February 2009

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How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin.

-Ronald Reagan

September 30, 2005

"Going Dutch" Gets a Whole New Meaning

Who couldn't see this one coming?

[The Netherlands has legalized polygamy] in all but name. Last Friday the first civil union of three partners was registered. Victor de Bruijn (46) from Roosendaal “married” both Bianca (31) and Mirjam (35) in a ceremony before a notary who duly registered their civil union.

I'm looking forward to seeing Gay America support polygamous marriages with the same zeal and verve to which they pursued same-sex marriages. Anything less would be—dare I say it?—hypocritical.

Lost in all of the hoopla is why so many still feel the need for a government to sanction and validate their personal commitments to one another.

Posted by Rammage | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Environmentalists are Primitivists in Faux Sheep's Clothing

Last week, Wulf sent me this from Captain's Blog, regarding a student-funded department at UConn sending "some of the University's finest hippies to D.C. to join with about 5,000 others to call for a freeze on the oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska."

Below is my off-the-cuff response.

I love this guy.

I only wish that Captain's Blog mentioned that this balmy, pristine wilderness was only turned into a national wildlife refuge after ruminations of oil drilling started.

[ANWR] is a barren, tundra wasteland, latitudinally equivalent to Siberia. Anyone that does .000012 seconds of research can figure that out. [Drilling causes] no environmental damage. Of course, you're talking to the wrong person. I'd be just as happy planting derricks and a refinery in Key West.

My take on this is that it's never been about the environment. It's about primitivism.

You can't find a better (better = greener) place in the U.S. to drill for oil than ANWR, and yet, the left is up-in-arms about it. Environmentalism isn't about saving the earth. It's about a longing for primitivism (and ultimately, collectivism). As such, no energy source, renewable or otherwise, is a good energy source. They don't care where the oil comes from, just that it's evil. And cars are evil. And everyone should be required, by law, to ride their bikes to work in the morning. Where the oil is obtained to lube the bike chain, I'm not sure.

Primitivism.

This realization hit me like a ton of bricks. It first came to me when I read that the environmentalists were protesting windmills for various reasons: birds, blight, noise, Quixote-charging, whatever. That was my "eureka" moment. It's not about how you produce the power, it's the fact that we rely on power at all.

On the bright side, if we do revert to primitivism as the environmentaluddites yearn, and are forced to give up the Internet, computers, television, electricity, and so forth, then at least the Daily Show/Kos and Atrios should go away, too.

Maybe.

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September 29, 2005

The Roberts Court Begins Monday

You may have seen the news that John Roberts was confirmed as the new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. You may have followed Michelle Malkin's link to ConfirmThem.com to see which Democrats felt Roberts had to be opposed, and which were able to be realistic about his qualifications. You may even have seen or heard footage of John Roberts being sworn in as the 17th Chief Justice by John Paul (Jones) Stevens earlier today.

But did you realize the Court starts its next session on Monday? They'll barely have time to put Roberts' name on the big box in the SCOTUS mailroom. What cases will they be deciding next week?

There will be a case on the use of a hallucinogenic drug for religious purposes. It will have a predictable outcome, based on last year's ruling for denying prisoners religious expression. Score one for people in Washington D.C. deciding what you can and cannot put in your own body.

There will also be a case on doctor-assisted suicide (a challenge to the Oregon law that permits people to end their own lives). This is a states-rights issue, and the Federal Courts should not intervene. But since there seems to be little viable push to a smaller federal government these days, I fear this will score another one for people in Washington D.C. deciding what you can and cannot put in your own body.

By the end of November, the Court will hear two cases regarding abortion rights. One case challenges a parental notification law regarding girls under 18, which is being called unconstitutional if it does not include a health exemption. That health exemption is the tricky phrase these days, especially with regard to this move:

Bush administration lawyers asked the Supreme Court on Monday to reinstate the first federal law banning a late-term abortion procedure, arguing that what critics call a “partial-birth” abortion is gruesome and “never medically indicated” as a safer surgical procedure.

So where does John Roberts stand on the Only Issue That Really Seems To Matter? Well, much has been made about the possible reversal of Roe v Wade (which, I am told, would bring about the end of civilization or at least a revoking of Women's Suffrage and eternal consignment to the kitchen), but the abortion issues at hand this session are actually more significant than Roe v Wade's future (discussed here previously).

Is the Roberts confirmation the end of the Balanced Court? Are Bush and his conservative fellows about to take away all of your personal rights? Is it time to really fight over the replacement for Sandra Day O'Connor?

No. The Court will still be balanced - just in a different place, as always happens. Democrats are playing this balancing act very smartly (see here), and Republicans are not, or they would be emphasizing history.

And as for when to fight over the replacement for Justice O'Connor, the Left have been losing that battle for years. There is no chance that Democrats would seek to maintain last year's SCOTUS balance if they controlled both houses of Congress and the Presidency. And lefties need to recognize the fact that while conservatives own these two branches of the US government, they by default own the rudder to the third. If you want to control SCOTUS, you have to control the Senate and the Oval Office.
Gloria Felt at Women's e-News recogizes this, though she isn't happy. This article should be taped on the wall of every American who fears the big-government compassionate progressive agenda G.O.P.

The idea of a Roberts Court--likely to be tilted yet further to the right by whomever President Bush nominates to succeed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor--must serve as a cautionary civics lesson.

It matters who wins elections. It matters who controls the power to appoint judges. It matters who advises and consents to appointments. These are simply facts of political life...

Let's face it; in Washington, Lyndon Johnson's rule of engagement still applies even if it's applied more covertly and to a gender-inclusive Congress today: "When you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow."

I see Ms. Feldt's agenda as extreme, but her reasoning here is dead on. If you are for the progressive wing of the Republican party, you must love what is going on. The rest of us should be very concerned every time any president, from either party, appoints a Justice to the Supreme Court.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Never A Break

It’s just my luck. Hurricane Rita makes a turn to the north to spare our house from any water damage and yet when we get back, a pipe bursts under the bathroom on the second story and ruins a portion of the ceiling below. [sigh]

It just figures.

Posted by G-Dawg | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

September 28, 2005

Hard To Be a Jets Fan

It really is. Suffering through the 90’s was hard enough. Then the slight hope of a Super Bowl appearance in ’98, only to lose in the second half against the Broncos. The arrival of Herm Edwards as head coach has brought expectations up quite a bit, and the playoffs have been rather common lately. This year looked promising with the return of Chad Pennington from his injury last year. And now this.

