Misc can you believe it?

1. Three years after Katrina the Louisiana national guard is still patrolling the streets of New Orleans.

National Guard to stay in N.O. through 2008
Governor Jindal, National Guard, Mayor Nagin and New Orleans Chief of Police Announce Plan for Guard in New Orleans

2. As long as people like Nabil al-Hayawi stay in Baghdad (or elsewhere in Iraq) some spark of hope remains for a better future...

A Baghdad Bookseller, Bound to His Country

3. Senator Harry Reid opines on Phil Gramm (and by extension fellow Senator John McCain), "... he has a low view of the American people. Thinks they're a bunch of whiners..." This from someone who did everything to ensure the passage of HR6304 (the FISA update) and then, having teed it all up, voted against passage assuming that "the American people" are too stupid to realize this!
Reid Rips Phil Gramm
FISA = Forget I said anything...

4. "Residents of a mostly black neighborhood in rural Ohio were awarded nearly $11 million Thursday by a federal jury that found local authorities denied them public water service for decades out of racial discrimination.... The money covers both monetary losses and the residents' pain and suffering between 1956, when water lines were first laid in the area, and 2003, when Coal Run got public water...." (note: the article seems a little less categorical)

Jury: Black neighborhood was denied water service

5. Belgian company InBev made an unsolicited purchase offer to Anheuser-Busch. CEO August Busch IV said this wouldn't happen "on my watch" and the board unanimously rejected the offer. The company rallied various politicians (for example the governor and both Missouri senators asked for an antitrust review to block the sale) and people to help save an "American" beer from foreigners. InBev sweetened its offer and voila, the board approved and all of a sudden it wasn't everyone's patriotic duty to resist the takeover!

InBev makes $46.4 billion bid for Anheuser Busch
InBev wins Anheuser-Busch by upping the ante
Updated:
Anger and dismay in St. Louis after Anheuser-Busch sale

6. Targeting Hamas, Israel shuts down shopping malls, schools, medical centers, orphanages, soup kitchens, a TV channel, and a newspaper.... (in the West Bank).

MIDEAST: Israel Targets Hamas Orphanages
Report: IDF arrests 7 Hamas men in West Bank