I visited the Vatican in early August and met a person who is deeply “embedded” in the world of those who run Vatican City and who govern the global machinery of the Catholic Church.

Senator Frank Lautenberg has just sent President Bush a letter decrying Karl Rove’s negligence as the “point person for disaster coordination and recovery” in the White House. Rove is departing Washington today to attend fundraising events in North Dakota while Hurricane Rita slams into Texas.

We finished the second major conference in our series trying to reframe the way policymakers think about our national response to terrorism. This session was called Beyond Bullets: Economic Strategies in the Fight Against Terrorism, and the roster of speakers is here.

THIS is way cool. (just click it) Check out Walter Pincus’s video survey of our recent mega-conference on America’s “next phase” response to terrorism. I’m off to dinner with Martin Wolf of the Financial Times, Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), Congressman Mike Castle (R-DE), CNN Terrorism Analyst Peter Bergen, former U.S.

Truth in advertising. Robert George is a friend of mine — but we became friends by a long string of intellectual, policy, and political jousting matches that have spanned many years.

At 2:00 p.m. today, I will be discussing the potential major breakthrough in the Six Party Talks with North Korea on the Al Franken Show with hosts Al Franken and Katherine Lanpher. Here are some points that need to be kept in mind.

Folks, watch out. A flurry of posts is coming shortly on TWN.

I heard a figure that I wish I had a hard time believing — but it probably is true. According to some economists that I heard last week, George W. Bush has had $3 trillion to the national debt in only four years.

I’m on my way to New York to blog the Clinton Global Initiative for TWN and TPMCafe. Thanks to JI for sending this photo — which I offer you in humor. More later.

I just co-authored and published this piece on Japan’s recent Lower House elections which many argue is about reform of Japan’s massive postal agency, or “reform” in general. Andrew Oros and I argue that it’s all about the theatre of boldness — but rather than just looking tough, Japan really does want to be tougher….