For those that don’t follow AFC East football, this past Sunday against the Jaguars the Jets lost their first and second string quarterbacks within a span of seven plays. Seven plays! That’s just not right. First Pennington, then backup Jay Fiedler. Pennington came back in and played injured, almost bringing them back to win but losing in overtime. Not bad for a possible torn rotator cuff on the same shoulder he had surgery on last year.

So now what do the Jets do? They sign Vinny Testaverde as a replacement. The very same Vinny who led that drive to the Super Bowl in ’98. Granted, his play after that season was less than stellar, but at least it’s something. Reports say that Brooks Bollinger will start this Sunday against the Ravens, but I doubt that will last long once Vinny gets back into game shape. He hasn’t played since last season when he was with the Cowboys, and he was hoping for a chance somewhere, especially back with the Jets. He was actually pretty funny at his press conference for his signing (from the Jets website):

“For those of you who don’t know, my name’s Vinny Testaverde,” said the Elmont, New York native to a large press gathering. “Seriously it’s good to be back playing with the Jets again. After I left here last year, I always thought it would be a one day contract and I’d retire a New York Jet. But it’s really good to be back. I’m happy; I’m excited; I’m nervous; I’m anxious. All those feelings are coming back.”

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Vinny is going to be the savior of this football team. In fact…I’m almost writing off the season. But if anyone can come in and pull a magical run off in the Green and White, it would be him. He’s from the area, so he has much to prove.

Man, does he ever.

Posted by G-Dawg | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

A New Reason to Oppose Urban Renewal

This morning, on NPR's Morning Edition, I heard a piece on the development of part of downtown Los Angeles that just boggled my mind. (I can hear Rammage now - "NPR? Those liberal weenies? Why weren't you listening to Elliot?" Well, I like to keep tabs on how apolitical they can keep themselves - as discussed previously - and I am impressed and astounded at their ability to find a pessimistic slant on every happy story.)

A part of the city is being cleaned up and made livable, attracting residents to live downtown who might otherwise commute an hour from the suburbs. This sounds to me like a liberal's dream. It reduces urban sprawl, reduces gasoline consumption, and increases the city's tax revenue. Is there any downside?

Of course there is - the poor homeless people who used to live in this abandoned part of the city are being displaced as the heartless developers stuff these new lofts full of soulless, cookie-cutter, latte-sipping yuppie jerks.

It's not that I don't give a damn about the homeless, but the whole tone of the story blew me away. Urban renewal is GOOD, people. It's a good thing, and it should be celebrated.
You can listen to the story and be mind-boggled yourself, here.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

September 25, 2005

Hurricane Irony

Due to Hurricane Rita, our writer G-Dawg has evacuated to the east coast of Florida. In any other year, one might suppose G-Dawg to be absolutely insane. Actually, one would be wrong. Florida's east coast is usually spared landfall from the storms, with none hitting north of about Port St. Lucie between 1899-1999.

NOAA keeps a nice Archive of Past Hurricane Seasons, if you are interested in details.

Still, evacuating to Florida? It just sounds silly. Hopefully G-Dawg will be back to Texas soon - Rita is now a Depression and is just about petered out and it never got close to Brownsville.

Houston residents are being told not to come back just yet, but The Brownsville Herald is more concerned with the anti-war protestors who peacefully disturb the peace, for peace. Barely a mention of the storm.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

September 23, 2005

Pork Chopped?

Even as my children have a bake sale at their school to raise a few dollars to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) says to keep your dirty paws off of his pet pork projects. And if you don't like it, you can kiss his ear. That's a direct quote. See Michelle Malkin for that story.

The question of how to pay for the massive rebuilding projects that will be necessary along the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (and probably Hurricane Rita) has brought on some interesting comments by our elected officials. Democrats want to roll back recent tax cuts. The President says that won't happen. Republicans say they want to cut the budget, but they balk over which projects should be chopped.
The Dallas Morning News discusses some of the problems with cutting various projects like Medicare, education, or the military. In an apparent attempt to offend everybody, the House Republican Study Committee has proposed cutting spending on medical care and education programs for the military and their dependents.

Thankfully, Glenn Reynolds and N.Z. Bear are organizing bloggers to have a go at the budget. They call the project PORKBUSTERS.

Identify some wasteful spending in your state or (even better) Congressional District. Put up a blog post on it. Go to N.Z. Bear's new PorkBusters page and list the pork, and add a link to your post.
Then call your Senators and Representative and ask them if they're willing to support having that program cut or -- failing that -- what else they're willing to cut in order to fund Katrina relief. (Be polite, identify yourself as a local blogger and let them know you're going to post the response on your blog). Post the results. Then go back to NZ Bear's page and post a link to your followup blog post.
The result should be a pretty good resource of dubious spending, and Congressional comments thereon, for review by blogs, members of the media, etc. And maybe even members of Congress looking for wasteful spending . . . .

The Anchoress notes that while bloggers have suggested over $40 billion in cuts, only Nancy Pelosi has committed to any cuts. But elected officials listen to voters, and the money does have to come from somewhere. If it becomes more politically expedient to cut spending on this pork than to run up more of a budget defecit, then that is what will happen. Let's apply some pressure!

Citizens Against Government Waste have named Tom DeLay and Don Young "Co-Porkers of the Month" in an attempt to help with the pressure, but I've got some bad news. Young considers that a compliment.

You'd think that a Republican like Young would at least be embarrassed about all of this. He isn't. He's shameless. Upon hearing that only one other lawmaker in the entire Congress had outdone him in securing pork barrel projects, Young told the New York Times, "I'd like to be a little oinker, myself. If he's the chief porker, I'm upset."

Have we any readers in Alaska? What say you?

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NY Times: Predictable, Consistent

It's uncanny how many times this blog, in its short existence, has blasted the NY Times on their coverage failure. In just the last week there have been two entries written on the dying medium. On September 18th Wulf wrote:

Thus, a lack of coverage on a topic by the Times is an editorial statement in and of itself. With great readership comes great responsibility, and the Times has not been living up to that responsibility.

Indeed. And while the Times' staff is busy feeling self-important, Michelle Malkin and Hugh Hewitt are having a field day with the emerging NY Sen. Chuck Schumer scandal:

THE NYTIMES OMBUSDMAN IS TOTALLY WORTHLESS
Memo to DSCC Staffers

As of this writing, the NY Times remains the last of the major New York publications to report this story. Clearly it does meet the requisite "all the news that's fit to print within the confines of our agenda" criterion.

