meme orandum
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How Bush Blew It By / MSNBC — Permalink Sept. 19, 2005 issue - It's a standing joke among the president's top aides: who gets to deliver the bad news? Warm and hearty in public, Bush can be cold and snappish in private, and aides sometimes cringe before the displeasure of the president of the United States, or, as he is known in West Wing jargon, POTUS. | |
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Bob Cesca: This week's issue of Newsweek included further insight into Bush's "no bad news" mandate (and psychological dysfunction). Mary @PacificViews: Nagin has struck several false notes, including trying to force Blanco in turning over control of the National Guard to Bush. Avedon Carol: Newsweak itself actually has a story about How Bush Blew It - and that's actually the title! |
Michelle Pilecki: "How Bush Blew It" pulls no punches in how the president really does surround himself with yes-men and "equates... Skippy: for all our dissatisfaction with michael isikoff and newsweek, we must give credit where credit is due. Scott Shields: Newsweek: 'How Bush Blew It' — Writing in the latest issue of Newsweek, Evan Thomas paints an absolutely horrifying and... |
| Also: Brad DeLong, Jeff Goldstein, Attaturk, Betsy Newmark, Cookie Jill, Lambert @Corrente | |
Living Too Much in the Bubble? By / Time — Permalink President bush was seated in the white house situation Room, watching military and disaster officials beaming in from the Gulf Coast on the giant screen of his secure video- teleconferencing system. | |
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Avedon Carol: And Time wonders if Bush is Living Too Much in the Bubble? [snipped quote] Too busy looking for the next big thing to see it when it happened? Yehudit: Was the response to Katrina that inept? And if so, was it President Bush's fault? Brad DeLong: Life inside a bunker can be strange... Mike Allen is also late to the party with a story on Bush administration... |
Ezra Klein: Sideshow George — Shakes here... In The Calmer in Chief, Ezra pulls a quote from this article that illustrates how... Laura Rozen: When Hurricane Katrina struck, it appears there was no one to tell President Bush the plain truth: that the state and... Kevin Drum: But he also notes that although the plan to actually deal with Katrina was poor, the plan to save the president's... |
| Also: Taegan Goddard, Josh Marshall | |
Jack Kelly: No shame Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — Permalink It is settled wisdom among journalists that the federal response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina was unconscionably slow. "Mr. Bush's performance last week will rank as one of the worst ever during a dire national emergency," wrote New York Times columnist Bob Herbert in a somewhat more strident expression of the conventional wisdom. | |
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Paul @PowerLine: Jack Kelly supplies the information about hurricane response time that the MSM is too biased and lazy to provide. Yehudit: "Jason van Steenwyk is a Florida Army National Guardsman who has been mobilized six times for hurricane relief. Betsy Newmark: Jack Kelly writes about this in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. "Jason van Steenwyk is a Florida Army National Guardsman who has been mobilized six times for hurricane relief. |
Jan Haugland: Against conventional hurricane wisdom — Jack Kelly writes, against conventional wisdom, that the federal response to the Katrina disaster was not at all slow. Jeff Goldstein: Katrina Coverage, Stage 2: Competing Narratives Emerge — Reviewing previous responses by the feds to natural disasters,... Captain Ed: FEMA Response Not The Issue — Jack Kelly writes about the widely-reviled FEMA response to Hurricane Katrina in today's... |
How Bush Blew It By / Newsweek — Permalink Sept. 19, 2005 issue - It's a standing joke among the president's top aides: who gets to deliver the bad news? Warm and hearty in public, Bush can be cold and snappish in private, and aides sometimes cringe before the displeasure of the president of the United States, or, as he is known in West Wing jargon, POTUS. | |
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Skippy: found in this week's issue, it's titled, appropriately, how bush blew it. DC Media Girl: all archives... « November 2004 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24... Taegan Goddard: Newsweek and Time provide the most complete pieces. Link | Related News |
Laura Rozen: Via Kevin Drum, Newsweek's Evan Thomas on Bush's bubble: "...The reality, say several aides who did not wish to be... Judith Weiss: The MSM is still flogging the meme that "Bush blew it." Kevin Drum: THE BUBBLE...More on George Bush's "bubble" from Newsweek: "The reality [of Katrina], say several aides who did not... |
Tape Released: American al Qaeda Member Warns of Attacks By / ABCNEWS — Permalink Sept. 11, 2005 — In an apparent Sept. 11 communiqué broadcast on ABC News, an al Qaeda operative threatens new attacks against cities in the US and Australia. "Yesterday, London and Madrid. Tomorrow, Los Angeles and Melbourne, God willing. | |
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Michelle Malkin: Please don't forget how to remember. (And how not to...) *** A moment of silence. They still are plotting to kill us. Susie Madrak: Boo As BushCo's numbers sink further, another terrorist threat was inevitable. The question is, is it real? Kathryn Jean Lopez: AL QAEDA SENDS A WARNING TO — Los Angeles and Melbourne. |
Roger L. Simon: All Quiet, So Far... I just want to report that, so far, at least from my house, the dire predictions by Adam Gadahn of... Steve Bainbridge: Life in a Target Zone — ABC News reports: [snipped quote] Just great. |
Terror war all but forgotten on home front By / Chicago Sun Times — Permalink Sept. 11, 2005 — the fourth anniversary of the start of the war. That is, if you believe it's a ''war'' A lot of people didn't want to, even in those first days. About a week after, one of my local radio stations held a fund-raiser and this is how their trailer for it opened. | |
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Ted Belman: Steyn remains confidant — Terror war all but forgotten on home front - by Mark Steyn, Sun Times Sept. 11, 2005 — the fourth anniversary of the start of the war. Paul @PowerLine: Their moderation, and ours — Mark Steyn takes stock of the terror four years on. Judith Weiss: 9-11 : Never forget — East Hell This photo of "Hell at Ground Zero" reminds us that this was an act of war, not a "tragedy." |
