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Cross-posted from my other blog : A reminder, in the Asheville Citizen Times, that today is the 5th anniversary of the day Eric Rudolph was caught by Murphy police officer Jeff Postell behind the Save-a-Lot on the east side of Murphy, NC. Many Remember Rudolph Saga : ...what also stands out in (Murphy mayor)Hughes’ mind five years later is the media horde that descended on Murphy when news of the capture broke. “I think we had 26 satellite trucks in town, and I was interviewed 15 or 20 times that week,” he said. “I think I knew everyone at CNN by name. “It is an ill wind that blows the national media into your town. Far too many reporters wanted to portray us as illiterate, ignorant and anti-government hicks who approved of Rudolph’s doings, which was totally false.”

Two new reports on global warming that should make lots of people think: From the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition , a report on the future of Florida, Preparing for a Sea Change in Florida (40 page PDF). The first and most important step, of course, is to curb emissions, but even if we do that we will need to address the impacts that are predicted to occur. We can do this by: * Restoring coastal and marine ecosystems so they can better cope with the stress of climate change and ocean acidification. * Discouraging development in vulnerable areas to prepare for rising sea levels, as well as restoring and protecting natural buffers. * Preparing for extreme weather events by protecting and restoring shoreline vegetation and wetlands, upgrading stormwater management, and increasing water-use efficiency through conservation and recycling treated wastewater for irrigation and industrial use. From another coastline I love, this report...

There are still people out there living with the effects of polio, I've known a few who were damaged by the paralysis, and it turns out there are a few dozen left who have had to use iron lungs their whole lives. One of them, Dianne Odell of Tennessee, died yesterday when a power outage and a failed generator stopped her iron lung from breathing for her. Although she was able to get out of the lung for a few hours at a time when younger, she had lived in it for 58 years. In 1951, the year after Odell, I came down with polio. I was six and spent a few days unable to speak or swallow, three weeks in hospitals and missed the first month of first grade. My parents were terrified but I was extremely lucky: if the virus had migrated a few millimeters into my brain or spinal cord I'd have been paralyzed; or dead. You just never know. Seize the day. (Via Knoxviews.)

The Charlie Crist rumors (Bob Norman, on the Green Iguana) keep popping up, such as in this Politics1 report, repeated today at Huffington Post . 'Recount' doesn't seem to have attracted a lot of reviews, but there's an interesting recap at New York Observer: A Rendition of Bush-Gore that's long overdue . The film, which made its HBO debut on Sunday night, presents what can accurately be labeled a Gore-friendly chronicle of the legal maneuverings that settled the election. But it is also fact-friendly. There was never really any doubt that more Floridians went to the polls on Election Day 2000 to vote for Al Gore than for Bush. And, in the New Yorker, by Jeffrey Toobin, a profile of republican political consultant Roger Stone, who was involved in that Florida recount: The Dirty Trickster . The story opens with a visit to a Miami sex club, but gets more interesting: Not long ago, Stone went to the Ink Monkey tattoo shop in Venice Beach and had a portrait of Nixon’...

In the Houston Chronicle, a story out of a National Press Club conference: Journalism old-timers find campaign coverage disturbing . Jack Nelson, Jules Witcover, Hal Bruno and others seem appalled at the state of journalism these days. Jules Witcover, who began covering Washington in 1954 and has covered every presidential nominating convention for the past 44 year, agreed. "To an old geezer like me" he said, " I find it very disturbing and distorting." The American Journalism Review asks, Whatever Happened to Iraq? For long stretches over the past 12 months, Iraq virtually disappeared from the front pages of the nation's newspapers and from the nightly network newscasts. The American press and the American people had lost interest in the war. Guess it's not just the press that isn't keeping a proper eye out: in Wired's Danger Room blog, Pentagon Watchdogs Swamped by Military Spending; $152 Billion a Year Goes Unaudited . And, on a completely unrel...

This new form of 'political correctness' is getting scarier: Is Rachel Ray a secret Muslim? Does that sound ridiculous? Well, not to Michelle Malkin, who has caused a stir over a Dunkin' Donuts commercial in which Ray wears a scarf. Just a scarf, but it's black and white and might -- just might-- look like the one Yassir Arafat always wore. Dunkin' Donuts has pulled the commercial. More on the story, at Epicurious' Epi-log blog: The Perfect Hate Storm . Amazing. (Oh, and: Note this Gawker entry about John McCain's daughter's Kaffiyeh .) Comments are flying at Metafilter , too. In the Miami Herald, a story about The Nation of Islam and a city contract: Muslim group to help keep peace in Miami's Overtown . Think this one isn't raising a stir? Just read the comments on the story.

Wow, I didn't even know this was going on. Scott Karp at Publishing 2.0 says the New York Times Embraces Link Journalism and cites an example of a blog entry at The Lede that's full of links to other papers. Is this true of Times stories and other blogs? I usually don't click on Times links because they usually go to Times stories by category. As in this story , about the new Firefox Web browser. The link to Microsoft goes to Times stories on Microsoft , et cetera. A good sign, especially if it's not just happening at The Lede.....from Karp: ...the Times has clearly gotten over the red herring fear of “sending people away.” The Lede has helped readers make sense of what they read elsewhere, helping to make the Lede more essential than those other source.