This question will reverberate throughout the Blogosphere for the next several weeks, so Atlas Blogged might as well echo it too: What if the shoe had been on the other foot? How many weeks in a row would the NY Times run this story on their front page if Republican operatives had done this to a Democrat minority? And what would it be called by the MSM? 1-800-FREECREDITGATE?

Ho-hum. I suppose it goes without saying that the ACLU is not bothered.

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Our Knowledge Deficit

The Wall Street Journal Online asked bloggers Russell Roberts, a professor of economics at George Mason University, and William Polley, an economics professor at Western Illinois University, to discuss what the public doesn't know about economics, and whether and how that knowledge gap might hurt.

Full article here. And it's a great read. (hat tip to Jane Galt):

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

September 21, 2005

NYT Cutting Jobs

The New York Times Co. is cutting 500 jobs companywide. The Boston Globe (owned by NYT) reports:

The Times Co. will slash about 250 jobs from its flagship New York Times broadsheet, 45 of them within the Times' newsroom... 160 from its New England Media Group alone, 35 of them in the Globe's newsroom... the Times' announcement came on the same day the Philadelphia Inquirer and its sister newspaper said they'll ax 100 newsroom jobs due to reduced revenue.

The Times, they are a changing. Tell me that print newspaper has any future. Their online editions would stand a chance if these papers could just stay ahead of those amateur hacks in the blogosphere. (see previous)

Incidentally, no cuts are forthcoming here at Atlas Blogged.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Hurricane Rita and the Trivia of the Day

Question: When the Houston refugees are evacuated out of the collapsing Astrodome after Hurricane Rita, which is the next, closest domed stadium to where they can be bussed?

A. ~~Superdome~~
B. Silverdome
C. Kingdome
D. Metrodome
E. Edward Jones Dome
F. Georgia Dome
G. Skydome
H. Hoosier Dome

Correct Answer:

F. Georgia Dome (Atlanta, GA - 793 miles)

Seven hundred and ninety three miles to the safety of the hurricane-resistant Georgia Dome. Perhaps New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin can proffer some "lessons learned" to Houston Mayor Bill White.

Then again, maybe not.

Other distances:

Silverdome (Pontiac, MI - 1389 miles)
Kingdome (Seattle, WA - 2442 miles)
Metrodome (Minneapolis, MN - 1230 miles)
Edward Jones Dome (St. Louis, MO - 890 miles)
Skydome (Toronto, ON - 1619 miles)
Hoosier Dome (Indianapolis, IN - 1113 miles)

Update: Or they could just all stay at this guy's house]

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September 19, 2005

A Problem With Higher Education?

I just read the article Warning Signs about Higher Education, by Alexander H. Joffe (director of Campus Watch). It is this kind of writing that makes the Relgious Right sound so lost. Mr Joffe bemoans the state of American Universities, saying they

have a deeply negative impact on American society, its sense of cohesion and dignity, its perceptions of right and wrong, and ability to do good in the world... [and they have a] hostile environment toward people with traditional religious beliefs.

Joffe claims that some of his friends have decided not to let their children attend a university, because campuses are so dangerous to the morals and intellect of students. Yes, shelter them, that will ensure their success. [/sarcasm] It is disturbing to me to read his contradictory statements.

Consider these two from the same article:

The middle class believes that academics and the environment they create on campus, in politicized classrooms and generally in terms of permitting or even encouraging any type of behavior, is antithetical to the values it has struggled to convey to its kids...

And,

The liberal arts no longer appeal for their own sake to a wide swath of the middle class, since they no longer reflect values of free inquiry and tolerance for others.

So is the problem that students are permitted and encouraged to inquire freely about the people of the world, and the lifestyles or beliefs of people unlike themselves and their parents?
Or is the problem that students are no longer able to inquire freely about the people of the world, and the lifestyles or beliefs of people unlike themselves and their parents?

Surely Mr Joffe would say that I have missed the point. But when he claims "The first step is for academia to realize that it is they who have lost touch," any critical reader should recognize that Mr Joffe is out of touch with both academia and the average American.

What would cause academia to feel that they have lost touch with anybody? American collegiate enrollment is higher than ever before, especially in the parts of our society where it used to be an unattainable dream. American universities are the envy of the world. Any private corporation would be ecstatc to have the growth and success that American universities have been having over the past several decades - academia would laugh you out of the room if you tried to make a serious argument that they have lost touch with our society as a whole, or any subgroup within it. Mr Jaffe's argument sounds naive without some hard evidence that it represents anything beyond the most extreme religious minority of our population. And frankly, I went to college with people like those Mr Jaffe claims are becoming disenfranchised. Most of them had strong enough religious convictions to get through school unscathed, or else were already losing their faith before arriving at college.

In short, there are definitely problems with higher education. I can't see that Mr Jaffe knows what any of them are.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

September 18, 2005

Taking the Times to Task

How does one decide which news is fit to print? We at Atlas Blogged have no special formula to address this issue, and as such we print an eclectic mix of whatever strikes our fancy. And we try not to be pretentious about it.
But at the New York Times, there is a pretention to carry all of the news that is fit to print. That's their motto. Thus, a lack of coverage on a topic by the Times is an editorial statement in and of itself. With great readership comes great responsibility, and the Times has not been living up to that responsibility.

Mediacrity takes the Times to task today with a short article highlighting the lack of any coverage of recent events in Gaza, which is of course just the latest example of the paper being called out for its biased coverage of the region. For example, Tom Gross was in the National Review railing over this same issue back in March.

It's no wonder the MSM is getting killed by the blogosphere.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

September 17, 2005

Emergency Planning Officials had been Indicted in Louisiana

At The American Thinker:

The Los Angeles Times breaks the story today that several “senior officials” in Louisiana’s emergency planning agencies were under indictment for waste and fraud concerning expenditure of federal funds for disaster mitigation before Katrina hit. Federal auditors are still trying to account for nearly $60 million that was sent to the state from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), dating back to 1998. In March, FEMA also demanded that Louisiana repay $30.4 million to the federal government. Most of these funds were sent to the state under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which was to be used to retrofit property and improve flood control facilities.

The American Thinker's link is to a LA Times website that requires a password, but I found the story by going to Google News.
To be clear, the indictment occurred before Hurricane Katrina. But this story helps to explain how the situation in New Orleans could have gone so poorly. Oh, by the way... the office that is the target of this investigation is the same one that will be responsible for administering a large portion of the federal aid anticipated for victims of Katrina.

