Top Items:
Matt Crenson / Associated Press:
Rita May Cause Tens of Billions in Damage — Hurricane Rita has the potential to flood an area almost twice the size of New Orleans when it reaches shore early Saturday, causing tens of billions of dollars in damage to the Houston metropolitan area and plunging yet another major Gulf Coast metropolis into disarray.
Discussion:
StormTrack, One Hand Clapping, NewsHog, Balloon Juice, Tim Blair, The Moderate Voice and Houston Chronicle
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R. Jeffrey Smith / Washington Post:
Tyco Exec: Abramoff Claimed Ties to Administration — Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff bragged two years ago that he was in contact with White House political aide Karl Rove on behalf of a large, Bermuda-based corporation that wanted to avoid incurring some taxes and continue receiving federal contracts …
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Paul Sperry / Front Page Magazine:
David Hossein Safavian: From the White House to the Jail House — Last Monday, David Hossein Safavian, a high-ranking White House official and pal of GOP powerbroker Grover Norquist, was arrested in a federal corruption case involving lobbying bad boy Jack Abramoff.
Beldar / beldar.blogs.com:
Rita and gridlock — A (slightly edited) email I just sent to NRO's Jonah Goldberg, who's presenting "competing views" about the gridlock and gas shortages as folks have been evacuating from the Houston area as Hurricane Rita approaches: — My preliminary impression, In a nutshell …
Discussion:
Instapundit.com, Dean's World, Patterico's Pontifications, Daily Pundit, AMERICAblog and PrairiePundit
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Kevin Whited / blogHOUSTON:
Like clockwork (with updates!) — Guess what useless D.C. politician is posing for photos at the morning press conference of our can-do hurricane-management leaders Mayor White and Judge Eckels? — Yes, that would be Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. — One wonders what took her so long …
Discussion:
This Blog Is Full Of Crap
David Sanderson / Times of London:
Bomber's widow says extremists twisted his mind — THE widow of one of the July 7 suicide bombers told how her "innocent and naive" husband had been poisoned by elements in radical mosques as she cradled their new born baby daughter in her arms. — Samantha Lewthwaite said that she …
Discussion:
Jihad Watch
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Joel Brinkley / New York Times:
Saudi Minister Warns U.S. Iraq May Face Disintegration — WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 - Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, said Thursday that he had been warning the Bush administration in recent days that Iraq was hurtling toward disintegration, a development that he said could drag the region into war.
Discussion:
The Left Coaster, The American Street, The Washington Monthly, Needlenose and AMERICAblog
Ben Feller / Associated Press:
House OKs Faith As Head Start Hiring Issue — WASHINGTON - The House voted Thursday to let Head Start centers consider religion when hiring workers, overshadowing its moves to strengthen the preschool program's academics and finances. — The Republican-led House approved a bill …
RELATED ITEM:
Ben Feller / Associated Press:House OKs Faith as Head Start Hiring Issue
Discussion:
Outside The Beltway
David Sirota / Sirotablog:
Protecting tax cuts, GOP proposes cuts to military health care — In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush and Republicans in Congress have refused to consider rolling back the $336 billion in new tax cuts that the richest 1 percent are slated to get over the next five years.
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Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
At Final Day of Roberts Hearings, Hatch Snaps . . . and Snaps — It started around the time Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) observed that the "hearings were dignified." Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) whipped out his camera phone and snapped a photo of Leahy. — Thus began Orrin's Excellent …
Petula Dvorak / Washington Post:
Antiwar Rally Will Be a First for Many — Focused Message Draws Protesters of All Stripes — The seasoned protesters who organized tomorrow's antiwar demonstration are well-versed in many other causes. They have marched and rallied against police brutality, racism …
Discussion:
Instapundit.com
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Donna Cassata / Associated Press:
Political Bloggers Demand Speech Freedoms — WASHINGTON - Political bloggers who offer diverse views on Republicans and Democrats, war and peace argued on Thursday that they should be free of government regulation. — The notion was echoed by some members of the government agency trying …
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Michael Yon / Online Magazine:
Battle For Mosul III: Prelude — Prelude — Deuce Four soldiers receiving Purple Hearts. — "Deuce Four," is on its way home. — I attended their departure ceremony, presided over by the much respected Brigade Commander, Colonel Robert Brown. Purple Hearts were awarded to soldiers wounded in action.
Discussion:
SoCalPundit
JBD / Charging RINO:
Not a Bad Idea — Another hurricane is barrelling through the Gulf of Mexico and doing who knows how much additional damage to oil and natural gas infrastructure there that's already been battered terrifically this season. The potential exists for more sharp increases in gasoline prices …
Jeff Jacoby / Boston Globe:
Iraq's good news chronicle — THE FIRST installment appeared on May 19, 2004. Headlined ''Good news from Iraq — bet you didn't know there was any,'' it offered a respite from the grim litany of insurgent violence, Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse, and coalition casualties that the mainstream media's coverage of the war tends to dwell on.
Associated Press:
Bush Waives Saudi Trafficking Sanctions — WASHINGTON - President Bush decided Wednesday to waive any financial sanctions on Saudi Arabia, Washington's closest Arab ally in the war on terrorism, for failing to do enough to stop the modern-day slave trade in prostitutes, child sex workers and forced laborers.
Discussion:
Oliver Willis
Eli Lake / New York Sun:
Hamas To Convert Synagogue to Weapons Museum — WASHINGTON - Emboldened by Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and part of the West Bank, Hamas yesterday announced its plan to turn a synagogue in Netzarim into a museum that would display weapons employed by the terrorist group's members against Israeli civilians.
