THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS: 09/01/2005

Friday, September 30, 2005

MSM BIAS: KATRINA AND IRAQ

It's well documented that Katrina coverage SUCKED. BUT MORE THAN THAT: it always sucked to ONE SIDE: it was always anti-Bush (sometimes under the guise of being anti-FEMA or anti-Brown).

MEDIA BLOG at NRO - run by Steven Spruiell - posted this about HUGH HEWITT:

Here's the key question from ... [Hewitt's] interview with [New Orleans local TV newsman] Allen:

We had all the resources of the American media combined in New Orleans. Everything they had, they threw at it. With the help of locals like you and national networks, print, media, radio, everything, not one outlet could get inside the convention center or the Superdome to do accurate reporting. What's that tell us about the trustworthiness of American media, when it's far away from home in a war zone like Iraq? Isn't that in fact an obvious admission that not only can they not do the job in New Orleans, we can't expect them to do the job of accurate reporting in a war zone like Iraq?

ME: Well, the MSM DOES NOT DO INACCURATE because of incompetence. They misrepresent the truth because they go with whatever reinforces their story-template, which is primarily and predominantly anti-Bush. Any tidbit or rumor or photo or anything that is anti-Bush or can hurt Bush, they run with WITHOUT fact-checking/double-checking. IT'S NO PREMEDITATED; IT'S "UNMEDTATED." And they do so without one iddy-biddy teeny-weeny whit of care of what the repercussions of their biuased reporting might be - as in the case of the Abu Ghraib photos, and their demand that MORE Abu Ghriab photos be released. They do not care of they put our soldiers in danger or if they sow increased racism and class-warfare. As long as it "get's Bush" they run with it.

Why do they do this?SIMPLE: The vast majority of people working in the MSM are Left-wing scum. And THAT'S they are NOT to be trusted. We should no more trust so-called MSM news reports than we would "news releases" from Mugabe or Fidel or Kim Jong Il.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 6:01 PM ; Permalink;

MORE BLATANT MSM BIAS: SHEEHAN VERSUS BENNETT

For MONTHS Sheehan has mouthing off - and posting - the most outrageous anti-American, anti-Semitic crap and none of it gets a mention in the MSM; all they do is recount her pathetic "bereaved-mom of soldier as dove" meme, ad nauseum.

But Bill Bennett says something controversial and the MSM is all over it as if he he'd endorsed what he was ACTUALLY condemning, and as if the statistics on black crime weren't what they have been for the last 40 years (when Moynihan first started taliking about the collpase of the black family structure and how that was probably reponsible for the disporportionate amount of poverty and criminality in the black community. Neither Moynihan of Bennett EVER asserted that this was genetically caused, both in fact have argued that it is sociological and related to unintended but perhaps unavoidable adverse side-effects of the welfare state).

Bill Cosby has said similar things, and while he was criticized for it he was not tarred and feathered in the MSM like Bennett. WHY? Becuase Bennett is a conservative GOP booster and a figure in talk-radio. And the MSM hates him for that.

YUP: This is a simple example of MSM bias: those who reinforce the meme's they like get preferential treatment; those who expose the falseness of their meme get tarred and feathered. They like to portray themselves as objective, but they are not. The MSM is merely the propaganda arm the the Left. Their declining ratings (and the demoicning fortunes of the Dems) and the burgeoning success of FOX and talk-radio - and the increasing fortunes of the GOP PROVE the American people know this very well - and it's why they keep turning off the MSM and voting GOP in ever increasing numbers.

I like what Mark Levin wrote in THE CORNER:

BENNETT [Mark R. Levin] - So, what do we have here? We have another attempt, by a Democrat front-group (funded largely by George Soros), to smear a thoroughly decent man who harbors no racial prejudice of any kind. We don't need to split hairs in defense of Bill Bennett. We don't need to accept the spin that's used as the basis for the smear by those who seek to destroy him. Nothing Bill Bennett said, when read in full, is racist. Now, the former lead researcher for this Democrat front-group, who was hired by Chuck Schumer to work on his Democrat campaign committee, is now under investigation for illegally securing the credit report of one of the highest ranking African-American public officials in the nation, Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele. The same media that regurgitates David Brock's poison barely noticed. Robert Byrd, who actually was an active racist, is still treated like some kind of wise man by the Democrats and the media. Jesse Jackson, whose anti-Semitic statements are well known, is called upon to pass judgment on individuals who have a far better character than he. Let's no cede the moral high ground to people who've never held it.

Indeed.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 1:04 PM ; Permalink;

Thursday, September 29, 2005

THE MYTH AND LIE OF A "BALANCE" ON THE SCOTUS

Now that Roberts is CJ of the SCOTUS, attention has turned to what will surely be a real fight - over who will replace Sandra Day O'Connor. O'Connor is seen by many as having been a "swing vote" on the Court, a Justice who maintained the "balance" of the Court. (Though this is a false notion: she voted as often with the minority of conservatives - as in KELO - as she did jhoin forces with the liberals on the Court.) But the very notions of "balance" and "swing vote" annoy the heck out of me.

Dr. Sanity attacks this notion of "balance" on the Supreme Court from one angle:

Democrat Entitlement
Nowhere is the Democrat's sense of entitlement more obvious than in the delusion, adopted because they are the minority party, that President Bush should appoint someone to the Supreme Court to keep it "ideologically balanced". They seem to believe that since Sandra Day O'Connor has been a swing voter on the court, that it is their right to demand someone similar from the President's next appointment.When did the Supreme Court of the United States become yet another entitlement program for the Democrats? Where is it written that the Supreme Court must be "ideologically balanced"? Who has ever claimed that the minority party has any rights (except the usual "advise and consent role).

She ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. But, I attack the notion of "balance on the Court" on a different basis: it's a PHONY concept which masks an otherwise BLATANT ideological bias to the Left.

(1) Why is it called "BALANCE" when the SCOTUS doesn't reflect the political feelings of most of Americans!? Most SCOTUS appointments in the last 35 years were made by conservative presidents, who were expecting that the persons they put on the court would be conservatives - only it didn't work out that way: Stevens; Kennedy; Souter and O'Connor - all appointed by GOP presidents - drifted AWAY from the things which led them to get the appointment and drifted toward the Left. This so-called "balance" was the result of Justices NOT ruling as the president or the Senate or electorate had a right to expect they would rule!

And (2), why is a 5-4 ruling which ALLOWS ABORTION any more balanced than a 5-4 ruling that says there is no federal right to an abortion!?

This seems to me to be MERELY A BIAS - and one you hear ALL DAY LONG in the MSM: they say there is "balance" in the SCOTUS as if after the next Justice is confirmed and IF this led to new 5-4 rulings which OVERTURNED older 5-4 rulings that this would be UNBALANCED!?

Sheesh.

This is as hypocritical as when Lefties argue - ON THE ONE HAND - FOR A LIVING CONSTITUTION, one that can be modified by looking at what foreign courts decide (!), and yet simultaneously argue - ON THE OTHER HAND - that THEIR FAVORITE RULINGS ARE SOMEHOW ETCHED IN STONE - AS IN ROE VS. WADE - which can never EVER be overturned!

Well I say: They can't have it both ways, (well, not an be rational - not their strong suit, ever!). They should just admit that they don't want the stuff they LIKE overturned,and won't vote for nominees who they think WILL overturn the stuff they like. That would be HONEST.

