Top Items:
Ron Fournier / Associated Press:
Embattled FEMA Director Mike Brown Resigns — WASHINGTON — Federal Emergency Management Agency director Mike Brown said Monday he has resigned "in the best interest of the agency and best interest of the president," three days after losing his onsite command of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, MyDD, Pharyngula, The Left Coaster, Daily Pundit, Defense Tech, The Left Coaster, Think Progress, The Washington Monthly, Think Progress, Donklephant, Blogs for Bush, Oliver Willis, Scared Monkeys, Big Brass Blog, The All Spin Zone, PSoTD, California Conservative and Total Information Awareness
RELATED ITEMS:
fema.gov:
R. David Paulison — Acting Under Secretary / U.S. Fire Administrator — R. David Paulison was appointed director of the Preparedness Division of the Emergency Preparedness & Response Directorate/FEMA, in the newly created Department of Homeland Security in 2003.
Laura Wides / Associated Press:
Worker Error Blamed for L.A. Blackout — LOS ANGELES - An error by utility workers caused a blackout across major portions of Los Angeles on Monday afternoon, trapping people in elevators and snarling traffic at intersections, authorities said. — About 2 million people were affected …
RELATED ITEMS:
Laura Wides / Associated Press:
Blackout Hits L.A.; Terrorism Ruled Out — LOS ANGELES - A blackout hit a large portion of the Los Angeles area Monday afternoon, snarling traffic at intersections and trapping people in elevators. — The city was investigating the cause of the outage. But Sgt. Catherine Plows …
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Counterterrorism Blog, PunditGuy, California Conservative and Wonkette
Smash / The Indepundit:
Lights Out in Los Angeles — MUCH OF LOS ANGELES has lost electrical power, including parts of Downtown and the San Fernando Valley. The cause of the blackout is unknown at this time. — No problems (yet) down here in San Diego. — TALLGLASSOFMILK writes: … Well, that sounds like normal, for Los Angeles.
Matt Margolis / Blogs for Bush:
Roberts Hearings: Live Blogging Day 1 — most recent updates on top... UPDATE, 5:59 PM EDT: Thus concludes day 1 of live blogging the Roberts hearings... we seem to have made it through... a couple of server issues along the way, but we survived.. Check out Mark Tapscott's impressions …
RELATED ITEMS:
Tom Goldstein / SCOTUSblog:
Welcome to the Roberts Confirmation Hearings — 3:33 - The committee is done until 930 tomorrow morning. — 3:32 - Roberts has no agenda. He does have a commitment - confronting every case with an open mind. He will be open to his colleagues' view. He will show no fear or favor.
Discussion:
Sentencing Law and Policy
CNN:
FEMA director Brown resigns — Bush tours New Orleans devastation — NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) — Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Mike Brown, under fire over his qualifications and what critics call a bungled response to Hurricane Katrina, resigned Monday, senior administration sources told CNN.
Daily Kos:
Umpire: Roberts' Opening Statement — In his opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Bush nominee to replace the late Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, John Roberts, drew an analogy between the Supreme Court and umpires in baseball: … It is an interesting analogy Judge Roberts draws.
RELATED ITEM:
The Buzz / CapitolBuzz:
Roberts' Opening Statement — Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, Senator Leahy and members of the committee. Let me begin by thanking Senators Lugar and Warner and Bayh for their warm and generous introductions, and let me reiterate my thanks to the President for nominating me.
Associated Press:
Palestinians torch four Gaza synagogues — Thousands of triumphant Palestinians poured into abandoned Jewish settlements early Monday, setting empty synagogues on fire and shooting in the air, as the last Israeli soldier rolled out of the Gaza Strip, completing the Israeli pullout from the territory after a 38-year presence.
Discussion:
Roger L. Simon
RELATED ITEMS:
John Fund / Opinion Journal:
Hey, Big Spender — FDR and Truman made cuts when crises demanded it. Why won't Bush? — With almost no debate and with precious few provisions for oversight, Congress has passed President Bush's mammoth $62 billion request for emergency Katrina relief.
Richard Morin / Washington Post:
Bush Approval Rating at All-Time Low — President Bush's public standing has hit record lows amid broad support for an independent investigation of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina and calls for postponing congressional action on $70 billion in proposed tax cuts to help pay for storm recovery …