Morning copy 02.09.2006

Cartoon violence

The Baltimore Sun: "Deep anger, not cartoons, spurred Muslim protests"

The Washington Times: "Rice accuses Syria, Iran in riots"

Katrina and relief

CNN:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An independent study warned of managerial and logistical weaknesses at the Federal Emergency Management Agency months before its heavily criticized response to Hurricane Katrina.

The 2005 study by the Mitre Corp., obtained by CNN, warned of unclear lines of communication within FEMA; a dearth of top-level emergency management expertise; low morale; and a lack of manpower, training and money.

The Washington Post:

Officials here are resorting to strong words -- Blanco is threatening to try to block federal sales of leases for gas and oil off the Louisiana coast -- and pleas to foreign nations because they say they need more money to rebuild New Orleans. They are trying to appeal to the federal government and also minister to impatient constituents. New Orleanians are angry that President Bush did not devote more of his State of the Union speech to the city and are concerned that Washington's attention is no longer trained on them. They feel as though they are living in the mean in-between.

The New York Times: "Storm Victims Face Big Delay to Get Trailers"

Iraq

The Washington Times:

The State Department has spent nearly half the U.S. money allocated for Iraqi reconstruction on security, not on the projects themselves, according to testimony yesterday at a Senate hearing.

A.P.:

BAGHDAD -- US officials have met figures from some Sunni Arab insurgent groups but have so far not received any commitment for them to lay down their arms, Western diplomats in Baghdad and neighboring Jordan said yesterday.

Guest workers

The Denver Post:

Washington - As the Senate prepares to take up immigration legislation, members of a citizen border-watch group rallied outside the Capitol on Wednesday, pledging to torpedo any bill granting legal status to undocumented workers.

"If the president of the United States really wanted to, he could secure the border tomorrow," Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., one of several speakers, told the Minuteman Project rally to loud cheers. "...The unfortunate, dirty truth of the matter is, he has no desire to do so."

Spying

Robert Novak today:

Currently circulating in the Senate cloakrooms is word that Sen. Pat Roberts, Republican chairman of the Intelligence Committee, brought up with Dick Cheney the administration's need to disclose to Congress sensitive security information. ''There is no upside for us in that,'' the vice president is reputed to have replied. Yet, in Senate hearings Monday, Alberto Gonzales cautiously suggested a desire for cooperation with Congress.

Lobbying reform

The New York Times:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 — The election-year push to impose new limits on lobbying and the pet projects known as earmarks is running into roadblocks on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers clash on such pivotal issues as whether to ban gifts and corporate travel, and whether ethics investigations should be conducted by outside watchdogs or members of Congress.

Chicago Sun Times:

WASHINGTON -- Dueling Senators Barack Obama and John McCain called themselves "pen pals" Wednesday as they worked together again on ethics and lobbying reform legislation.

Budget cuts

The Washington Post: "Years of Deep Cuts Needed to Meet Goal On Deficit, Data Show"

Oil

The Orlando Sentinel:

WASHINGTON -- Concern about the nation's growing thirst for energy is driving a fresh proposal by the Bush administration to open an additional 2 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling.

Data sweep

The Christian Science Monitor:

The US government is developing a massive computer system that can collect huge amounts of data and, by linking far-flung information from blogs and e-mail to government records and intelligence reports, search for patterns of terrorist activity.

Have I mentioned how much I love America today?