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Headline: Troops Arrive in New Orleans With Shoot-To-Kill Orders: Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco says that the guardsmen are allowed to open fire on hoodlums taking advantage of from the devastation by Hurricane Katrina. These troops are fresh back from Iraq,...

The freaks from Stormfront, a neo-Nazi cabal, are heading to Crawford to join in the fun. More from Crawford: One thing about it, Cindy doesn't need to hire a PR mouthpiece. The AP is doing a fine enough job....

I haven't been anywhere near a television set today, and I've only just begun trying to catch up on what's happening in Louisiana and Mississippi via the Internet, but Instapundit's been covering it all day....

Ghost of Gen. Patton Speaks Out on Terror War

This Flash has some things to think about, and tends to reinforce the Chief's posting here. Check it out. H/T to Barking Moonbat Early Warning System for this one.

Washington Post:Sheehan Glad Bush Didn't Meet With Her I look back on it, and I am very, very, very grateful he did not meet with me, because we have sparked and galvanized the peace movement, Sheehan told The Associated Press....

Here is another article from the Washington Times entitled Thune wins big in base's survival....

A tip of my hat (if I were wearing one) to Unpartisan.com, a sort of left-right blog/news aggregator that has picked up a couple of my posts this week. Thanks....

With the decision this morning by an 8-1 vote, South dakota's Ellsworth Air Force Base was removed from the list of recommended closures by the BRAC Commissioners.

Some coverage on the facts of the decision in the Rapid City Journal...
Ellsworth saved

Like the phoenix from the ashes, the status of Ellsworth Air Force base rose from expendable to essential in a matter of seconds when the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, or BRAC, voted Friday to save the base.

South Dakota's top lawmakers and the head of the Ellsworth Task Force were at the edge of their seats in the suburban Washington, D.C., hearing room when BRAC commissioner Samuel Skinner made a motion to reject the Pentagon's recommendation to close Ellsworth and move its 29 B-1B Lancer bombers to Dyess Air Force Base.

Looking for at least five commissioners to raise their hands in support of Skinner's motion, the South Dakotans instead saw all but one of the nine-member panel vote to save Ellsworth.

...and in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader:

ELLSWORTH SPARED

Ellsworth Air Force Base was taken off the Pentagon?s recommended list of closures this morning, a decision that sent jubilant Rapid City residents leaping to their feet as they watched the proceedings on live TV.

The nine-member independent commission voted 8 to 1 to reject the Pentagon?s recommendation to close the base as part of the Defense Department?s plan to restructure the military.

Meanwhile, some of the politics of the situation which provide a boost to Sen. Thune's position were not lost on others:

Base Closing Choices Impact Politics

When the Pentagon announced that it wanted to shut down Ellsworth Air Force Base, it was an enormous setback for Sen. John Thune. The Republican got elected in part by repeatedly telling voters he could save the base because of his close ties to President Bush.

Thune responded to the Ellsworth news by going on the offensive: He and fellow South Dakota leaders from both parties launched an intense lobbying effort. He also stopped fund-raising for the Republican Party and opposed the Bush administration on a few important Senate votes.

On Friday, Thune's political future got a big boost when a federal commission decided to save Ellsworth, home to B-1B bombers and a major player in the Cold War. He and other South Dakota politicians hailed the decision as the result of an extraordinary bipartisan campaign that convinced the commission that the military and nation need Ellsworth.

All in all, a very good day for South Dakota!

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