Jan Haugland: War on terror: winning abroad, losing at home? Mark Steyn is a pessimist on this day. Glenn Reynolds: MARK STEYN: [snipped quote] Austin Bay: [snipped quote] Read the whole thing(s). Ed Driscoll: "Terror War All But Forgotten On Home Front" — Mark Steyn's latest Chicago Tribune piece is a must-read |
| Also: Lorie Byrd, Betsy Newmark | |
Black-and-blue Brown By / Rocky Mountain News — Permalink WASHINGTON - As criticism of him grew this week, Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Mike Brown sent a candid e-mail to family and friends. "I don't mind the negative press (well, actually, I do, but I try to ignore it) but it is really wearing out the family," Brown wrote. | |
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Judd @ThinkProgress: Thousands have died and a million people have been displaced but Brown complains that he's a victim: [snipped quote] The... Cookie Jill: black and blue brownie... no...wait...."i'm a victim" |
Kevin Drum: MIKE BROWN WATCH...The Rocky Mountain News prints an email that FEMA director Mike Brown recently sent to a few close... |
Ditch Holocaust day, advisers urge Blair Times of London — Permalink ADVISERS appointed by Tony Blair after the London bombings are proposing to scrap the Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day because it is regarded as offensive to Muslims. They want to replace it with a Genocide Day that would recognise the mass murder of Muslims in Palestine, Chechnya and Bosnia as well as people of other faiths. | |
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Damian Penny: Screw the Holocaust — The sheer gall of many "moderate" Muslim activists never ceases to amaze me: Advisers appointed... Harry @HarrysPlace: Offensive — Those clever people appointed by the government to look into how to stop some Muslim youth turning to... Ted Belman: Ditch Holocaust day, advisers urge Blair — From the TimesOnline: ADVISERS appointed by Tony Blair after the London... |
Jan Haugland: Blair urged to ditch Holocaust day to not offend Muslims — Tony Blair's advisers tells him to give in to Islamic anti-Semitism. Andrew Sullivan: You have now been warned. EURO ANTI-SEMITISM WATCH: Tony Blair is being pressured to scrap the Holocaust Memorial Day. Gary Farber: IT'S TRUE THAT THE HOLOCAUST WAS SOMEWHAT EXCLUSIONARY, but that's pretty much Hitler's fault, innit? |
| Also: Steve Antler, Dany Belinfante | |
Lack of plan hurt Katrina-hit states' response By / AP — Permalink UPDATED: 3:50 p.m. September 10, 2005 TALLAHASSEE — One thing Florida knows is hurricanes. Florida emergency planners criticized and even rebuked their counterparts — or what passes for emergency planners — in those states for their handling of Hurricane Katrina. | |
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Yehudit: Maybe the reporters flogging this meme should have talked to this NG reservist or these emergency planners in Florida or these black leaders in New Orleans. Captain Ed: The verdict of Florida's emergency response officials is that not only did Louisiana fail to properly plan and train for... |
Betsy Newmark: The Palm Beach paper has an article about how much better prepared Florida is for hurricanes because they have had to become so. Judith Weiss: Maybe the reporters should have talked to this NG reservist or these emergency planners in Florida or these black leaders in New Orleans. |
The fetid aroma of hindsight By / LAT — Permalink Recriminations are all the rage today. But really, does anyone ever pay attention to the prophets of doom until it's too late? AS A GOOD AMERICAN, you no doubt have been worried sick for years about the levees around New Orleans. No? You didn't read that report in 2001? | |
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Ace: That's from liberal hatchet man Michael Kinsley, writing in the LA Times, so I kinda doubt he's lying to serve his... Patterico: Kinsley on Katrina: Not Bush's Fault Michael Kinsley knocks it out of the park with his op-ed this morning titled The... |
Ken Masugi: 9/11 Lessons: Kinsley on New Orleans — LA Times editorial and opinion editor Michael Kinsley deflates the accusatory rhetoric of current days. |
Places Where the System Broke Down Time — Permalink Ten days after Hurricane Katrina trashed the Gulf Coast, a radio talk-show host in Los Angeles asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice if it was true that President Bush does not care about black people. (She said no.) A man standing in the ruins in Gulfport, Miss., told the Vice President, "Go f___ yourself." | |
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Digby: Dusting Off The Manual — Kevin reports that Time magazine says the Republicans have a three point plan for a comeback... |
Kevin Drum: PLEASE LEAVE A MESSAGE AT THE TONE...Time magazine does a decent job of explaining what went wrong at all levels in the... |
Cheney backed removing FEMA boss from Katrina duty Reuters — Permalink AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney on Saturday said he supported the decision to remove Michael Brown as head of the federal relief effort in the stricken Gulf Coast but refused to say if Brown would eventually be dismissed. | |
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Bob Cesca: Sure, there's a separation of powers issue, but if we can't get an impeachment for Bush's criminal negligence in the... |
Judd @ThinkProgress: Cheney Calls Katrina an "Exercise." |
The Steady Buildup to a City's Chaos WaPo — Permalink Walter Maestri had dreaded this call for a decade, ever since he took over emergency management for Jefferson Parish, a marshy collection of suburbs around New Orleans. It was Friday night, Aug. 26, and his friend Max Mayfield was on the line. | |
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Harry Shearer: A one-paragraph answer in a million-paragraph Washington Post takeout, but an answer nonetheless: Army Corps officials... Betsy Newmark: The Washington Post has a tick-tock article about what went on from the time that the storm started heading towards the Gulf Coast through Friday of last week. Kevin Drum: Here they are: New York Times: "Breakdowns Marked Path From Hurricane to Anarchy" Washington Post: "The Steady Buildup... |
DC Media Girl: As is today's WaPo cover story, "The Steady Buildup to a City's Chaos". Laura Rozen: This Washington Post big picture chronology of government preparation and response to Katrina and its aftermath... Glenn Reynolds: JEEZ: [snipped quote] Jeez. (Via Brendan Loy, who has much more.) |
Blame Aplenty By / US News — Permalink A team of Indiana firefighters, volunteering to help rescue victims of Katrina, went to Atlanta, where Federal Emergency Management Agency staffers told them that their job was to hand out fliers and that their first task was to attend a multi-hour course on sexual harassment and equal employment opportunity. | |
