MEMORIAL DAY MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* The U.N. Security Council began meeting this afternoon to explore options in response to North Korea’s nuclear test.
* H1N1 claims its 12th U.S. victim, this time in Chicago. According to an AP report, the CDC has documented more than 6,700 cases in the U.S., most of them mild.
* Colin Powell — the one Republican conservatives seem most anxious to drive out of the GOP — remains a popular national figure. Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh aren’t.
* It didn’t generate a lot of attention on Friday, but President Obama signed into a law a measure on military procurement that’s likely to save taxpayers a lot of money.
* Charles Bolden, a retired Marine general and former space shuttle pilot, has been nominated as the next NASA administrator. He’ll be NASA’s first African-American chief.
* Roh Moo-hyun, a former president of South Korea, committed suicide over the weekend, jumping off a cliff. Roh had been mired in a corruption scandal.
* Some Dem senators see some signs of progress in Afghanistan.
* Hillary Clinton surprised Yale grads today at their commencement.
* Sam Schulman’s case against gay marriage in the Weekly Standard is extraordinarily unpersuasive.
* Whether he realizes it or not, Newt Gingrich is not the Speaker of the House.
* At least one conservative Republican lawmaker didn’t care for the RNC’s tasteless James Bond spoof/ad.
* And in 1972, a New York Times reporter and editor had the Watergate story, but didn’t pursue it. The reporter left the paper to go to law school and the editor focused his attention on the 1972 Republican convention. Amazing.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
