By Rob Sanna – Talk Radio News Service The Supreme Court upheld the Second Amendment with a 5-4 vote in the McDonald vs. The City of Chicago case. The court ruled that the right to keep and bear arms be extended to state and local governments declared it unconstitutional for…

McChrystal Fallout
According to Pentagon spokesperson Bryan Whitman, General Stanley McChrystal is left with 3 options after losing his position as Afghan Commander: he can retire, be retired by the Army or be reassigned.
If he is reassigned this would involve Senate confirmation, which would likely be rocky considering the Rolling Stone piece named both McCain and Kerry.
General David Petraeus, who was tapped by Obama as McChrystal’s replacement, will head to the Hill Tuesday to make it official.
There’s no official word yet on who will take Petraeus’s place as the head of CENTCOM. The safe money is on Lt. General John Allen who is currently CENTCOM’s Deputy Commander.
Whitman told reporters Firday that Gate’s recommendation and the President’s subsequent announcement could come at any time and would not necessarily need to come after Petraeus is confirmed.

The Supreme Court Thursday unanimously ruled that a federal law often used in corruption prosecutions is unconstitutionally vague. The law in question, making it illegal “to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services,” was used in cases where there the accused had not clearly stolen money or had not provided a concrete benefit in exchange for money.
Jeffery Skilling, former CEO of Enron, was convicted in 2006 of—among other things—depriving shareholders of his “honest services” when he made false statements about Enron’s financial state and benefitted from Enron’s inflated stock price. Skilling appealed his conviction, arguing that the “honest services” law was unconstitutionally vague.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the Court, said that when Congress passed the “honest services” law it had not intended the law to reach this broadly. Instead, she wrote, Congress had likely intended the law to codify language in an earlier Supreme Court decision regarding bribery and kickback schemes. The law should therefore be limited to those kinds of schemes, she wrote, and under that interpretation the law does not cover Skilling’s actions.
Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy, wrote separately but agreed with Ginsburg’s conclusion. Rather than limit the law to bribery and kickbacks, though, Scalia argued the Court should have thrown out the law entirely.
In either case, all 9 Justices agreed that the “honest services” law cannot be applied in cases like Skilling’s.
In a separate section of Ginsburg’s opinion, the Court decided that Skilling had received a fair trial in Houston, the city of Enron’s former headquarters, despite significant media coverage and the economic impact on the city from Enron’s collapse. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the only former trial judge on the Supreme Court, disagreed, faulting the trial court for inadequately screening potential jurors for bias. Justices John Paul Stevens and Stephen Breyer agreed on this point.
The case will now return to lower courts, where judges will have to decide whether any of the charges on which Skilling was convicted can stand without the “honest services” conviction. If not, Skilling will likely face a new trial.
The case is Skilling v. US.

By Sarah Mamula – Talk Radio News Service
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday that border and immigration security is the responsibility of the federal government.
Napolitano praised President Obama for his efforts to increase border security in the southwest and added that “the Obama Administration has taken it’s responsibility seriously.”
According to Napolitano, the administration’s strategy has been successful by obtaining personnel, resources and the technology required to protect the border.
“Statistics today reflect that this approach is working,” assured Napolitano.
Napolitano said the U.S. Border Patrol has increased its numbers from 10,000 to 20,000 agents, more technology is being deployed to detect smugglers and illegal cargo, and businesses that consciously hire illegal immigrants are experiencing a federal crackdown.
In addition to increased cooperation between the local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in combating border-related crimes, the 652 miles of fencing requested by Congress is expected to be completed by the end of the 2010.
“It is a very different picture now than it was before,” said Napolitano. “For the first time, the Department of Homeland Security is screening 100 percent of southbound rail shipments for illegal weapons, drugs, and cash.”
According to Napolitano, President Obama has requested an additional $500 million to be allocated towards securing the southwest border and will deploy 1,200 National Guard troops to strengthen the border.
Napolitano announced the beginning of computer system that will interconnect data systems of all state, local and tribal law enforcement entities working along the southwest border with those of the DHS and Department of Justice (DOJ). She also said that an automated license plate recognition system, called Project Road Runner, will also be implemented to target both north and southbound drug trafficking and associated illegal activity.
When questioned about the administration’s lawsuit against Arizona’s new immigration law and the refusal of the Republicans to agree with Obama’s proposed immigration and border security reform, the Homeland Security Secretary refused to comment.

By Alexa Gitler
Talk Radio News Service
The Senate Judiciary Committee posted a letter on its website signed by 29 individuals who clerked with Supreme Court nominee and current U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan in the late 1980′s.
“All of us believe that Elena would be an outstanding Justice,” read the letter.
Among the 29 individuals were Harry Litman, former law clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall, whom Kagan clerked for in 1988, Teresa Roseborough, former clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens, and Peter Keisler, former clerk to Justice Anthony Kennedy, all of whom praised Kagan during a conference call with reporters on Wednesday.
“The labels of liberal or conservative don’t really have strong attachment to her, she approached things without an agenda, she tried to understand things in as much depth as possible and was thought of as a quintessential thinker,” said Roseborough.
The former clerks were hesitant to answer any questions about Kagan’s personal views or opinions she may have shared with them, but all of them expressed their belief that Kagan is exceptionally well-qualified and should be nominated to serve on the Court.

