Morning Constitutional – Friday, 7 May 2010

Good morning, folks. If you\’re in Pennsylvania, make sure you booze it up with moms on Sunday. Now, your morning constitutional:

Tories made large gains in the U.K. election yesterday, ending over a decade of Labour majority, although not gaining enough seats to form a majority themselves.

BP began the process Friday morning of lowering the containment dome over the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. The work is expected to continue over the weekend.

U.S. stocks dropped nearly a thousand points yesterday before leveling off at a 346-point drop yesterday, but stocks are expected to do better today, although the market is highly volatile.

The U.S. added 290,000 jobs in April, more then economists predicted, but the unemployment rate rose to 9.9%. Manufacturers added the most workers (+44,000) since August 1998.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Thursday announced a proposal to place Internet service providers in the same category of telephone companies, which would allow the agency more power to regulate the industry.

AIG reported a return to profit Friday. Its first-quarter profit was $1.5B, while a year ago, the company lost $4.4B in the same quarter.

Mike Allen at Politico predicts President Obama will announce Elena Kagan as his pick for the Supreme Court on Monday. Salon reports that the White House is beginning to distribute pro-Kagan talking points. Probably time to add \”Kagan\” to Firefox\’s spell-check dictionary. Kagan will likely have to explain comments made in 1995 calling the Supreme Court confirmation process a \”vapid and hollow charade.\”

According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, 14% of Americans say without prodding that President Obama was born in another country, a number that rises to 20% percent when offered the answer as a possibility. Surprisingly, of those, one-third approve of the president\’s job regardless.

Wired: What is personal data?

Sen. Tom Harkin (Iowa) proposes an amendment to financial reform to limit ATM fees.

China\’s energy use (and consequent greenhouse gas production) has surged in the past six months.

Finally, a TSA agent attacked a co-worker in Miami after taking a full-body scan that exposed his genitals, leading to months of joking by other co-workers.