memeorandum: Strong winds, heavy rain lash N.C. coast (CNN)

2:00 PM ET, August 27, 2011

Top Items:

Locked Up and Left Behind: Hurricane Irene and the Prisoners on New York's Rikers Island — “We are not evacuating Rikers Island,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a news conference this afternoon. Bloomberg annouced a host of extreme measures being taken by New York City in preparation …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Mock, Paper, Scissors, Gothamist, New York Times and TalkLeft

Bob King / The Politico:

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: ThinkProgress, Taylor Marsh, NewsBusters.org blogs, Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, Althouse, Pajamas Media, Informed Comment, Dot Earth, Conservatives4Palin, The Daily Caller, Watts Up With That?, The Daily Beast and Collide-a-scape

msnbc.com:

Hurricane Irene batters N.C., killing 1 — Falling tree limb kills man in Nash County, N.C.; tropical storm conditions extend into Va., Md., Del. — Below: — updated 2011-08-27T15:43:06 — Top developments: — Hurricane Irene battered the North Carolina coast with wind and rain Saturday …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, PhotoBlog and ABCNEWS

Kamalwallace / This Just In:

Live blog: Storm blamed for two deaths — Are you there? Share your story with iReport and be a part of CNN's coverage. — Hurricane Irene continues to crawl north after making landfall Saturday morning in North Carolina. The storm is expected to head up the East Coast from Virginia to Maine …

Discussion: USA Today and CNN

CNN:

Strong winds, heavy rain lash N.C. coast — Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina (CNN) — Somewhat weakened but still ferocious, Hurricane Irene slammed into the North Carolina coast Saturday morning, drenching the coastline and starting an ominous northward march up the Atlantic Seaboard.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Hot Air, Online NewsHour and skippy the bush kangaroo

New York Times:

Hurricane Irene Hits, Raising Fears of Storm Surge — WILMINGTON, N.C. — After several anxious days of dire forecasts that forced much of the East Coast into unprecedented levels of lockdown, a weakened but still ferocious Hurricane Irene made landfall on Saturday morning along the southern coast of North Carolina.

Discussion: New York Magazine and Gothamist

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, The Confluence and ThinkProgress

Brad Johnson / ThinkProgress:
How Global Warming Is Making Hurricane Irene Worse

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Strata-Sphere, Wizbang, Hot Air, Washington Post, Bloomberg, The Daily Green and Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog

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

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, The Lonely Conservative and Sister Toldjah

Ben Geman / The Hill:
Al Gore to Rick Perry: Climate scientists aren't motivated by money

Discussion: Don Surber

Douglas Mackinnon / Investor's Business Daily:
Left And Right Going Nuclear On Rick Perry

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

Catherine Herridge / Fox News:

State Department: Don't Invade Privacy of Cleric on CIA Kill List — While the New Mexico-born cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, is the first American on the CIA's kill or capture list, the U.S. State Department refuses to release documents about al-Awlaki citing his right to privacy.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Atlas Shrugs, americanthinker.com, Right Wing News and Jihad Watch

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: NewsBusters.org blogs, No More Mister Nice Blog, Scared Monkeys, americanthinker.com, Michelle Malkin, Top of the Ticket, INSTAPUTZ, theblogprof, nation.foxnews.com, The Lonely Conservative, Marooned In Marin, Doug Ross, USA Today, The Gateway Pundit, Ricochet Conversation Feed, Weasel Zippers and JammieWearingFool

Chris Geidner / Poliglot:

HRC's Solmonese to Step Down, Sources Say No Replacement Has Been Selected — On Friday night, Aug. 26, Pam Spaulding at Pam's House Blend reported that Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese will be stepping down in the coming months from his leadership role at the nation's largest …

Discussion: Pam's House Blend and AMERICAblog Gay

Pam Spaulding / Pam's House Blend:
BREAKING: Joe Solmonese to leave HRC in December; official announcement on Tuesday

Discussion: Washington Blade

First Read / msnbc.com:

Ron Paul: No FEMA response necessary — GILFORD, N.H. — After a lunch speech today, Ron Paul slammed the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, and said that no national response to Hurricane Irene is necessary. — “We should be like 1900; we should be like 1940, 1950, 1960,” Paul said.

Discussion: blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Salon and Wonkette

The Note:
Ron Paul: Who Needs FEMA Anyway?

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

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

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Daily Kos

David Nakamura / Washington Post:

Obama offers 2012 election supporters change they can believe in — next term — Three years after storming the White House with the “fierce urgency of now,” President Obama has a new message for his reelection campaign: be patient, democracy is big and tough and messy.

Discussion: The Business Insider and Greg's Opinion

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

The Times Retracts Issa Hit Piece, One Correction at a Time — I wrote here about the hit piece on Congressman Darrell Issa by Eric Lichtblau that appeared on the front page of the New York Times. Lichtblau's article, which sought to create the impression that Issa has misused …

Discussion: New York Times and Pajamas Media

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: Crooks and Liars, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Moderate Voice