TUESDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Five coordinated attacks in Baghdad today killed at least 127 people, wounding hundreds more. The attacks included multiple suicide car bombers, including one on a police patrol.
* Gen. Stanley McChrystal and Ambassador Karl Eikenberry haven’t always been on the same page, but today, speaking to the House Armed Services Committee, they were both on board with the administration’s new strategy in Afghanistan.
* McChrystal sees value in targeting Osama bin Laden.
* Defense Secretary Robert Gates stops by Afghanistan, reminds Hamid Karzai of U.S. expectations.
* Good news: “With the second wave of H1N1 infections having crested in the United States, leading epidemiologists are predicting that the pandemic could end up ranking as the mildest since modern medicine began documenting influenza outbreaks.”
* Medicare buy-in in 2010?
* White House moves the pieces on the chessboard with Pakistan.
* I was glad to see the president mention “water” during his talk about infrastructure projects: “More than 20 percent of the nation’s water treatment systems have violated key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act over the last five years, according to a New York Times analysis of federal data.”
* Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) isn’t apologizing for his historical comparison yesterday.
* Domestic support for the new U.S. policy in Afghanistan seems to be growing.
* White House still taking transparency seriously.
* John Kerry keeps shining a light on the Bush administration’s costly Tora Bora mistake.
* Oh my: “A report by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities indicates that the U.S. is one of only two nations on Earth in which people aged 25 to 34 have lower educational attainment than their parents.”
* An independent audit shows no criminal misconduct within ACORN.
* Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) is against public and private health care insurance. Wow.
* I’ll never understand why the L.A. Times undermines its reputation by paying/publishing Andrew Malcolm. Every day offers more examples of his unprofessional work. Isn’t it time for him to just make it official and jump to Fox News?
* Don’t forget the ’72 Dolphins, Bobby Jindal.
* And finally, it may be time to end Beck’s gold rush: “Glenn Beck’s dual embrace of gold — as an investment vehicle for his listeners and a personal moneymaking opportunity for himself — has drawn boos from various journalism watchdogs. And now it looks like the talk-show host’s close relationship with one purveyor of gold coins has gotten him in a bit of trouble with his employer Fox News.”
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
