Morning News Potpourri

Sorry I couldn't come up with a better title. This one was at least better than Insert Title Here.

First up this morning is from the Boston Globe, which I wrote up as a Kos diary:

Miss. GOP muscle may get 1st shot at funding

WASHINGTON -- A triumvirate of Republican power brokers may give Mississippi first dibs in the post-Hurricane Katrina grab for federal disaster funds even though the US government focused its initial response on New Orleans.

The state's senior senator, Thad Cochran, is the new chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the panel charged with determining how much and where the recovery money will be spent.

The California legislature hands Ah-Nuld a hot potato by becoming the first state in the nation to approve same-sex marriage. The Governator may veto the bill to let the courts sort it out. Guess he forgot the party line about letting legislatures, and not the courts, legislate.

And in Massachusetts, The two top lieutenants of state Senate President Robert E. Travaglini yesterday said they will vote against their boss's proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and establish civil unions when the Legislature takes up the issue next week.

(Some trivia about me: Bobby Travaglini is my first cousin once removed. His mother and my grandmother were sisters. )

Josh Marshall at TalkingPointsMemo.com has a story about firefighters being used as props for the Preznit. He's right: You can't make this stuff up. I have a friend over in the UK and about a month ago, we had a back and forth over whose leader was worse. This morning, I IM-d him and said, well it's official. Our leader is worse.

Some first person accounts of the aftermath of Katrina are starting to surface. Here's one from Kos that will make you cry.

And to end this morning on a happier note, take a look at The moment Howard Dean became president. I still get goosebumps when I see "Dean" and "president" in the same sentence.