WEDNESDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* The scope of the disaster in Pakistan may not be fully appreciated: “The United Nations is appealing for $459 million to provide immediate help to millions of flood victims in Pakistan. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said ‘the worst monsoon-related floods in living memory’ has affected more than 14 million people and at least six or seven million require immediate humanitarian assistance including food, clean water, shelter and medical care. It said over 1,200 people have died and at least 288,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed in the flooding.”
* Making matters even worse: “The floods ravaging Pakistan are generating fears that Taliban insurgents could regroup amid the chaos and destruction. The country’s already anemic economy is expected to weaken, increasing the poverty that is a factor in the militancy wracking the country.”
* Petraeus wants more time; imagine that: “American military officials are building a case to minimize the planned withdrawal of some troops from Afghanistan starting next summer, in an effort to counter growing pressure on President Obama from inside his own party to begin winding the war down quickly.”
* The U.S. Senate will convene briefly tomorrow to pass a resolution honoring former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and to “give unanimous consent for $600 million in emergency funding to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border.”
* Five applicants for every one job opening in the U.S.
* The ads worked: “Higher-than-anticipated response rates and an overqualified temporary workforce helped the U.S. Census Bureau keep the 2010 Census at least $1.6 billion under budget, officials announced Tuesday.”
* Paul Krugman explains the significance of the 10-year bond rate, and why it’s low percentage matters.
* Oh good, David Horowitz has a new project “encouraging conservative college students to be officially troublesome.”
* George W. Bush apparently used to refer to Charles Krauthammer and William Kristol as “the bomber boys.” How very amusing.
* Andrew Sabl considers the similarities between President Obama’s first two years, and President Reagan’s first two years, in that both saw falling approval ratings coincide with rising unemployment. Sabl notes a key difference, however: “Millions of lives were ruined in the Reagan Recession. But Reagan’s core supporters weren’t the ones most affected, and their ideology helped them rationalize not caring about those who were affected. Democrats just aren’t like that. The party’s political problem isn’t just unemployment. It’s unemployment combined with being the party that avowedly cares about unemployment and whose members are likely to be feeling it.”
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
