The Washington Post: “Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking [Gov. Blanco] to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state’s emergency operations center said Saturday.”
If there was an ultimatum issued and troops and aid to save lives were delayed because of this power grab, then the real investigations need to begin right now. Sickening. (via MeFi)
Magic Hours by Tom Bissell: This marvelous collection of essays chronicles everything from film shoots to novelists rescued from oblivion. (The essay on the Underground Literary Alliance, with its portrait of raucous factions, unexpectedly reveals how soft today's literary world has become.) But if you peer between the cracks of these smart pieces, you may very well see how cultural lives are formed from the most unexpected life choices. And as we follow Bissell's development as a writer over the years, that goes for Bissell as well. (Bat Segundo interview with Bissell)
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway: Harkaway's latest novel greatly improves on his previous book, The Gone-Away World, which I'm already on record as praising. Angelmaker adopts genre elements without ever feeling like a genre book, and it leads me to believe that Harkaway is well on his way to a narrative grace close to China Miéville's. Yet inexplicably this very fun book, which includes an eightysomething badass named Edie Banister, a mysterious mechanical object that may destroy the world, farcical scenarios involving lawyers and the police, and some unexpectedly moving moments about fatherhood, doesn't appear to be getting much attention in American newspapers. Nothing from the snobs at The New York Times Book Review, nothing from The Washington Post. And since I can't get Harkaway on Bat Segundo, I hope this Jump Up and Down mention gets you hopping as well.
The Age of Insight by Eric Kandel: Unless you're really pressed for time, forget Jonah Lehrer. If you want to understand creativity and its relationship to neuroscience, then the bowtie-wearing Nobel laureate is your man. In addition to being a physically beautiful book (you will drool over many of the paintings), there are helpful overviews on optical illusions, science, biographical backgrounds, and many vital figures from the Vienna Secession. Kandel's enthusiasm (and his call for greater unity between the humanities and science) is contagious. 
It is mind boggling to me that you immediately seek to impeach Bush over a “power grab” when it is clear that the Feds were trying to unify the chain of command. How can Blanco and Nagin demand more federal help and bemoan the poor reaction of the feds and then insist that they continue to retain partial control of aspects of the relief effort?
Interesting how Bush is the bad guy no matter what happens.
And it’s mind-boggling to me how you can sit there and remain passive and defensive when there is a clear case here for a quid pro quo rather than action without any Faustian sort of deal. First off, I never said that Blanco and Nagin weren’t part of the problem. (In fact, Nagin even confessed that he screwed up — something that I don’t think we’ll ever see come from Dubya’s lips.) Second, Bush’s slack response is indefensible when one considers similar response time with Ivan, Betsy or the 1906 earthquake. Because of this, lives have been lost, babies hae died. While it will be some months before the facts come in: How dare you. How dare you indeed.