Americablog: The Big Hits Of The Week For Sept. 3 to Sept. 9

Here's a rundown of the biggest hits of the week -- the postings that generated the most traffic and inspired the most comments. If you love Americablog, this is a great link to send to friends and an easy way to track down some of the postings you want to refer to again and again. Thanks for reading and keeping Americablog the informed, involved, inspired community that it is.

The week was dominated again by Katrina, but some other news did begin to pop in now and again. And what a finale -- sheer incompetence is finally punished (sort of) instead of rewarded by the White House.

THE WEEKEND

John in DC keeps the facts front and center with "FLASHBACK: The levees broke last Monday MORNING, a good 48+ hours BEFORE Bush Called Off His Vacation." Someone email this to Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff.

Even Fox News goes ballistic over the bungled rescue effort, as Shep Smith and Geraldo Rivera get deeply passionate and refuse to let Sean Hannity downplay the disaster in gripping footage posted by John in DC under "OMG. They've LOCKED everyone in the convention center and won't let them out, and Geraldo and Shep Smith are going ape shit."

More FACTS, this time from John in DC detailing the actual weather bulletins released warning of impending doom under the headline "And Bush had no idea it would get this bad" and "Oops. Department of Homeland Security website claims FULL responsibility for any natural disaster."

Some five days after the worst natural disaster in our nation's history, John in DC reports "Dick Cheney cancels his vacation." Condi Rice ended her vacation early -- three days after the hurricane struck and only because of media pressure. But she did defend Bush in Michael in New York's "Condi Speaks!"

Michael in New York spotted "Bush Panicking Over Political Fallout."

Chris in Paris continued to focus on race, which would become a consistent theme in the media soon, with "Blacks and poor: move to the back of the line."

Passing the buck continued as Joe in DC said in "FEMA's deputy political hack taking no responsibility on CNN" and Michael in New York's "Michael Chertoff: We're On Trial."

Rob in Baltimore brought the scary news "CNN: Rehnquist Dead" and followed with his opinion that "Congress Should Reject ALL Supreme Court Nominees -- recommend Their Own."

John in DC points to a must-read with "Washington Post article concludes that Bush pretty much destroyed FEMA." Joe in DC chimes in with "The White House totally screwed up and their only strategy is to blame everyone else."

Chris in Paris plays town crier with "Inland Katrina victims still waiting for food and water."

Rob in Baltimore insists "Now IS The Time To Ask Why Everything Got Screwed Up."

John in DC delights in an MSM with backbone on "VIDEO: Tim Russert Rips Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff -- Chertoff said he didn't know levee collapsed until Tuesday morn, 24 hours after it did!"

Off topic, John in DC talked about the need for mass protest to be focused and on-message in "I'd like a straight answer about this protest on September 24." People must have been dying for something other than Katrina and misery to talk about it because it inspired more comments than almost any other posting in history.

Michael in New York laid it out in "George Bush Is Solely Responsible For Abandoning The Levees" and "NY Times: Bush Severely Damaged National Guard."

And John in DC spotted more indifference by Bush who rushed to lower the flags for Rehnquist, then realized they hadn't bothered to do the same for the thousands of dead in the Gulf region and hastily made clear they were included too, with "Bush ordered flags to half-staff for Rehnquist. Did he do the same for Katrina victims?"

MONDAY

Chris in Paris stayed on the race issue with "The great white fear and the real looters."

Michael in New York saw Bush finally putting his attack machine into motion with "Now Bush Will Spring Into Action."

Joe in DC coined a terrific new medical condition with "The Media are Rove-aholics."

Rob in Baltimore vented for all of us with "WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR YOU PEOPLE TO DO YOUR F**KING JOBS?"

More pesky facts from John in DC who tells us "Head of National Hurricane Center briefed FEMA's Brown and Homeland's Chertoff on the coming disaster, including levees breaking -- LIARS."

Michael in New York stuck to his one refrain -- which remarkably never caught on as a major issue in the MSM -- "What Went Wrong? Bush Played Hooky!"

The damning analysis continued says John in DC with "Financial Times: Bush's policies have crippled disaster response capabilities."

John in DC linked to that amazing audio of the President's mother in "Hear Barbara Bush laugh at the little people who died in the hurricane."

Michael in New York offered up one telling way of tracking this tragedy in "Hurricane Katrina: The Headlines Tell The Story."

TUESDAY

Michael in New York says "The struggle for the soul of America is gathering pace...."

Chris in Paris feasts on a tougher MSM with "Olbermann rips the law, order and terror team."

