Apparently (allegedly?) Bush is drinking again. Granted, it's from the Natty Enquirer, but remember they had fewer factual errors than the NY Times during the OJ trial.

A decorated captain from the US Army describing systemic abuse in Iraq. A telling and sobering article.

More conservatives turning on the Bush administration's spending habits.

Super Girl wins China's version of American Idol and the government is scared witless. Millions of people voted and the grass roots "movement" scares the totalitarian government.

Google is launching a wi-fi service.

It appears we've won the war on terror, at least on the domestic front. Why else would the FBI be looking for recruits for its new anti-porn task force?

Robert "Reason" Reich on the paradox that drives the Bush admin. Incredibly disciplined at running and winning campaigns, incredibly inept at the act of governing. This paradox has a downside according to Reich:

The easy answer to the paradox is that Bush cares about winning elections and putting his ideological stamp on the nation, but doesn't give a hoot about governing the place. But that's no explanation because the two are so obviously connected. An administration can't impose a lasting stamp without being managed well, and a president's party can't keep winning elections if the public thinks it's composed of bumbling idiots.

The real answer is that the same discipline and organization that's made the White House into a hugely effective political machine has hobbled its capacity to govern. Blocking data from lower-level political appointees and civil servants that's inconsistent with what it wants to do or sheds doubt on its wisdom, for example, may be effective politics, in the short term. It keeps the media and the opposition party at bay.

(Speaking of Republicans at odds with reality, check out Former Rep. Bob Livingston blaming the deficiet on Clinton.)

Chip Johnson with a nice piece about the positive impact Wal-Mart is having on East Oakland.

First Andrew Sullivan and now Clinton blow their tops over the Prez. Can Bush catch a break?

Howard Kurtz takes on the MSM for finally discovering the poor. Kurtz says the press largely ignored the poor.

But why is that? This is not a story, like whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, that was difficult to get at. But journalists rarely venture into impoverished neighborhoods these days, except for quick-hit features. When a woman from one of these communities goes missing, it doesn't attain the status of a Natalee Holloway drama.

Why are some great books well received the moment they come out and others take a while to catch on? This Carlos Fuentes ponders.

Rove off the record. What a charmer he is.

Robert A. George writes about how difficult it is to be a black Republican in light of the party's seeming inddiference.

First came House Speaker Dennis Hastert openly considering "bulldozing" parts of New Orleans -- at a point when the city was still 80 percent under water, bodies were still being fished out and people were still stranded in the convention center. As we've discussed, his spokesman's attempt at damage control were hardly successful.

Then, former First Lady Barbara Bush uttered words in a radio interview which will unfortunately haunt her remaining years: "What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them." Those that heard the contents state that she notably "chuckled" during the last phrase.

Now, for some, Katrina may present new opportunity. But if poor children lost their parents and were adopted by a wealthy couple, would one chuckle that things were "working well for them"?

And then, to complete the hat trick, an actual Louisiana congressman pops up telling lobbyists, "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did." Baker claimed that he was misquoted or misheard or something...

Honestly, I might be inclined to give Baker the benefit of the doubt, if it didn't seem like this disaster has given Republicans the opportunity to "share" how they really feel. Similarly, under normal circumstances, I wouldn't include Barbara Bush's comments. But, not this time. It just happens to often to ignore them anymore.