Over all, the hearing was a pro forma step on the way to all but certain confirmation by the Senate — and a celebration of Mr. Panetta, a creature of Washington who has served here as a congressman, a White House chief of staff, a White House budget director, a member of the Iraq Study Group and most recently as the director of a spy agency with ever closer ties to the military.
Ralph Ellison's hopeful insistence on the Negro's centrality to American culture finds, at last, a certain tawdry confirmation.
As a recess appointee, Mr. Gregory would have been obliged to leave the court next spring, but his nomination by Mr. Bush and his all but certain confirmation mean he will have a regular lifetime appointment.
Certain confirmation of bone fusion remains difficult to obtain after arthrodesis despite progress in imaging techniques.
The study, reported in the journal Science, was greeted by scientists as almost certain confirmation that modern humans and Neanderthals mated when the groups crossed paths.
Mr. Obama and his chief of staff, William M. Daley, have been urging Mr. Geithner to stay, administration officials say, not only for continuity when the economy has weakened and to avoid an all-but-certain confirmation fight in the Senate over a successor, but also because Mr. Obama has developed a close rapport with Mr. Geithner.
"I enjoy getting certain confirmations from certain people - I don't think I'm overstepping here - when a text from Emma O'Reilly pops up about some random thing.
The story of Taraneh's condition is still unfolding and there are no certain confirmations of its details beyond the reports of bloggers who are obliged to remain anonymous for safety reasons -- but the idea that political prisoners are being mistreated in this way is not new to Iran and is a significant element of a program of terror which has sustained the current system in Iran.
A4 NATIONAL A14-20 Effortoto Shift Balance On Court Bears Fruit For the conservative legal movement, nurtured by the Federalist Society and the Reagan administration, Judge Alito's almost-certain confirmation to the Supreme Court is a triumph 25 years in the making.
These were enjoyable milestones, to be sure — confirmation of a certain kind of accomplishment and exhilarating when they occurred.
In a certain sense it is confirmation that you are on the right track".
