Looks like sanity (or is it reality) is coming back to New Orleans Mayor Nagin as health and environmental officials state the obvious:

Business owners trickled into New Orleans on Saturday, poking through glass shards and musty offices as the head of the federal relief effort warned in the strongest terms yet that the city is still unsafe for the 180,000 people being invited to return this week by Mayor C. Ray Nagin.

The dire assessment by Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen, appointed by President Bush to oversee the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s recovery program, places him at odds with a mayor under increasing pressure from the business community to demonstrate New Orleans is on the mend.

Is there any real doubt Nagin and Blanco have no clue what they are doing – and have had no clue since day one? The political is trumping people’s safety again.

A recent comment on the pending confirmation of Judge Robers by Justice John Paul Stevens, the most liberal member of the Supreme Court, is going to require putting Kos and his KosKids on a suicide watch:

Justice John Paul Stevens is widely regarded as one of the most liberal members of the Supreme Court, and regularly spars with conservative Antonin Scalia.

But when he approached an old acquaintance at the American Bar Association’s annual meeting in Chicago last month, he was upbeat about President Bush’s selection of another cerebral conservative, John G. Roberts Jr., for the court.

“Isn’t it great news?” Stevens, 85, said, according to the acquaintance, who asked not to be named because it was a private conversation.

In the Washington Post today David Broder discusses the pros of Roberts as Chief Justice,

He is so obviously — ridiculously — well-equipped to lead government’s third branch that it is hard to imagine how any Democrats can justify a vote against his confirmation.

And E.J. Dionne struggles to find the cons.

Were there some causes to which Roberts would simply not offer his “legal skills” — amply demonstrated in his life, and again this week — as a matter of principle?

His ‘principle’ is to be a great judge, so the question seems to be pathetically grasping. Mark Steyn chimes in here.

A big day in Afghanistan as they vote for a new government for the first time in a decade. I must say I was shocked and dissappointed to realize was not front page news on the Washington Post this morning. More here.

Today is also a big voting day in Germany, and everyone should check out Jim Geraghty’s reports on the ground in Germany. I am wondering about this introduction by the NY Times at what they are trying to say [emphasis mine]:

The departure is represented by Mr. Schröder’s rival, Angela Merkel, who, though the leader of the Christian Democratic Union, Germany’s classic right-of-center party, comes from outside the German mainstream. She is a woman; she is a former physicist from the former East Germany; she is an outsider even to the other power brokers in her party.

Is she really “not mainstream”? More on the elections here.

Bolton gets some positive early reviews, in the NY Times no less. That must have been hard to swallow.

Having a broad scientific and engineering background, I can empathize with the difficulties in communicating the world of science to those who hated science in school and were gald to be rid of it! I feel the same way some days. But this NY Times commentary sheds some light on the challenges of communicating between the two communities. The discussion is very, very germaine to subject like stem cell research.

And speaking of science, this story on face transplants shows how medical science can appeal and repulse, all in an effort to help.

Here is an example of a real loser

A man who arrived in Newark with a heart-rending tale of woe about fleeing Hurricane Katrina was exposed as a scammer – and arrested yesterday for fraud, officials said.

A good commentary on the 9-11 memorial by members of the commission runs in the NY Post today.