And they should just admit that the term "maintain balance on the Court" means letting them WIN 5-4 rulings (and over-rulings) - and guaranteeing that these rulings (and over-rulings) are written stone; whereas 5-4 rulings which are conservative or which overturn things the Left likes is bad and wrong and UNNACCEPTABLE to the point of demanding a FILIBUSTER.

Which is what I expect from the Lefties in the US Senate. And that the GOP will break them - by adjusting the rules - the Constitutional/"Nuclear" Option - and Bush will get his nominee confirmed and that the MSM will declare this is a defeat.

YEAH: another defeat for Bush - joining a long list of his other defeats: the Iraqi election and the Iraqi constitution and the Afghani election and constitution; and getting Syria out of Lebanon, and Putin out of Ukraine; getting Libya out of the WMD racket; getting North Korea to agree to stop their nuke programs; and passing the Education Bill, and the Medicare Drug Plan, and the Tax Cuts, and every other BIG legislative victory Bush and the GOP have had in the last 5 years!

Bush: what a loser! The Dems WISH they could lose like that!

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 5:24 PM ; Permalink;

SHOULD LOS ANGELES BE REBUILT?

There are horrific WILDFIRES in LA every autumn, it seems. And yet every year, people rebuild. ARE THEY NUTS!? Should the people of LA rebuild in a place they KNOW is DISASTER PRONE? Ditto SF and earthquakes. People should not rebuild wherever there's a threat of a natural disaster.

SARCASM OFF. Telling people not to rebuild in LA or SF is RIDICULOUS. Yet many MANY bloggers and others said the same about New Orleans.

Ridiculous. It'd be like NOT rebuilding on the WTC site; it'd be like admitting defeat.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 4:43 PM ; Permalink;

ISRAEL-JIHADIST WAR CONTINUES TO HEAT UP: jihadists in West Bank call off truce

BBC:

An al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades leader says the Palestinian militant group will no longer respect a six-month truce after Israeli raids killed three militants. ... Israel has made more than 400 arrests in the West Bank since militants launched rocket attacks at the end of last week. ...Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has rejected suggestions that Israel could stage take more unilateral steps after the Gaza pullout. "There is only one plan and that is the roadmap," he told a Tel Aviv business conference, referring to the internationally-backed peace plan which has lain largely dormant since its inception in 2003. Key Sharon aides have been suggesting that Israel could pull back from parts of the West Bank and unilaterally set its border if negotiations with the Palestinians failed. Gaza plan architect Eival Giladi, Sharon adviser Eyal Arad and cabinet minister Tzahi Hanegbi have all spoken in such terms this week.

Because completion of the Security fence, and a unilateral withdrawal makes Israel SAFER and more defensible IT WILL HAPPEN. It will NOT happen as a result of negotiations because negotiations require that the other side be negotiable and be reliable to keep promises they make. The Arabs in Gaza and the West Bank are neither.

Therefore, expect Israel to unilaterally withdraw from PARTS of the West Bank and call off any and all future negotiations on any and all other outstanding matters, (such as "refugees" and the "final status" of Jerusalem). This will happen not later than next summer; it will happen much sooner if jihadists force Sharon to act more swiftly then he'd like. STAY TUNED...

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:38 PM ; Permalink;

THE RECURRING MYTH OF THE IMPENDING GOP BREAKUP

WASH POST: Troubled Year Gets Worse for the GOP ; GOP Ignores Lessons of Democrats' Past Mistakes; NYTIMES chimes in too - with an alarmist headline of their own.

This is merely WISHFUL THINKING on the part of the Left and the MSM they still dominate.

Every time there's ANY negative news, and a few moderate GOP Congressman express trepidations (you know, the USUAL SUSPECTS: DeWine/McCain/Hagel) the Left and the MSM they still dominate gleefully exclaim that Rove's "Grand Strategy" to create a generation of GOP control of DC has ended, prematurely. As if proclaiming: "THE DEMS SHALL RISE AGAIN!" And at the next election, too!

Yeah, right.

They said the same things during the Schiavo debate, and whenever there's a particularly bad day in Iraq, or when they discuss the immigration debate, or the social security debate. The Left and the MSM they still dominate were wrong then and their wrong now. There is no and will be no GOP breakup.

Here's what I wrote in MARCH:

Much hogwash has been written lately about the impending conservative crack-up. Glenn argued that the Schiavo case might lead to it; Powerline argues it would more likely be immigration. I SAY HOGWASH. The polls almost ALWAYS show Bush with about 43-53% approval on any SINGLE ISSUE - INCLUDING IRAQ. But these polls are very VERY misleading because they almost always ask about the single issue in a very general way, like: "Do you approve of the way Bush has handled .....BLANK."
Because Bush is a MODERATE, he almost ALWAYS gets a fair amount of disapproval from his far-right flank (perhaps as much as 5-10% of the public), and because the Left-wing of the Democrat Party thinks Bush is a hitleriansmirkingchimp, he almost always gets a non-hearing from another 5-10% of the public. Together, these two groups INFLATE the anti-Bush number by at least 10%. That's why Bush won the election by 9 million votes and the MSM was shocked - because nearly all the polls before the election failed to depict the true overall sentiment of the public. Those critical of Bush from his right flank will NEVER vote Democrat, and they will NEVER cause a crack-up of the GOP.
SO BUSH'S NUMBERS IN THESE SINGLE-ISSUE POLLS ARE ALMOST ALWAYS MUCH LOWER THAN HIS NUMBERS TRULY ARE IN A CRUNCH, or in a head-to-head race with anyone else.
FOR EXAMPLE: Polls show that GENERAL disapproval on Iraq has run as high as 65% recently, but that disapproval total INCLUDES many people who think that Bush has been too weak (folks more "HAWKISH" than Bush), as well people who think Bush is too bellicose and unilateral, (and/or alos includes folks who think we have too few troops there, and folks who think they should all come home immediately).
Likewise, disapproval on how Bush is handling Social Security also is over 50%, but certainly includes folks like me who think that FDR's welfare plan for eldsters is nothing more than a Ponzi Scheme and should be entirely trashed. DITTO IMMIGRATION: many think he is too soft on illegals and porous borders, others think he is too tough.
The more Right-sided critics of Bush inflate the anti-Bush numbers and make Bush seem less popular than he really is because a politican has to be judged in comparison (or against) another politician. That's why/how so MANY pundits MISREAD the polls - and always ascribe greater weakness in Bush than is truly warranted by the polls. (THIS IS WHY THEY ALWAYS MISUNDERESTIMATE HIM!)
SO: many see Bush polling badly - on particular day and on a particular issue - and then presume that this issue will lead to a crack-up of the GOP conservative hold. They see a weak politician sitting astride a teeter-totter when in fact Bush is a an "artisan of the possible" with a truly deep and simple commitment to basic universal values. In the crunch, we all know which side of an issue Bush will come down on: the values side. The CONSERVATIVE values side. And he did this in 2004 and won BIGTIME - carrying larger majorities in both bodies of Congress! And that's why the conservative movement won't EVER break-up over any one of these single issues as long as Bush is president.
The next GOP presidential candidate will have to be equally adept at PLAYING POKER as Bush has been, if he OR SHE is going to be a winner, and if conservatism is going to maintain its lead. In other words: it has more to do with how effectively the leader of the GOP handles the breadth of debate within the GOP, than any debate over any single issue.
WHY AM I SO SURE!? Two reasons: (1) Because the Left is bereft of ANY new meaningful proactive polices; the Left is reactionary. Given the choice between the NEW GOP and the Dems, most middle-of-the-roaders will choose the GOP. And (2), because the Democrat Party is moving evermore LEFTWARD (even as some of its SHREWDER pol's try to head to the middle - like Hillary and Richardson and Biden). As a result, the standard bearers of the DNC in 2008 will have a MUCH GREATER PROBLEM winning the nomination and holding their party together (as they parade around Red America for votes), than the GOP will in their continued invasion of Blue America; (REMEMBER: Bush was closer in more Blue states, than Kerry was in Red states; Bush did better in Massachusetts than Gore!).
BOTTOM-LINE: The GOP is the BIG TENT PARTY now; therefore there's going to be more intra-party debate in the GOP than in the Democrat Party. DO NOT CONFUSE THAT FOR FAULT-LINES! It is vitality, not morbidity! And let's face it: listening to Rice and Schwarzeneggar and Pawlenty and Santorum debate each other is ALWAYS GOING TO BE A LOT more interesting than listening to Sharpton and Kucinich and Kerry debate Hillary!