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Dean Esmay: Government will never be perfect, but fortunately America is more than just government." Read the rest right here. Ramesh Ponnuru: BARONE ON KATRINA — He writes that "President George W. Bush ... might well have made a mistake in appointing Michael... |
Glenn Reynolds: MICHAEL BARONE says there's "blame aplenty" and points out people who are at fault, but also cautions: "But we should... |
Thousands walk in D.C. to remember 9/11, honor troops Stars & Stripes — Permalink WASHINGTON — Thousands of marchers, led by families of victims killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, navigated a tightly secured route into Washington on Sunday to commemorate that tragedy and show support for troops overseas. | |
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Norbizness: Happy Birthday, New America — Here's one way to celebrate our rebirth as a s**ttier nation. |
Thad: Stars and Stripes manage to report on the Freedom Walk without once mentioning that they were among the event's sponsors. |
Iraqi-U.S. Units Battle to Clear a Rebel Area By / NYT — Permalink BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 10 - Thousands of Iraqi and American troops, backed by airstrikes, swept through the northern city of Tal Afar on Saturday, carrying out house-to-house searches and battling insurgent holdouts in the largest military operation in Iraq in months. | |
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Bill Roggio: The Iraqi government outlines the plan to secure Tal Afar when the assault is completed: "The offensive was led by the... Matthew Yglesias: The account really ought to be read to get a sense of things |
Ivo Daalder: Plans are to station an Iraqi police force of 1700 officers, including 1000 locals, once the military forces leave. |
Nation Remembers Victims of 9/11 Attacks By / AP — Permalink NEW YORK - America grieved the victims of Sept. 11 on Sunday as the brothers and sisters of the dead recited their loved ones' names and tearful messages of remembrance to a weeping crowd gathered at the site where the World Trade Center once stood. | |
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Cernig: In Memoriam — Today America and indeed the World remembers the victims of the 9/11 attacks - as indeed we should. Scared Monkeys: Having gone to school and lived in the NYC area and presently living near Boston and Portland ME, we were affected... |
Jan Haugland: Four years since the world changed — Four minutes of silence and a solemn ceremony of remembrance of the victims marks... |
Taking Stock of the Forever War By / NYT — Permalink I. Seldom has an image so clearly marked the turning of the world. One of man's mightiest structures collapses into an immense white blossom of churning, roiling dust, metamorphosing in 14 seconds from hundred-story giant of the earth into towering white plume reaching to heaven. | |
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Laura Rozen: Mark Danner: [quote] ...Four years after we watched the towers fall, Americans have not succeeded in "ridding the world of evil."[end quote] Jack Cluth: 9/11: Four years later, the nation is hobbled by debt and ill-prepared to handle disaster Taking stock of the forever... |
Kevin Drum: FOUR YEARS LATER...I don't know that I agree with everything Mark Danner writes today in the New York Times Magazine,... Praktike: Must-read — Apropos of recent blogospheric discussions about national greatness, neoconservatism, and the Iraq War... |
Man Makes Threats Against L.A., Australia AP — Permalink NEW YORK - A tape delivered to ABC News in Pakistan this weekend features a masked man making terrorist threats against Los Angeles and Australia. ABC News reported that the man is believed to be Adam Yahiye Gadahn, an American from California purported to be an al-Qaida member and wanted by the FBI. | |
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Jan Haugland: Al-Qaeda threats against Los Angeles and Melbourne — The terrorists got perfect timing for a threatening video handed... |
Jeralyn Merritt: Tape Delivered to ABC Threatens Attack on L.A. A video tape threatening a terror attack on Los Angeles has been delivered to ABC News in Pakistan. |
Breakdowns Marked Path From Hurricane to Anarchy NYT — Permalink The governor of Louisiana was "blistering mad." It was the third night after Hurricane Katrina drowned New Orleans, and Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco needed buses to rescue thousands of people from the fetid Superdome and convention center. | |
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Felix @MemeFirst: TV gives way to print — Today's magnificent round-up in the NYT of exactly how the New Orleans f**kup happened, at all... Josh Marshall: I just finished reading the Times lengthy front page narrative account of the Katrina response debacle. Attaturk: Summing it all up — The NY Times has an extensive look into the failures of Katrina. |
Randall Parker: The Louisiana National Guard was as dumb with its vehicles as the New Orleans government with their 255 flooded buses. Skippy: overview of a tragedy the nytimes has a fine piece, covering all the bases: fema appears to have underestimated the... Gary Farber: THERE'S ONLY ONE WORD FOR THIS POST-MORTEM on the response to Katrina: pathetic. And at least hundreds died needlessly. |
Revising 9/11 NYT — Permalink On the first three anniversaries of Sept. 11, 2001, the nation had the grim luxury of uncluttered memory. We looked back on that day's events as the most terrible thing that could happen on American soil. Today, we are cursed with an unwanted expansion of that vision. | |
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Avedon Carol: Well, what do you know, 9/11 didn't change everything after all. Pity the NYT couldn't have said so four years ago. Idiots. |
Ann Althouse: Here is the New York Times version of the seemingly inevitable Katrina-focused 9/11 editorial: "It took a day or two... |
Katrina Darkens the Outlook for Incumbents By / WaPo — Permalink Hurricane Katrina has the potential to foment change in Washington like the terrorist strikes did four years ago, altering the government's priorities for the foreseeable future and darkening the mood of an electorate that was already anxious before the storm hit shore, according to lawmakers, pollsters and strategists from both parties. | |
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Eric Boehlert: Eric Boehlert: The Washington Post Plays Dumb — New polls indicate Republicans are facing political peril in the wake... |
Paul @Wizbang: More Government of Course This is simply amazing... In the wake of one of the most horrific examples of governmental... |
