The National Hurricane Center's 5P update includes a Hurricane Warning for the Gulf Coast from Grand Isle, LA to Apalachicola, FL, including Metro New Orleans (and Lake Pontchartrain) and Metro Mobile (and Mobile Bay).

The areas in question are under evacuation orders of varying degrees.

Everyone be safe down there!

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At 11 PM EDT...0300z...a Hurricane Watch has been issued for the northern Gulf of Mexico coast from east of Morgan City Louisiana eastward to St. Marks Florida...including greater New Orleans, Louisiana.

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Even while the order for Monroe County, FL has been rescinded, Ivan's path has the Crescent City worried.

Saying it would take "the perfect scenario" for powerful storm Hurricane Ivan to bypass New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin called for all citizens that can to seek higher ground and make their plans very soon.

"This is now scheduled to bypass New Orleans but it has to curve around a high (pressure system) and that system has to collapse," he said. "I am not confident that will happen."

Nagin is asking for preparations to begin now because he said the normal 72-hour lead time will not be available to New Orleanians this time around.

"This storm will not allow us that window."

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Actor and friend Joseph C. Phillips has been interviewed six ways to Sunday the past few months.

As a visible black Republican who is supporting George W. Bush, Phillips gets calls for interviews all over the place (as do I), with many folks politely asking what would make someone become a conservative. Then there are the not-so-polite ones. You know the ones. I've written about them ad nauseum here. I talked about how I was most recently browbeaten on two radio interviews -- the same day, mind you -- by ignorant and vindictive callers who have called me every unmentionable name under the sun. After enough of that, every man can reach the limits of his tolerance.

Joe reached his recently.

The tipping point for me came last Friday morning during a radio interview with Mildred Gaddis on WCHB's "Inside Detroit." As a favor to an acquaintance I agreed to the interview late Thursday night even though it meant I would have to wake up early Friday and speak about the Republican convention after only a few hours of sleep.

Ms. Gaddis was friendly and we seemed to be getting along quite well until one of her regular callers referred to me as a "so called black man." That was it. I told him I was not going to get up at the crack of dawn in order to be insulted and insisted Ms Gaddis get him off the line.

I have had it up to my eyeballs with black folk who feel they have been anointed as racial gatekeepers and therefore have the right to stand at the door checking ideological credentials and passing out racial membership cards.

Ms Gaddis, much to my surprise and disappointment, not only defended the caller, but also suggested that I was being rude in demanding that she "get him off the line." (For a moment I had forgotten that when debating with liberals they are allowed to call conservatives anything they like, but the moment we defend ourselves we are being intolerant or rude.)

I expressed that I was disheartened at her position that the callers not using the actual words "Uncle Tom" made it okay to address her guests in such a disrespectful manner.

She cut the interview short. The line went dead without so much as a howdy-do from her, her staff or her co-host who had asked me to do the program somewhere around midnight of that morning.

To hear the liberals tell it, we are.

Just damn.

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Chris Muir, of Day By Day, is putting the popular strip on hiatus. He's got to deal with some major family illnesses.

Chris, go take care of what's truly important. We'll be fine. We'll hold down the fort, and we'll be here when you get back.

God bless you, and we'll see you soon.

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Kweisi Mfume, head of the NAACP, is going to "apologize personally" for the NAACP national office's insistance that US Secretary of Education Rod Paige be disinvited to speak at the Ohio NAACP's annual conference.

Kweisi Mfume is president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He says he was "appalled" when he found out about the snub on Friday.

He says the national organization never ordered the withdrawal.

He called the decision by the group's Ohio State Conference wrong.

Paige at first was invited to talk about education reforms, but the organization rescinded that on Tuesday because of a perceived political imbalance on the panel.

After all, Paige left the Plantation. They figure they've gotta do him in.

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Writers of blogs, and by extension, those who read them regularly, have been referred to as geeks, losers, amatuers and hacks by those in the mainstream press.

Yet, you see them falling all over themselves to write a column of some form to place on the web on a daily basis. You seem them trying to imitate those of us in the blogosphere.

Now, with Dan "Kenneth" Rather's gaffe ("What's the typeface, Kenneth?") and the ensuing scandal that has erupted as a result, the blogosphere and the writers in it are finally being recognized as the formidable force that we are.

In case the mainstream isn't listening, an open letter to the mainstream press by regular poster Pukin Dog on Free Republic is drawing the battle lines in permanent ink.

We have watched you for years try to tell us how to think, what to think, who to vote for and what to believe based solely on your own agenda. In past years, you have come to think of yourselves as the fourth branch of government, the movers and shapers of opinion and the arbiters of truth.

The world is on to you.

Persons with knowledge and experience are not only ignoring you, but replacing you as sources of information. These sources, which don't need anything but their personal experiences and skills when sharing information with the public; persons who have spent more time learning and doing than you ever will, are generally more accurate and informative than you know how to be.

