HUFFPOST HILL - JUNE 4TH, 2010

It was a mostly quiet day as the Memorial Day recess came to a close...that is until it became clear there was going to be another Mediterranean showdown, this one between Israel and Irish peaceniks. We had a day's worth of freedom doughnut protests, $2 tar ball shots and Elena Kagan's coloring books to keep us distracted in the interim. Happy weekend, everyone! This is HUFFPOST HILL for Friday, June 4th, 2010:

BREAKING

ISRAEL SHOWDOWN WITH NEW GAZA SHIP IMMINENT - AP: "Israel vowed Friday to keep an Irish aid ship from breaching its blockade of the impoverished Gaza Strip, appealing to pro-Palestinian activists to dock at an Israeli port and avoid another showdown at sea...Activists on board the Irish boat, including a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, insisted they would not resist if Israeli soldiers tried to take over their vessel. They said they expected the 1,200-ton Rachel Corrie to reach Gaza by late Saturday morning." http://huff.to/b6aXgb

If you don't remember Rachel Corrie, she was the American activist run over by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003 trying to defend a Palestinian home from being destroyed during the construction of Israel's wall. http://bit.ly/l3pQC

Ha'aretz: "Following the passengers' rejection of the agreement, the forum of seven high ranking ministers decided to go ahead with the plan to stop the ship and take it over, as was done with the previous Gaza flotilla..." http://bit.ly/8Z9K9o

OBAMA CHOOSES GEN. JAMES CLAPPER (RET) TO BE NEW DNI - Clapper is currently the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. Marc Ambinder reports, "Pending weather, the announcement will be made in the Rose Garden tomorrow. Clapper would be the fourth DNI since the position was created five years ago to oversee the intelligence community's 16 agencies." http://bit.ly/coz7CG

PRESIDENT BACK IN LOUISIANA... - Obama today made his second visit in two weeks to the Gulf Coast region. He met with Admiral Thad Allen of the Coast Guard who is spearheading the government's cleanup oversight efforts.

Reuters: "Obama told reporters that BP should not be "nickel and diming" residents along the oil-stained Gulf of Mexico coast over damage claims while spending billions in shareholder dividends. He was speaking after BP put off a decision on whether to suspend paying its next quarterly dividend as some U.S. lawmakers had demanded. Obama said he understood that BP had legal obligations to shareholders, but it also had moral and legal obligations toward Gulf Coast residents, many of whom have seen their way of life threatened by the massive oil spill." http://bit.ly/bJsZeU

Obama also questioned BP's spending on TV ads to 'manage their image' during oil spill crisis.

Gulf blowout 1, Mike Allen 0 - From Jonathan Weisman's pool report: "Pool is informed that Mr. Allen's bet on a Potus boat ride to the oil slick is coming up bad. In order to get Potus on said boat, a 'floatercade' would have to be assembled, and Ms. Hogan says that is not in the cards today."

OBAMA POSTPONES INDONESIA AND AUSTRALIA TRIP AGAIN - AP: "The president informed both countries' leaders of the change in plans in Thursday night phone calls, offering his 'deep regret' and pledging to reschedule soon, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs announced in a statement just after midnight. Obama was to depart on a weeklong trip to the two countries, along with a quick stop in Guam, on June 13. Asked the reason for the delay, Gibbs told The Associated Press that Obama was staying home 'to deal with important issues, one of which is the oil spill.'" http://huff.to/b73PXN

Robert Cavnar: "My Industry -- the Oil Industry -- Should Be Ashamed of Itself" http://huff.to/drNjCO

Are students being rounded up in Iran on the eve of the uprising's anniversary? http://bit.ly/asNmhb

CLINTON LIBRARY RELEASES KAGAN DOCUMENTS - The papers are from Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's time on President Clinton's Domestic Policy Council. The files are large They are available here: http://bit.ly/bI1BQK

TPM's Christina Bellantoni does the legwork and comes up with this Earth-shattering document...er, coloring book: http://bit.ly/dhexix

DEMS PLAN HEALTH CARE AD BLITZ - Bloomberg: "Democratic strategists, with the consent of the White House, are starting a multimillion-dollar campaign to defend President Barack Obama's signature health- care plan heading into the 2010 elections. Organizers of the Health Information Center plan to raise $25 million for an

advertising and advocacy campaign that will start this summer, with plans to spend equal sums during each of the four years of the health-care legislation's implementation." http://bit.ly/9uzmt7

Look for PhRMA to play a big role in, per the deal.