Dear New York City... NYT — Permalink Spalding Gray, the actor and monologuist, died in 2004. The following letter, which he wrote in the aftermath of 9/11, will appear in "Life Interrupted," a published version of the monologue he was working on at the time of his death. | |
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Edward _: The New York Times printed this today: [snipped quote] God Bless New York City. God Bless the United States. |
Ann Althouse: So wrote Spalding Gray, the brilliant monologuist, who (so sadly) killed himself last year: "For 34 years I lived with you and came to love you. |
The Best-Laid Plan: Too Bad It Flopped By / NYT — Permalink Among the many achievements of the human race - Chartres Cathedral, the Mona Lisa - surely the New Orleans emergency preparedness plan must rank among the greatest, and the fact that this plan turned out to be irrelevant to reality should not detract from its stature as a masterpiece of bureaucratic thinking. | |
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Echidne: The most recent one isn't thoughtful: it regards the failure of the Katrina rescue efforts as proof that governments fail. Lambert @Corrente: But liberals who think this disaster is going to set off a progressive revival need to explain how a comprehensive... Ezra Klein: Brooks Rediscovers Egregiousness — By Ezra The David Brooks corollary: Because Delta is soon to file for bankruptcy... |
Betsy Newmark: Read David Brooks today on the New Orleans emergency plan. I watched some of the Sunday shows and saw Senators Landrieu and Vitter and Mayor Nagin. McQ: David Brooks talks about the superb plan the City of New Orleans had, and the fact that it simply didn't come close to executing it. Jo Fish: Drowning in Brooks — David Brooks, chief of right-wing twittery at the New Whore Times goes through an entire laundry... |
| Also: Glenn Smith | |
MEMRI TV Special Report: 9/11 Conspiracy Theories on Arab and Iranian TV Channels 2004-2005 MEMRI — Permalink The following are segments from Arab and Iranian TV on 9/11 conspiracy theories; all were aired in 2004-2005. TO VIEW THIS CLIP VISIT: http://memritv.org/search.asp? ACT=S9&P1=844. Abd Al-Aziz: "When, in January 2001, the World Council of Churches delegated this mission to the U.S. - what did the U.S. do? | |
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Dr. Demarche: And it is not just the Saudis: Egyptian Researcher Zaynab Abd Al-'Aziz, Iqra TV, May 26, 2005 Abd Al-Aziz: "Yes. |
Damian Penny: MEMRI has posted transcripts and video clips from Arab and Iranian television, regarding the wild 9/11 conspiracy theories endlessly promoted in that part of the world. |
Poll Shows Kilgore Ahead of Kaine in Va. WaPo — Permalink Republican Jerry W. Kilgore is leading in the Virginia governor's race despite efforts by Democrat Timothy M. Kaine to tap widespread satisfaction with Gov. Mark R. Warner's performance, according to a new Washington Post poll. | |
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Alexander K. McClure: A new Washington Post poll has Kilgore leading Democrat Tim Kaine by four points. His lead expands to seven points among likely voters. Jerome Armstrong: VA Gov race — In today's WaPost, there's a new poll (pdf) in the VA Governor race: Registered Likely Jerry Kilgore 45... |
Taegan Goddard: Kilgore Still Ahead of Kaine — Jerry Kilgore (R) is leading in the Virginia governor's race "despite efforts" by... |
Roberts Cultivated An Audience With Justices for Years By / WaPo — Permalink John G. Roberts Jr. built a golden reputation as a "lawyer's lawyer" without doing most of the things that lawyers do. He never filed a lawsuit, addressed a jury, cross-examined a witness, took a deposition or negotiated a deal. | |
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Taegan Goddard: How Roberts Became a Star — Supreme Court nominee John Roberts "has spent most of his career as a star — by all... William J. Dyer: John Roberts as counselor — In today's edition, WaPo staff writer Michael Grunwald has a well-written and extremely... |
Captain Ed: Today's Post survey of Roberts leading up to his confirmation hearings this week actually shows Roberts in a mostly... |
Yahoo's Yang say hands tied in China Internet censorship case AFP — Permalink HANGZHOU, China (AFP) - Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) chief Jerry Yang said his company was complying with local laws when information on an Internet user was passed to Chinese police in a move leading to the jailing of a mainland journalist. | |
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Roger L. Simon: Yahoo - A Good 1940s German Company — I was about to go to sleep until I read this pathetic statement from Yahoo chief... FrancoAlemán: MORE ON YAHOO "search and capture" (background here): [snipped quote] Roger nails it: "Oh, really? |
Gateway Pundit: Also, at the China Summit Yahoo Chief Jerry Yang spoke to reporters about the help his company provided the Chinese... |
Historians Fear Attack Date's Significance Could Fade By / WaPo — Permalink The first year was marked with a moment of silence, the tolling of bells and a reading of the names of the nearly 3,000 people who died. Those sad rituals continued for the second and third anniversaries of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and will be repeated once again today. | |
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John Cole: That may not be atypical: The first year was marked with a moment of silence, the tolling of bells and a reading of the names of the nearly 3,000 people who died. William J. Dyer: But then I read something like this in Sunday's WaPo: [snipped quote] Count me among the "others," then. |
Armed Liberal: The Post's lead article is headlined "Date's Significance Could Fade" - well, yes it may - if the gatekeepers in the media encourage it to. |
TIME Poll Results: Hurricane Katrina Time — Permalink Six in ten Americans (61%) surveyed think the U.S. should cut back on spending in Iraq to help pay the immense bill for the rebuilding of the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina, according to the latest TIME magazine poll. | |
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Joshua Claybourn: The poll numbers — President Bush's "overall approval rating has dropped to 42%, his lowest mark since taking office," according to a Time magazine poll. Taegan Goddard: Bush Hits Another Low in Poll — President Bush's "overall approval rating has dropped to 42%, his lowest mark since taking office," according to a Time magazine poll. |
Joe Gandelman: UPDATE III:A Time Magazine poll shows the same trend as the other polls: a downward shift in Bush's numbers, so the... |
