Visual Source: Newseum
Anyone not know Irene is hitting land today and tomorrow? If you're in the cone, take this storm seriously. 2 million people have been asked to evacuate. From NWS:
SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT...
A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR...
* LITTLE RIVER INLET NORTH CAROLINA NORTHWARD TO SAGAMORE BEACH
MASSACHUSETTS...INCLUDING THE PAMLICO...ALBEMARLE...AND CURRITUCK
SOUNDS...DELAWARE BAY...CHESAPEAKE BAY SOUTH OF DRUM POINT...NEW
YORK CITY...LONG ISLAND...LONG ISLAND SOUND...COASTAL CONNECTICUT
AND RHODE ISLAND...BLOCK ISLAND...MARTHAS VINEYARD AND NANTUCKET
A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR...
* SOUTH SANTEE RIVER SOUTH CAROLINA TO LITTLE RIVER INLET
* CHESAPEAKE BAY FROM DRUM POINT NORTHWARD AND THE TIDAL POTOMAC
* NORTH OF SAGAMORE BEACH TO MERRIMACK RIVER
A TROPICAL STORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR...
* MERRIMACK RIVER TO EASTPORT MAINE
Daily Kos was built to organize around groups for occasions like this one. weatherdude and other Irene postings can be found
here and at
Hurricane Kos. Barb Morrill has a recent update
here.
John Lewis:
As we celebrate the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, we reflect on the life and legacy of this great man. But recent legislation on voting reminds us that there is still work to do. Since January, a majority of state legislatures have passed or considered election-law changes that, taken together, constitute the most concerted effort to restrict the right to vote since before the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Charles Blow:
Sometimes I push back on my heels, look at this country and wonder aloud: “What on earth are we doing?”
We have a growing crisis among the nation’s children, yet our policies ignore that reality at best and exacerbate it at worst.
According to a report issued this week by the Guttmacher Institute, the unintended pregnancy rate has jumped 50 percent since 1994, yet a July report from the institute points out that politicians are setting records passing laws to restrict abortion. It said: “The 80 abortion restrictions enacted this year are more than double the previous record of 34 abortion restrictions enacted in 2005 — and more than triple the 23 enacted in 2010.” Add to this the assault by conservatives on Planned Parenthood, and what are we saying?
Kathleen Parker:
If we are descended of some blend of apes, then we can’t have been created in God’s image. If we establish Earth’s age at 4.5 billion years, then we contradict the biblical view that God created the world just 6,500 years ago. And finally, if we say that climate change is partly the result of man’s actions, then God can’t be the One who punishes man’s sins with floods, droughts, earthquakes and hurricanes. If He wants the climate to change, then He will so ordain, and we’ll pray more.
Perry knows he has to make clear that God is his wingman. And this conviction seems not only to be sincere, but also to be relatively noncontroversial in the GOP’s church — and perhaps beyond. He understands that his base cares more that the president is clear on his ranking in the planetary order than whether he can schmooze with European leaders or, heaven forbid, the media. And this is why Perry could easily steal the nomination from Romney.
And also why he probably can’t win a national election, in which large swaths of the electorate would prefer that their president keep his religion close and be respectful of knowledge that has evolved from thousands of years of human struggle against superstition and the kind of literal-mindedness that leads straight to the dark ages.
Faith and reason are not mutually exclusive, but Perry makes you think they are.
Elections (including Congressional elections) matter. Read Blow and Lewis and Parker and see what's at stake.
WSJ:
On June 13 — with the state Legislature’s Republican leadership eagerly awaiting a ruling on Gov. Scott Walker’s collective bargaining law to avoid having to vote on it again — the state Supreme Court’s four conservative justices pushed to at least put out a press release saying a decision was imminent.
Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson refused, saying that wasn’t consistent with court procedures. And while the decision was expected to be issued the next day, it could take another day to complete.
That’s when Justice David Prosser said to Abrahamson, “Chief Justice, I have lost confidence in your ability to lead this court,” prompting Justice Ann Walsh Bradley to get up from her desk to confront Prosser and tell him to get out of her office. Prosser, either in defense or aggression, then put his hands on Bradley’s neck, according to conflicting accounts in reports from a Dane County sheriff’s investigation released Friday.
Independent branch? Not under Republicans.
Chris Bowers has more.
WSJ:
In interviews with sheriff's detectives, members of the state Supreme Court painted a picture of Justice David Prosser as a sometimes hot-headed colleague who called other justices names and at times made them fear for their safety.
Republicans don't deserve to be in office in Wisconsin. It's unfortunate that this story came out only after the summer recalls and Prosser's reelection, but it's not going to help Scott Walker any. Ordinarily,
people don't like recalls, but this is an exceptionally bad situation.