EMPLOYERS TURNING AWAY THE UNEMPLOYED - Laura Bassett holding the spedometer to our society's hand-basketed descent into Hell: "In a current job posting on The People Place...qualifications for the job are the usual. But red print at the bottom of the ad says, 'Client will not consider/review anyone NOT currently employed regardless of the reason.' In a nearly identical job posting for the same position on the Benchmark Electronics website, the red print is missing. But a human resources representative for the company confirmed to HuffPost that the The People Place ad accurately reflects the company's recruitment policies. 'It's our preference that they currently be employed,' he said. 'We typically go after people that are happy where they are and then tell them about the opportunities here. We do get a lot of applications blindly from people who are currently unemployed -- with the economy being what it is, we've had a lot of people contact us that don't have the skill sets we want, so we try to minimize the amount of time we spent on that and try to rifle-shoot the folks we're interested in.'" http://huff.to/dDldkT

DID KIRK EXAGGERATE HIS MILITARY SERVICE AGAIN? - Sam Stein: "In a questionnaire he filled out for the Chicago Sun-Times this past January, the Illinois Republican was asked to describe the 'wildest thing' that he had ever done in his career. A 18-year veteran who coasted with relative ease to the Republican senatorial nomination, Kirk replied: 'Last year, I was with a Dutch armor unit in Kandahar, getting shot at.' Such a recollection of his trip to Kandahar seems a bit more dramatic than the one Kirk gave to the Lake County News Sun one year prior, in which he explicitly said that 'getting shot at' didn't happen." http://huff.to/cMcXxF

100 YEARS AGO TODAY - The New York Times from June 5th, 1910: "President Taft declared that Socialism is the great problem that confronts the American people, the issue that is soon to come and that must be skillfully met." The cyclical nature of history WIN. http://bit.ly/bk8qHd

Don't be bashful: Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to [e-mail]

TRENDING

DISAPPOINTING JOB NUMBERS RELEASED - Not since the invention of the spork has Americans' laziness bolstered the economy like this. The Labor Department reported the economy added 431,000 jobs last month, most of which were Census jobs, created after folks couldn't muster the energy to send back their forms. Only 41,000 private sector jobs were added, down from 218,000 from April. http://huff.to/cvDr3Z

Robert Reich: We're falling into a double-dip recession http://huff.to/9CAsHd

The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq were all down more than three percent, with the Dow giving up 324 points.

How big is too big to fail? For a few office buildings in Chicago partly owned by the Fed, it's just a few bills. Must be nice. http://bit.ly/9A27cm

AFL-CIO Chief Robert Trumka: As welcome as these new jobs are, they are temporary and - without action from Congress - many will be eliminated over the next few months."

Michael Steele: "I welcome job growth any day, week or month of the year, but the figures released today need to be stamped with 'Buyer Beware.'"

Chris Van Hollen spokesman Doug Thornell: "A job's a job. Over the last two months there have been close to 300,000 private sector jobs created. That's a huge turnaround from the Bush years."

And if next month is like this one, Dems can say: "Over the last three months..."

Hat tip: the Founding Fathers. E-mail blast from the Competitive Enterprise Institute: "Institute Calls for Civil Disobedience on National Donut Day. As Government Meddling in Nutritional Issues Mounts, CEI Advises, "Eat Two Donuts Today--One for Yourself, and One for Your Freedom."