BESTY more or less agrees.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:08 PM ; Permalink;

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

DELAY INDICTED

Delay was indicted in TRAVIS County Texas. For conspriacy.

This is the same county that the fake BUSH TANG documents came from. (More HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE.)

COINCIDENCE!? Hardly.

The Dem Travis county DA is a partisan hack, and the trumped up indictment (which took forever to arm-twist out of the Grand Jury - a normally pliable bunch - even though it is for conspiracy, which is well-known to be a charge of last resort becasue it is so easy to indict for) a WILD abuse of power.

This indictment is an outrageous partisan attack which is nothing more than an outrageous ABUSE OF POWER by the Democrat Travis Couty DA!

Unable to WIN ELECTIONS against the GOP, or to stop Bush's legislative agenda - (brilliantly sheparded through Congress by Delay), the immoral Leftists have reverted to form: abusing the coercive power of the state to attack popularly elected officials. OR SHOULD I SAY ABUSING THE POWER OF THE COURTS! The courts are - as we all know - the last refuge of the Left; it's the only place left they control - because it is NOT directly connected to the electorate - THE PEOPLE!

The Democrat Party - under the control of the immoral Left and the BDS afflicted - has no values, no policies, no popular mandate, and no shame.

The truth will come out, and when it does, it will be another nail in the coffin of the Left. Thank God. And the sooner the better. (More here.)

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 1:04 PM ; Permalink;

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

IDF CONTINUES ATTACKS ON GAZA; CUTS POWER TO GAZA CITY

BBC: Israeli air strikes have cut off electricity in most of Gaza City. The attacks come amid a continuing but sporadic exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. The latest violence erupted despite the militant group Islamic Jihad joining Hamas in saying it would observe a truce if Israel stopped the attacks. During the day, Hamas released a video of an Israeli who was kidnapped last week [from Jerusalem] and later found dead. Businessman Sasson Nouriel was shown sitting blindfolded under the green banner of Hamas.

As well as the air strikes, the Israeli army also ordered artillery to fire on northern Gaza. And in a pre-dawn operation, Israeli troops raided offices belonging to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups in the West Bank.

This is what happens when Abbas refuses to clean up his OWN house: the IDF has to do it for him.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 9:30 PM ; Permalink;

Monday, September 26, 2005

KARL ROVE CAUSED HURRICANES

The two worstest hurricanes in a long long LONG time were named Katrina and Rita. INITIALS: "K" and "R." Which just happen to be the initials of evilsmirkingchimp BusHitler's puppet master, KKKarl Rove. A COINCIDENCE? Need more proof? What are the odds that hurricanes initialed L-Q would NOT be important or deadly? Far-fetched satire? Not for people who can believe that the Bush Crime family was behind 9/11 - as MANY on the loony Left do believe - many of them, in fact, were marching in DC this weekend with posters that said just that! THE FACT THAT SO MANY LEFTISTS DO BELIEVE IN NUTTY THEORIES LIKE THIS (or that Rove and Bush invaded Iraq just so that they could win the 2002 mid-term elections, or just for the oil, and so on) ISN'T SURPRISING: Leftism is an utterly discredited and irrational and dysfunctional ideology which has failed everywhere and everytime it has ever been put into practice. People who still promote LEFTISM are NUTS.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 6:00 PM ; Permalink;

THE BEST WAY TO END FEDERAL PORK: THE LINE ITEM VETO

AND TWO SENATORS ARE GOING TO INTRODUCE A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT SUPPORTING JUST THAT - Senators Talent and Allen, both of the GOP; (hat tip Ponnuru at NRO's THE CORNER). RIGHT ON!

UPDATE 9/27 -THE CORNER:
TALENT WALKS THE LINE [Ramesh Ponnuru]
I just spoke to Senator Jim Talent (R., Mo.) about the constitutional amendment that Sen. George Allen (R., Va.) and he have introduced to create a line-item veto.“This kind of structural change could make a real difference,” he says. He concedes that empowering the executive could, on occasion, work to increase spending: A liberal president could get congressmen to vote for a new entitlement by threatening to zero out projects in their districts. But he thinks that the net effect would be to cut spending, as it has been in states with the line-item veto.Talent has concluded that “[t]he nature of the legislative process is that legislatures are going to spend money on low-priority items, and the way to avoid that is to empower the executive, who is going to have different incentives and priorities.”But if the president has been unwilling to exercise his existing constitutional powers, such as the veto, to cut spending, why would granting him new powers make any difference? “One of the reasons he doesn’t use [the veto] is [that] it’s been so diluted. The approp[riation]s bills are so big now that he’s behind the eight-ball. If he wants certain appropriations, he can’t veto the others.” He says that a statutory change would have been preferable, since it would be easy to fix imperfections. But the Supreme Court, by holding the line-item veto unconstitutional, foreclosed that option. He’s bullish on his prospects. Two-thirds of Congress voted for the line-item veto statute in 1996. The question, he says, is: “Are we serious about reducing wasteful spending?” All of the congressmen, of both parties, “who have been wringing their hands about spending will have an opportunity to do something about it.”

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 5:56 PM ; Permalink;

KATRINA AND RITA PROVE OFF-SHORE OIL-DRILLING IS CLEAN AND SAFE

There were NO MAJOR oil spills as a result of platforms being hit by Category 5 winds. ZERO. Therefore, the enviro-nuts - who have been preventing the expansion of off-shore oil-drilling in the Gulf, (mostly off the coast of Florida) - should just SHUT UP, SPLIT and take their alarmist falsehoods with them!

ALSO: there were NO enviromental disasters as a result of any REFINERIES being hit by the Category 5 storms. Therefore, we should build more refineries on the Gulf Coast (and elsewhere).

If we had more oil-platforms in the Gulf, them we'd have MORE OIL.

If we had more refinieries then we'd have more gasoline.

AND PRICES WOULD COME DOWN.

High energy prices most adversely effect the poor. If Democrats and Lefties REALLY want to help the poor, then they'd PUSH for more off-shore oil-drilling in the Gulf and more refineries everywhere.

I believe that the Left will never support more drilling or more refineries in the USA because the Left's IRRATIONAL belief in the possibility of the existence of a "pristine environment" trumps their PHONY advocacy for the poor. ONLY if they come out for more off-shore oil-drilling and more refineries can they can prove me wrong.

