Top Items:
MSNBC:
Rita strengthens to Category 5 hurricane — Storm on a course to Texas with wind speeds now up to 165 mph — Galveston residents wait to board buses to evacuate as Hurricane Rita heads for the Texas Gulf Coast Wednesday. — FREE VIDEO — • Houston warning
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Wall Street Journal:
Storm News Tracker — Updated regularly with news on the hurricane. All times EDT. — 5:25 p.m.: WSJ.com's Scott Patterson reports from New York. The Dow industrials fell 103.49 points, or 1%, to 10378.03, a three-week low, under pressure from higher crude-oil prices as Rita moved into the Gulf of Mexico.
CNN:
Rita grows to Category 4 hurricane — Evacuations ordered ahead of major storm — MIAMI, Florida (CNN) — Authorities in Texas and along the storm-shattered coast of Louisiana braced Wednesday for Hurricane Rita, as the powerful Category 4 storm picked up strength in the Gulf of Mexico.
Smash / The Indepundit:
Uh-Oh — UPDATE: Rita is now a CATEGORY FIVE hurricane, with winds in excess of 165mph. — HURRICANE RITA is now a category four storm, with winds in excess of 140 mph. This is roughly the same strength as Katrina when she made landfall. Most projected tracks have Rita making landfall somewhere west …
Discussion:
StormTrack, The Moderate Voice, Happy Furry Puppy Story …, Classical Values, BLACKFIVE and Secular Blasphemy
Reuters:
Rita may be 'national disaster': oil CEO — SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Valero Energy Corp. (VLO.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Greehey said Hurricane Rita's impact on U.S. crude oil production and refining could be a "national disaster."
weather.com:
Hurricane Central — Hurricane Rita now a category 5 — Tim Ballisty, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel — Hurricane Rita's rapid intensification cycle that began Tuesday afternoon continues. Top winds are up to 165 mph, now a category 5 hurricane.
Pam Easton / Associated Press:Rita, Now Category 4, Heads for Gulf Coast
Discussion:
NewsHog, The Moderate Voice, The Mahablog, media girl (mediagirl.org), PunditGuy and Don Surber
Jesse J. Holland / Associated Press:
Roberts Picks Up Democratic Support — WASHINGTON - Chief Justice-nominee John Roberts, his confirmation secure, picked up support from fractured Senate Democrats on Wednesday as President Bush met lawmakers to discuss a second vacancy on the Supreme Court.
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ww2.scripps.com:
OIL FIRMS APPLY FOR FEDERAL PERMITS, LOOK TO SIMPLIFY EXTRACTION — Page: 1B — Memo: chakrabartyg@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2976 — Banner p.1A - OIL SHALE HEATS UP / 23 years after boom went bust, eight companies seek Colorado leases. — SEE END OF TEXT FOR INFOBOX — Edition: Final
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Mark Tapscott / tapscottscopydesk.blogspot.com:
Before Able Danger and Mohamed Atta, There Was Murrah Building Bombing and Hussain Al-Hussaini; Journalist Uncovers OKC Links to 9/11 — Captain Ed notes the Pentagon's decision yesterday to bar several military officials and intelligence analysts from testifying today before a Senate Judiciary …
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Dr. Sanity:ABLE DANGER HEARINGS UPDATE
Discussion:
Associated Press, QT Monster's Place, The Corner on National …, Point Five, A Blog For All and Captain's Quarters
The MinuteMan / JustOneMinute:Able Danger - The Pentagon Won't Play
Discussion:
The Corner on National …, alicublog, Michelle Malkin, The Anchoress, The Project …, The Strata-Sphere, SoCalPundit and bRight & Early
nationalenquirer.com:
BUSH'S BOOZE CRISIS — Faced with the biggest crisis of his political life, President Bush has hit the bottle again, The National Enquirer can reveal. — Bush, who said he quit drinking the morning after his 40th birthday, has started boozing amid the Katrina catastrophe.
Discussion:
THE NEWS BLOG, PoliPundit.com, Brilliant at Breakfast, Wonkette and media girl (mediagirl.org)
Reuters:
Indonesia says bird flu outbreak an epidemic — JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia called an outbreak of bird flu in its teeming capital an epidemic on Wednesday as health and agricultural experts from around the world converged on Jakarta to help control the virus.
Discussion:
UN Dispatch, This Blog Is Full Of Crap, Balloon Juice, Daily Kos and A Chequer-Board of Nights …
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mars.jpl.nasa.gov:
Orbiter's Long Life Helps Scientists Track Changes on Mars — New gullies that did not exist in mid-2002 have appeared on a Martian sand dune. — That's just one of the surprising discoveries that have resulted from the extended life of NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, which this month began its ninth year in orbit around Mars.
Discussion:
Power Line, Bradford Plumer, The All Spin Zone, IMAO, GOP Bloggers, MaxedOutMama, Wizbang, The Bad Hedgehog and Gut Rumbles
Los Angeles Times:
Crippled JetBlue Airliner Makes Emergency Landing at LAX — Despite flames while on the runway and faulty landing gear, which was turned at a 90-degree angle, the pilot of Flight 292 safely guided the craft to a successful stop. — A JetBlue flight with 145 passengers and crew …
Rebecca MacKinnon / Global Voices Online:
It's Out! Handbook for Bloggers & Cyberdissidents — Reporters Without Borders has given Global Voices a sneak peak at the Handbook For Bloggers and Cyberdissidents before its official Thursday release. Click here to download the full PDF booklet. Thanks to Julien Pain for his hard work on this project.
Dwight / Hurricane Rita:
Bloggers: Riding the storm out? Tell us what you see — Do you have a blog, live in the Houston-Galveston area and plan to ride the storm out? — If so, we'd like your help with an experiment in citizen journalism. — We're launching a blog this afternoon called Stormwatchers.
Chris Clarke / Creek Running North:
It's Lurker Day! — I happen to know, from seeing the site statistics for this here blog, that I have a number of regular readers who - to my knowledge, anyhow - have never made comments or otherwise gotten in touch. — And that's fine. Nothing wrong with that.
