Forty years ago tonight, Washington burned, baby, burned — just as so many other cities burned after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. And it only took about 40 years to fix up some of the destroyed neighborhoods along H Street NE, 14th and U, and various other chunks of the District that ended up looking like Hiroshima after the Bomb. And now Wonkette’s own Liz Glover says the National Guard actually burnt D.C. to the ground, not the freaked-out rioters. MORE »

Shocking news: the government is unprepared for a major terrorist attack. With most of the National Guard busy inspiring new terrorists overseas, our nation’s large midwestern cities remain vulnerable to attacks that would never actually happen because what Islamo-fascist has even heard of Indiana? MORE »

• At his confirmation hearing, Gen. Michael Hayden deflects specifics, defends NSA wiretapping, distances himself from Pentagon brass, and urges a focus on the future of the CIA: “It’s time to move past what seems to me to be an endless picking apart of the archaeology of every past intelligence success or failure.” [WP, NYT, NYT, WSJ]
• Senate votes 63 to 34 to make English the “national language”; vote continues “the conservative turn that a major overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws has taken since the Senate began debate this week.” [WP, NYT]
• Judiciary Committee approves constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage; Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) says “good riddance” to Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who replies, “See ya.” [WP]
• Bush in Arizona: “It makes sense to use fencing along the border in key locations in order to do our job. We’re in the process of making our border the most technologically advanced border in the world.” [NYT, WSJ]
• BellSouth seeks a retraction from USA Today for “the false and unsubstantiated statements” about NSA phone logs. [WSJ]

MORE »

• Senate approves fences and barriers for the southern border as well as restrictions for the guest-worker program. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.): “Good fences make good neighbors. Fences don’t make bad neighbors.” [WP, NYT, WSJ]
• New details about Gen. Michael Hayden’s “highly classified world” are “forcing lawmakers to reexamine a man many of them have known for years”; last-minute briefings to lawmakers on the Intelligence Committees “have smoothed what might have been a contentious path toward confirmation” and a declassified list shows select members were briefed 30 times on surveillance programs since 9/11. [WP, NYT, NYT, USAT, USAT, WSJ]
• Tuesday’s election results may preview a “brewing unrest that could threaten incumbents of both parties in the November elections”; a “broader disaffection” is noted. [WP, NYT]
• Bush echoes past campaign themes in speech at RNC fundraiser: “We are the party of the future, and our candidates will be running against the party of the past — a party that offers no new ideas like the Republican Party, a party that can only offer opposition.” [NYT]
• Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) says Bush is not appropriately funding the National Guard order: “A lot are going to be sitting in cars that don’t run and planes that don’t take off.” [USAT]
• House ethics committee opens investigations of Reps. Robert Ney (R-Ohio), William Jefferson (D-La.), and Randy Cunningham (R-Calif.). [WP, NYT]
• Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman are bidding for a multibillion-dollar contract to provide border security. [NYT]

MORE »

• Democrats are now more trusted than Republicans to handle every key issue, according to new WP-ABC News poll; 69% believe the nation is “off track” and 56% want Democrats to win control of Congress yet 52% say Democrats “have not offered a sharp contrast to Bush and the Republicans.” [WP]
• House Republicans hold back the Senate’s advancement of immigration proposals. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio): “I understand what the president’s position is. I have made it pretty clear that I have supported the House position.” Cheney, meanwhile, reassures Rush Limbaugh: “[W]here appropriate, fences or security barriers make good sense.” [WP, NYT, USAT]
• White House pledges to brief more lawmakers about anti-terrorism efforts. [WP]
• Verizon denies that it provided phone logs to the NSA. [NYT, USAT]

MORE »

• Bush, seeking a “rational middle ground” on immigration to rescue his second term, announces the deployment of 6,000 National Guard troops to the southern border; Karl Rove indicates that Bush supports the Senate’s immigration plan. Bush: “We do not yet have full control of the border, and I am determined to change that.” [WP, NYT, USAT, WSJ]
• Immigration issue could go from “opportunity to expand the Republican Party” to a “historic liability”; Bush sought to “define the middle ground in a debate where consensus has been difficult.” 74% of Americans, in poll conducted before the presidential address, supported the use of Guard troops on the border. [WP]
• BellSouth denies “any link” with the NSA for the logging of phone calls; USA Today stands by its story. [USAT, NYT, WSJ]
• Pentagon releases the full list of those detained at Guantanamo Bay after the Associated Press files a FOIA request. [AP]
• Rove is optimistic for the GOP’s chances in November: “Look, we’re in a sour time. I readily admit it. I mean, being in the middle of a war where people turn on their television sets and see brave men and women dying is not something that makes people happy and optimistic and upbeat. But I’m absolutely confident [that] we’re going to be just fine in the fall elections.” [WP]
• Emergency spending bill has yet to be slimmed to Bush’s specifications. [WP]

MORE »

• In speech tonight, Bush will call for thousands of National Guard troops to be deployed along the southern border as a temporary solution; “a number of Democrats and even a few key Republicans” have already “voiced skepticism or outright opposition.” Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.): “That’s a short-term fix, and I’m not sure that’s a very wise fix.” [WP, NYT, USAT]
• GOP reaches out to activist base as Christian conservatives seek action on controversial issues such as gay marriage and abortion. [NYT, WSJ]
• Fearing their own political futures, House and Senate Republicans are increasingly divided and disloyal. [WP]
• Reports of domestic call logging “seemed to fly in the face of months of public statements and assurances from President Bush and his aides,” who have been “punctilious in discussing” NSA programs. [WP]
• Views of call logging split along party lines but strong majorities are concerned it’s just the tip of the iceberg and support congressional hearings. [USAT]

MORE »

* Administration and Sen. Frist (R-Tenn.) agree on 45-day review of Dubai port deal. Scott McClellan: “We believe, however, the additional time and investigation at the request of the company will provide Congress with a better understanding of the facts, and that Congress will be comfortable with the transaction moving forward once it does.” [WP, NYT, NYT, W$J, USAT]
* States make decisions on the “morning-after” pill as the FDA wavers. [WP]
* Army will reimburse Halliburton subsidiary for nearly $2.4b despite findings of overcharges. [NYT]
* Bush sets off on whirlwind two-day tour of India. [NYT]
* Mike McCurry on the White House press briefings: “It has turned into a theater of the absurd.” Ari Fleischer: “The public perceives the press not as watchdogs but as attack dogs.” [NYT]

MORE »