Breaking from CNN, Chief Justice William Rehnquist has died.

• News articles: New York Times; Associated Press; AP update; CNN obituary; Bush Gets Chance to Appoint Chief Justice;

• Bio from Supreme Court Historical Society

• Nixon's Choosing Rehnquist (with live audio of Nixon and John Mitchell discussing the nomination)

• Key Decisions; Links to Rehnquist's opinions.

The last time there were double vacancies at the Supreme Court was 1971. Nixon appointed Lewis Powell and William Rehnquist to fill them.

• Politics and the Supreme Court

Name your caption.

We should never again in our lifetimes have to see pictures like this in our country.

[Source: the Guardian]

New Orleans has been left to the dead and dying.

Update: John Amato of Crooks and Liars expresses his thoughts on the devastation here at Huffington Post.

Update: Hunter at Daily Kos: Unforgivable.

The Sunday Observer:

It is clear from talking to survivors that what happened in New Orleans last week was far more extensive, bloody and terrifying than the authorities have admitted so far.

I've looked though hundreds of photo compilations and have settled on these as the best collections. They are all by news organizations, and they are decent sized and loaded on single pages so you don't have to keep clicking.

• Set One
• Set Two
• Set Three

[Via Straight Up, and don't skip this harrowing missive from Tuesday by a pathologist who was in New Orleans to attend an HIV/AIDS convention.]

Simply Chilling.

"They killed a man here last night," Steve Banka, 28, told Reuters. "A young lady was being raped and stabbed. And the sounds of her screaming got to this man and so he ran out into the street to get help from troops, to try to flag down a passing truck of them, and he jumped up on the truck's windscreen and they shot him dead."

There's more:

We found a young girl raped and killed in the bathroom," one National Guard soldier told Reuters. "Then the crowd got the man and they beat him to death."

It's official. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has appointed former FEMA director James Lee Witt to oversee the recovery of New Orleans. The Vice-Chairman and Senior Advisor's to Witt's firm is Gen. Wesley Clark.

Last Night in Little Rock wrote about Mr. Witt two days ago at TalkLeft, asking, Where Is James Witt When We Need Him?

FEMA is now just another bureaucratic level within the Department of Homeland Security. It has become a dinosaur stuck in the tar pits, and it is dying before our eyes.

James Lee Witt, an Arkansan, was FEMA Director under President Clinton, and he had the cojones to immediately go to the scene and take control. Clinton gave him power, and he used it for the national good. We were served well by him. In any natural disaster, he was there, he was on TV telling us what was going on, and he got things done. He did not sit on his hands in a Washington office getting information from CNN or FoxNews. James Lee Witt works in Little Rock, and I'll bet my house he's working on this disaster somehow. If he ran FEMA, the response would be markedly different, instead of the "what do I do now?" look of Michael Chertoff we see today.

I just found this in the TalkLeft archives, from September, 2004, when it looked like Hurricane Ivan was headed to New Orleans. ABC News reported that New Orleans might sink if it got hit hard:

The worst-case scenario for New Orleans a direct strike by a full-strength Hurricane Ivan could submerge much of this historic city treetop-deep in a stew of sewage, industrial chemicals and fire ants, and the inundation could last for weeks, experts say. If the storm were strong enough, Ivan could drive water over the tops of the levees that protect the city from the Mississippi River and vast Lake Pontchartrain. And with the city sitting in a saucer-shaped depression that dips as much as 9 feet below sea level, there would be nowhere for all that water to drain.

Those folks who remain, should the city flood, would be exposed to all kinds of nightmares from buildings falling apart to floating in the water having nowhere to go," Ivor van Heerden, director of Louisiana State University's Hurricane Public Health Center, said Tuesday.

I mentioned in this post that my favorite Gallery in New Orleans is the A Gallery. Primarily a photography gallery, it is just about the best one I've been to anywhere. I never leave without buying something. Things I've bought there 20 years ago remain on display in my living room, my bedroom and in the TL kid's apartment. I spend hours there every trip. The place is owned by Joshua Mann Paillet, whom I've never met. But I just found this e-mail he sent after Katrina hit, on a blog called Lookah,which he said he'd like to see shared:

THANKS - Too much to say right now. I got a few things out and have them in Baton Rouge. Just got out last night. I could have stayed, my supplies would have lasted for seven more days. But, the fires have started.

The reports of looting downtown are exaggerated. Yes, they broke into the grocery stores, drugstores, gas stations, for food, etc. Canal Street had a few hours of thugs doing sports shops, but all other shops and the ENTIRE French Quarter is safe and untouched. The storm did glass and roof damage and trees UPTOWN. Just needs to be swept. Looks LESS dirty than a typical Mardi Gras day.

I've been dominating the conversation. It's your turn now, I'll be back tonight.

Update: One more on FEMA's ineptitude: When they finally sent supplies, they sent those intended for a chemical attack:

" After the authorities in Baton Rouge had prepared a field hospital for victims of the storm, Fema sent its first batch of supplies, all of which were designed for use against chemical attack, including drugs such as Cipro, which is designed for use against anthrax. "We called them up and asked them: 'Why did you send that, and they said that's what it says in the book'," said a Baton Rouge official. "

[hat tip Patriot Daily.]

Update: Commercial airlines are beginning evacuations from New Orleans. And Carnival Cruise ships will house thousands.

Here's a transcript of conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks, Boston Globe columnist Tom Oliphant and Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page on the Jim Leher News Hour talking about Katrina and the political ramifications. Brooks' comments, considering how conservative he is, are particularly interesting. Some snippets:

This is not the response from the National Guard I was hoping for. From the Army Times:

Combat operations are underway on the streets “to take this city back” in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. “This place is going to look like Little Somalia,” Brig. Gen. Gary Jones, commander of the Louisiana National Guard’s Joint Task Force told Army Times Friday as hundreds of armed troops under his charge prepared to launch a massive citywide security mission from a staging area outside the Louisiana Superdome. “We’re going to go out and take this city back. This will be a combat operation to get this city under control.”

Mayor Daley is right to be shocked by the feds' response to his offers of help:

Frustration about the federal response to Hurricane Katrina has reached Chicago City Hall, as Mayor Richard Daley today noted a tepid response by federal officials to the city's offers of disaster aid. The city is willing to send hundreds of personnel, including firefighters and police, and dozens of vehicles to assist on the storm-battered Gulf Coast, but so far the Federal Emergency Management Agency has requested only a single tank truck, Daley said.

"I was shocked," he said.

[Hat tip Patriot Daily.]

This is one of the best announcements I've heard, just now, on CNN. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao says that unemployment money and money for 10,000 temporary jobs- $20.7 million- is now available. The Labor Department is sending hundreds of people into New Orleans with laptops to walk parish by parish and through the shelters, hospitals and streets to help victims instantly file unemployment claims and get money into their pockets.

If you know a victim, tell them to call

1-866-4USA-DOL

For those that can work, 10,000 temporary jobs are now available. The total emergency grant is $62.1 million.

Secretary Chao was very impressive. She is the first Administration official I've heard who had real passion in her voice. She said over and over we must get cash into these people's pockets and since they have no phone, no radio and no internet, Labor employees and volunteers will go to the streets to find them. The phone line is open 24/7.