Today's edition of quick hits:
* Last night, the House approved the final version of Wall Street reform, with a 237 to 192 vote. Three House Republicans broke party ranks to support the landmark legislation.
* Analysts expected unemployment claims to drop over the last week. They went up: "Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 472,000 in the week ended June 26, the Labor Department said."
* President Obama makes his pitch for immigration reform.
* Not that it'll do much good, but the House today approved extended unemployment benefits for the next five months. The vote was 270 to 153. In the face of a Republican Senate filibuster, it doesn't matter.
* In related news, there are 17 senators -- all Republicans -- who have voted repeatedly against extended benefits, despite double-digit jobless rates in their home states.
* Hurricane Alex, which has begun to dissipate, slams into northern Mexico, killing two.
* Pakistan: "At least two suicide bombers attacked a popular Muslim shrine in the Pakistani city of Lahore late Thursday night, killing 35 people and wounding 175 others, the city's top official said."
* The reasons for worry are mounting: "A slowdown in the housing and construction markets contributed to a sluggish outlook for the economy Thursday, highlighting the significance of government stimulus and job creation."
* Michael Cohen endorses a thesis I've been emphasizing: it's very likely the "real reason" Senate Republicans "are opposing a meager amount of deficit spending to help the unemployed" is that "they really don't want to see the economy improve."
* The late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) was lying in state for most of the day on the Senate floor
* The Obama administration launches Healthcare.gov, which is actually pretty useful, and is off to a productive start.
* Getting a better sense of the important litigation between Daily Kos and Research 2000.
* Local law enforcement in Oregon takes a renewed look at the sexual assault allegations against Al Gore.
* Fox News to give Mike Huckabee a tryout as a daily talk-show host.
* Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) gives Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) a much-needed history lesson.
* The 11 alleged Russian spies arrested this week were apparently surprisingly bad at espionage.
* Which colleges (appear to) offer the best return on your investment?
* The White House announces plans to deal with space junk. Good.
* A poll of 238 presidential scholars puts George W. Bush among the five worst presidents in U.S. history. That seems more than fair.
* There's actually a rather poignant point underlying the Tea Party Jesus site.
#board-2412
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle
AI
