Tropical Storm Talas rips through Japan, causes heavy damage

Workers in western Japan look for survivors: As of Monday night, 26 people have died from the storm and another 53 are missing. Officials have asked 440,000 people to evacuate, according to Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency; over 5,400 homes have flooded already. Roughly 19,000 homes are without power. Talas is the worst cyclone to hit the country in the past seven years. (Photo via Jiji Press/AFP/Getty Images) source

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Legitimately, it’s a Romney-Perry race.
Ed Rollins, the now-former campaign manager for Michele Bachmann • Discussing why he and deputy manager David Polyansky both stepped down from their positions this week. When asked if they left because of strategic differences, he said that there is “no strategic differences in the sense of what we should be doing or saying — it’s just a question of how you use your time, how you use your resources.” source

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476 homes burned in Texas east of Austin since Sunday; Gov Rick Perry canceled an appearance at a forum in South Carolina in response
800+ homes threatened by fire in California; officials are unsure how long it will take to contain the fires, caused by a plane crash on Sunday source

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$61 million the amount the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s yearly telethon made this year — the first year without Jerry Lewis as the host
$58.9 million the amount the annual Labor Day telethon made last year; Lewis had hosted MDA telethons in one form or another since 1952 source

» Drama over the big change: While Jerry Lewis had claimed that his appearance this year would be his last, he ended up not making an appearance at all, after the association appeared to fire him (or Jerry quit early) for some reason. He didn’t even make a cameo. Instead, a bunch of giant photos of Jerry’s face went up instead, and the show needed four hosts to replace the 85-year-old, one of which included an “American Idol” producer. So … the big question: Does the yearly telethon struggle from here, without Lewis at the helm?

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As president of the United States I want to make it very clear that we are going to meet our federal obligations because we are one country. When one part of the country gets affected, whether it’s a tornado in Joplin, Missouri or a hurricane that affects that eastern seaboard, then we come together as one country and make sure that everybody gets the help that they need.
President Barack Obama • Speaking about the need for federal disaster funding during a visit to Irene-ravaged New Jersey yesterday. This is an issue as a result of some stuff Eric Cantor said last week, suggesting that federal funding of disaster cleanup would only happen by cutting matching funding elsewhere. We like the point The Bergen Record’s Mike Kelly makes about this: “Memo to conservatives: You make good points about the need for America to get serious about government spending. But this is not a John Wayne western, with steel-eyed gunfighters making black-and-white decisions about life and death.” Conservatives are right on a surface level on this — we need to cut spending — but get down to the nitty-gritty and it’s simply not clear-cut. source

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bad The U.S. Postal Service could possibly miss a $5.5 billion payment set aside for retirees to help pay for future health care. It’s due Sept. 30.
worse That’s just the tip of the iceberg; they’re having long-term funding issues due to union contracts, restrictive laws, and the rise of e-mail.
worser The result is that, without Congress’ help, the Postal Service could run out of money by early next year — which could hurt the economy. source

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05 Sep 2011 23:46