OIL REACHING THE ATLANTIC - Nothing spoils a Hilton Head getaway quite like the sight of box turtles marinating in WD-40. "Dan Froomkin reports that a "computer modeling study released Thursday suggests that some of that oil might soon extend along thousands of miles of the Atlantic coast. The researchers project the oil to spread up to Cape Hatteras in North Carolina before turning east towards Europe, but officials as far north as New Jersey are developing spill contingencies." http://huff.to/bdXnrz

THAD ALLEN: CONTAINMENT CAP STARTING TO WORK - A broken clock is right twice a day, we guess. The Coast Card chief today announced BP's effort to siphon a percentage of the oil is succeeding in earnest. St. Petersburg Times: "..the containment cap over the gusher has started to capture flow at a rate estimated at 1,600 barrels a day. [Allen] said that while it is not complete and those numbers are estimates, the method is having the effect of sucking up some of the oil and bringing it into containment vessels 'like taking your finger off a straw.'" http://bit.ly/9uLAKj

THE BIRDS - It was impossible to turn on the TV or click just about anywhere on the Internet (or Twitter) without seeing long-time Associated Press photographer Charlie Riedel's tragic and haunting photos of birds drenched in oil along the Gulf Coast. "In one especially haunting shot, a brown pelican flails at the water's edge. Its oil-soaked wings are outstretched. Its head is raised with one glazed eye staring into Riedel's camera lens and its beak agape, as if crying out for help -- or perhaps sounding an alarm," writes AOL News's Steve Pendlebury in his backstory of the shots: http://bit.ly/bO383O See the PHOTOS: http://huff.to/8XT9bs

ABC News: "At 'The Dock of the Bay' bar at a marina in Grand Isle, La., 'tar balls' are $2 shots of Jagermeister jello." http://bit.ly/cIZNEI

Sam Stein: "Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.) has posted a video shot from the Gulf in which he continues to make the case that BP's CEO Tony Hayward should be removed from the job. The Louisiana Democrat, who is running for Senate this year against David Vitter, has been at the forefront of the effort to help personalize the oil spill in the Gulf - blogging about his experience, posting photos from the shore, and now publicizing a two-minute long tribute to a region being engulfed in oil." Link with video: http://huff.to/bCYDUA

A BP insider dishes to Mother Jones' Mac McClelland: "Workers have spent inordinate amounts of time sitting around waiting to be utilized, a frustration echoed by other workers who talked to friends of mine who were on a day trip to the beach. The workers are also upset because last Friday, many of them weren't paid as scheduled. According to Elmer, the mostly white foremen (whom he welcomed me to picture as stereotypical gristly union-boss types) told their mostly black subordinates that they didn't want to hear any bitching about it and that if they had a problem they could go home." http://bit.ly/axac1Z

Robert Gates in Singapore: The spill is beyond the military's expertise. http://huff.to/9qwzFx

HALTER OVER LINCOLN GOING INTO TUESDAY PRIMARY - A new Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll has Lt. Gov. Bill Halter up over Sen. Blanche Lincoln 49-45. http://bit.ly/dA3MWy

Out this week, Lincoln's ad featuring Bill Clinton: http://bit.ly/bQsa84

SEIU's Lori Lodes and AFL-CIO's Eddie Vale have been dispatched to Arkansas, so that oughta be all she wrote for Lincoln...

In Indiana, Republican Dan Coats is opening up a wide lead in the race for Bayh's seat. A new Rasmussen poll has Coats beating his Democratic opponent Brad Ellsworth 47-33. http://bit.ly/brtwyD

HUFFPOST CAPTION CONTEST WINNER - Yesterday we asked you to submit captions for this picture of Joe and Jill Biden hanging out with the furry cast of Sesame Street: http://bit.ly/9dSpGY . Props to HuffPost Hill reader Bob in Duxbury, Mass. for this caption: "Senate Ethics Committee meets with Vice President Biden." Zing! Keep reading, Bob.

