils prediction for U.K. elections: 299 Tories, 199 Labour, 120 Lib-Dems. More: Post-UK debate scenarios; Strong second for Lib-Dems could help Tories.

Just a day after Charlie Crist upends the Florida senate race, Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene enters the race as a Democrat.

Led by a boost in customer spending, the economy grew at a brisk 3.2% during the first quarter of this year.

Microsoft explains humor. Seriously.

The Affordable Care Act, the health care reform package passed this Spring, gets a little more bipartisan support since its passage.

Chad’s government claims to have killed over a hundred insurgents near it’s Sudan/Darfur border.

The RNC complains that the president has no blacks on his Supreme Court shortlist. Except he does.

How black Baltimore drug dealers are using legal theories from white supremacists to confound the federal government.

The new Arizona immigration law may seem crazy, but TPM documents some other crazy legislation coming out of statehouses nationwide.

What the fuck should I make for dinner?

Another mine tragedy—in Kentucky—as second miner is found dead after a roof collapse in a mine with a history of safety issues.

According to a casual study of Snopes.com, President Obama is already the subject of twice as many rumors as President Bush after only one and a half years in office, and only 9% are true, compared to 43% for Bush.

Forget Goldman Sachs, the entire economy is built on fraud.

Finally, in a surprise showing, turns out the Cleveland Indians are the most-hated team in baseball.

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