Top Items:
Pam Easton / Associated Press:
Rita, Now Category 4, Heads for Gulf Coast — GALVESTON, Texas - Residents of this island city packed up mementoes and pets and started evacuating Wednesday as Hurricane Rita intensified into a Category 4 storm with 135 mph winds and threatened to devastate the Texas coast or already-battered Louisiana by week's end.
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Washington Post:
Experts Say Faulty Levees Caused Much of Flooding — NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 20 — Louisiana's top hurricane experts have rejected the official explanations for the floodwall collapses that inundated much of New Orleans, concluding that Hurricane Katrina's storm surges were much smaller …
mars.jpl.nasa.gov:
Orbiter's Long Life Helps Scientists Track Changes on Mars — New gullies that did not exist in mid-2002 have appeared on a Martian sand dune. — That's just one of the surprising discoveries that have resulted from the extended life of NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, which this month began its ninth year in orbit around Mars.
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Andy McCarthy / The Corner on National Review Online:
WHY IS THE PENTAGON BARRING ITS WITNESSES FROM TESTIFYING ABOUT ABLE DANGER? — The NYTimes confirms this morning what we noted here late yesterday: the Defense Department is preventing its military officers and intelligence analysts from testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee …
Discussion:
Power Line
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Jonathan M. Katz / Associated Press:
Frist Sold Hospital Shares Before Drop — WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a potential presidential candidate in 2008, sold all his stock in his family's hospital corporation about two weeks before it issued a disappointing earnings report and the price fell nearly 15 percent.
Discussion:
AMERICAblog, David Corn, Big Brass Blog, The Carpetbagger Report, First Draft and Prometheus 6
Washington Post:
Katrina's Cost May Test GOP Harmony — Some Want Bush To Give Details on How U.S. Will Pay — Congressional Republicans from across the ideological spectrum yesterday rejected the White House's open-wallet approach to rebuilding the Gulf Coast, a sign that the lockstep GOP discipline …
Discussion:
Angry Bear, Pandagon, RAGGED THOTS, Balloon Juice, Rocky Mountain News, WTF Is It Now??, danieldrezner.com, Billmon, Crooks and Liars and AMERICAblog
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Radio Blogger:
Don't get stuck on stupid — New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin held a press conference a little bit ago, and started losing control to a media pool assembled that was showing signs of panic, due to the previous incompetence in the region by the local and state government. Lt. Gen. Russel Honore stepped in and literally took over.
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Washington Post:
Words That Will Haunt — IN ANNOUNCING his opposition yesterday to the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. to be chief justice of the United States, Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) made a remarkable statement: "The president is not entitled to very much deference in staffing …
Discussion:
The Sideshow, QandO, neo-neocon, The Liquid List, Balloon Juice, Captain's Quarters, Roger L. Simon and Don Surber
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LiberalOasis:
Chief Justice Roberts: What Went Wrong — Sen. Min. Leader Harry Reid put the nail in the coffin of the already limp Roberts opposition yesterday. — He announced his personal opposition to Roberts, but it was empty posturing to keep the base in check. — He also announced that the nomination …
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Glenn Harlan Reynolds / Tech Central Station:
Is This the Right Way to Return to the Moon? — President George W. Bush has called for Americans to return to the moon by 2020. Now NASA has come out with a more detailed presentation, reported in Space.com, of what they have in mind: — NASA briefed senior White House officials Wednesday …
Discussion:
The Daily Brief
theonion.com:
Bush Braces As Cindy Sheehan's Other Son Drowns In New Orleans — Issue 41 •38 — WASHINGTON, DC—According to White House sources, President Bush is bracing for intensified criticism following Monday's report that the body of Tyler Sheehan, son of outspoken anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan …
John Tierney / Tallahassee Democrat:
Let Wal-Mart take over emergency management — SLIDELL, La. - I don't think Washington needs any more czars. But if President Bush feels compelled to put someone in charge of rebuilding the Gulf Coast, let me suggest a name: Lee Scott. — Scott is the chief executive of Wal-Mart …
Joseph R. Chenelly / Army Times:
GEDs no longer required — Army recruiters now have a wider pool to find future soldiers in. The Army is reaching out to a slice of America's youth long ineligible to serve: non-high school graduates who don't have a General Equivalency Diploma — Recruiters can now go after that demographic through …
Bill Roggio / The Fourth Rail:
Enter Operation Sayaid — The Anbar Campaign continues. The Washington Post reports Operation Sayaid is designed to focus on bolstering the U.S. and Iraqi presence in the western Anbar region from Qaim to Haditha. Sayaid will add several U.S. battalions and Iraqi battalions to the region …
Discussion:
In the Bullpen
Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
2008 Starts Cruise to Warmer Waters — The world of 2008 presidential politics is like a glacier: Much more is going on below the surface than above it. — Take, for example, a trip last week by 50 members of the Greenville and Spartanburg chambers of commerce to Capitol Hill organized by Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.).
Radio Blogger:
Ted Turner's never met a communist he didn't love. — Sometimes I really feel for Wolf Blitzer. Not only does CNN make him work on camera 60 hours a week, they still only let him have a chair about one segment an hour. Anyway, on The Situation Room today on Wolf-TV, the founder was interviewed.
