Time for Left to Curb Its Corrosive Contempt

Carol Platt Liebau, TownhallOver the past few weeks, we have heard plenty about the bigotry of the American people. The recent debate about an imam's plans to locate a large mosque at Ground Zero has highlighted, as never before, the liberal elite's utter contempt for the sensibilities of regular Americans.From the President on down, those in favor of the mosque's construction at Ground Zero have characterized the opponents as ruled only by emotion - especially animus toward all Muslims. So outrageous were some of the aspersions cast on mosque opponents that even liberal former DNC Chair Howard Dean was...

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After Katrina, New Orleans Has A New Political Face

Five years ago this week, Hurricane Katrina was churning toward the Gulf Coast. The storm ripped up levees and destroyed homes in New Orleans, but it left its mark on the city's political landscape as well.

When Katrina hit, Orleans Parish was 67 percent black; after the storm, that number fell to 59 percent. It's a shift that's brought increasing parity at the ballot box. Elections for City Council, district attorney, even school board positions are no longer dominated by black candidates.

This past winter, Mitch Landrieu was elected mayor — the first white mayor of New Orleans since his father held the post three decades ago. He's just one of several non-black candidates to see broad-based support.

Two years ago, the people of Louisiana's 2nd District elected Vietnamese-born Republican Joseph Cao. He's up for election again this year, and is considered one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the country. Whether race or party will decide the vote is anyone's guess.

The Surprised Winner

Cao took over the seat previously held by William Jefferson. You might remember Jefferson for the $90,000 found by federal corruption investigators in his freezer. Even so, it was considered one of the biggest upsets of that year's elections.

"To tell you the truth, I thought my chances were slim to none," Cao tells NPR's Audie Cornish.

"I was an unknown entity," he says. "I had never held political office, and I was going against a person who has been one of the foundations of the political process in Louisiana for a long time."

Republican strategist James Farwell helped run the Cao campaign and says there were two keys to their win.

"First and foremost was a desire to remo ve Bill Jefferson. That was very important," Farwell says. "He had go tten into trouble, and people were tired of that. The second was that Cao himself is a smart guy. It wasn't enough just to replace Jefferson."

But there were other factors at play. Another storm, Hurricane Gustav, hit the week of the primaries. That pushed the election back until December, when Jefferson didn't have the advantage of Obama's coattails. Cao won the majority of the white vote, and the seat.

"I don't believe it was the population decrease of Katrina that changed the political dynamics of this region. I believe that people were so tired of the political corruption that was going on," Cao says. "They felt that they could have a fresh start in this Asian-American."

The Colors That Matter: Red And Blue

In Cao's two years, he's crossed party lines, voting with Democrats on new Wall Street regulations and federal hate crime laws. He was the only member of the GOP to vote for any part of the health care overhaul. Republicans have touted him as their most independent freshman, but Democrats here are hoping voters will see it differently.

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Politics Takes A Break With Joe Scarborough

Congress is on recess and the Obamas are on vacation, but the pundits are still flapping over lots of political news this week. Host Scott Simon talks with former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC's Morning Joe, about President Obama's dipping approval ratings, the upcoming primaries in Florida and other political issues in this week's news.

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U.S. invites Israel, Palestinians to resume talks

Washington (CNN) -- Israel and the Palestinian Authority have agreed to hold direct peace talks beginning September 2 in Washington -- the first such talks since 2008.

The talks, also involving other regional and international players, are intended to resolve all "final status" issues for a Middle East peace agreement, "which we believe can be done in one year," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

"These negotiations should take place without preconditions, and be characterized by good faith and a commitment to their success, which will bring a better future to all of the people of the region," Clinton said.

Shortly after the announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he welcomed the invitation for direct talks without preconditions.

The executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization said it, too, would participate, though chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told CNN that Israel must extend its moratorium on settlements that is due to expire September 26.

"The nonextension of this moratorium in settlements will mean we will not have negotiations. It's as simple as this," he said.

About the goal of resolving long-standing issues, he said, "I think it's doable."

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Official: Gulf Well To Be Killed After Labor Day

The government has given BP the go-ahead to replace the failed blowout preventer in the Gulf of Mexico as a first step toward permanently plugging the Deepwater Horizon well that caused one of the worst oil spills in history.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the national incident commander for the disaster, gave the green light to replace the blowout preventer, or BOP, after engineers from the British oil giant expressed concern that they could break a temporary plug installed last month as part of the permanent "bottom kill" procedure.

In a letter addressed to top BP Group executive Bob Dudley, Allen said that based on a meeting of the Government Scientific Technical Team on Wednesday, he was authorizing the company to "proceed with the course of action to replace [the] BOP."

The bottom kill involves using a relief well drilled into the side of the main bore as a conduit to drive cement in, ma king the plug permanent. That was supposed to take place this month, but the replacement of the blowout preventer would delay the final capping by a few weeks, Allen said.

Now, the procedure will likely begin "sometime the week after Labor Day," he said.

The government believes the bottom kill procedure is necessary to declare the well dead once and for all.

Jeffrey Carter, an aide to the government's spill chief, told The Associated Press that the decision on the path forward was made overnight, just hours after Allen told reporters he wasn't giving a timeline.

Carter said he did not know why things came together so quickly or why it will take nearly three more weeks to begin the bottom kill.

Allen had said replacing the blowout preventer was the quicker of the two options that engineers were considering to relieve pressure that may build up when the relief well intersects the blown-out well. The other was to design a mechanism to attach to the current equipment.

A cap has kept oil from flowing for more than a month, but that's just a temporary solution. Heavy drilling mud and cement were later pumped in through the top of the well, significantly reducing the pressure inside it.

But Allen did set conditions on swapping the temporary cap with a much stronger one. Among other stipulations, the procedure should not release any more oil and must "preserve the forensic and evidentiary value" of the BOP, presumably so investigators can examine it to determine exactly why it failed April 20, when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank. Eleven workers died in the accident.

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