Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Novak retires: “Robert Novak has announced his immediate retirement following the diagnosis of a brain tumor, a prognosis the Sun-Times’ political columnist describes as ‘dire.’ ‘The details are being worked out with the doctors this week, but the tentative plan is for radiation and chemotherapy,’ Novak said.” I’ve been reading his column every week for years, and will miss it.
* Consumer spending dropped again: “Consumer spending, after adjusting for inflation, fell in June as shoppers were hit with the second biggest increase in prices in nearly three decades. The Commerce Department reported Monday that consumer spending dipped by 0.2 percent in June, after removing the effects of higher prices, the poorest showing since a similar drop in February.”
* More economic news: “Planned layoffs at U.S. companies jumped 26 percent in July from June, depicting further deterioration in the labor market, a report showed on Monday.” (thanks to S.W. for the tip)
* Just in time for the Olympics: “Attackers rammed a dump truck into a patrol station in China’s restive Central Asian border province Monday morning, tossing grenades in a raid that killed 16 officers and wounded others, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. The attack in Xinjiang province was in an area where local Muslims have waged a sporadic rebellion against Chinese rule.”
* Let me get this straight — a middle-class couple in Queens, one of whom works as track foreman for Amtrak and one of whom is an office manager at Hess, donated a combined $57,000 to the McCain Victory 2008 fund? On the exact same day as nine other Hess execs and Hess family members contributed? Note to reporters: you want a juicy story to dig into? This is a juicy story for you to dig into.
* Maybe this isn’t a good time to shut down the investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks: “The New York Daily News has a new twist in the administration’s attempt to peg the anthrax attacks to its own bellicose aims. Immediately after 9/11, the Daily News reports, ‘White House officials repeatedly pressed FBI Director Robert Mueller to prove it was a second-wave assault by Al Qaeda,’ according to a former FBI official.”
* By McCain campaign standards, was Ronald Reagan a “celebrity,” too?
* Whether this augurs VP considerations or not, it’s a subject that deserves attention: “As speculation over the number two slot rises, presidential candidate Barack Obama and potential v.p. contender Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana joined forces Monday, signing a letter with eight other senators that urges Defense Secretary Robert Gates to increase medical coverage and care for Iraq war veterans left with serious brain injuries. The senators point to a recent study from the RAND Corporation that estimates 320,000 troops from the two Iraq wars experienced a traumatic brain injury, or TBI.”
* “Russian novelist and historian Alexander Solzhenitsyn, whose works detailed the horrors of Stalin’s Soviet labor camps, has died at 89, Russian news agencies reported Monday…. Awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970 for ‘The First Circle,’ Alexander Solzhenitsyn was considered a moral voice for Russia. His works centered on issues of good and evil, materialism and salvation. His three-volume ‘Gulag Archipelago’ unveiled the horrors of the Soviet labor camps, where he himself was imprisoned for eight years.”
* Josh Marshall wants to know if the punditocracy will stop grading McCain on a curve. I’ve been wondering the same thing.
* I had no idea the Politico had a print edition.
* Rachel Maddow wants to host both a TV and a radio program: “If O’Reilly, Hannity and Beck can do that, so can I.” Damn straight — and she’d do it better than both of them, too.
* Let’s just say there appears to be some “concerns” about the accuracy of Jerome Corsi’s new book. The phrase “Unfit for Publication” seems entirely appropriate.
* Does Bob Schieffer understand what the word “denigrate” means? I kind of doubt it.
* Paul Krugman has been concerned about Obama’s rhetoric lately, but loved today’s speech on energy.
* Note to Dana Milbank: when your readers notice your factual errors, it’s probably a good idea to pay attention and do better next time, not to accuse your audience of “whining.”
* And finally, no Republican wants to be seen with George W. Bush right now. And no Republican wants to be seen with Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) right now. They don’t mind, however, being seen with each other.
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.