Morning Constitutional – Tuesday, 3 August 2010

Good morning, folks. Susan Boyle might be on Glee. Now, your morning constitutional:

Lebanese and Israeli soldiers have exchanged fire on their shared border; each side has reported casualties.

In the Northern Ireland city of Londonderry on Tuesday, an Irish Republican Army splinter group detonated a bomb in a hijacked taxi outside of a police station. Buildings were damaged but nobody was injured.

According to the newly released USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, President Obama\’s approval rating has dropped to 41%. According to Gallup\’s daily tracking poll, his approval rating stands at 45%.

The ethics charges against Reps. Waters and Rangle highlight Washington\’s new vigilance in detecting indiscretions by members of Congress.

Fifty-four percent of Americans want the Senate to confirm Elena Kagan\’s nomination to the Supreme Court while 34% oppose, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll.

When the few do not represent the many: Even though Timothy McVeigh was Catholic, no one questions the appropriateness of rebuilding a Catholic facility overlooking the site of the Oklahoma City bombing. Yet, many are protesting the building of an Islamic community center near the World Trade Center site.

Why the Anti-Defamation League should be ashamed of itself.

Fossil fuels are globally subsidized at a rate of 12 times that of renewable fuels, a new study shows.

George Packer at the New Yorker on how broken the Senate is and how difficult it would be to fix it.

In the midst of a down-turned economy and resentment of foreigners, Neo-Nazi groups are on the rise in Mongolia.

The Security and Exchanges Commission wants to levy large penalties to show that it is tough on companies that break rules; however, these penalties are often paid for by the same shareholders who were hurt by the offense in the first place.

America\’s Peculiar Amnesia: People have already forgotten how George W. Bush and the Republican Congress expanded government spending.

Man gets a year in jail for grabbing helicopter as it was taking off.

Does drinking beer increase your attractiveness to mosquitoes?

Finally, the story of a man who drank a beer every mile of a half-marathon.