Robert Fisk -- has been banned from entering the United States

* "Mr. Bush said he had been "thinking a lot" about the comparisons between the response to the attacks in New York and Washington, and the storm devastation. "We look at the destruction caused by Katrina, and our hearts break," he said. Turning the subject to terrorists, he said: "They're the kind of people who look at Katrina and wish they had caused it. We're in a war against these people." (link)

* " (Bloomberg) -- The widening investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff is moving beyond the confines of tawdry influence-peddling to threaten leading figures in the Republican hierarchy that dominates Washington... "These people all shared transactions together,'' said former House Democratic counsel Stan Brand, now a partner in the Washington-based Brand Law Group. "That's always something that worries defense lawyers.''" (link)

* Blinky the Brilliant: "You know, something we -- I've been thinking a lot about how America has responded, and it's clear to me that Americans value human life, and value every person as important. And that stands in stark contrast, by the way, to the terrorists we have to deal with. You see, we look at the destruction caused by Katrina, and our hearts break. They're the kind of people who look at Katrina and wish they had caused it." (link)

* "Hospital operator HCA (HCA) said Friday that federal prosecutors have issued a subpoena for documents the company believes may be related to the sale of its stock by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist." (link)
burn baby burn. its so much fun watching the repugs fall apart at the seams.

* joshmarshall: "We know now from the Post that David Safavian had some awkward connections with certain people later accused and/or convicted of ties to Islamic terrorism.
But I hear the Secret Service had serious concerns about Safavian's ties too and did not want to give him a badge to work at the White House. And I hear these concerns came up not just with the OMB job but in the earlier one at GSA as well.
Needless to say they were overruled and Safavian got his clearances." (link)

* "Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue asked the state's schools to take two "early snow days" and cancel classes Monday and Tuesday to help conserve gasoline as Hurricane Rita threatens the nation's fuel supply line... Electricity also would be conserved by keeping the schools closed." (link)
georgian skoolkids - doing it for the nation. does anyone actually think that having kids at home is more electricity friendly than having them all in one place? idiots.

* "The internationally renowned correspodent for The Independent -- the great British journalist Robert Fisk -- has been banned from entering the United States." (link)

* "The growing violence of storms such as Katrina, which wrecked New Orleans, and Rita, now threatening Texas, is very probably caused by climate change, said Sir John Lawton, chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. Hurricanes were getting more intense, just as computer models predicted they would, because of the rising temperature of the sea, he said. "The increased intensity of these kinds of extreme storms is very likely to be due to global warming."... Referring to the arrival of Hurricane Rita he said: "If this makes the climate loonies in the States realise we've got a problem, some good will come out of a truly awful situation."" (link)
meanwhile, cnn are saying that these hurricanes are just business as usual.

* more from jeremy scahill: "With President Bush using the Katrina disaster to try to repeal Posse Comitatus (the ban on using US troops in domestic law enforcement) and Blackwater and other security firms clearly initiating a push to install their paramilitaries on US soil, the war is coming home in yet another ominous way. As one Blackwater mercenary said, "This is a trend. You're going to see a lot more guys like us in these situations."" (link)

* 15 years in jail for having "hand-written notes on using mortars were found in his former home in Westbourne Park, west London. After his arrest, a search of his estranged wife's Birmingham home discovered a code, which according to Mark Ellison, prosecuting, "made it possible to communicate in an innocent message which only spoke about mobile telephones"." (link)
jeebus.

* "Up to 100,000 people are expected to march through central London today, demanding that British troops be withdrawn from Iraq." (link) http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article314783.ece

* novak: "For two full days, George W. Bush was bashed. He was taken to task on his handling of stem cell research, population control, the Iraq war and, especially, Hurricane Katrina. The critics were no left-wing bloggers. They were rich, mainly Republican and presumably Bush voters in the last two presidential elections.
The Bush-bashing occurred last weekend at the annual Aspen conference sponsored by the New York investment firm Forstmann Little & Co. Over 200 invited guests, mostly prestigious... The connecting link was hostility to President Bush." (link)
NOVAK!

* clemons: "I visited the Vatican in early August and met a person who is deeply "embedded" in the world of those who run Vatican City and who govern the global machinery of the Catholic Church.
According to this person's estimation, he guesses that a "conservative estimate" of those cardinals and senior church officials who are gay is about 50%. Practicing, as opposed to just flirtatious, homosexuals at the highest levels of the church are probably about 30%.
When I asked whether homosexuals would be better served under Pope Benedict XVI than under John Paul II, he responded, "Don't think that we will be any better served under a gay pope than a straight one."" (link)
first bolton, now panzapope

* "Reporter: Excuse me, congressman, have you ever watched “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”?
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas): No. I don’t even know who he is." (link)

* feingold voted for gay roberts. so sad.