Much of the FEMA money that was unaccounted for was sent to Louisiana under the Hazard Mitigation Grant program, intended to help states retrofit property and improve flood control facilities, for example. The $30.4 million FEMA is demanding back was money paid into that program and others, including a program to buy out flood-prone homeowners. As much as $30 million in additional unaccounted for spending also is under review in audits that have not yet been released, according to a FEMA official.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Palestinian Authority vs Palestinians

Palestinians throwing rocks at riot police... Troops firing weapons over the heads of the crowd in an attempt to disperse the crowd... nothing new about this, it's just the good old conflict in the Gaza Strip.

The only difference was that today, the troops were from the Palestinian Authority and Egypt, not Israel.

Today's unrest is due to the fact that Palestinian forces sealed off five major breaches along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt today - their first real attempt to stem the flood of people, drugs, and weapons across that border since Israel withdrew from Gaza last week.

Plus there were shootouts over the best parking spaces. Seriously. (Hat tip to Patrick at Clarity & Resolve)

American Jihad shares a story that ran in the Jerusalem Post about the Palestinian Religious Scholars 1 Society decision to issue a fatwa forbidding normalization with Israel.;

Criticizing Egypt's agreement to deploy border guards along the border with the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian "scholars" said they were expecting the head of al-Azhar to issue a fatwa "calling for the mobilization of Muslim armies to expel the Jews from the rest of the lands of Palestine instead of deploying troops to defend the enemy's borders."

What a great way to respond to Israel's decision to leave the Gaza Strip to the Palestinians. We at Atlas Blogged have discussed the bad attitude of the Palestinians before, here.

The PA does not have the juice to maintain control in its own territory, as discussed here previously. It is being suggested that the Palestinians may find themselves in the unusual position of having a civil war before they have an independent nation.

They say a watched pot never boils. But the whole world is watching the situation in Gaza, and it just keeps heating up day after day.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

September 16, 2005

Minutemen Go Home

As my County is about to be bombarded by the group of people that call themselves the Minutemen, I have to speak out. As part of the minority in the Rio Grande Valley (I am a white male, one of the few here) I feel that this is an outrage, and groups like these need not apply. Apparently my County feels the same way. I am not advocating illegal immigration by any means. We have a Border Patrol set up by the US Government that does an excellent job in controlling our US/Mexico Border. I see them every day. Very visible.

What these groups need to be doing is not focusing on those crossing illegally, but the ones hiring them to do the daily work that no one else will do for the money they are paying them. Go to the source, right? Most of these illegals on the border are farm workers trying to earn dollars instead of pesos so they can feed their families a little bit better. This is hurting the US economy because the money they are earning (illegally) is being taken out of the country and being spent across the border instead of being fed back into our own economic system. It all comes down to trying to save an extra buck or two, and it is the root of the problem. These are the same people that since they are paying these immigrants to work, they are not paying taxes on these wages, which also takes away from our own economy. They are the criminals here, not the ones looking for work.

If we can stop the people hiring them, then the incentive to come across illegally will be diminished. They wouldn’t have the need to come across if they can’t find work when over here. And yes, my Mexican wife feels the same way about this.

AlanDP over at The Blogonomicon has an interesting look at this here.

Posted by G-Dawg | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

September 15, 2005

Maryland and Wawa

A friend of Atlas Blogged recently forwarded us an excellent Walter E. Williams article pertaining to minimum-price gas laws in the state of Maryland. "At each of the 20 gasoline pumps, there was a sign posted that Wawa would no longer dispense free coffee to its gasoline customers. Why? The station was warned that dispensing free coffee put it in violation of Maryland’s gasoline minimum-price law," writes Williams.

This was one year ago.

As of a week ago today, DC and Maryland ranked first and third, respectively, for the highest priced states in the nation for a gallon of regular gasoline. With prices still hovering well above three (3) dollars a gallon, I wonder if the Bel Air, Md, Wawa has returned to its free coffee policy.

Of course, this is not something that I'll be able to find out for myself. Wawa, the Wal-Mart of convenience stores, is not welcome in anti-business Montgomery County, which has an acute phobia of successful business models and laissez-faire, competitive prices.

Hat Tip: A.Mason

Related: Ashley at Bilges gets straight to the point.

Posted by Rammage | Comments (3) | TrackBack (3)

September 14, 2005

Next Year's FEMA: Better, Stronger, Faster?

Michael Brown had to step down as the head of FEMA, after all of the bad publicity he got in the aftermath of Katrina. I was glad to see him go, because he is not qualified for the job and never should have had it. I have heard Brownie referred to as a scapegoat, as this Knight Ridder article claims:

Chertoff - not Brown - was in charge of managing the national response to a catastrophic disaster, according to the National Response Plan, the federal government's blueprint for how agencies will handle major natural disasters or terrorist incidents. An order issued by President Bush in 2003 also assigned that responsibility to the homeland security director.
But according to a memo obtained by Knight Ridder, Chertoff didn't shift that power to Brown until late afternoon or evening on Aug. 30, about 36 hours after Katrina hit Louisiana and Mississippi. That same memo suggests that Chertoff may have been confused about his lead role in disaster response and that of his department.

Oh, the blame game. I don't care. If Chertoff doesn't know what he's doing, that's a separate (and serious) issue. Calling Brown a scapegoat doesn't give him any competence in emergency management, and I have yet to see evidence that he was qualified for his post, despite the fact that he underwent a grueling 42 minutes of bipartisan Senate confirmation hearings. While I disagree with the comparison by Eric Seymour (In the Agora) of the importance of FEMA director vs Chief Justice of SCOTUS, his third paragraph is dead on accurate and should give pause to the Democrats who consider Brown's appointment to be another example of Bush's failure as a president.

Now, having said that, I have been trying to reevaluate my opinion of the response to Katrina, based on new information.

Clearly the local response in New Orleans was criminal. The state government was incapable of doing anything. But the federal government may have responded much better than we thought, according to former USAF logistics officer Jason van Steenwyk, who is a Florida Army National Guardsman who has been mobilized five times for hurricane relief. Van Steenwyk's blog, "Countercolumn", notes;

The [NY Times] also states that Col Terry Ebbert, the LA state Director of Homeland Security, had been on the job for two years, and had never discussed the state's disaster plan with FEMA. Pardon me, but just what the f*** was he doing on the payroll for two years?