HuffPost Hill sends its best to our own Sam Stein who has been at loggerheads with his fake tooth. Both Sam and his beleaguered incisor are recovering nicely after surgery this morning.

For those who were wonder (and Marcy Winograd was), Henry Waxman says he's loyal to the United States. http://huff.to/aMMl1U

POST GAME INTERVIEW WITH ALBERTO GONZALEZ - "I'm very confident that with the passage of time, views about his administration are going to look quite different, I'm sure there going to look a lot more positive." The full piece from Main Justice's Ryan Reilly. http://bit.ly/bwfw3W

JEREMY THE INTERN'S WEATHER REPORT:. Tonight: Expect to see scattered rain, with the possibility of thundershowers. They're going to be short and intermittent. I don't expect anything too severe, though. Saturday: Most likely a bit of strong PM rains. The warmer and more humid it is, the more chance of rain. And if there's not much rain today, there will be stronger weather tomorrow. Rain will most likely be in the late afternoon. Sunday: Sunday is probably the same as Saturday. Thanks, JB!

UPDATE - 2 hours, 17 minutes later: I think there is a pretty good chance of rain for Sunday. It's not going to, like, pour all weekend or anything. Thanks, JB!

COMFORT FOOD

- Some of the world's biggest entertainment stars hanging out in the Star Wars cantina. http://bit.ly/9K1GGW

- Kobe Bryant was so in the zone during the Lakers' Game 1 win over the Celtics that he completely ignored Chris Rock who was sitting right behind him. http://huff.to/94ZjB9

- Baby Gaga performs "Telephone." http://bit.ly/cews1T

- Have your four-year-old be the coolest kid on the block after Baby Gaga with this MONSTER TRICYCLE. http://bit.ly/cVURVF

- Hat tip: Cotton, the fabric of our lives. A dude wearing nothing but a sock crashed a news broadcast. http://huff.to/cQ0ECl

- From Gizmodo, a video was uploaded on YouTube 1,000 times to demostrate how quality is lost during the upload compression process. http://bit.ly/bKqXoh

- For the defecation enthusiast: Some great toilets from around the globe. http://bit.ly/cDZLxX

TWITTERAMA

@jackgraycnn: my cab driver is interested in current events. I know this because he's reading the paper WHILE DRIVING. #ThisIsHowItEnds http://bit.ly/cDgsmL

@StephenAtHome: "Perfect games" aren't perfect for the spectators. More like perfectly boring. You don't even get to watch someone walk http://bit.ly/dgQbTV

@daveweigel: BREAKING: White House offered more than 400,000 jobs to potential Senate candidates in shadowy "Census" scheme... DEVELOPING http://bit.ly/cycYzj

THE TUBE

TONIGHT

Charlie Melancon and Delaware governor Jack Markell spoke to Eliot Spitzer, who was subbing for Ratigan. Melancon returns for Ed Schultz.

SATURDAY

Ed Markey Spills on the spill with Wolf Blitzer.

SUNDAY SHOWS

This Week: John Kerry and John Cornyn.

Face the Nation: Admiral Thad Allen and Bill Nelson.

State of the Union: Bill Halter and Blanche Lincoln.

Fox News Sunday: Admiral Thad Allen, Haley Barbour and Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren.

ON TAP

TONIGHT

5:00 pm - 8:30 pm: Jazz in the Garden continues with the Berklee World Jazz Nonet performing in conjunction with DC Jazz Festival [National Sculpture Garden, 700 Constitution Avenue NW].

7:00 pm: Velvet Lounge hosts its "3 Chord Comedy Night." $5 gets you in [Velvet Lounge, 915 U Street NW].

8:00 pm: A free screening of "Office Space" as part of the Rosslyn Outdoor Film Festival "I Love The 90s" series [Rosslyn Gateway Park].

9:00 pm: The Futureheads take their sugar-high rock to Black Cat. Joining them are The Like [Black Cat, 1811 14th Street NW].