High-Level Consultations, Then FEMA Chief Recalled By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 - On Wednesday afternoon, at a contentious briefing in the White House press room, President Bush's top spokesman publicly but cautiously praised the work of Michael D. Brown, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. | |
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Richard Bradley: Buried in the "Storm and Crisis" section of today's Times is a fascinating tick-tock by David E. Sanger detailing the... Pudentilla: carolina on my mind — [snipped quote] the bad news is that hurricanes are quite destructive. the worse news is that... |
Jeralyn Merritt: The Times also has new article on how Mike Brown came to be relieved of Katrina duties. |
Firms with White House ties get Katrina contracts Reuters — Permalink WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. | |
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Jay Tea: Three names have come forward — Shaw, Halliburton, and Bechtel. And all three are being raked over the coals for their political ties. Jack Cluth: Firms with White House ties get contracts Gee, what a shock…. Picking up the pieces And they will be for a long time to come. Suzanne Nossel: This story reports that Halliburton and Bechtel have already scored rich contracts for clean-up work on the Gulf Coast. |
Michelle Malkin: What liberal bias?" files... On Saturday, CNN.com had a piece titled "Firms with White House ties get Katrina... PGL: It seems if one has White House connections, one may receive reconstruction contracts: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Companies... Steve Antler: Wait... As you read this be sure you find statements from all the companies that were capable of doing this construction... |
| Also: Joe Gandelman, Jeralyn Merritt, David Sirota, Andrew Sullivan, Josh Marshall, John @AmericaBlog | |
Eye of the Political Storm By / Newsweek — Permalink Sept. 10, 2005 - Hurricane Katrina claimed her first political casualty Friday. Michael Brown, the head of FEMA, the federal disaster readiness and response agency, was sidelined from the largest disaster relief project in the nation's history. | |
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Brendan Nyhan: Katrina fallout for Bush — Via Josh Marshall, the latest Newsweek poll is devastating to President Bush: In Katrina's... Joe Gandelman: And the trend south continues: according to Newsweek, Bush's poll numbers have dropped to below 40 percent — into the political danger zone. Oliver Willis: In Newsweek's latest poll, the Republican path has the support of a measly 28%, which means not even the party's supporters are buying in. |
Steve Soto: According to the poll, Bush's job approval is down to 38%, its lowest level ever in the poll and even one point lower than the AP/Ipsos poll out just yesterday. Digby: The new Newsweek poll says: "Reflecting the tarnished view of the administration, only 38 percent of registered voters... Chris Bowers: Newsweek Has Bush At 38%; Dems Way Up for 2006 — No more flukes, Bush is really below 40% now: "In Katrina's wake,... |
| Also: Laura Rozen, Taegan Goddard, Skippy, Susie Madrak, TChris, Josh Marshall | |
Disarray Marked the Path From Hurricane to Anarchy NYT — Permalink The governor of Louisiana was "blistering mad." It was the third night after Hurricane Katrina drowned New Orleans, and Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco needed buses to rescue thousands of people from the fetid Superdome and convention center. | |
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Jack Cluth: More dispatches from the Southern Front — Crisis in New Orleans deepened because of virtual standoff between federal... Jeff Goldstein: "Disarray Marked the Path From Hurricane to Anarchy" — The New York Times—amid re-"reporting" some already discredited... Jeralyn Merritt: Katrina: What Went Wrong — The New York Times has an exhaustive article on Government foul-ups in the Katrina castastrophe. |
Captain Ed: However, the article by a crew of Times writers instead inadvertently encapsulates the incompetence of Louisiana's... Steve Soto: Sunday's NYT Runs Good Account Of A Federal Government That Didn't Work — As for the GOP talking points of blaming the... Tom Maguire: The Times continues to probe the confusion amongst Federal, state, and local lines of authority that marred the New Orleans relief effort. |
| Also: Thad | |
Police in Suburbs Blocked Evacuees, Witnesses Report By / NYT — Permalink Police agencies to the south of New Orleans were so fearful of the crowds trying to leave the city after Hurricane Katrina that they sealed a crucial bridge over the Mississippi River and turned back hundreds of desperate evacuees, two paramedics who were in the crowd said. | |
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Digby: The story of the EMTs (confirmed by the NY Times today) and the reports by Shepard Smith and Geraldo Rivera on Friday confirm that this was true. TChris: This is why some were unable to leave New Orleans: "Police agencies to the south of New Orleans were so fearful of the... Glenn Reynolds: THE NEW YORK TIMES HAS PICKED UP ON the Gretna bridge-blocking story. Tom Maguire, however, thinks that the Times is whitewashing the racial angle. |
Tom Maguire: With the same confidence and candor that they cover race-based stories in their Metropolitan section, which is to say, they totally whitewash it. Gary Farber: I DON'T HAVE TO DO THAT LONG POST OF BLOG QUOTES after all. You assholes. Hugh Hewitt: Another FEMA Failure, Right? Too bad no one from the MSM was there to get these photographs. |
| Also: Atrios | |
Judge supports CNN request to cover Katrina's toll CNN — Permalink HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) — At the request of CNN, a federal judge in Texas Friday night blocked emergency officials in New Orleans from preventing the media from covering the recovery of bodies from Hurricane Katrina. | |
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Michelle Malkin: NEVER, NEVER FORGET — So the MSM wants to see bodies? Ed Driscoll: Glenn Reynolds writes: "THE PRESS WANTS TO SHOW BODIES from Katrina. It didn't want to show bodies, or jumpers, on 9/11, for fear that doing so would inflame the public." Glenn Reynolds: THE PRESS WANTS TO SHOW BODIES from Katrina. It didn't want to show bodies, or jumpers, on 9/11, for fear that doing so would inflame the public. |
Joe Gandelman: UPDATE: The government has decided not to fight this battle in the face of CNN's lawsuit — and now the questions... Andrew Sullivan: I presume he's happy the government is no longer trying to impede photographers. Richard TPD: To the commenter who insisted yesterday that US news networks are simply corporate arms of the government, I say read this. |