Damn good point. You might want to find out who the state Director for Homeland Security is for your own state, how long they have had the post, and whether they've ever bothered talking to anybody at FEMA. Especially if you are impoverished and your locality is prone to natural disasters.

The article also mentions that "only a fraction of the busses promised by FEMA had arrived." But later in the article, we learn that FEMA did not recieve a request from the state for bus support until wednesday, August 31st, the day AFTER the city was flooded. FEMA contracted with Greyhound, who was able to get busses in to New Orleans on the very same day, within 2 hours of getting FEMA approval. That's pretty good response at the Federal level. Pathetic at the state level.

This man has experience and facts. I will defer to his assessment. More at another article:

You simply cannot count on any large scale aid reaching a hurricane zone in anything less than 72-96 hours. It just does not happen, and I don't care who's in charge. The logistical naivete we see among politicians and in the media -- and therefore in the general populace -- is simply startling.

That's me. I am relatively naive about it all. Most of my experience with hurricanes came when I was in the Navy. If a hurricane threatened the Eastern Seaboard, the fleet was sortied to ride it out far at sea instead of being tied up to the pier for the storm surge. It's a little different perspective. And even the hurricanes I have weathered since my discharge (Floyd and Isabelle) have been relatively weak by the time they got to Richmond, VA.

It does seem incredible that nothing better could be done once we saw what was going on in New Orleans, but be realistic. Our federal institutions are not meant to respond to anything like this. There are no fleets of FEMA helicopters and rescue workers awaiting deployment. We have a federal government, not a central government. If you don't know the difference, do yourself a favor and look into it. The apparent incompetence of Brown or Chertoff needs to be addressed, yes. But that is not a cure for what ails the Gulf area. Preemptive evacuations and actual execution of local emergency plans are.

The buck didn't stop with Ray Nagin or Kathleen Blanco, and it has made its way to the Oval Office because of the media and the ignorant public. It was finally brought to a stop there today, instead of being passed back to where it belongs. But that worries me even more. What will the president do now that he has his hands on the buck? Civil libertarians cringed when they first pondered the long-term government response to the 9-11 terror attacks. We should be cringing now, wondering what kind of new and improved FEMA might rise out of the ashes of New Orleans.

(note: Van Steenwyk's blog comments are highlighted in a Jack Kelly article that ran this past Sunday, which is how I found the blog.)

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Beware of Relief Scams!

You knew it was going to happen. There are always the bad people in this world who just like to take advantage of every little thing they can. It has been reported that there are over 4,000 websites that have been created for helping with the relief effort that the FBI have deemed as scams. Be careful of where you are planning to send your money to for helping.

You can read the official warning from the FBI here.

There is also a good article about this from internetnews.com here.

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Criminal Charges in the Big Easy

It's all over the news - homicide charges have been filed against the owners of St. Rita's Nursing Home, where 34 elderly patients died in Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters.

Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti;

The pathetic thing in this case was that they were asked if they wanted to move them and they did not. They were warned repeatedly that this storm was coming. In effect, their inaction resulted in the deaths of these people.

They knew a killer storm was coming. They did not evacuate the people in their care. They are charged with homicide. Sounds reasonable. Now, how about the government officials whose
(in)actions were the same?

Is this a precedent? Will we see homicide charges brought against the caregivers of every minor or invalid who died? Will we see charges of criminal negligence brought against those who took no action to protect their wards but got lucky? I'm sure we won't.

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September 12, 2005

Atlas Blogged Agrees with Doug Duncan

Montgomery County Executive and Socialist Champion Doug Duncan wrote a letter to Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich inculpating FEMA specifically, and the federal government in general. "Based on FEMA’s response...it is clear that we are now on our own when it comes to timely federal emergency assistance," said Duncan (D) in his September 7th press release.

Duncan further added that Montgomery County and Maryland cannot rely on the federal government to improve its response in the face of such a crisis, "nor can we merely hope or afford to wait. As local and state officials, we need to act, and we need to act now," said Duncan.

The first step?

On a conference call convened by the Washington Metropolitan Area Council of Governments, Duncan led a discussion with other regional leaders and secured their commitment to join in evaluating and strengthening the region’s preparedness plan in light of the slow federal response to the recent Hurricane Katrina disaster.

On Friday, the Gazette pointed out that Ehrlich's office called the letter "politically motivated, presumptuous and misinformed ranting.” Ehrlich spokeswoman Shareese N. DeLeaver called it "political grandstanding" and "fluff."

However, as surprised as this blog may be, we have to agree with the County Executive this time, although probably not for the same reasons. While Mr. Duncan's motivation was almost assuredly political grandstanding (as he is oft wont to do), we applaud the County Executive's recognition that we should not rely on the federal government as an end-all, be-all, solution to disasters that may befall states, natural or otherwise.

The first level of response should always be at the local level, coordinated by the state, which can operate quicker, leaner, and more specific to the locality. The federal government is inherently - and quite purposely - a behemoth of bureaucracy that should only be called upon under extraordinary conditions, and even then, only after a complete collapse at the state level. While Katrina did represent extraordinary circumstances, the New Orleans and Louisiana governmental response was incompetent at best, criminally negligent at worst, further exacerbated by Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco having one hand busily pointing a finger towards the White House, instead of at their own roughshod emergency plans.

With Tropical Storm Ophelia sitting off the coast of Georgia and picking up steam, now is an excellent time to evaluate and update this region's emergency preparedness plan, Mr. Duncan. Kudos.

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How Did They Die?

News outlets are reporting the discovery of 45 dead bodies in a flooded uptown hospital in New Orleans. Memorial Medical Center officials said at least some of the victims died while waiting to be removed in the four days after the hurricane struck, with the electricity out and temperatures reaching 106 degrees (41C). They report others died before the hurricane. A hospital spokesman said they do not know how many of the 45 fatalities were patients and how many were residents gathered there for shelter or safety.

Dr. Jeffrey Kochan, a Philadelphia radiologist volunteering in New Orleans, said he spoke with members of the team that recovered the bodies from the hospital in the city's Uptown section. He said they told him they found 36 corpses floating on the first floor.

Now brace yourself.

The Daily Mail is reporting that some of the dead were killed by the doctors at the hospital so they wouldn't be left to the looters when the hospital was evacuated.
(found via QuandoBlog)

If this is true, I am speechless.

With gangs of rapists and looters rampaging through wards in the flooded city, senior doctors took the harrowing decision to give massive overdoses of morphine to those they believed could not make it out alive.
In an extraordinary interview with The Mail on Sunday, one New Orleans doctor told how she 'prayed for God to have mercy on her soul' after she ignored every tenet of medical ethics and ended the lives of patients she had earlier fought to save.

