Morning News Roundup

This is really late (but all what? 2 of you? could care less)...

• Not exactly mainstream news but intriguing and cool nonetheless. A Texas-based Christian archaeological organization claims to have found the remnants of Noah's Ark in the Elbruz Mountains of Iran. Of course it probably won't clear rigorous scientific testing, but it's always fun to see people looking for stuff like this.
• GOP beat the Dems in the annual Congressional Baseball Game yesterday, 12-1. A friend of mine promptly remarked "it's because you have more Ken-doll legislators in your party" - not sure what to make of that?
• Up in Rhode Island, Cranston Mayor and Republican Senatorial challenger Steve Laffey refused to attend his party's convention. Laffey's been under a lot of pressure lately to step out of the race and clear the field for incumbent Lincoln Chafee, but as of yet there is no sign he'll yield to that pressure.
• In my Hamdan v. Rumsfeld analysis yesterday I'm apparently on the otherside of the fence from the rest of the conservative pundit-world, with the exception of Berkely Law professor John Yoo (I think he and I agreed, I didn't catch the entire clip, I'll definitely clarify this!).
• The House passed a resolution decrying unnamed news sources (read: New York Times) for revealing the SWIFT program, simultaneously defending its legality. The resolution, authored by Mike Oxley (of Sarbanes-Oxley fame), passed 227-183 with only seventeen Democrats crossing the aisle...and they wonder why we call them weak on national security? Eight GOPers voted no, though most are the usual suspects like Ron Paul. Full text of the legislation and roll-call can be found here.
• The House also passed a bill yesterday allowing for offshore drilling (see yesterday's posts for a discussion). It passed 232-187, but is expected to fail in the Senate so long as the revenue-sharing provision remains intact as many see it as wasteful in this time of fiscal emergency. I'll be interested to see how Mary Landrieu votes on this considering her state of Louisiana could benefit significantly from such increased revenue.
• President Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Koizuimi will have a private tour of Graceland today; if you've ever seen the PM, his hair is mildly reminiscent of "The King."
• Argentina-Germany in a few minutes...should be an amazing game.