FRIDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* A pretty quiet day on Wall Street, with the major indexes each closing up a little.
* Speaking of Wall Street, the Bush administration hasn’t been especially interested in prosecuting fraudulent stock schemes.
* Serious stuff: “Prisoners in a western Iraqi prison staged an armed revolt Friday morning that lasted for at least two hours and left 10 policemen and six prisoners dead. Three al Qaida in Iraq prisoners escaped and are on the loose, Iraqi police said.”
* Oh my: “An Iditarod without snow, Florida’s coastal towns lost forever to the Gulf of Mexico, wheat farmers in Kansas without crops. What sounds like the climatic end of days could be coming a lot sooner than previously anticipated. A recent report released by the U.S. Geological Survey paints abrupt climactic shifts, including a more rapid climate change with global sea level increases of up to four feet by the year 2100 and arid climatic shifts in the North American Southwest by mid-century.”
* Cash-strapped states are making painful cuts to Medicaid.
* What a disaster: “What may be the nation’s largest spill of coal ash lay thick and largely untouched over hundreds of acres of land and waterways Wednesday after a dam broke this week, as officials and environmentalists argued over its potential toxicity.” (The disaster is even worse than originally feared.)
* Let’s add “food safety reform” to Obama very lengthy to-do list.
* Fox News would have us believe that “historians pretty much agree” that FDR prolonged the Great Depression. David Sirota sets the record straight.
* I’ve had unimpressed over the years with the way the Senate Press Gallery operates, so I’m not especially surprised to learn that it’s not at all friendly towards bloggers.
* Democrats in Congress intend to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” they just don’t plan to work on it anytime soon.
* R.I.P, Eartha Kitt and Harold Pinter.
* I support people doing pretty much whatever they want with their own bodies, but I think taking prescription medicine to “enhance” one’s eyelashes is crazy.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