Her heart-rending account has been corroborated by a hospital orderly and by local government officials. One emergency official, William 'Forest' McQueen, said: "Those who had no chance of making it were given a lot of morphine and lain down in a dark place to die."

Euthanasia is illegal in Louisiana, and The Mail on Sunday is protecting the identities of the medical staff concerned to prevent them being made scapegoats for the events of last week.

"People would find it impossible to understand the situation. I had to make life-or-death decisions in a split second.

"It came down to giving people the basic human right to die with dignity.

"There were patients with Do Not Resuscitate signs. Under normal circumstances, some could have lasted several days. But when the power went out, we had nothing.

As a libertarian-minded person, I support the individual's right to die on their own terms. But this is incredible. I have not seen a corroborating report, so if you find one (or a refutation), please drop it in the comments section.

Update: As of this morning 9/13, I still have seen no mention of this in the US press, though it is carried in multiple outlets overseas. I just now watched as FoxNews discussed the 45 bodies, and said it was unclear how they died, but made no mention of the euthenasia reports. This is being reported across Europe and China, but not here - why?

UPDATE - see here

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Brown resigns as FEMA head

Michael Brown resigned as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency today, after becoming a focal point for the criticisms heaped upon the Bush Administration in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Personally, I have refrained from the Brown-bashing bandwagon, mostly because I know very little about him and I find it hard to believe that he could really be responsible for so much. But I have found woefully little that would bring me to his defense. The ineptitude of the governments of New Orleans and Louisianna aside, FEMA has really not been up to par (Top Ten stupid decisions here).

I have been impatiently waiting to hear Mr Brown's side of the story, and had expected his resignation a while ago. It's the smart thing to do. This man was (as far as I can tell) a smarmy connected lawyer with no background in emergency response or management, and he was out of his league. I cannot imagine what the justification was for his appointment, and after the fiasco that befell the woefully unprepared City that Care Forgot, I imagine that Mr Brown just wishes he could disappear from the public eye completely.

It is important that I leave now to avoid further distraction from the ongoing mission of FEMA. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve this president and to work shoulder to shoulder with the hard-working men and women of FEMA.

Thank you Mr Brown. I actually agree with this statement from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA);

President Bush's next FEMA director must be a qualified emergency-response professional with the leadership experience to manage this disaster and future emergencies.

Well, if we are going to have a FEMA, then yes, it should be competent, and its head should be qualified. Does this really need to be said? Well, apparently it does. Now that Mr Brown is out, the acting director of FEMA is R. David Paulison, head of the U.S. Fire Administration (part of FEMA). So far, he hasn't botched anything, so this is a step in the right direction.

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WalMart's Response to Hurricane Victims

WalMart, that much-maligned Atlas of the Retail world, the largest private employer in the United States of America, has been responding from the beginning to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. I have been catching snippets of it here and there on the radio or occasionally on line, but most mentions of WalMart have been about how its outlets were looted in the chaos after the storm.

In The Agora has a great if incomplete listing of the ways that WalMart has aided the communities affected by the hurricane. They also have a predictable litany of ungrateful socialist complaints after the article, begrudging the wealthy of every dollar that is not donated. Please stop by and give them a piece of your mind.

Thank you, WalMart. For this and all that you stand for.

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September 11, 2005

Four Years On

Of course, today is dedicated to the remembrance of the terror attacks of 2001. A timeline of that day's terrible events can be found here. Some powerful images and links over at Michelle Malkin's. But the picture above is the one that speaks most strongly to me - Lady Liberty still holds her torch aloft, still looks to the sunrise, and still welcomes those who would seek freedom in America.
She is defiant amid the smoke and carnage, which is how all Americans should be.

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September 10, 2005

An Ocean Between Us

Sometimes it seems like people who live in Europe come from another world - they just don't understand Americans. And we definitely don't understand what they are thinking sometimes - who can deny that?

When they criticize or question the United States, instead of just assuming they are right or assuming they are wrong, it is helpful to check the premises. Jane Galt does a great job of that here, in an article that investigates the ocean of misunderstanding that lies between us on the following topics: Hurricane Katrina, energy consumption, public transportation, racism, and more.

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September 9, 2005

USS Iowa: Gay Museum?

Things took a queer turn on the issue of the USS Iowa recently. The retired battleship was towed from Rhode Island to San Fransico in 2001 in hopes of making touristy Fisherman's Wharf its new home, as discussed here previously, but the city Board of Supervisors rejected the ship this July, citing local opposition to the Iraq war and the military's stance on gays, among other things.

But perhaps the issue isn't quite settled. Wyatt Buchanan of the San Francisco Chronicle reports;

The battleship's supporters now hope to gain the support of city leaders by turning part of the vessel into a museum about the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy and the contributions of gays, lesbians, ethnic minorities and women to the military.

I would like to thank Amy Ridenour at National Center Blog for helping me find the story, oringinally at www.kitsapsun.com but now also available at San Fransico Chronicle.

The ship is currently moored in Suisun Bay, and if San Francisco decides to pass on the Iowa, the ship may find a home in Stockton, CA, where city leaders jumped at the chance to port the ship when San Fran first turned its nose up.

Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, wants the ship to come to Stockton, while Sen. Diane Feinstein, a Democrat and a former San Fransico mayor, wants it in San Francisco. Senator Feinstein helped raise the $3 million to have the Iowa towed from Rhode Island in the first place.

Merylin Wong, president of the Historic Ship Memorial at Pacific Square (the San Francisco organization lobbying for the ship), notes;

There's a tremendous amount of archives documenting the contribution of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) veterans... It's all part of naval history, and it's all fact.

I don't dispute this at all, and as a veteran of the Navy, I would not in any way resent or oppose a museum that focused on this aspect of the history of the gay community. But it would be inappropriate to house such a museum on the Iowa or any other Navy ship so long as homosexuals are not permitted to serve openly. If San Francisco doesn't want to port the Iowa without making it the focal point of a divisive political issue, then send the ship to Stockton, where it can instead serve as a museum to all servicemembers, and to itself.

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September 8, 2005

The Unbridled Hypocrisy of the Sierra Club

At 11:42AM EDT, the Sierra Club was displaying this notice on the front page of their website:

In the aftermath of 9/11, and now Hurricane Katrina, Americans are left to wonder whether the federal government can be trusted to take steps to protect human health and safety in the event of catastrophe. In an update to its 2004 report, "Pollution and Deception at Ground Zero," the Sierra Club finds the federal government's emergency management plans woefully inadequate.