| Also: The Mock Turtle, John @PowerLine, Chris @AmericaBlog, Brian Stelter, Tom Biro, Laura Rozen, Josh Marshall, Taegan Goddard | |
'Average' past trails troubled FEMA chief By / St. Petersburg Times — Permalink WASHINGTON - In 2002, a pair of FBI agents showed up at a small, well-known law firm near Oklahoma City, asking questions about Mike Brown, a former employee being considered for a job at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. | |
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Mark Kleiman: The Brad DeLong notices that Kevin Drum noticed that Laura Rozen noticed a story in the St. Petersburg Times suggesting... Susie Madrak: From the St. Pete Times: Brown was pleasant enough, if a bit opportunistic, Jones said, but he did not put enough time and energy into his job. Kevin Drum: MIKE BROWN WATCH....I suppose that piling on FEMA chief Mike Brown will get old eventually, but this is too rich not to pass along: [snipped quote] Via Laura Rozen. |
Justin Gardner: From the World&Nation [quote] "The more one learns about him," Republican commentator William Kristol said on Fox News,...[end quote] Laura Rozen: Reader AR writes, "There's an excellent article by Anita Kumar just posted at the St. Pete Times website with new... |
Firms with Bush ties snag Katrina deals Reuters — Permalink WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. | |
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Michelle Malkin: So did the London Observer. And Reuters/MSNBC. And the CBC. Echidne: I read this and my teeth grind each other to white dust: [snipped quote] Just the firms I would have picked up for... |
Cernig: Following on yesterday's announcement that Bush has suspended, by executive order, the law that requires employers to... Jayson @PoliPundit: The New Halli {gulp} Burton Meme has landed. |
Flight 93 memorial decried as Islam symbol By / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — Permalink There's a growing outcry that one element of the newly chosen Flight 93 National Memorial represents Islam and is a slap in the face to the passengers and crew members who died on the hijacked plane four years ago. | |
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Justin Gardner: More from the Post-Gazette: "There's a growing outcry that one element of the newly chosen Flight 93 National Memorial... Captain Ed: Flight 93 Memorial Intended To Offend — The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette continues its coverage of the Flight 93 memorial in... Michelle Malkin: He did not return my call, but he did speak with the Johnstown, Pa., Tribune Democrat, as quoted in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. |
Andy McCarthy: If you'd only read the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, you'd realize: "The crescent associated with Islam is the lunar... Michelle Pilecki: The intended symbolism, one of the architects told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, is that the of a circle broken by the crash of Flight 93. |
Director of FEMA Stripped of Role as Relief Leader By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 - Under intense pressure to improve its response to Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration on Friday abruptly removed the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Michael D. Brown, from oversight of the post-storm relief effort, and replaced him with Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen of the Coast Guard. | |
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Brendan Nyhan: Meanwhile, back on planet earth: A Republican with close ties to the White House, also speaking on the condition of... Talking Dog: The President pocket-vetoed Mike "Brownie" Brown's continued service as coordinator of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts,... Steve Soto: Another Example Where It Must Be The Fault Of State Officials — As our resident trolls continue with their talking... |
Hugh Hewitt: The temptation for MSM will be to change the subject from their accuracy over the past two weeks to the latest round of... Andrew Sullivan: ANOTHER INCOMPETENT LOCAL: The mayor of Dallas is useless as well, it seems: "In Houston, local officials complained that FEMA's computer system kept crashing. |
Local FEMA chief had little disaster experience Seattle Times — Permalink John Pennington, the official in charge of federal disaster response in the Northwest, was a four-term Republican state representative who ran a mom-and-pop coffee company in Cowlitz County when then-Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn helped him get his federal post. | |
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Justin Gardner: A new story from the Seattle Times reveals that it's another Bush appointee who, like Michael Brown and Jim Allbaugh, has no previous experience in disaster management. Atrios: If, like g, you're from Seattle then your regional FEMA person is qualified to be a FEMA flunky because he was:: —... Josh Marshall: Seattle Times ... [snipped quote] Read the rest. |
Susie Madrak: Seattle Times: John Pennington, the official in charge of federal disaster response in the Northwest, was a four-term... Champollion: What we are starting to see now is real inertia. The press doing the job that blogs have been doing for most if the last four years, and it is about time. |
A Shameful Proclamation NYT — Permalink On Thursday, President Bush issued a proclamation suspending the law that requires employers to pay the locally prevailing wage to construction workers on federally financed projects. The suspension applies to parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. | |
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Steve Antler: Tim Worstall points us toward some New York Times economic thinking truly worthy of Monty Python's dumb younger cousin. Cernig: Its no wonder the New York Times today called the suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act a "shameful proclamation": By any... Susie Madrak: Such A Bargain Yeah, it's a shame what happened to New Orleans, but such bargains! |
Avedon Carol: Where's it coming from, and where's it gonna go? Not to the people who do the work, it looks like. (More here.) Barbara O'Brien: And now that these people have just about been relieved of the onerous burden of paying their employees, sit back and watch those profits roll in! Greg Ransom: Among other things, he's made the editorial board of the NY Times squeal like a stuck pig. |
New Orleans Executives Plan Revival By / NYT — Permalink BATON ROUGE, La., Sept. 9 - The New Orleans business establishment-in-exile has set up a beachhead in a government annex here, across the street from the state Capitol. From here, organizations like the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau have begun to plot the rebirth of the city. | |