BTW: Jeb Bush ought to show some courage and stop preventing more drilling off the coast of Florida. There are HUGE oil deposits there, and the USA needs them. Jeb Bush has been playing state-politics with this issue - he needs the votes of people who THINK that off-shore oil-drilling is unsafe (and is therefore a threat to Florida's tourist industry -- because they feel that it will lead to oil-spills which would damage their beaches.) Katrina and Rita PROVE this is an unfounded and irrational fear.

SO LET'S INCREASE GULF DRILLING NOW!

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 9:59 AM ; Permalink;

Sunday, September 25, 2005

LEFTIST DEMAGOGUE SCHRODER BLINKS

PENINSULA/"Reuters":

For the first time since the election that gave neither side a clear majority, Schroeder appeared to shift away from his demand that a grand coalition of the two main parties was only possible under his leadership by saying he wanted the two rivals to join forces for the good of Germany, political analysts said. “I’m in favour of the two main parties coming together because that is my interpretation of what the voters want,” Schroeder told German television, indicating flexibility. But he added his party, which in theory has other coalition options, was not ready to back down in negotiations with the CDU. Schroeder’s comments which appeared to go in both directions offer little hope for an imminent deal but political analysts said he was sending a signal to Germans he could be ready to compromise after last week’s outcome.

He who blinks first... LOSES! Which means, the next stop for the anti-American demagogic socialist is... OBLIVION. Good Riddance! More here.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 9:25 PM ; Permalink;

ASSAD'S DESPERATION SHOWING - and it kills...

UK GUARDIAN:

A prominent Lebanese journalist was seriously injured last night after a bomb exploded in her car in the latest attack apparently targeting critics of Syria. May Chidiac, an anchorwoman with the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, suffered serious wounds to her arms and legs and is likely to have at least one of her limbs amputated. Last night the television station said she was in a critical condition. Footage showed her lying on a trolley as she was rushed through a hospital with dozens of doctors around her. The attack on Ms Chidiac, a Christian, is the latest in a series of explosions in recent months that have targeted politicians and journalists who have spoken of their criticisms of the Syrian regime, which has long dominated Lebanon and treated it as a client state. In June a similar car bomb killed Samir Kassir, a respected journalist who wrote a column in the An Nahar newspaper. In the days before he was killed he had written an article critical of the Syrian regime. Other bombs have killed or injured politicians but there have been no arrests. Syria denies any involvement.

If things go according to plan, the murderous baathist and genocidal terrorist abettor Bashar Assad will be overthrown in November, and he will end up like Mussolini and Ceausescu: on the end of a rope - after having been shot. He won't be alone, either! GOOD RIDDANCE! (More HERE.)

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 9:09 PM ; Permalink;

HOORAY FOR POLAND! Commie doves defeated by pro-American, freemarket, hawks

Another BIG defeat for the Left! And this came in despite of the fact that the Left was anti-Iraq War. I guess the Poles - like the Aussies and the Brits and the Germans and the Japanese - aren't as anti-American and anti-Iraq War or as pro-Big Giovernment as the Leftists who dominate the worldwide MSM would like the public to believe. BTW: of the major allies of Bush, ONLY Spain elected a socialist against the Iraq War and that ONLY came after the Spaniards cowered in fear and caved into al Qaeda as a direct result of the Atocha boimbings. As the poet once said: "The SHAME in Spain falls mostly on the INSANE" - (the Loony Left that is!). (More HERE.)

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 11:12 AM ; Permalink;

THE VIETNAM WAR WAS A COLOSSAL MISTAKE - MADE BY THE VIETNAMESE SOCIALISTS

Vietnam suffered about 2-4 MILLION casualties inthe Vietnam War. They LOST nearly every battle, INLCUDING the Tet Offensive. Their only successful strategy was getting the Left to get the American public to abandon their ally - the emerging democracy in the south - by withdrawing the US troops and ending financial and military aid to the SVG. On this front - and only on this front - they succeeded, in LARGE measure due to TRAITOROUS activities by people like John Forbes Kerry. The Vietcong generals have ADMITTED this fact; (Google General Giap).

US troop level was only about 69,000 in 1971, and only 50,000 troops in 1973, and by 1975 and the SVA was ALONE; (in fact, US TROOPS HAD LEFT ENTIRELY BY MARCH 29, 1973). Yet, the SVG was able to hold off the Vietcong with only American advice and some air support.

BUT IN 1975, the DOVE-DEMOCRATS who controlled Congress cut off financial support for the SVG, and they fell. This led DIRECTLY to" 2 million boat people fleeing Vietcong totalitarianism, (with 500,000 perishing in boats along the way!); 1 MILLION in "re-education camps" inside Vietnam; the fall of Cambodia to socialists who MURDERED 3.5 MILLION of their own; AND IT LED TO THE VIETNAMESE PEOPLE - 65 MILLION OF'EM - living under tyranny for 30 years!

But regardless of how they got the Congress to abandon a U.S. ally and emerging democracy, the Vietnamese socialists MUST NOW ADMIT THAT THEIR WAR AGAINST THE USA WAS A COLOSSAL, IF NOT TOTAL, WASTE.

Why? Because for the last decade all the Vietnamese commies have done is BEG to get American DOLLAR$$$ and American CAPITALISTS and American TOURISTS and AMERICAN BANKERS and AMERICAN FACTORIES into Vietnam!!!!!!! (See here and here and here and here.) Sheesh. If they had just surrendered in 1965, then they'd have had all this American investment & aid FOR THE LAST 40 YEARS!!!!!!! And they'd probably be richer now than South Korea, instead of being nearly as impoverished and backward and as "UN-FREE" as North Korea! Sheesh.

YUP: THAT PROVES THAT Ho Chi Minh - and the socialists who followed him - WASTED THE LIVES OF MILLIONS OF THEIR FELLOW COUNTRYMEN!

Why do I blog this NOW?! For two reasons. (1) Leftists today still think that the anti-Vietnam War movement was their greatest success - (or at worst tied with Watergate). In fact, it was the lowest moment in our nation's history. (2) Leftists persist in trying to get the rest of the public to see the Iraq War as "Vietnam Redux" - as if our involvement in Vietnam was bad, and our involvement in Iraq is bad. But the fact is, the ONLY parallel is that in BOTH wars the Left allies itself to tryanny and against democracy - and tries to get the USA government to abandon an emerging democracy.

THE LEFT WAS WRONG THEN, AND IT IS WRONG NOW. (And I was part of the anti-war Left, then - so I KNOW!)

There's value in making the comparison on one other level, too: just as Ho Chi Minh wasted the lives of Vietnamese by ordering them to resist democratization and capitalism and free markets, so too do OBL and Zarqawi waste the lives of their adherents. Muslims all over the world shoud embrace democracy.

"WHY?" the Left asks; "ISN'T THIS MERELY 'CULTURAL HEGEMONY?!' WHO ARE WE TO 'IMPOSE OUR VALUES' ON ANYONE ELSE?!"

The answer is simple: Freedom is good for EVERYONE because it is NATURAL TO EVERYONE, for ALL humans, EVERYWHERE - just like FDR said in his FOUR FREEDOMS speech. Democracy is concomitant with freedom because democracy is the only way for free individuals to form a consensual government. And freedom and democracy are better for all people in all cultures and all societies because increasing prosperity enhances the quality of life for everyone, and prosperity is a by-product of liberty.

