memeorandum: Evacuations Ordered in New York as Hurricane Irene Nears (James Barron/New York Times)

11:00 AM ET, August 27, 2011

Top Items:

Was Hurricane Irene caused by global warming? — Hurricane Irene hadn't even made landfall in the United States before some people figured out what to blame it on. — “Irene's got a middle name, and it's Global Warming,” environmental activist Bill McKibben wrote Thursday night in The Daily Beast.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, Althouse, The Moderate Voice, Hot Air, Pajamas Media and Conservatives4Palin

msnbc.com:

Hurricane Irene makes landfall in N.C. — Category 1 storm extremely dangerous, forecasters say; 2.3 million ordered out across East Coast — Below: — updated 2011-08-27T11:53:29 — Top developments: — Hurricane Irene made landfall in North Carolina early Saturday …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Moderate Voice, CNN, PhotoBlog and ABCNEWS

James Barron / New York Times:

Evacuations Ordered in New York as Hurricane Irene Nears — New York City officials issued what they called an unprecedented order on Friday for the evacuation of about 370,000 residents of low-lying areas at the city's edges — from the expensive apartments in Battery Park City to the roller coaster …

Jeff Masters / Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog:
Irene's eyewall collapses; further intensification unlikely

Discussion: Wizbang, New York Times, Hot Air, Sky Dancing, Dot Earth, Gothamist, The Atlantic Online, Booman Tribune, The Awl, JustOneMinute, Daily Kos, The Moderate Voice and KIKO'S HOUSE

John Seabrook / News Desk:
Irene, Floyd, Katrina, 9/11

Discussion: Associated Press and AlterNet

The Daily Beast:
Global Warming's Heavy Cost

Discussion: Power Line, Dot Earth, Ecocentric, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Informed Comment, Maggie's Farm, The Daily Caller, Watts Up With That?, Weasel Zippers and Collide-a-scape

Robin Bravender / The Politico:

Gore: Eat less meat to fight warming — Al Gore wants society to ditch meat-heavy diets and go organic to combat global warming. — “Industrial agriculture is a part of the problem,” Gore said Friday during an interview with FearLess Revolution founder Alex Bogusky.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Lonely Conservative

Ben Geman / The Hill:

Al Gore to Rick Perry: Climate scientists aren't motivated by money — Al Gore on Friday bashed the notion that climate scientists are manipulating data for financial gain, a charge levied by global warming skeptics, including GOP White House hopeful Rick Perry.

Discussion: Don Surber

Douglas Mackinnon / Investor's Business Daily:

Left And Right Going Nuclear On Rick Perry — When you hear every single liberal media outlet in the country say, “We will know more about Rick Perry after we vet his 11 years in office,” you need to understand that what they vindictively mean is: “President Obama and his followers will be proud …

Discussion: Washington Post, Campaign 2012, Patterico's Pontifications and New York Times

Dana Loesch / Big Journalism:

ESPN Moves to Silence Golf Analyst Who Criticized Obama *UPDATED: ESPN Ignores Political Tweets of Other Personalities *UPDATE: More Cherry-Picking — A note for future prospective ESPN employees: You can only cheerlead Obama at ESPN. I'm not joking. — Case in point: The network's golf analyst …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, INSTAPUTZ, nation.foxnews.com, Top of the Ticket, The Lonely Conservative, Doug Ross and Marooned In Marin

Michael McCarthy / USA Today:
ESPN ‘reminds’ Azinger to lay off tweets about President Obama

Discussion: theblogprof, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, Ricochet Conversation Feed and JammieWearingFool

Jennifer Bendery / The Huffington Post:

Louisiana Congressman: GOP ‘Sinful’ To Tie Disaster Aid To Spending Cuts … WASHINGTON — As East Coasters brace for what some say will be a historic pummel by Hurricane Irene, at least one lawmaker is fuming over a requirement by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and New York Times

The Note:

Ron Paul: Who Needs FEMA Anyway? — ABC News' Jason Volack reports: — With Hurricane Irene bearing down on the East Coast and taking direct aim at America's biggest city, who needs the Federal Emergency Management Agency anyway? — At least that's the question that presidential candidate …

Discussion: The Hill, No More Mister Nice Blog, Reuters and The Politico

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
Ron Paul rejects FEMA role in hurricane response

Discussion: msnbc.com, Salon, Wonkette and Daily Kos

Pam Spaulding / Pam's House Blend:

BREAKING: Joe Solmonese to leave HRC in December; official announcement on Tuesday — This is a Pam's House Blend exclusive. — Yes, it's the end of an era. The Blend has learned, from a trusted source in a position to know the details, that Joe Solmonese, President of the Human Rights Campaign …

Discussion: AMERICAblog Gay

Maureen O'Connor / Gawker:

Republican Politician Naked, Bending Over on Gay Sex Site — Puerto Rico's Anthony Weiner is much more thrilling than ours: Last week, images from Puerto Rican senator and GOP cheerleader Roberto Arango's alleged profile on gay hook-up app Grindr surfaced. When a Puerto Rican TV show confronted him …

Discussion: Latest Stories on Guanabee.com, Box Turtle Bulletin, Wonkette, Joe. My. God., Mediaite, New York Magazine, The Moderate Voice and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Ross Douthat:

Don't Panic, Mitt Romney! — “Right now,” David Brooks writes today, in the wake of Rick Perry's surge to the front of the G.O.P. field, “the Romney camp is passively hoping [Perry] implodes. That seems unlikely ... Sooner or later, Romney is going to have to prove his own toughness by taking Perry on directly.”

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Reaction, Democratic Strategist, Daily Kos, The Reality-Based Community, Hot Air, The New Republic, National Review, Swampland and News Desk

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Tea Party Supporters Backing Perry for GOP Nomination

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, TPMDC, Washington Blade, Hot Air, Little Green Footballs, Taylor Marsh, Ballot Box, The Hill and Hullabaloo

Danny Yadron / Washington Wire:
Perry Pivots, Signs Anti-Gay-Marriage Pledge

Discussion: Law Blog

Ben Geman / The Hill:

GOP senator: White House ‘failed miserably’ on economy — Freshman Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) on Saturday bashed President Obama's economic record while calling for a balanced budget amendment and a tax code overhaul that lowers rates. — Heller's GOP weekly address arrives amid of a wave …

Discussion: CNN

Greg Wilson / NBC Washington:

Indiana College Bans “Too Violent” National Anthem — First it banned the words, now the whole song — The National Anthem is a tradition at sporting events, but it is banned at Goshen College. — Tiny Goshen College in Indiana has banned the “The Star Spangled Banner …

Discussion: The Mahablog, Hot Air and The Other McCain

New York Times:

U.S. Offers Key Support to Canadian Pipeline — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration gave a crucial green light on Friday to a proposed 1,711-mile pipeline that would carry heavy oil from Canada across the Great Plains to terminals in Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast, saying the project …

Discussion: The Nation, Firedoglake, Grist, ThinkProgress, Switchboard and Booman Tribune