Great words from the Bush administration tonight, after a long period of seeming equivocation: Bush urges Abbas to show ‘political courage’.

EL MIRAGE, Arizona (Reuters) - President Bush stepped up pressure on the Palestinians one day after a suicide bomb attack, urging President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday to show the “political courage” to rein in militants.

Bush called Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza the first step toward creating a democracy for the Palestinians. “It took political courage to make that decision,” Bush said of the withdrawal of Jewish settlers.

“And now it’s going to take political courage by the Palestinians and … Abbas to step up, reject violence, reject terrorism and build a democracy,” he added during a speech in El Mirage, Arizona.

Bush’s comments marked an escalation in U.S. pressure on Abbas to begin taking action against militants in response to Israel’s withdrawal.

The call for action appeared to run counter to assertions by Palestinian officials in Washington that the White House understood that Abbas and his security forces would need more time to prepare for any major push to disarm the militants.

A senior Bush administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issues, said the White House believes that Abbas already has the means to restrain the groups responsible for attacks on Israel.

“We want him to be a responsible leader. He needs to rein in the groups that want to harm the ‘road map’ process,” the official said, referring to the U.S.-backed peace process that envisions creating a viable Palestinian state.

The people most stressed out by the July 7 mass murder attacks in Britain? Muslim Londoners.

The stress caused by the terrorist bombings in London on 7 July 2005 was far more keenly felt by Muslim residents compared with other inhabitants, a psychological study reveals.

Sixty-one per cent of Muslim commuters surveyed suffered substantial stress in the days following the first terrorist attacks on the city’s transport system – almost double the proportion of stressed Londoners from other faiths.

“One can speculate it could be fear of reprisals and being upset about the misusing of their religion [to justify] terrorism,” says Neil Greenberg, at the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, and one of the study team.

Overall, Londoners coped reasonably well, the researchers found, although one-third of commuters still felt substantially stressed 12 days after the attacks.

Representatives of the RoP are threatening a Canadian police officer who shot a machete-wielding Iranian youth: Police officer who shot and killed 18-year-old Iranian getting death threats. (Hat tip: Ethel.)

NEW WESTMINISTER, B.C. (CP) - A Port Moody police officer who shot and killed a machete-wielding Iranian teen won’t be publicly named at an inquest into the death because he is getting death threats related to the case.

“We’ve taken steps to protect him,” said Phil Reid, a liaison officer with the Port Moody police department. The inquest is being held in a high-security courtroom and a publication ban was placed on the officer’s name and image.

Reid wouldn’t expand further, but said police do consider the threats to be active.

Number of days until Markos “Screw Them” Moulitsas Zuniga unveils his top secret plan to destroy the Democratic Leadership Council:

Dr. Evil reacts to Kos’s plan to destroy the DLC with appropriate skepticism…

(Hat tip: Allah.)

The San Francisco chapter of an organization called “9/11 Truth Alliance” recently held a contest for artwork accusing the Bush administration of being responsible for the 9/11 atrocities.

With a special category.

For kids.

Local girl takes second place in 9/11 art contest.

SAN MATEO — Hannah Stutz, 11, turned her love of art into a heavy political statement that earned her second place in a peace organization’s art contest.

The soon-to-be Borel Middle School student recently beat out a handful of youth applicants in the Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance’s “9/11 Truth for Peace and Justice” art contest, picking up a $100 prize.

The group believes that the U.S. government isn’t telling the whole truth or giving all the information about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Stutz likes math, history and drama, but also enjoys art. She said her father, who has followed Sept. 11-related news closely, told her about the contest and encouraged her to enter.

Her winning entry depicts President Bush saying “Well, there’s one terrible pilot” and a television screen with the burning Twin Towers in the background and text “For presidential viewing only.”

And here is the award winning artwork.

(Hat tip: NC, via Blogcritics.)

Remember the leftists who screamed that we don’t have enough National Guard personnel to handle Hurricane Katrina, and it’s Bush’s fault?

Oops.

Wrong again.

National Guard: Enough GIs for Storm Duty. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Though thousands of National Guard personnel from Louisiana and Mississippi are serving in Iraq, officials say more than enough personnel were available for disaster duty Monday as Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore.

“Only about half of available forces are mobilized in Louisiana and forces are available from neighboring states if needed,” said Lt. Col. Mike Milord, a spokesman at National Guard headquarters outside Washington.

Some 3,500 Army National Guardsmen from Louisiana were deployed to help hurricane victims and another 3,000 were on standby.

And it’s not a joke: Is Christopher Hitchens becoming a fascist?

Currently featured as a “Buzz” item at the Daou Report.

We’ve received several good contacts, but Pajamas Media is still interested in seeing more resumés for any HTML+CSS designers who’d like to work on an immediate project, for the next 3-5 weeks. Applicants should have excellent skills at visual design, and a good grasp of useability standards and issues. Please send your resumé and contact information to: htmljob -at- pajamasmedia -dot- com.