IN OTHER WORDS: POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 11:00 AM ; Permalink;

ISRAEL RETALIATES WITH AIRSTRIKES AGAINST GAZA: HAS THE WAR AGAINST HAMAS BEGUN?

UPDATED -- SCROLL DOWN --

Perhaps I should rephrase the question: has another Arab-Israeli War just begun? Here's why I ask:

BBC [I have taken the liberty to "rearrange" the sequence of sentences in the BBC report so that it makes sense; all the sentences are verbatim.]:

... after more than 21 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, injuring five Israelis in Sderot, Israeli planes have carried out an air strike on the northern Gaza Strip - the first such raid since its military withdrawal earlier this month. Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz had WARNED the Arabs that Israel would repond firmly to any attacks coming from Gaza. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for firing 10 home-made rockets into Israel on Friday, following the killing of three of its leaders by Israeli troops in Tulkarm. Israel said the militants were killed after opening fire on troops who were trying to arrest them.

On Friday evening an explosion at a rally held by the Palestinian militants of Hamas left 15 dead. The ruling Palestinian Fatah faction said it held Hamas responsible for the explosion at Friday's rally, when a truck carrying gunmen and home-made weapons blew up.

The Israeli military said its air strike was aimed at a Hamas weapons warehouse in the Jabaliya refugee camp, where Friday's rally was held. Two more missiles were fired at targets in Gaza City.

IMHO: this is either the opening round of the next BIG ARAB-ISRAELI WAR, or the beginning of the Gazan Civil War, (if Abbas tries to assert his legitimate control over Gaza - in which case he will get help from the USA and Israel - and he will win).

To become a big Arab-Israeli War a few other things would have to happen:

(1) Assad would have to try to take advantage of stepped up hostilities between Gaza and Israel, and use THAT as a pretext to attack Israel in a cynical attempt to strengthen his precarious hold over Syria and perhaps to regain control over Lebanon. Assad would claim to be coming to the aid of the Gazans.

(2) Hiz b'Allah would have to step up its attacks against Israel from southern Lebanon into a full-fledged offensive. They'd use Gaza and the Shebaa Farms as a pretext (and also they're newly re-motivated by the belief that the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza was FORCED by Hamas and terror).

(3) Zarqawi would merel yhave to step up attacks against King Abdullah II of Jordan to create a third front in the ARab-Isrzaeli War, (and a fourth in the overall GWOT - if you include Gaza, Shebaa farms, and the Sunni Traingle; it's the "FIFTH FRONT" if you include eastern Afghanistan; sixth if you inlcude the Moro islands; seventh if you include Kashmir - AND SO ON; IOW: JIHAD IS A GLOBAL WAR).

Right now, the odds of another Arab-Israeli War are as least as good as the odds of a Gazan Civil War. The odds that peace will break out are quite bad.

Neither a Arab-Israeli War or a Gazan Civil War is a rational response to the very good possibilites which have recently opened up (because of Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon and Egypt's gradual democratization, and Libya's defanging, and Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon), but the region - outside of Israel (and sometimes Egypt and Jordan) is NOT known for its reasonableness. Which is the chief reason why I feel that an Arab-Israeli War is a bit more likely: Assad (whose military is NO MATCH for the IDF) is probaby desperate enough to risk everything, at this point - I mean he's almost got nothing to lose.(And the closer we get to 10/25 - when the UN report on the assassination of Hariri is due - and it is likely to directly implicate Assad - the greater the likelihood Assad will do something desperate.) And HAMAS and Hiz b'Allah and Zarqawi are wacky jihadofascists who CANNOT be relied upon to do ANYTHING rational - so we must EXPECT them to WANT an all out war against Israel regardless of the risks. ON TOP OF THIS: the remnants of Arafat's legions of jihadoterrorists in the West Bank may try to start Intifada #3 (after all, Intifada #2 began soon after Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon).

So, STAY TUNED... (MORE HERE.)

UPDATE: AP : "Israel Vows 'Crushing' Response to Attacks"
- IDF MASSES ON GAZAN BORDER - (hat-tip JIHAD WATCH):
Israel ordered ground forces to the Gaza border Saturday and threatened a "crushing" response after Israeli towns were hit by the first major Hamas rocket barrage from the coastal territory since Israel's pullout two weeks earlier. Israel also resumed airstrikes against Hamas targets, hitting several suspected weapons workshops, and imposed a blanket closure that bars all Palestinians from its territory. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called his Security Cabinet for a meeting later Saturday to approve the military's response..."

THINGS ARE HEATING UP, FAST!

UPDATE #2: AFP: "Hamas Says Strike at “Israel’s Heart” Possible" - Gaza. Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri said it was possible that the group might strike “at the heart of Israel” in retaliation for the Israeli air strikes today, AFP reported. “It’s a very dangerous escalation of tension on the part of the enemy”, al-Masri said and added that the Israeli attacks “will not stop the resistance”, which includes even a strike “at the heart of the Zionist enemy”.

STAY TUNED... (MORE HERE.)

UPDATE #3: Syrian based PFLP declares truce null & void, and urges Palestinians to rise up... that's an intifada, folks...

UPDATE #4: ABCNews reports that the emergency session of the Israeli cabinet approved a return to the "targeted assassination" policy - which had been suspended to help Abbas...

UPDATE #5: IDF SEALS BOTH GAZA AND WEST BANK... this is a prerequisite for military operations in both territories, and of course to prevent any infiltrations of jihadomaniacal genocidal terrorists from the territories into Israel.

Therefore, I expect a major terrorist attack by the jihadists against a settlement in the West bank...

UPDATE #6: BBC: Saturday/ Sunday: Israel launches more overnight air strikes and arrests more than 200 Palestinians in West Bank -- The Israeli army said those arrested in the West Bank included activists from both Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Hamas said Hassan Yousef, its leader in the West Bank, was among them.

UPDATE #7: GOOGLE NEWS - [they're related stories]:
Israel Kills Militant Chief in Offensive: Guardian Unlimited, UK - 1 hour ago. By LARA SUKHTIAN. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israel pressed forward with a broad offensive against Islamic militants on Sunday, killing ...
Hamas calls halt to attacks: Japan Today, Japan - 54 minutes ago. GAZA CITY — The Palestinian militant group Hamas on Sunday announced a halt to Gaza-based attacks on Israel, even as two Islamic Jihad militants were killed ...

Er um... ISRAEL whacks THE EVIL-DOERS AND THEY CAVE - (calling an end to their attacks)! FUNNY HOW THAT WORKS! I think we need more of that! EVERYWHERE! (More HERE and HERE.)

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:08 AM ; Permalink;

Saturday, September 24, 2005

IAEA GIVES IRAN AN OPEN DEADLINE

BBC: The UN nuclear watchdog has passed a resolution that paves the way for Iran to be referred to the UN Security Council over its nuclear ambitions. The IAEA did not however set a date for reporting Iran to the council, which could ultimately decide to impose sanctions on the country. ... Mr ElBaradei said the question of referring Iran to the UN Security Council should not come up before November, when the 35-member IAEA board meets again. He urged all the parties involved to "exploit this window of opportunity" for negotiation and diplomacy. ... Iran concealed its nuclear fuel programme for nearly 20 years before it was confirmed by US satellite pictures in 2002. Traces of highly enriched weapons-grade uranium were found at its Natanz plant a year later. Tehran avoided being reported immediately to the Security Council in 2003 by opening talks with Britain, France and Germany. However, those talks broke down after Iran resumed its uranium conversion process - suspended since November 2004 - in August and pronounced it had an "inalienable right" to produce nuclear fuel.