Michael in New York has some "Questions for Condi."

Rob in Baltimore says "The Stench is Horrific."

John in DC highlights the indifference of Bush with stories of people who helped like "3 Duke Students Travel To New Orleans, rescue people, come back, while feds say they couldn't help anybody."

John in DC counters lies with facts in "Jt. Chiefs Chairman General Myers is a liar. Just said DOD didn't offer Katrina relief because the Tuesday papers said everything was okay!" and with a rundown of dozens of major papers and their headlines in "Is General Myers a liar or an idiot?"

WEDNESDAY

Chris in Paris highlights the continued incompetence with "Foreign aid donors still waiting for clearance."

Rob in Baltimore makes the case for Brownie's dismissal with "Mr. President: Fire This Man Immediately."

Joe in DC is astonished by "Navy Pilots Rebuked For Saving Lives."

Michael in New York is even more astonished that the Washington Post would run a fluff piece about Dick Cheney closing a deal on a mansion off Chesapeake Bay just one week after the worst natural disaster in our nation's history and didn't even think to discuss Cheney staying on vacation and possibly house-shopping during this tragedy in "BREAKING: Cheney Was Shopping For A Mansion While Disaster Struck."

John in DC can't believe Bush wants to throw a party after this nightmare in "Thousands are dead across the South and the Pentagon is throwing a party on September 11."

John in DC spots a potential media clampdown in "BREAKING: Military stopping media from entering New Orleans." Joe in DC chimed in with "More from Joe on FEMA censorship."

John in DC cheers on Congresswoman Pelosi in "Pelosi calls Bush 'oblivious, in denial, dangerous."

Michael in New York highlights the growing conservative disdain for Brownie with "Even New York Post Blasting FEMA."

THURSDAY

Joe in DC delights in the daily hammering called a press conference with "Scotty Gets Hammered, Day Two."

John in DC giggles over a new poll that shows Bush would lose in a vote to virtually everyone -- including Jimmy Carter! -- in "Zogby: Bush's Approval Rating At An All-Time low, 41%."

More well-earned comic relief and well-earned heckling detailed by John in DC with "Cheney told to go fuck himself on CNN."

Michael in New York offers the MSM some ready-made "Questions For Dick."

Chris in Paris says "MSNBC dishing out the Rove-inspired lies."

Michael in New York also cheers on Pelosi with "Go Pelosi! Who Needs Bush Officials When CNN Will Attack Critics For Him?"

Michael in New York (on a bit of a roll) points out "FEMA Head Blasted By EVERYONE -- Not Just Dems."

John in DC highlights more conservative ire with "Former conservative GOP congressman Scarborough BLASTS Bush, Barbour."

FRIDAY

Rob in Baltimore trumpets the knock-out punch of a Time magazine piece detailing the MANY distortions and lies on Brownie's resume in "LIAR LIAR and thousands of people died."

John in DC mocks WaPo for slowly coming to life with "Oh, so now the Washington Post editorial board thinks Bush screwed up."

Chris in Paris highlights the absurdity of the Potemkin-like control of Bush's latest propaganda effort with "The Not-So-Much Freedom Walk."

Rob in Baltimore is aghast at "Bush Suspends 'Prevailing' Wage In Recover Area -- Slave Labor Wages, Here We Come!"

Success! John in DC tells us "FEMA's Michael 'Drownie' Brownie' relieved of Katrina duties."

More criticism of CNN's Kyra Phillips, who seemed to be channeling Karl Rove during an interview with Congresswoman Pelosi and went off on another crazy tear detailed by John in DC's "Who Is That Idiot Woman On CNN?"

Michael in New York is incredulous that Bush and his cronies continue to pretend the media said New Orleans was safe on Tuesday when countless newspaper headlines prove them liars in "Scotty Lies Again About News Coverage Of Hurricane Katrina."

T-shirt blogging makes a welcome return with John in DC's "It is SO time for more t-shirts."

And Al Gore did more as a private citizen than George Bush did as President, detailed in John in DC's "Al Gore personally saved 270 people in New Orleans."

And of course this week, Americablog launched its first on-the-scene correspondent, thanks to our readers and the willingness of Kyle to go and volunteer (without pay) in the disaster area. Kyle got into the convention center just after NBC's Brian Williams was denied entry, sent back exclusive photos of the scene, spoke to angry evacuees and -- most importantly -- used his computer savvy to chip in and help the Red Cross work on compiling all those "missing person" databases into one resource.