By Sarah Mamula – Talk Radio News Service
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) addressed the deficit Tuesday morning, and emphasized the need to cut defense spending in addition to creating what he called “budget restraints.”
“Defense spending cannot be above careful scrutiny and analysis,” said the Majority Leader during a conference hosted by the organization Third Way.
He stressed that current levels of defense spending cannot be maintained and that unnecessary weapons systems must be cut. Hoyer stated that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has already asked Congress to discontinue funding for C-17 cargo planes and an additional engine for the F-35 strike fighter.
“I wish more of us in public life were as honest about hard budget choices as Secretary Gates has been,” said Hoyer.
By making these “hard choices,” Majority Leader Hoyer hopes to lessen and ultimately dissolve the deficit so that future generations “have the money and ability to respond in an effective way” to the current disasters and issues facing their country.
“Let us hope they look back on our generation and say ‘they were up to the task.’”

By Brandon Kosters- Talk Radio News Service
Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) said he spoke with General Stanley A. McChrystal, Commander of International and U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, this morning about comments McChrystal made in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. McChrystal spoke critically of the Obama administration regarding how it is handling the war in Afghanistan.
“I emphasized to him that…those are comments that he’s going to have to deal with,” Kerry said. “I have enormous respect for General McChrystal and I think he’s a terrific soldier.”
Kerry said that it would be best not to fixate on this issue, and emphasized the remaining presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
“All of us would be best served by backing off, staying cool and calm and, you know, not succumbing to the normal Washington twitter about this for the next 24 hours.”

The White House defended President Barack Obama’s most recent golf outing Monday, but continued to decry BP CEO Tony Hayward’s attendance of a yacht race this weekend.
“I don’t think that there’s a person in this country that doesn’t think that their president ought to have a little time to clear his mind,” Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton told reporters. “I think a little time to himself on Father’s Day weekend probably does us all good.”
Burton noted that the outing took place during the same week that Obama secured the $20 billion escrow account for Gulf Coast victims.
The White House, however, was less forgiving of Hayward’s trip. On Sunday’s episode of This Week on ABC, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel described the CEO’s excursion as the latest in a series of high profile gaffes. On Monday, Burton poked fun at the executive.
“Hayward … took himself at his word that he was going to get his life back,” Burton said, referencing the remarks that landed Hayward in hot water. “It’s clear that he has.”
Added Burton, “What’s important to us is that the people in the Gulf get their lives back.  It’s not so easy for them to just take a weekend away and forget about everything that’s happening down there. ”
Obama’s outing, which took place Saturday at Andrew’s Air Force Base, raised eyebrows on the right. The Republican National Committee released an email the following day linking the President and the CEO’s weekend activities and Chairman Michael Steele posted a blog instructing the President to give up golf, as well as other activities, until the oil spill is taken care of.
“No more golf outings, no more baseball games, no more Beatle concerts, Mr. President,” Steele said.

By Linn Grubbstrom – Talk Radio News Service
After protests outside BP’s D.C. headquarters and the White House in recent weeks, the organization Code Pink staged a demonstration in front of a D.C. based BP gas station Saturday with the goal of encouraging drivers to support a boycott against the company responsible for the oil spill in the Gulf Coast. Armed with banners and signs, the demonstrators blocked the driveway in to the station.
“One thing we’re trying to do is to get people to stop from going in here,” said Diane Wilson, a shrimper from Texas who co-found Code Pink. “There was a fellow just trying to turn in a little while ago and … I was saying boycott BP and he shook his head, yelled … squirreled around and left.”
Added Wilson, “I hope he went to a different gas station.”
During the last two weeks, Wilson has been arrested twice, most recently while disrupting BP CEO Tony Hayward’s testimony before Congress. This time she and Code Pink hope that the local protest will do more to hurt BP’s pocketbook.
“We are hoping to economically impact BP. That is the way these guys … listen to reason,” said Wilson. “You impact them economically and then it kind of registers in their heads.”

By Miles Wolf Tamboli
Talk Radio News Service
Hours before President Barack Obama spoke in Columbus, Ohio about the benefits his stimulus bill has provided to the job-crippled state, Ohio State Auditor and candidate for Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor (R) told reporters that the bill has “failed.”
The controversial American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, commonly referred to as the stimulus bill, aimed to enhance job creation and spur spending through an investment of $862 billion dollars into the U.S. economy.
While a growing number of economists are coming out in support of the stimulus and its effects, a large amount of funding went into sources which can’t be easily quantified – a point Taylor was quick to address on Friday.
“The only jobs created by the stimulus package and government spending are government jobs.”
Taylor clarified her statement, explaining that, “half of the $3.3 billion dollars Ohio has received so far has gone to run Medicaid, not invest in job creation.”
At 10.7%, Taylor’s state has the tenth highest unemployment rate in the nation, a figure that can be partially attributed to the struggling auto market, as well as the relocating of a number of local steel jobs to countries oversees.
Overall, the gubernatorial candidate was critical, yet constructive in her judgment of the stimulus bill.
“When the federal stimulus bill was enacted in February 2009, our unemployment rate was 9.4%; today it’s 10.7%. I would guess that if you asked the 641,000 Ohioans who are out of work, ‘has the stimulus worked?’ I think they would agree that it has not.”
“What we really need to do is allow our small businesses to invest here in Ohio and create jobs and create an economic environment where they can do that,” Taylor added. “The only long term solution is creating a pro-growth business climate by reducing government spending.”