Earlier today Michelle Malkin pointed out a National Review article about the now-infamous Mississippi River levees.

In his article, Greens vs. Levees, John Berlau writes that the Sierra Club "was one of several environmental groups who sued the Army Corps of Engineers to stop a 1996 plan to raise and fortify Mississippi River levees."

And why was the Sierra Club suing the Army Corps of Engineers to stop the fortification of the levees?

For the birds and the bears, of course.

The lawsuit stated, “Bottomland hardwood forests must be protected and restored if the Louisiana black bear is to survive as a species, and if we are to ensure continued support for source population of all birds breeding in the lower Mississippi River valley.”

At the time of this writing, 11:43pm EDT, the Sierra Club has removed their indictment, presumably from the attention elicited from the Berlau article and the subsequent Malkin advertising. However, their Ground Zero report concludes,

The unmistakable conclusion that must be drawn is that America remains at risk not only from terrorist attacks and natural disasters, but also from our own federal government’s unwillingness to put public health and safety first in its response to such national emergencies.

And who will hold the Sierra Club responsible for their unwillingness to put public health and safety before the Louisiana black bear?

Their unbridled hyprocrisy knows no bounds.

Read John Berlau's article.

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September 7, 2005

Moussa Arafat Slain

The TimesOnLine reports the murder of Palestinian politician Moussa Arafat, the cousin of the late Yassir Arafat (story here).

A group of 100 masked militants stormed the home of Gaza's former security chief before dawn today, dragged him out in his pyjamas and killed him in the street in a burst of gunfire.

The TimesOnLine is calling this "the most brazen challenge yet to the authority of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President,".

In the wake of Israel's pullout from Gaza, chaos has erupted.

Arafat, 65, was killed after a 30-minute gunbattle between the assailants and dozens of his bodyguards. The fighting with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles raged just a block from the headquarters of the Palestinian security service... The killing heightened concerns that Mr Abbas and his weak security forces will not be able to restore order in the increasing lawless coastal strip where armed gangs control the streets.

No kidding. See our previous on this topic.

According to another article at the TimesOnLine, Arafat's dead body lay in the street for two hours before the police responded. In other words, do not expect peace to blossom in Gaza any time soon.

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September 5, 2005

Middle East Offers Aid Following Katrina

The Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star is reporting offers of aid to the US victims of Hurricane Katrina from both friend and foe in the Middle East;

Kuwait announced it would donate $500 million in aid to its close ally... The offer is the largest known to have been put forward and follows that from the emir of Mideast neighbor, Qatar, who donated $100 million in humanitarian aid.

Kuwait and Qatar's donations came as the Egypt-based 22-member Arab League called on Arab states to provide relief to the U.S... Iran too joined the growing number of countries offering humanitarian assistance...

To be clear, that is the nation of Iran, who calls us "The Great Satan", and who Bush publicly declared to be a member of the "Axis of Evil".
Reports are that many in the Middle East are donating to the Red Crescent.

Even war-torn and impoverished Afghanistan offered $100,000 in disaster relief aid to the hurricane victims, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul announced Sunday.

Now, I have been called a snide, cynical man by some people (including my wife) but that last one honestly got me choked up. Thank you to all in the international community who are extending aid to the victims of this terrible disaster.

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Bush Nominates Roberts to Chief Justice

John Roberts has been nominated to sit as Chief Justice when the Supreme Court begins its next session on October 3.

When Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement, she stated explicitly her intention to remain on the bench until a successor is seated. Thus having Roberts replace the late Justice Rehnquist (previous) would allow the Court to meet this fall with a full compliment of nine judges.

Been living under a rock? Unfamiliar with John Roberts? As usual, Malkin provides a bevy of links and stories on the hot topics (here).

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September 4, 2005

"Environment Killing" Hybrids May Be Responsible for Global Cooling

According to The Guardian, scientists are predicting "the planet will cool over the next decade." If this trend continues, this "Global Cooling" could mean that our planet is on the brink of a new ice age - a catastophe of epic proportions that threatens life worldwide.

A new ice age would be devastating to the world we know. The glaciation of North America alone would displace hundreds of millions of Americans, and make a dozen U.S. states virtually uninhabitable. According to Wikipedia, this glaciation could even change the tilt of the earth's axis.

This matter is so dire, so very important to the survival of our species, that we do not have time to gather evidence or test our theories. We can't afford to delay response. The time for action is now. We must have an absolute and immediate ban of all hybrid vehicles, with their higher fuel efficiency and lowered precious greenhouse gas emissions. Tax breaks must be issued for all driving SUVs and trucks. Anthropogenic greenhouse gases must be stimulated through technological, social, political and economic mechanisms at any cost or burden.

Here are some ways that you can help:

Chop down a tree
Turn up your air conditioning
Eschew carpooling
Switch to coal heating
Write your senator asking for economic sanctions on countries that adhere to Kyoto Protocol
Tell a friend who cares about the earth as much as you

Only by working together, and caring for our planet and the environment can we divert the dangers of global cooling.

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Frist Responds

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist flew to New Orleans on Saturday in order to lend his healing hands to the rescue efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. His take?

In the airport right now there is no communication between one unit and another. No coordination with how many people will be coming in the door 10 minutes later... That's sort of the most disappointing thing. It's probably the greatest failure.
Given the escalation of catastrophe that occurred over the first three days, absolutely I would have liked to see the federal government respond quicker, more rapidly, with better command and control centers and much improved communication...

I'm not going to get into finger-pointing now. I did call for oversight hearings — I wouldn't have done that if I weren't concerned. We've got to do better.

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Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist dead

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has passed away. Thyroid cancer has taken the 80 year old justice who refused to retire after 33 years on the Court.

A ton of info and links at Malkin (of course) if you would like to see a bit about the man, and the politics to come in finding his successor.

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September 3, 2005

Where is the Help?

I had no idea a hurricane could evoke such partisanship.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Bush-haters are busy hating the president and blaming him for cutting funding to levee improvement projects, taking too long to send federal help, hating all black people, viewing the destruction from the air before landing, having troops in Iraq, and being on vacation at the time. Plus if he had supported Kyoto (like Clinton - oh, wait) this never would have happened. And again, Bush hates all black people (scroll down for Kanye West video). See also here.