Er um... not before Novbermber, huh. WELL WELL WELL: that's RIGHT AFTER the UN is expected to issue a report on the assassination of Hariri - a report which is expected to directly implicate Assad, and probably lead to his downfall (or utter cave in - which is just as good, if not better).

SO: the EU/IAEA's "SOFT NOVEMBER" deadline should NOT be interpreted as a "gesture" to Iran, (intended to make them more likely to cooperate with the international community); it should only be interpreted as a "timing-move" which allows the USA and our allies the time we need to gets our ducks in a row: we will "deal with" Syria first - (and solidify our gains in Iraq), BEFORE we turn our attention to Iran. By dealing with Syria first, we further isolate Iran and make dealing with them on ANY front - using ANY MEANS NECESSARY - much MUCH easier. And a good outcome more likely.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 5:22 PM ; Permalink;

Friday, September 23, 2005

DEMOCRAT SILENCE ON GAZA SYNAGOGUE DESECRATIONS IS DEAFENING

So far both President Bush and Senator Santorum have publicly expressed outrage over the blatanat acts of genopcidal desecration in Gaza this week.

TWO CONSERVATIVES - the leader of the GOP and a GOP leader of the US Senate.

THE ENTIRE DEMOCRAT PARTY - "the legacy party" for American Jewry - has been SILENT.

WHAT'S WORSE: GOOGLENEWS has NOT ONE story about either Bush's condemnation of the desecrations or about Santorum's. FOR THE MSM, THE DESECRATIONS DON'T MATTER - and neither does the fact that ONLY GOP conservatives have condemned them. The MSM has no shame.

Here's part of what Santorum said ON THE FLOOR OF THE SENATE:

"... I come to the floor today to describe and to deplore the desecration of synagogues that wasperpetrated earlier this week in Gaza. After painful deliberations in Israel's Cabinet, the government of Israel decided to leave standing nineteen synagogues in its twenty-one communitiesthroughout the Gaza Strip rather than lending a hand to their destruction. Despite official Israeli requests to protect the sanctity and security of the holy sites after it courageously withdrew from Gaza, the Palestinian Authority rejected out of hand any responsibility and refused to protect the structures from arsonists and looters. In fact, a Palestinian police officer, tasked with keeping the peace, shirked his responsibility and allowed the mobs to torch the synagogues, claiming, "The people have a right to do what they're doing.'' Those acts should offend all people of good conscience. ... All Americans of good will, of all faiths, ethnicities and nationalities feelsuch pain. I commend and join President Bush who yesterday condemned thedesecration of the synagogues in Gaza and hope that all Members of this great body do the same.

Here's what Bush had to say:

"... we mourn the passing of a great hero for freedom, Simon Wiesenthal. Simon Wiesenthal was a survivor and a witness, who served -- who seared the horror of the Holocaust in the collective memory of the world. He's one of these leaders that refused to back down. He spoke with clarity. He insisted that we remember the lessons of the crime. He insisted that we remember that hatred prepares the way for violence, and the failure to expose and confront intolerance can lead to atrocities beyond imagining. As we saw in the recent desecration of the synagogues in Gaza, the ancient hatred of anti-Semitism still burns in the hearts of men. And the best way we can honor Simon Wiesenthal's memory is to expose and confront anti-Semitism wherever it is found. By condemning this hatred at home and abroad, we stand with the victims of the Shoah and declare to the world: Never again. "

I think that what American Jews ought to say about VOTING for a Democrat is "NEVER AGAIN!"

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 4:56 PM ; Permalink;

SAUDI PRINCE FEARS IRAQ MIGHT BECOME 3 NATIONS

The NYTIMES has obligingly carried a Saudi warning about Iraq; a prince of the House of Saud thinks that Iraq will devolve into civil war and fall apart into 3 nations:

Prince Saud said he met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week and added that American officials generally responded to his warnings by telling him that the United States successfully carried off the Iraqi elections and "they say the same things about the constitution" and the broader situation in Iraq now. On Thursday, in fact, the senior administration official said, "The forward movement of the political process is the best answer." Prince Saud argued: "But what I am trying do is say that unless something is done to bring Iraqis together, elections alone won't do it. A constitution alone won't do it." Prince Saud is a son of the late King Faisal and has been foreign minister for 30 years.

Er um, since when do we take advice about constitutionalism and democracy from a non-constitutional KINGDOM which has a horrific human rights record - like Saudi Arabia!? Sheesh.

AND ANOTHER THING: who says 3 nations instead of "one Iraq" would be a bad thing!? Kurdistan would be a GREAT GREAT GREAT country and ally to the USA - UNAMBIGUOUSLY SO! And a Sunni nation that is run by Zarqawi!? WE COULD BOMB IT INTO OBLIVION WITHOUT A SECOND OF HEISTATION! And a Shia nation on Iran's border!? It might be the best way to truly DEMOCRATIZE Iran - BECAUSE SISTANI BELIEVES IN THE SEPARATION OF CLERICS AND STATE.

Let's stop worrying and stay the course; no matter which way you slice it, we're on the RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY. Human rights and demcracy always have been, and always will be. The people who oppose liberty - or fear it - are on the wrong side of history - and always have been.

BTW: I think that the USA response to this Prince was RIGHT ON (repeat): On Thursday, in fact, the senior administration official said, "The forward movement of the political process is the best answer." AS FREDERIC TURNER notes (please scroll down): WE ARE THE REVOLUTION, and the reactionaries - whether from the House of Saud or from al Qaeda, or the post-modern Left - WILL NEVER STOP THE MARCH OF FREEDOM.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 2:56 PM ; Permalink;

"Global terrorism is not a revolution, but an attempt to suppress a revolution."

Frederick Turner - in TCS:

The velvet revolution (also named the orange revolution, the purple finger, the rose revolution, the cedar revolution) has swept the world. In different ways, nonviolent, non-ideological middle-class and skilled-worker mass movements have unseated tyrants and established democracies in an amazing range of countries: Spain, Portugal, Chile, Argentina, Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Bangladesh, South Korea, Indonesia, the Baltic states, Mexico, Serbia, Albania, Georgia, the Ukraine, the Philippines, Lebanon, even Palestine, all fell to the regimes of popular sovereignty. China nearly fell in 1989, with the Tiananmen protest, and will become a democracy some time in the next twenty years. If there is one defining event that characterizes the end of twentieth century political modernism, it is this one.

The suicide bomb, with the mass terrorism it epitomizes, is the weapon of choice against the velvet revolution. The target is not, as well-meaning critics of terrorism say, indiscriminate: it is exact and precise. The target is any population that might organize a velvet revolution, the potential sovereigns of a democratic state. It is people who are not ideological, who are willing to let others believe what they want, who want to make a living and be independent, and who want a say in their government. Even in Israel, where it was the citizens of an already-established democratic state that were being attacked, the true target, as we are now coming to understand after the death of Arafat, was the nascent democracy of Palestine. By killing Jews, Arafat could continue to oppress and defraud Palestinians.