Following his staged photo session with Mother Sheehan, the Reverend Al Sharpton couldn’t get away fast enough. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

WAXAHACHIE, Texas - A car carrying the Rev. Al Sharpton led sheriff’s deputies on a nine-mile chase at speeds up to 110 mph before state troopers stopped the vehicle and arrested the driver, authorities said.

The civil rights activist called the sheriff’s report “ludicrous” and accused the Ellis County officers of “embellishing the story.”

“That nine-mile chase is news to me,” Sharpton told The Associated Press. “All I know is that the police pulled us over because they wanted to talk to the driver about speeding.” …

The car carrying Sharpton and two other passengers was clocked doing 110 mph in a 65 mph zone on the interstate south of Dallas, Sullins said. He said the driver ignored deputies’ attempts to stop it and weaved in and out of traffic before state troopers were able to get in front of the car.

Sharpton caught a lift from a passing driver and made his scheduled flight to New York.

Gateway Pundit has a report on the trial of the sole surviving Islamic terrorist in the Beslan atrocity, as children take the stand and recount tales of sheer horror.

Palestinians have been caught again, trying to send a 14-year old boy through a checkpoint carrying bombs packed with shrapnel.

A 14-year-old Palestinian was arrested after he was caught carrying three pipe bombs through the Hawara checkpoint south of Nablus Monday afternoon.

The teenager set off the alarm of the metal detector positioned at the crossing, alerting soldiers manning the position.

He was found to be carrying in a bag three pipe bombs that were to be activated by a friction type detonator. The bombs were packed with explosives, as well as shrapnel and glass balls.

Border police sappers blew up the bomb and the youth was handed over to the Shin Bet for questioning.

Excuse me for a minute. Something seems to have happened to my LGF Irony Meter; the little needle is pegged up against the end pin and it’s not budging.

Oh! Never mind; I’ve discovered the reason: Che Guevara’s family to fight use of famed photo. (Hat tip: Eagle.)

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) — With his picture on rock band posters, baseball caps and women’s lingerie, Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara is firmly entrenched in the capitalist consumer society that he died fighting to overturn.

The image of the Argentine-born guerrilla gazing sternly into the distance, long-hair tucked into a beret with a single star, has been an enduring 20th century pop icon.

The picture — taken by a Cuban photographer in 1960 and printed on posters by an Italian publisher after Guevara’s execution in Bolivia seven years later — fired the imagination of rioting Parisian students in May 1968 and became a symbol of idealistic revolt for a generation.

But as well as being one of the world’s most reproduced, the image has become one of its most merchandised. And Guevara’s family is launching an effort to stop it. They plan to file lawsuits abroad against companies that they believe are exploiting the image and say lawyers in a number of countries have offered assistance.

“We have a plan to deal with the misuse,” Guevara’s Cuban widow Aleida March said in an interview.

“We can’t attack everyone with lances like Don Quixote, but we can try to maintain the ethics” of Guevara’s legacy, said March, who will lead the effort from the Che Guevara Studies Center which is opening in Havana later this year.

“The center intends to contain the uncontrolled use of Che’s image. It will be costly and difficult because each country has different laws, but a limit has to be drawn,” the legendary guerrilla’s daughter, Aleida Guevara, told Reuters.

Here we have an open thread for the dreaded Monday morning…

The latest celebrity clown to hop aboard Mama Moonbat’s Traveling Minstrel Show: Martin Sheen.

CRAWFORD, Texas - Cindy Sheehan hasn’t achieved a meeting with the president during her three-week war protest, but she met a man who plays one on TV. Martin Sheen, who portrays the president on NBC’s “The West Wing,” visited Sheehan’s makeshift campsite Sunday.

“At least you’ve got the acting president of the United States,” Sheen said as the crowd of more than 300 people cheered. “I think you know what I do for a living, but this is what I do to stay alive.”

Three hundred people—and 200 of them are from the media.

And don’t miss The Political Teen’s video montage of Mother Sheehan’s Greatest Hits.

The latest on Hurricane Katrina, which has weakened somewhat but is still very powerful: Hurricane Katrina Rips La., Miss. Coasts.

NEW ORLEANS - Hurricane Katrina plowed into this below-sea-level city Monday with howling, 145-mph winds and blinding rain that ripped away pieces of the roof of the Superdome, knocked out power and flooded some homes to the ceilings.

Katrina weakened overnight to a Category 4 storm and turned slightly eastward before hitting land about 6:10 a.m. CDT east of Grand Isle near the bayou town of Buras, providing some hope that this vulnerable city would be spared the storm’s full fury.

But National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield warned that New Orleans would be pounded throughout the day and that Katrina’s potential 15-foot storm surge, down from a feared 28 feet, was still substantial enough to cause extensive flooding.

UPDATE at 8/29/05 7:42:10 am:

Lots of links to information about Katrina at PunditGuy: Goodbye Big Easy.

Today’s featured blogger at the Pajamas Media Information Site is Harvard graduate Sissy Willis.