The Internet and Blogosphere would scare you, if you were smart enough or honest enough to know better.

People with practical knowledge and experience discussing current and historical events with more ability than you, are sharing more factual and in-depth information, and at a rate which you could never compete. We are relegating many of you to overpaid gossip mongers, while you don't want to acknowledge that we are eating your lunch.

You can no longer tell us anything, and expect to be believed without question. You can no longer mix your agendas into your 'news' and expect to get away with it. We may not catch you every time, but eventually we will, and then many of you are going to have to get real jobs. And when you do, you are going to need more than the ability to mislead, lie, slander and ignore people who don't agree with you. In the future, expect for Blogs like Instapundit and others to be on you like a fly on stink when you attempt to mislead us.

You can join us in working to share information with a hungry audience, or you can be replaced. We don't need Nielson, just a web site and an idea. Instead of insulting the remainder of your dwindling viewers, readers and listeners, why don't you just agree to cut the crap, stop the parroting of the NY Times long enough to do your own work, and finally decide to become REAL journalists again.

We have become our own "gatekeepers" in this "new normal." And until/unless the mainstream recognizes it, they're doomed to a slow death in the form of mediocrity.

Welcome to the new media. Welcome to the future.

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Yes, it's from Hurricane Ivan, but it fits on this day.

What I have started calling Patriot Day.

It is a day that we should mourn and remember the terrible death and destruction. But also a day where we should stand defiant against the enemies of freedom. Where we should all stand tall and proud as Americans.

A day where we can tell our children that our way of life is worth living for. That freedom is not free, but worth the high price that we all pay for it.

This is a day when we should honor the memories of the 3,000 who were brutally butchered by the Islamic terrorists who want us all to die. A day when we should stand tall. And continue to participate in the American dream. A day when politics should be set aside, so we can all stand, hand in hand, in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

I love my country. I'm proud to be an American. And there's no way in the world that any tyrant or terrorist or homicide bomber can change that.

Let history bear witness: No American has ever bowed down before a tyrant. And we're not about to start today.

A true patriot is proud of his freedom. Is proud of his liberty. Is proud of his homeland. Is proud of his people.

So while we mourn, as well we should today, we also should be proud. Proud of patriots like those who fought to create this great nation. Proud of those patriots who ran into those towers selflessly on that September morn. Proud of those patriots who fight tyranny and terror across the globe. Proud of all those patriots who stand side by side with each of us as Americans.

This is our Patriot Day.

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Drudge touted Dan Rather's "explanation" of the forged CBS documents all afternoon.

At 6:30, in the early feed of the CBS Evening News, Kenneth did the requisite Hurricane Ivan story, then jumped into the 60 Minutes documents piece with gusto, shoving both feet deep down his throat.

Rather siezed on the question of the superscripted "th" and the notion that the more fanciful IBM Selectric Typewriters used in the early 70s actually did have the capability to use them.

Rather neglected, however, to discuss the concept of kerning, which cannot be reproduced by a typewriter; he neglected to discuss the denial by both the wife and the son of the memo's purported author (who has been dead for many years at this point). Rather also convienently ignored criticism by other mainstream media sources.

It was easier to dismiss the blogosphere as partisan hacks.

Nothing about kerning. Nothing about the paper size. Nothing about the stationary. Nothing about the widow or the son. Nothing about proportional spacing. Nothing about the difference in tone and writing style from other memos by this author. Nothing about the anachronistic language.

They changed the story from coming from his personal files, to admitting that CBS only had a photocopy to work from. The said some typewriters had superscript. Yes, but how common were they? Would they have one of those typewriters in an Air National Guard office?

They said the font Times Roman had been around for many years before the memo. Yes, but could you do it on a typewriter?

Rather said a lot about the criticism of the story is coming from "partisan political operatives." Like all the forensic experts cited by ABC News and the Washington Post?

NRO's The Kerry Spot has a full transcript of the Rather report.

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CBS has begun an internal investigation of the source of the National Guard "documents" they obtained, supposedly from a FOIA request. The documents supposedly show that then-Lieutenant Bush disobeyed direct orders and was not certified to fly during his time of service. The documents were supposedly written in the early 1970s.

Analysis of the documents has shown that the typeface and layout used was not available in the 1970s, but most likely came from a recent version of Microsoft Word. Microsoft didn't even exist until 1980, and did not begin manufacturing word processing software until the early 1990s.

Memos uncovered and touted by Rather's team appear to have been written in Microsoft Word, the experts said - a computer program that did not exist at the time Bush was in the Guard.

The same documents, purportedly authored by Bush Guard commander Jerry Killian, were challenged by Killian's widow and son, who told reporters on Thursday that the deceased National Guard commander would have never written such memos.

"I categorically deny that I ever told Kitty Kelley that George W. Bush used cocaine at Camp David or that I ever saw him use cocaine at Camp David," ex-Bush sister-in-law Sharon Bush said in a statement issued Thursday.

