BLOOD WRATH: IRAQ WAR PROTESTERS FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES
Last year, Clare Grady, along with her sister and two others, were charged in county court with misdemeanors for their actions in a March 2003 anti-war protest outside Ithaca, New York. More than a year later, that trial ended with a hung jury. The federal government then brought its own case against the activists, now known as the "St. Patrick's Four." On Monday, they were found not guilty of the federal charges for conspiracy, which carry a maximum six years in jail and $250,000 fine, but convicted of misdemeanor-level trespassing and damaging government property. In January, they will be sentenced, with a maximum possible term of 18 months behind bars.
(VILLAGE VOICE)

FEMA'S BROWN RUNS INTO A FIERCE STORM OF CRITICISM
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi ordered a Democratic boycott of the House Select Committee on Hurricane Katrina hearing, calling it a "sham" and a "photo opportunity." But, as defrocked FEMA director Michael D. Brown can attest, Pelosi's concerns about a whitewash proved unjustified.
(WASHINGTON POST)

ACCURATE REPORTAGE WAS ANOTHER KATRINA VICTIM
Reports of body counts, especially at the Superdome and New Orleans Convention Center, were inflated. Some reported atrocities -- the rape and murder of a 7-year-old at the Superdome -- did not occur.
(INDYSTAR, unearthed by realclearpolitics.com which was suggested by John Furman)

NOT REBUILD NEW ORLEANS? ARE YOU NUTS?
Writing about his time in the Big Easy during the late 1980s, Bob Dylan had this to say:

"In New Orleans you could almost see other dimensions. There's only one day at a time here, then it's tonight and then tomorrow will be today again. Chronic melancholia hanging from the trees. You never get tired of it. After a while you start to feel like a ghost from one of the tombs, like you're in a wax museum below crimson clouds. "
(INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, unearthed by Common Dreams)

MOVE TO CHANGE POSSE COMITATUS ACT IS WRONGHEADED
The Posse Comitatus Act is no barrier to federal troops providing logistical support during natural disasters. Nor does it prohibit the president from using the army to restore order in extraordinary circumstances--even over the objection of a state governor.
What it does is set a high bar for the use of federal troops in a policing role. That reflects America's traditional distrust of using standing armies to enforce order at home, a distrust that's well-justified.
(CATO)