SATURDAY

7:00 pm: Friends and colleagues of outgoing Timesman Adam Nagourney gather in Kalorama for a BBQ and cocktails to say farewell to Adam, who is becoming LA bureau chief. Adam officially starts the new job later this summer, but he's already been spending time in SoCal. His latest take on the California governor's race with an Irvine dateline: http://nyti.ms/cMoH91

8:00 pm: "Taste of the South 2010" at the D.C. Armory. In case you're missing the Capitol Hill Club after a week of Recess, here's your chance to gang out with a bunch of wealthy Southerners. The event will benefit Camp Sunshine, which assists Georgia children suffering from cancer and Coaching for College, which tutors students in the Shaw area of D.C. [D.C. Armory].

SUNDAY

3:00 pm: Head over to the House of Sweden for a free classical music concert by the Lund University Academic Orchestra. RSVP to [e-mail] with "June 6th" in the subject line [House of Sweden, 2900 K Street NW].

5:00 pm: FDL Book Salon hosts Greg Koger, author of the timely book Filibustering: A Political History of Obstruction in the House and Senate. The host will be political scientist and blogger Jonathan Bernstein of A Plain Blog About Politics who says, "if you really want a filibuster expert, you want Greg Koger." [Online at firedoglake.com].

8:00 pm: The National brings its moody, baratone rock to DAR [DAR Constitution Hall, 1776 D Street NW].

A few fundraising getaways and events that we thought you should know about...

All Weekend: Real America comes to fake America at Devin Nunes' (R-Calif.) "Sideways" tour of the California Coast. Taking a page from movie of the same name, Nunes brings along some of his aging white friends, including Mike Stimpson (R-Idaho), Tom Latham (R-Iowa), Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), John Shimkus (R-Ill.) and Bill Shuster (R-Pa.).

All Weekend: Richard Neal (D-Mass.) invites you for some chowdah at his "Summer Cape Cod Weekend" [Chatham Bars Inn, 297 Shore Road, Chatham, Mass.].

Saturday: No better way to shed your party's image of wealth and privilege than a croquet tournament. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) hosts one at his home [Home of Congressman Joe Pitts, 905 Mitchell Farm Lane, Unionville, Pa.].

MONDAY

11:00 am: The three-day America's Future Now! conference debates progressive strategy in the Obama era, argues over how to curb Wall Street power and wonders about the rise of random exclamation points in progressive political nomenclature. Former aides to HCAN! will be in attendance. The scedule of speakers: http://bit.ly/bCtF9s

Conference Twitter hashtag is #afn10

The Monday schedule:

11 am: Arianna addresses the conference at the "We Are The Change" opening plenary, along with Robert Borosage and Andy Stern.

12:20 pm to 1:30 pm: "The Great Debate: Progressive Strategy in the Obama Era" -- Darcy Burner and Deepak Bhargava square off whether progressives should fully back the Obama agenda, or should we be an independent force pushing for bolder measures. Followed by conference-wide group discussion.

1:30 pm: Markos and MoveOn's Ilyse Hogue discuss how we can defeat resistance to progressive reform.

2:30 pm: Drew Westen, Celinda Lake and others discuss "Working Class Anger: Does it go Right or Left?"

3:30 pm: Sen. Dick Durbin, Rep. Donna Edwards and Rev. Jesse Jackson discuss "Challenging Money Politics"

MONDAY'S NOT-AS-PROGRESSIVE EVENTS

Monday, 9:00 am: Tom Price (R-Ga.) will be at the 3rd Annual Georgia Golf Tournament. $750 for a tee time with the congressman [Hawk's Ridge Golf Club, 1100 Hawks Club Drive, Georgia].

Monday, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm: Barney Frank (D-Mass.) hosts a reception for Ron Klein (D-Fla.) in Boston [DLA Piper, 33 Arch Street 26th Floor, Boston].

Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson ([e-mail]), Ryan Grim ([e-mail]) or Nico Pitney ([e-mail]). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill). Sign up here: http://huff.to/an2k2e