Part 2 of liveblog is up.

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The Mukasey debate is engaged.

The Republicans appear to be on the ropes, while Democrats are lined up to speak in opposition to Mukasey's nomination.

Specter just called for Republicans who favor Mukasey to come to the floor, pointing out that there are Dems lined up to speak.

George Bush's call for something to be done about high energy prices is a tad unconvincing given that it comes after years of doing the bidding of the oil industry.

One good example:  In 1992, when Bush was working on his father's re-election campaign, Bush lobbied the White House for a statement that would boost natural gas prices. In a letter, Bush told his father's chief of staff:

"We have trouble in the oil states because the President is viewed as favoring cheap energy."

more ...

Andy Borowitz has this news:

A mounting pile of anecdotal evidence suggests that users of the popular sleep medication Ambien may invade countries in their sleep, and then wake up with no memory of the reasons they invaded, according to a study released today.

The news follows earlier relevations this week that some people who take Ambien go on eating binges in their sleep. No, I'm not making that up. The NY Times says so.

more ...
 

The food industry is going to love this one: The NY Times reports today that some doctors have documented cases where people taking the sleep medication Ambien have been induced to eat ... in their sleep!

The U.S. House tonight adopted legislation that would strip many warnings from food labels.

On a vote of 283-139, the House demonstrated once again that consumers take a back-row seat to business interests.

Here's how the AP describes the move:

The House voted Wednesday to strip many warnings from food labels, potentially affecting alerts about arsenic in bottled water, lead in candy and allergy-causing sulfites, among others.