MONDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* At a presidential event in Arizona this afternoon, two civilians were seen carrying assault rifles. This is legal in the state.
* Suicide bombing in Russia, today: “At least 20 people were killed, and dozens were wounded when a suicide bomber rammed a truck filled with explosives into a police headquarters in Russia’s tumultuous North Caucasus region on Monday, according to government officials, the latest episode in a spate of violence to hit the area in recent weeks.”
* Suicide bombing in Afghanistan, over the weekend: “A massive car bomb apparently driven by a suicide bomber exploded outside the front gate of the headquarters of U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan Saturday morning, sending a shock wave that could be heard across the city.”
* Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) met with the military government of Burma on Saturday, and won the release of an American who’d been sentenced to seven years in prison for swimming to the house of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The mission “may open the door to further U.S. engagement” with Burmese authorities.
* Late Friday, Alabama’s Colonial Bank failed. It was the biggest bank failure since Washington Mutual and the sixth largest bank failure in American history.
* Mir Hussein Moussavi launched the Green Way of Hope movement in Iran.
* Because our discourse is too often silly, it appears that flag@whitehouse.gov is no more.
* The bad news: the 2009 budget deficit will be $1.6 trillion. The good news: it had been projected to be $1.8 trillion.
* The stimulus package helped prevent another depression. Most Americans, apparently, aren’t impressed.
* Kevin makes the case for a public option before concluding, “It’s worth fighting for a public option. But it’s not worth sinking healthcare reform over it. That would hurt too many real flesh-and-blood people who need this, and a second chance wouldn’t come along for a long time. We’ve failed on the healthcare front too many times to accept failure again.” Adam Serwer is thinking along the same lines.
* Glenn Beck loses another sponsor.
* Dick Armey parted ways with a major DC lobbying firm, in light of his role with FreedomWorks. The firm, DLA Piper, represents drug firms that support health care reform. FreedomWorks is organizing angry right-wing protests against health care reform.
* Shah Rukh Khan, one of Bollywood’s most recognizable movie stars, was in the United States to promote his new film about the racial profiling of Muslims. Khan, a Muslim star in a largely Hindu country, was, ironically, recently detained at Newark’s airport for no apparent reason. He was released after two hours of questioning.
* Conservative activists in Atlanta hoped to hold a rally at Centennial Olympic Park over the weekend in opposition to health care reform. The goal was to draw a crowd of 15,000. According to local reports, about 3,000 showed up.
* Will health care reform receive bipartisan support in the House? Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.) seems inclined to vote for it.
* Sign of the Apocalypse: disgraced right-wing Texan Tom DeLay, the former House Majority Leader, will join the contestants on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” next season. Seriously.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