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Joe Gandelman: Some New Orleans executives clearly aren't listening to the journalists and talking heads saying New Orleans may never... Lorie Byrd: New York Times, Saturday September 10, 2005: "New Orleans's business leaders and power brokers are concocting big plans,... |
John Cole: I might have to make some vacation plans: The New Orleans business establishment-in-exile has set up a beachhead in a... |
Defenseless On the Bayou By / Reason — Permalink In the nearly two weeks since Hurricane Katrina, the government of New Orleans has devolved from its traditional status as an elective kleptocracy into something far more dangerous: an anarcho-tyranny that refuses to protect the public from criminals while preventing people from protecting themselves. | |
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David Kopel: BTW, my Reason article, published on Saturday, has a dead link to another site with the same video; this link still works, as of early Sept. 11. Jeralyn Merritt: New Orleans Gun Confiscation: Illegal and Foolish — Dave Koppel, Second Amendment expert, explains why the confiscation of firearms in New Orleans is both illegal and foolish. |
Glenn Reynolds: HERE'S MORE ON THE NEW ORLEANS GUN-CONFISCATION, from Dave Kopel: "The good gun-owning citizens of New Orleans and the... |
Judge Roberts, the Committee Is Interested in Your View on . . . By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON - As it unfolds before a national television audience, any Supreme Court confirmation hearing offers a window on the legal debates of the day. It is safe to assume that there is a reason for every question the senators ask in the limited time they... | |
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Taegan Goddard: The New York Times provides "a viewer's guide, by topic and in context, to the words and phrases that are likely to be... Betsy Newmark: Linda Greenhouse has a handy guide of the contentious issues that will come up in Roberts' hearings next month. |
Armando @DailyKos: Linda Greenhouse, the prominent Supreme Court reporter for the New York Times, provides a neutral report of what to... |
President's Approval Rating Dips Below 40 By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON - President Bush's job approval has dipped below 40 percent for the first time in the AP-Ipsos poll, reflecting widespread doubts about his handling of gasoline prices and the response to Hurricane Katrina. That's the lowest since the the poll was started in December 2003. | |
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Joe Gandelman: UPDATE II: Bush is now also down below 40 percent in an AP-Ipsos poll: "Nearly four years after Bush's job approval... James Joyner: President's Approval Rating Dips Below 40 (AP) [snipped quote] The amusing thing about this report is that it consists of... |
Alexander K. McClure: AP Poll — A new AP/IPSOS poll has President Bush's job approval rating going below 40% . Justin Gardner: Definitely check it out if you're interested in such things. And if you want the original story, click here. |
Navy ship nearby underused By / Chicago Tribune — Permalink ON THE USS BATAAN — While federal and state emergency planners scramble to get more military relief to Gulf Coast communities stricken by Hurricane Katrina, a massive naval goodwill station has been cruising offshore, underused and waiting for a larger role in the effort. | |
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Josh Marshall: The real issues at that moment were getting buses into the city to ship out evacuees, getting National Guard troops more... Andrew Sullivan: THE MILITARY AT HAND: Tell me: did the Bush administration need permission from governor Blanco to get orders to the U.S.S. Bataan to help and rescue survivors? |
Gary Farber: PLEASE USE THE FRICKING NAVY. Please. Read The Rest Scale: 3.5 out of 5. |
G.O.P. Sees Opportunities Arising From Storm By / NYT — Permalink HOUSTON, Sept. 9 - Republican leaders in Congress and some White House officials see opportunities in Hurricane Katrina to advance longstanding conservative goals like giving students vouchers to pay for private schools, paying churches to help with temporary housing and scaling back business regulation. | |
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Barbara O'Brien: The GOP sees big opportunities in the devastation of Katrina, writes Edmund Andrews in today's New York Times Taegan Goddard: Politicians See Opportunities Arising From Storm — "Republican leaders in Congress and some White House officials see... |
Scott Shields: On the other side of the aisle, the Republicans see this tragedy as a way of furthering their own faith-based agenda of dismantling the federal government. |
Firms with Bush-Cheney ties clinching Katrina deals Reuters — Permalink WASHINGTON, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. | |
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Barbara O'Brien: And they can be counted on to pass most of these dollars along to other Bush cronies in the private sector, as reported... |
Susie Madrak: Moron 2.0 Roger Ailes puts Jeff Jarvis in his place and concludes: Stay tuned for future Jarvis installments: (1)... |
Rescuers collect dead, Cheney sounds upbeat By / Reuters — Permalink NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Emergency workers collected the dead of New Orleans on Saturday and the official death toll rose slowly, boosting hopes Hurricane Katrina would claim far fewer lives than the many thousands once feared. | |
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John @AmericaBlog: Newsweek poll: Bush approval at 38%! A failed presidency. "Bush's job approval ratings have hit all-time lows. |
Dave Pell: The Whole Katrina Exercise — Cheney demonstrates, once again, his command of compassion and language: [snipped quote] permalink | politics | send |
Casualty of Firestorm: Outrage, Bush and FEMA Chief By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 - To Democrats, Republicans, local officials and Hurricane Katrina's victims, the question was not why, but what took so long? Republicans had been pressing the White House for days to fire "Brownie," Michael D. Brown, director of the... | |
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Scott Rosenberg: Just gimme some truth — Today's New York Times has a piece analyzing the "recall" of FEMA'S Michael Brown to Washington. Harry Shearer: Harry Shearer: Now He Believes in Government — Elizabeth Bumiller in Saturday's NYT, in a backgrounder on Michael... Susie Madrak: The Harvard MBA Takes Charge By kicking Michael Brown upstairs instead of firing him. |
