WEDNESDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* In Iran, protests intensify — as do government crackdowns.
* Obama’s unveils his sweeping new market regulations.
* The administration’s proposal for a Consumer Financial Product Safety Commission sounds just about right.
* Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) started the day as a member of the Republican Senate leadership. He didn’t end the day as one.
* An NYT report explores new revelations about “recent intercepts” of “private telephone calls and e-mail messages” through the NSA.
* On Twitter, we’re all Iranians now (literally).
* Obama will reiterate his opposition to DOMA.
* How Eric Cantor managed to become a House Republican leader without knowing the meaning of the word “silence” is a mystery.
* Conrad’s co-op “compromise” keeps generating attention. This is more than a little discouraging.
* Harriet Miers testified, behind closed doors, on the U.S. Attorney purge scandal. Karl Rove is next, though we don’t know when to expect his testimony.
* Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) conceded that passing health care reform through the reconciliation process is “legal” and “ethical.”
* Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has an important op-ed today on human trafficking.
* South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) had a very bad day yesterday.
* Matt Duss 1, Robert Kagan 0.
* Beautiful post by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
* Maureen Dowd devotes an entire column to criticizing President Obama for occasionally eating fast-food.
* Why doesn’t NPR want Juan Williams identifying himself with NPR when he goes on Bill O’Reilly’s Fox News program? This is why.
* Josh Marshall will be on Colbert tonight.
* Can you imagine an elected office coming down to a game of high-card?
* And finally, as you’ve probably noticed, today was a complete mess, tech wise. Here’s hoping tomorrow is a better day. Thanks for your patience.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