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Chris Muir has made it back after his Frances-imposed hiatus, but of course, the $64,000 question is whether or not Hurricane Ivan will force him out again...

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Memos shown on CBS' 60 Minutes last night were forged. Why? We all know why -- to smear the President and his campaign.

How do we know? Take a look here and consider this.

every single one of these memos to file is in a proportionally spaced font, probably Palatino or Times New Roman.

In 1972 people used typewriters for this sort of thing, and typewriters used monospaced fonts.

The use of proportionally spaced fonts did not come into common use for office memos until the introduction of laser printers, word processing software, and personal computers. They were not widespread until the mid to late 90's. Before then, you needed typesetting equipment, and that wasn't used for personal memos to file. Even the Wang systems that were dominant in the mid 80's used monospaced fonts.

I am saying these documents are forgeries, run through a copier for 15 generations to make them look old.

Superscripted ordinals weren't norm until personal computers and programs like Word became commonplace -- certainly not the case during the Vietnam years, when this supposed to have occured.

The documents are purported to show that President Bush lied about his National Guard service. But with this evidence, the larger question is who, inside of CBS, is responsible for this? No one has owned up, but as the deck chairs are being rearranged, there are indications that Dan Rather himself is at the center of this mess.

Just damn.

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The National Weather Service in Miami issued a new advisory for people in the Keys and the Dry Tortugas late this afternoon.

...Mandatory Evacutaion of ALL Visitors and Non-Residents..

...Mandatory Evacuation of ALL Recreational Vehicles...

...A Mandatory Evacuation may be required for ALL residents in the Florida Keys and Flamingo Friday Morning at 7:00 AM...

...Residents that wish to leave today are encouraged to do so...

Sounds like a trailer for a movie. But it's real.

HurricaneCity has started feeding audio from the shortwave radio Hurricane Watch Net. The audio is not the best, but you can hear from the hams in the affected region.

The local Miami news radio station is WIOD, and their signal is streamed regularly.

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The approach of Hurricane Ivan has forced the NFL to reschedule Sunday's scheduled home opener for the Miami Dolphins as they host the Tennessee Titans to Saturday at 1P ET.

Ivan is expected to hit South Florida early next week -- residents of the Florida Keys have already been asked to evacuate as part of a total evacuation of the Keys.

The football game was scheduled for CBS; it will be shown on the CBS stations in Nashville & Miami. No word on whether the remainder of the nation will be able to watch as well.

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Ayman Al Zawahiri, the number two man in Al Qaeda (behind Osama Bin Laden), was seen in a new video tape on Al Jazeera today.

In the tape, Al Zawahiri claims that US troops in Afghanistan are "on the ropes" and that Al Qaeda controls "most" of Afghanistan.

Traditionally, a videotaped announcement like this had preceded a major terrorist offensive.

Fasten your seatbelts, boys and girls, it looks like it's gonna get rough...

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I've got no details or information beyond that.

This is Val, Aaron's sister. My family and I are still working out what we wanted to say and do on the site. But at this time, however briefly, I thought it was best to confirm that yes, Aaron did pass away. We found out for certain yesterday.

I really hate hearing that.

Be at peace, Aaron. God bless you.

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Hurricane Ivan has become a rare CAT 5 hurricane with sustained winds of more than 160 miles per hour. The storm is set to hit Jamaica head-on Friday night or sometime on Saturday, based on it's present course and speed.

The National Hurricane Center expects Ivan to turn northward and cross Cuba after that point. That course would take it directly into the Florida Keys.

As a result, officials have started the first phase of a total evacuation of the Keys.

They told tourists and residents of mobile homes to leave today. They said a phased evacuation of all other Keys residents will begin Friday. At least 83,000 residents and tourists are in the Keys this week, officials said.

Stay tuned. HurricaneCity.com is set to begin streaming live radio from Jamaica and the Hurricane Watch Net later today; I'll post updated stream links as I get ahold of them.

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Wednesday morning, Clinton administration pit bull James "Gollum" Carville suggested that the GOP "probably drugged" Georgia Democratic Senator Zell Miller, in light of Miller's statements at last week's Republican National Convention. Carville's comments were made on the syndicated Don Imus radio program, which is simulcast on MSNBC.

"They got that poor man in the twilight of his career and just used him," the former Clinton adviser insisted. "They said, 'Look, go up there and say this,' and they handed him a bunch of documents."

Carville claimed Miller didn't know "what he was talking about" in post-speech interviews, saying that's why he grew angry when challenged by MSNBC host Chris Matthews.

When Imus noted that the Georgia Democrat sounded "fine" when he interviewed him the next morning," Carville shot back: "They probably shot him up with something, you know. He just likes screaming at people."

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...when the fateful question finally gets asked Thursday night:

"Are you ready for some football!?"

"The League plays here!"

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