"We Will Defeat The Hurricanists"

* "Two released sex offenders who were on a registration list available on the Internet have been murdered. A man is believed to have posed as an FBI officer, went to their apartment and shot them." (link)
thank you oreilly.

* juancole: "There are indeed rumors flying around of continued changes in the draft of the constitution. All sorts of key issues, from Iraq's Arab identity to human rights are still in flux. Major politicians have left or are leaving the country, which means any tinkering is being done in their absence!
It is the damnedest thing."

* "The survey also found that Sheehan, who has been protesting the war outside Bush’s ranch near Crawford, Tex., has become the most visible symbol of the anti-war movement. Fully three in four Americans have heard or read about her." (link)
apparently 25% of americans *never* watch the news. that would explain why bush's ratings are so high.

* i hope blinky gives himself a pay raise as soon as he gets back to DC from the vacation - how cool would that be :-)

* "Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.
Newhouse News Service, in an article posted late Tuesday night at The Times-Picayune web site, reported: "No one can say they didn't see it coming....Now in the wake of one of the worst storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of preparation."" (link)
freedom isnt free.

* watching blinky speechify about the hurricane, i keep expecting him to pound the table and jaw-jut and defiantly stare into the camera "We Will Defeat The Hurricanists"

* a group called the Columbia Christians sent out an email claiming that the hurricane looks like a fetus - and a full HALF of LA's abortion clinics are in new orleans, ergo... you know the rest. (link)

* wapo ed: "Whatever the legal arguments taking place (re PlanB), this unexpected delay at this stage of the approval process makes the FDA -- long admired around the world for its neutrality and professionalism -- look like an easily manipulated political tool." (link)
im not sure about the veracity of the 'neutrality and professionalism' part - but i'll support the conclusion that the FDA (and just about *every* other USG agency is indeed 'an easily manipulated political tool'

* further to my recent comments about perle and fitzgerald, heres FireDogLake: "Because as far as we know, if Patrick Fitzgerald indicts him, Perle is the only one who will have to ask: in what case?"
so sweet.