GAYS ALLOWED TO MARRY EACH OTHER IN NEW HEATHEN STATE: Put on your birthday suit, Joe Lieberman, because now you can finally get gay-married to your longtime sexpot, Lindsey Graham! Although he’d have to move to Connecticut! Because that’s where the state Supreme Court today decided that the Gays could get married, just like real humans. Ned Lamont: “This is our Katrina.” [NYT]

The showing of Ghosts of Abu Ghraib last night marked the first time in history something interesting happened during a post-screening roundtable. MORE »

Those guys on the Supreme Court — they’re old, yes. Some of them are very old, in fact. But despite that, you can’t fool them by just making shit up, Senators Kyl and Graham. So while your brief on Hamdan might look very much like it’s from Senate floor debate, well, there are cameras and things that will prove that it never happened. Even if you try really hard to make it convincing: MORE »

• Bush shifts his response to critics of the Iraq war: “People should feel comfortable about expressing their opinions about Iraq. . . This is not an issue of who’s [a] patriot and who’s not patriotic. It’s an issue of an honest, open debate about the way forward in Iraq.” Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.): “They have been overly optimistic, illusionary about their policy. This is not a war of words; this is a real war where people are getting killed.” [WP, NYT, WT, USAT]
• CIA Director Porter Goss: “We use lawful capabilities to collect vital information, and we do it in a variety of unique and innovative ways, all of which are legal and none of which are torture.” [USAT, USAT, USAT]
• Costs associated with rebuilding the Gulf Coast could top $100b; Bush loyalist assumes control of reconstruction effort. [WP, WP]
• Bush has a little fun in China by exercising; White House officials and some journalists enjoy Outback Steakhouse there. [WP]
• Bush returns home after making virtually no news on tour of Asia; the president of China is open to economic reforms but not interested in increasing political freedoms. [WP, NYT, USAT]
• White House associates speculate that Bush “has long been aware that the vice president oversold the case on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.” [NYT]

MORE »

• North Korea agrees to stop its nuclear program in exchange for recognition and aid from the U.S. and allies. [WP, NYT]
• Military now uses death count as measure of success in Iraq; top military spokesman claims “great successes” against insurgents as wave of attacks strike the country. [WP]
• State, local, and federal officials were still preparing 448-page crisis strategy when Katrina hit. [WSJ]
• Katrina raises stakes for budget and Bush’s fiscal policies. [USAT]
• Clinton assails policies of the Bush administration: “You can’t have an emergency plan that works if it only affects middle-class people up, and when you tell people to go do something they don’t have the means to do, you’re going to leave the poor out.” [NYT]
• Panel headed by Jimmy Carter and James Baker propose 87 election reforms including the use of photo identification, regional primaries, paper trails for e-voting, national standards, and nonpartisan administrator. [WP, NYT, LAT]

MORE »