Discover GOP Opprobrium

[teapeebubbles]

Today's edition of quick hits:

* Details are a little sketchy as I write this, but multiple news outlets are reporting that the Florida church's planned Quran burning has been cancelled.

* Good news in the Senate: "Retiring Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) said he plans to help push a package of small-business incentives through the Senate next week, a move that would give President Obama and congressional Democrats a key victory on the economy in the final weeks before the November midterm elections."

* Good news in the job market: "[I]nitial jobless claims dropped last week, falling from an adjusted 478,000 to 451,000."

* Good news from the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C.: "President Barack Obama's administration can fund embryonic stem-cell research while it appeals a decision banning government support for any activity using cells taken from human embryos, an appeals court said."

* Good news out of Iran: "One of the three American hikers jailed in Iran for more than a year on spying charges will be released Saturday, at the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, Iranian culture ministry authorities said Thursday."

* The State Department and Interpol have issued warnings about the increased threat of terrorism this weekend.

* It's hard to believe, but the right still wants people to believe that Democrats are "coming after your guns." Who's dumb enough to fall for this stale nonsense?

* Everything you wanted to know about national infrastructure banks but were afraid to ask.

* Daniel Luzer: How journalists talk about higher education.

* Here's a crazy idea: if the Pentagon hires a company to provide translators for the Afghan battlefield, maybe they should know languages that people in Afghanistan actually speak.