The Tragedy of New Orleans  —  Katrina spending is five times larger than past disasters.  —  "New Orleans has suffered from the trauma of three crises," says Louisiana Congressman Bobby Jindal.  "First was the hurricane, second was the levees breaking and third has been the widespread incompetence …

Did Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald Lie?  —  Plamegate: Patrick Fitzgerald's three-year manhunt to track down who blew Valerie Plame's CIA "cover" has been exposed as a costly sham.  He apparently knew all along that his man was not Scooter Libby.  —  When Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney …

U.S. Seeks Bigger China Role in I.M.F.  —  In an effort to gain Chinese cooperation on international economic issues, the Bush administration is pushing for China and other developing nations to get more power in the global institution that has played a central role in easing myriad financial crises since the end of World War II.

Broadcast Chief Misused Office, Inquiry Reports  —  State Department investigators have found that the head of the agency overseeing most government broadcasts to foreign countries has used his office to run a "horse racing operation" and that he improperly put a friend on the payroll …

The Lieberman Effect  —  Foxnews asks "Will Connecticut senator's independent run help embattled GOP candidates?"  —  Joe's response?  "Well, they should have thought of that before they had the primary."  —  Utter gall.

Carter Agrees to Hold Talks With Khatami  —  Ex-President of Iran to Visit U.S. Amid Tensions Over Tehran's Nuclear Program  —  For an event that would turn a page in American history, former president Jimmy Carter has agreed in principle to host former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami …

HIT AND RUN: Within half an hour, 14 pedestrians picked off one by one on streets of San Francisco  —  A day of hit-and-run horror that started with the death of a Fremont pedestrian and erupted into half an hour of chaos on the streets of San Francisco ended in the arrest of a 29-year-old driver described …

Perry sets Nov. 7 as election day for DeLay's seat  —  AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry today officially set the special election to fill the unexpired term of U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay to coincide with the general election on Nov. 7.  —  Candidates wishing to run in the special election must file …

For Congress in Maryland  —  Our choices: two worthy incumbents and one fresh face  —  REP. ALBERT R. WYNN has represented Maryland's 4th Congressional District since 1993, and in that time he has never faced a serious challenger.  This year, in Donna Edwards , he does.

Coburn: Stevens Blocked My Bill  —  Twelve days ago, at a town meeting in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) accused Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) of obstructing his porkbuster-database bill with an anonymous hold.  —  That's according to an Aug. 18 article in the Fort Smith (Ark.) Times Record:

Witness for the Prosecution?  —  THE NEW YORK TIMES IS STILL VICTIMIZING INNOCENT DUKIES.  —  Imagine you are the world's most powerful newspaper and you have invested your credibility in yet another story line that is falling apart, crumbling as inexorably as Jayson Blair's fabrications …

MIT's inconvenient scientist  —  Speech codes are rare in the industrialized, Western democracies.  In Germany and Austria, for instance, it is forbidden to proselytize Nazi ideology or trivialize the Holocaust.  Given those countries' recent histories, that is a restraint on free expression we can live with.

Lieberman, 'Snakes' and the seductive mythology of the blogosphere  —  If ever America needed a wake-up call about the mythology of blogging, we got it this month.  —  On Aug. 8, Connecticut businessman Ned Lamont defeated U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary …

CBS alters Couric photo to slim her down  —  News division president 'surprised' at discovery of digital airbrushing  —  NEW YORK - No, Katie Couric didn't suddenly lose 20 pounds.  —  The incoming "CBS Evening News" anchor appears significantly thinner in a network promotional magazine photo thanks to digital airbrushing.

Venezuela to seize golf courses  —  The mayor of Venezuela's capital Caracas says he plans to expropriate two exclusive golf courses and use the land for homes for the city's poor.  —  Mayor Juan Barreto has said playing golf on lavish courses within sight of the city's slums is "shameful".

Facing the Central Questions of Our Time  —  (Note: Remarks as prepared for delivery by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld before the American Legion National Convention yesterday in Salt Lake City, Utah.)  —  Tom [American Legion Commander Tom Bock], I understand that your son is flying …

D.C. Suburbs Top List Of Richest Counties  —  Nationwide Data on Health Coverage Bleak  —  The three most prosperous large counties in the United States are in the Washington suburbs, according to census figures released yesterday, which show that the region has the second-highest income …

Germans Leave in Record Numbers, Fleeing Unemployment (Update2)  —  Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) — Thomas Koerber, an engineering technician from Viernheim, Germany, was looking for a new job.  He found it — 4,700 miles away, in Canada.  —  ``I looked around, found a job I liked in Canada …

Lieberman Ad Focuses On The `Good Stuff'  —  Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's new media team wants voters to go to their happy place - and think about all that their client has done for them in 18 years in the Senate.  —  In a commercial that debuted Tuesday, the team Lieberman hired after losing …

Afghanistan ignored  —  A WAR is missing.  Sadly, it is not missing from the physical location in which it is taking place, and people continue to die as it is waged.  But it has largely disappeared from our national debate, and that debate has been sorely distorted as a consequence.