The Poor Man: Black people are scary Oy. Brad DeLong: But this seems extreme even for her: Casualty of Firestorm: Outrage, Bush and FEMA Chief - New York Times : By... Jo Fish: His boss, Michael "Ming the Merciless" Chertoff made this comment: [snipped quote] Damn, is he one perceptive motherf**ker, or what? |
| Also: Oliver Willis, Laura Rozen, Joe @AmericaBlog | |
Will Bush wriggle out of this one? By / Boston Globe — Permalink IT'S AN ILL wind that blows no good. But how will the political winds shift as the enormity of the Katrina disaster sinks in? We face two opposite prospects. | |
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Barbara O'Brien: In this must-read editorial in today's Boston Globe, Robert Kuttner writes, "We face two opposite prospects. |
Don: According to Robert Kuttner in the Boston Globe today, the expression "blame game" was used White House spokesman Scott McClellan "15 times at Thursday's press briefing." |
Some GOP Legislators Hit Jarring Notes in Addressing Katrina By / WaPo — Permalink Some lawmakers are still struggling to find the sympathetic but diligent tone that a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina — and the lagging government response to its victims — would seem to call for. | |
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John @AmericaBlog: What is the Washington Post's problem? The latest anti-Democrat smear from the Washington Times' sister paper. Thad: Before you get too excited, though, the John Aravosis catches the Washington Post reverting to type — they can't resist... |
Hugh Hewitt: (HT: Matt Jones) Not satisfied with Michael Brown's recall, the Washington Post today tries to widen the political impact of Katrina —on Republicans, of course. Gary Farber: RICK SANTORUM FOCUSES ON THE PORK by lying his head off, it's worth noting. |
Death Toll of 10,000 Now Called Unlikely WaPo — Permalink NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 9 — City officials said Friday that the death toll from Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath may be far lower than originally feared, as troops and police shifted their attention from rescue of the living to recovery of those who died here in the past 11 days. | |
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Jeff Goldstein: From the Washington Post: "City officials said Friday that the death toll from Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath may... |
FrancoAlemán: SOME GOOD NEWS: [snipped quote] No figures yet, but it could even be in the high triple-digits. Which is still terrible, of course. |
The Case for a Cover-Up By / NYT — Permalink At last there is a light in the darkness. Washington was slow to respond to Katrina's victims, but now Congress has finally sprung into action. It has bravely promised to investigate the situation. Unfortunately, the members haven't figured out exactly how, because Democrats want it to be done by outsiders. | |
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John Cole: Laying on the Snark Tierney hammers Congress for their lousy priorities: At last there is a light in the darkness. Randall Parker: John Tierney of the New York Times points out that the Army Corps of Engineers was not lacking for funds but Congress... Glenn Reynolds: JOHN TIERNEY thinks a Katrina investigation might turn up some uncomfortable facts for the investigators |
Jon Henke: John Tierney: "My daring prediction is [a Congressional invetigation into the Katrina aftermath] would make two discoveries. Michelle Malkin: Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), for example, reportedly said, "Everybody anticipated the breach of the levees, Mr. President." Armando @DailyKos: John Tierney tomorrow: "At last there is a light in the darkness. Washington was slow to respond to Katrina's victims, but now Congress has finally sprung into action. |
| Also: Pejman Yousefzadeh | |
Make It an Island By / NYT — Permalink AFTER the victims are interred and public officials held to account for the destruction of a great American city, Congress must determine what to rebuild and what to abandon to the encroaching waters of the Gulf of Mexico. | |
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Donald Sensing: Update: Former interior secretary Bruce Babbit is saying essentially the same thing - that building NOLA back like it was would be a bad mistake. |
Ace: Rebuild New Orleans... As An Island — In the New York Times, by Bruce Babbit, former Secretary of Something That Doesn't Matter. |
Shlomo and Dina Jin of China joined in matrimony in Jerusalem By / Jerusalem Post — Permalink A journey that began nearly a thousand years ago ended Wednesday evening in Jerusalem as Shlomo and Dina Jin, of Kai Feng, China were joined in matrimony according to Jewish law. The two have been married as non-Jews for about two decades but on Wednesday night they tied the knot again, this time as newly converted Jews. | |
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Norm Geras: Old Jews, new Jews — It's an item about Shlomo and Dina Jin of Kai Feng, reconnecting with a Jewish past: [snipped quote] On Jews in China, see further here. |
Alcibiades @KesherTalk: Mazel Tov - um, how do you say that in Chinese? A well deserved Mazel Tov all around. [Hat tip: Norm Geras] |
Nick Coleman: The new American experiment: No heart Minneapolis Star Tribune — Permalink Everyone is playing the blame game on Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans, and we at the top end of the Mississippi River can join the fun by pointing fingers close to home. Part of what drowned New Orleans is a political ideology determined to shrink government and ignore scientific evidence of global warming. | |
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John @PowerLine: But in his most recent column he attacks Riggs, an old friend, as well as the Center, of which I am fond. |
Mitch Berg: Let Ryan Do It — I thought about Nick Coleman column... [snipped quote] But I really needn't - Ryan Rhodes already did a great job. |
In Storm's Ruins, a Rush to Rebuild and Reopen for Business By / NYT — Permalink BATON ROUGE, La., Sept. 9 - Private contractors, guided by two former directors of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other well-connected lobbyists and consultants, are rushing to cash in on the unprecedented sums to be spent on Hurricane Katrina relief and reconstruction. | |
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Randall Parker: The New York Times reports that the overreaction of federal disaster relief spending has created conditions for big wasteful federal contracts. |
Jack Cluth: In Storm's Ruins, a Rush to Rebuild and Reopen for Business But will they come? |