Meanwhile...

there has also been quite a bit of partisan noise on the right. I have seen several sites that seem more concerned with ridiculing Bush's critics than with refuting them - in other words, as thousands of our countrymen die, it is silly business as usual. This demeans the situation, in my opinion. Have some class.
American media pundits and bloggers have also felt free to take verbal pot shots at the international community for its lack of visible offers of aid in the first few days after the storm hit. That's cheap. The world doesn't view this nation as one that could need help after a hurricane. We are known for taking care of ourselves, and everybody else - not for needing assistance. Heck, one of the biggest complaints about the US is that we are too unilateralist - we handle everything without help. In the Netherlands, they are incredulous that the USA could have levees that would fail. (Army Corps of Engineers comments on the levees here.) They can't believe it any more than you can.

But once the international community realized that US citizens needed help, they came forward to help. The issue isn't that they are callous - it's that, well, when was the last time this country needed aid because of a natural disaster? Or for any other reason?

That said, the government response has been completely inadequate, and there is no denying that, whatever your political stripes.

Even the most libertarian person must recognize that it is the responsibility of the government to establish order for the safety of the citizenry financial institutions.

For the city governments, including Biloxi, Gulfport, and especially New Orleans, the response was immediate but ineffectual. At that point, the state must step in. Louisiana and Mississippi have not been able to establish order quickly. At that point, the federal government must step in. The requests for this should have come more quickly, and the response should have been better organized and should have come more quickly. It is your responsibility as a citizen to demand better planning than this. There is no reason for people to die in these ways, this long after the storm. Especially here in the USA.

I hope there is no discussion necessary on this. I cannot imagine anyone disagreeing, so I won't expand on this point. I just hope people can stop feeding the partisan fires, and pull together to help the people along the Gulf. Start at home - your community may have some of those who have been displaced. For example, there are displaced families enrolling in the schools near my home, and the kids don't have supplies, clothes, friends, or an ounce of hope. This will play out all across the nation - possibly down the road from your house.

You can point fingers all you like, and I will argue the politics of it all with you - once the streets are dry, the electricity is back on, and the fresh water is flowing.

Once the dead are buried.

Want to help Katrina's victims? Please do.

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Cindy, Please Stop The Madness!

Okay, I think I’ve had enough of Cindy Sheehan. I understand that any time a parent loses a child it is a devastating event in one’s life but this is getting ridiculous. I just want to make one thing clear.

Military service is strictly voluntary except when a draft is in place, and we haven’t had that for forty years.

I would be willing to bet that there is a photo in the Sheehan household the day that her son Casey graduated from boot camp, with smiles on all their faces. Where was her concern then if she is so devastated now? Becoming a member of our Armed Forces is a risk. It doesn’t matter if it is peacetime or not.

I am sorry she lost her son, as I am sorry that any lives are lost. But her son died for our Country, and that is a very honorable thing. He died to protect the freedoms that we all enjoy and take for granted at times. For her to ridicule our Nation in this way is truly un-American, and I think it’s about time for her to grieve quietly on her own, and let our President go back to running this country. It’s not like he doesn’t have enough on his plate now that Katrina devastated the whole gulf coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, as well as other states along the path of its destruction.

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September 2, 2005

The Michellanche Phenomenon

Observe what a reference from Michelle Malkin will do for a blog:

Hat tip to Michelle Malkin for the reference that resulted in Atlas Blogged's first ever "Michellanche."

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An Open Letter to Doug Duncan

Dear Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan:

The end of September marks the deadline for payment of the first installment of our 2005 Montgomery County property taxes. I would like to request, with your executive permission of course, that we might divert that money instead to one of the charities associated with helping the victims of hurricane Katrina.

I fully understand that Montgomery County, Maryland, still owes $50,000,000.00 for the construction of the Strathmore music hall and performing arts center, not to mention the various county-built million dollar indoor pool multi-plexes that are sprouting up all over the county unabated.

However, in light of the tragedy and human suffering in the Gulf states, perhaps you and the county can - for a short time - forego subsidizing the swimming and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra concerts for the wealthy elite of Montgomery County, and concentrate our tax money where its truly needed.

Also, from the look of your website, you are extremely busy now campaigning for the upcoming Maryland gubernatorial election in two years. But if you could find a spare moment to donate some of your county citizen-paid salary to hurricane Katrina relief, here is a collection of excellent charities from which to choose. And while you're at it, please consider urging some of your fellow county employees to donate some of their salaries as well. (Wash Post: "[Doug] Duncan's annual earnings of $143,600 rank 28th among county employees -- behind those of most of his department heads and six firefighters.")

Thank you for your consideration.

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From Dome to Dome

Section 132, Row 11, Seat 3. This could be the ticket you are holding for the opening weekend of football to see your favorite team. Unfortunately it could also be the ticket for some 20,000 people stranded from Hurricane Katrina that are being transported to the old Astrodome in Houston. How could this happen? Was it because whoever was in charge was thinking, “Hey, they were already in one dome, let’s just move them to another! What a great idea! We’ll just ship them over to Houston and they’ll be plenty happy there!” I don’t know about you but I’ve seen a few football games in domed stadiums and the four hours I spent in there was enough for me, and I chose to go. These people are almost forced. Well, forced if they want to survive on the government’s help, which in some if not all cases is all they have left. It could be months before any of these people will be able to go back to New Orleans, and to what they are going back to is uncertain. Has anyone thought this through? Are they going to transport all these people back by bus to New Orleans once the city is dried up and drop them off at the Superdome and say, “Thanks for playing!”

But again, why the Astrodome? Why a dome at all? What is it about a dome that makes it an appealing thought to house 20,000 people for who knows how long? Is it because they were already stranded in one, so why not another?

I don’t see why the government can’t put them up in one of the numerous military bases that have been shut down the over the past few years. They’ve shut down so many the choices are out there. The infrastructure is already in place for a somewhat civilized living arrangement. There is housing, a mess hall, and probably room to run around if that is what is desired, and it would beat living in a dome for a few months I could guarantee that. It just makes too much sense to do this, I guess that is why it was overlooked.

I feel for these people, I really do. Having your whole life taken away from you in one morning is a devastating thought to me, but it is a reality to many. I can somewhat empathize with the looters. Well, let me clarify that. I can empathize with the ones who are taking food and water. They are in survival mode. As for the ones that are taking whatever they can get their hands on, that’s a whole different story.

Mike McConnell over at Kokonut Pundits also has a similar view.

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