Global terrorism is not a revolution, but an attempt to suppress a revolution. What is being defended by suicide terror is not Islam, not traditional moral culture, not the ethnic nation yearning to be free of the colonial oppressor, but the principle of totalitarian rule -- the sovereignty of the dictator or the ayatollah, promoted as national self-identity and independence, or as the will of God. It is the last gasp, historically, of the ancient system by which the huge majority of human beings were ruled since the Neolithic agricultural revolution.

ME: The Democratic Revolution - started in the USA in 1776 - is still the most revolutionary revolution of all time. What Leftists think of as revolutionary - namely socialism - (in all its forms: Marxism; Fascism; Nazism; Maoism; Stalinism; Castroism; Mugabe-ism; Ho-Chi-Minhism; Pol-Potism; Trotskyitism) - is nothing more than a tyrnanny by the state over the individual; (many even called it, "the DICTATORSHIP of the proletariat" - not even feigning that democracy was even an intention; in fact, communism merely substituted one aristocracy - one of inherited birthrights - for another: that of orthodix adherence to a false ideology).

All people and movements which stand in the way of the advance of humanity from tyranny to democracy, and from serfdom to liberty (and the prosperity that ONLY liberty produces) - are reactionary. ALL: Leftists and jihadists. They're birds of a feather.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 1:18 PM ; Permalink;

SYRIA'S BAATHIST ASSAD REGIME WILL FALL SOON AFTER 10/25/05

UK GUARDIAN:

Detlev Mehlis, who is leading the UN inquiry, is scheduled to present his final report on October 25. Four Lebanese generals have been arrested so far on suspicion of murder. But Mr Mehlis, a former German state prosecutor, will also name several influential figures in the regime as suspects in the killing, the source said. The report will almost certainly lead to a showdown between the UN security council and Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president. The security council is likely to demand that Mr Assad - whose hold on government is fragile - hands over Syrians accused of involvement. Mr Assad is virtually isolated internationally, with little support even among his fellow Arab leaders, so action from the security council could be swift, unlike its approach to countries such as Iran. ... Much rests now on how high up the Syrian regime the investigation reaches. The source close to the investigation said he did not know if there was any evidence to suggest Mr Assad had knowledge of the assassination plot. Most of the important decisions in the running of the country are made by a small group around the president, including his brother Mahir, who heads the Republican Guard, and Mr Shawkat. "If it reaches up to a high level, even if they don't accuse Bashar himself, it will destabilise the Syrian regime tremendously," said Michael Young, the opinion editor at Lebanon's English-language newspaper the Daily Star. "I think the Americans and French basically feel this is a chance to get rid of the Syrian regime."

I think it will work. THEN we can go after IRAN. Stay Tuned...
(MORE HERE AND HERE AND HERE.)

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 1:16 PM ; Permalink;

SILENCE = PROOF THE WORLD NOW THINKS ISLAM IS A GENOCIDAL CREED

Here's a post by LGF: Hamas To Convert Synagogue to Weapons Museum

Incredibly vile behavior from the terrorist gang the world is trying desperately to promote to a “political entity:” Hamas To Convert Synagogue to Weapons Museum. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)
WASHINGTON - Emboldened by Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and part of the West Bank, Hamas yesterday announced its plan to turn a synagogue in Netzarim into a museum that would display weapons employed by the terrorist group’s members against Israeli civilians.
UPDATE at 9/22/05 6:54:08 pm: I’m reading this again, and wondering where the hell is the world’s outrage about this? Newsweek prints a false rumor that a Koran was dunked in a toilet, and the entire planet goes nuts. Hamas announces that they’re going to turn a Jewish house of worship into a memorial to mass murder ... and the silence is absolutely deafening.

LGF rightly argues that the deafening silence reveals thatmost of the world doesn't care one whit about Jews or Israel. It also says A GREAT DEAL about how the world views Islam:

The fact that the world EXPECTS Muslims to go nuts and run amok in a violent rampage based on a RUMOR about a Koran being flushed down a toilet, AND that the world says NOTHING when Muslims torch and descecrate synagogues and then publicly announces that they'ee gonna turn them into a museum glorifying genocide, PROVES that most people are CONVINCED that most Muslims are uncontrollably violent, racist gencodial maniacs. They've come to expect the worst from Muslims. And for good reasons, too.

If you are a Muslim, and you have a problem with that global perception, then you have a duty to your faith to start CONDEMNING this stuff and attacking the perpetrators of this mayhem and urging your national leaders to start ARRESTING THEM AND IF NECESSARY TO START KILLING THEM, or you are condemning your religion to the ashheaps of history - for if these MANIACS takeover your religion, then your religion will go down in flames with them. YUP: it's up to you, you so called "moderate Muslims," wherever you are. SPEAK UP NOW, OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE. Your silence means that you WANT the world to continue to tacitly EXPECT that people of your faith NATURALLY AND REFLEXIVELY resort to violence and hate and genocide. Or, you want the world to beleive that you are a genocidal maniac, too.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:18 PM ; Permalink;

BBC: "A US court hears of Lynndie England's alleged role in the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Iraq. "

The headline says it all about the Left: they coddle and rationalize and excuse real thugs, while saving unreserved disdain for the likes of Rumsfeld - (by calling for his resignation because of what thugs like England actually did!). In this case, England (the perverted perp virtually caught red-handed - (she's in dozens of photographs laughing in the camera as prisoners are obviously being abused) - is referred to as ONLY an "ALLEGED" criminal. Alleged. Sheesh. She's already pleaded "guilty" once. And almost all of the rest of her perverted cadre of abusers have already been convicted or pleaded gulty too! Double sheesh.

It's not unlike how the MSM has handled the Plame-leak case: (1) the MSM has already convicted Rove (and beatified Miller) - even though NO ONE knows the facts of the investigation. And (2) the MSM ignores the fact that the real bad-guy is Wilson, who not only was the first to out his wife as a covert agent (to David Corn, of The Nation) but LIED about the relation between his CIA mission and Bush's SOTU. In his infamous NYTIMES op-ed, Wilson claimed his fact-finding mission in Niger had disproved what Bush said in the SOTU, but IN FACT, what Bush said was NOT controverted by Wilson AT ALL - on two bases: (a) Wilson's actual report (according to the Senate) was actually INCONCLUSIVE; and (b) Bush's SOTU DID NOT REFER TO NIGER OR YELLOWCAKE!

What do Plame and England have in common, and what does all this prove? That the MSM's bias against the Bush Administration is as pervasive as it is subtle. In fact, it's so pervasive that the Leftists of the MSM probably aren't even aware of that it comes out in nearly everything they write and how they write it.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:07 PM ; Permalink;

WB YEATS: WHY COMBATING THE LEFT AND THE MSM THEY DOMINATE IS SO DIFFICULT

From a poem by Yeats:

For how can you compete,

Being honour bred, with one

Who, were it proved he lies,

Were neither shamed in his own

Nor in his neighbours’ eyes?

He nailed'em!

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:04 PM ; Permalink;

EU3 CAVE IN/JOIN CHINA AND RUSSIA IN APPEASMENT OF IRAN; USA GOES ALONG, FOR NOW...

SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPRISE! Heh. BBC:

The EU's "big three" are said to have backed down from a demand that the UN nuclear watchdog should immediately report Iran to the Security Council. Diplomats from France, the UK and Germany said the shift came amid opposition from Russia and China. They are now reportedly proposing that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna should only implicitly threaten Tehran with such action. ... According to the Associated Press news agency, the new draft now says only that suspicions over Iran's nuclear programme are "within the competence of the Security Council". It accuses Iran of "excessive concealment, misleading information and delays" in giving IAEA officials access to nuclear materials. It also expresses serious concern that Iran has failed to "re-establish full suspension of all enrichment-related activities", a reference to last month's esumption by Tehran of uranium conversion. Conversion is a prelude to enrichment - a key step in the manufacture of nuclear arms. The US appears to be behind the revised resolution. "Our goal is to build the broadest possible consensus," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said. The threat of referral was not being withdrawn, he told reporters, adding it was "a question of not if, but when" the issue would go before the Security Council.

More HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE.

The fact that the EU3 caved does not surprise me. But the fact that the USA is going along with it DOES! The USA must WANT the delay - for some other STRATEGIC REASON. I guess and hope thjat we are merely delaying the inevitable until a propitious time. I hope and pray that we are not delaying until it is TOO LATE, but just until a time which is more apt for ramping up a more assertive - if not AGGRESSIVE stance against Iran. Time will tell; unfortunately, if we are wrong, then it will have been a HUGE blunder. Perhaps, we intend on using the immediate/near term period to get tough with Syria? This would make sense. If Assad is GONE, and Syria is no longer either menace to Iraq or an effective ally of Iran, then we have seriously eroded the enemies strength. STAY TUNED.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:03 PM ; Permalink;

Thursday, September 22, 2005

SHEEHAN COVERAGE PROVES MSM BIAS

I was news-surfing ther MSM last night and I saw several reports abput the Sheehan march in DC. Sheehan had ONLY 29-30 people. YET, the MSM coverage of the event RARELY mentioned that FACT (amazingly "Reuters" did!), and all of them had their camera's in-close on her (or "TIGHT") so that the VISUALS made it SEEM like she had a bigger crowd than she really did IN FACT. This rank distortion by most of the MSM is nothing more than them doing anti-Bush/anti-war propaganda. The closest any part of the MSM coverage I saw came to reporting the truth was when one TV reporter mentioned that Sheehan expected bigger crowds for a protest scheduled for Saturday; it seemd to me the reporter was not reporting but wishing! Sheesh. (Check out the breadth of bad-reporting / "Sheehan-boosting" for yourself, HERE.)

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 11:38 AM ; Permalink;

THE SELF-IMPOSED CENSORSHIP OF THE LEFT

POWERLINE'S John Hinderaker wrote a typically BRILLIANT post which exposes the MSM's left-wing bias. He posted an excerpt from an email he received from the managing editor of the CJR, in which the editor called THE NYPOST a "truly right-wing" paper which was nothing more than "a [right-wing] rich man's toy." Hinderaker comments:

... the Times and the Post are "truly far-right newspapers"? Only if your perspective is somewhere on the most leftward 5% of the political spectrum. Do you suppose that Lovelady would describe such liberal papers as the New York Times and Los Angeles Times as "truly far-left"? No, neither do I. And where does Lovelady get off calling those papers "rich men's toys"? Who does he think controls the New York Times? Has the Sulzburger family become poor? Has "Pinch" not treated his paper like a toy, encouraging its forays into left-wing arcana even as profits declined and veteran employees were laid off? And has the Graham family stopped running the Washington Post Company? These papers would be "toys," too, but for one fact: they're liberal. It's an interesting window into the mind of an influential liberal journalist.

I often experience the same exact thing: My parents (God Bless my Father's memory and God Bless my Mother) were leftists, and her leftist friends think the NYTIMES is RIGHT-WING (or at best "centrist")! AND TO THEM ... IT IS! I tell them that this ONLY proves that they are so far left that even when they are looking right... they're still looking left!

I believe that the key to getting leftists change is to get them to open their eyes and get them off their left-wing media addiction (which leads them to EXCLUDE reading or watching anything that is right-of-center; in other words: their self-censorship - THEIR INNER EXILE). I believe that once reasonable people start to look at events from both sides, they will begin to "see the light."

The leftists in the USA and Europe - (and in the academy and in the MSM) - live in a self-imposed totalitarian regime of their own minds; whereas tyrannies like the USSR actively censored all media and prevented their trapped citizenry from reading any real news, and from reading any real history (of Communism or anything else), or from reading Hayek - or anything that opposed their rigid ideology, contemporary post-modern leftists voluntarily censor themselves and restrict their reading and viewing of news and commentary to the left-of-center media (which is still MOST of the media, so they don't FEEL like their censoring themselves).

This self-imposed censorship is so bad, that some leftist NYTIMES readers I know WON'T EVEN READ BROOKS OR TIERNEY!

Sheesh.

My current refrain to them is this: "How can you claim to have a better informed opinion of events than I do if you don't read news and commentary from both sides of the poltical spectrum as I do!?" This seems to stop them in their tracks, and makes a little crack in their wall of denial. One that needs to be continually hammered if these otherwise bright people are ever to become freed from their attachment to an utterly discredited ideology.

ALAS: it is a form of deprogramming, and is as difficult a road as any which tires to disengage a person from the armature which they belive holds them together and is the skelton of their personal identity, so-to-speak.

But I - and my brothers - (and Hinderaker and Davod Horowitz, and Norman Podhoretz and so SO many other former leftists who have moved right) are proof that it is possible.

And that it's liberating.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 10:33 AM ; Permalink;

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

RICE REPEATING POWELL'S AND CLINTON'S ERROR: coddling the PNA in spite of their refusal to fulfill their treaty obligations

YAHOO/AFP (hat tip LGF): Asked in a news conference Tuesday about earlier Israeli threats to disrupt the polls in the West Bank if Hamas stands, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged full cooperation. "We would hope that the elections can go forward and that everyone will cooperate... because elections are fundamental to the continued evolution and development of the Palestinian process," she said. Rice reiterated the US view that there was a "fundamental contradiction" between Hamas's armed activities and its plan to run in January's poll. But she added: "We understand that the Palestinian political system is in transition, that it is in transition toward a democratic system and that has to be a Palestinian process."

I think that Rice and the Bush Administration needs to be MUCH clearer about what is an acceptable election process in Gaza and the West Bank, and that we must put MUCH MORE pressure on Abbas and the PNA to fulfill their obligations under the Roadmap. A lack a clarity only gives the enemy wiggle room, and only makes the likelihood of of failure greater. The enemy needs to know that if they fail to fulfill their obligations that there are serious consequences - to borrow a phrase from UNSC #1441. ALSO: because Israel ON ITS OWN left the Gaza, there should be a SPECIAL BURDEN on the PNA to live up to its obligations under the Roadmap. It is not only bad-policy to coddle terroristys, it is highly hypocritical for the USA to demand restraint from Israel in dealing with terrorists RIGHT ON THEIR BORDER while we wage war against jihadists thousands of miles from our own borders.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 11:28 AM ; Permalink;

MORE EXPERTS AGREE THAT BUSH WAS RIGHT; THE CANAL BREACHES WERE UNFORESEEN AND THE CANAL WALLS SHOULD HAVE HELD

WASHINGTON POST (hat tip MEMEORANDUM):

Louisiana's top hurricane experts have rejected the official explanations for the floodwall collapses that inundated much of New Orleans, concluding that Hurricane Katrina's storm surges were much smaller than authorities have suggested and that the city's flood- protection system should have kept most of the city dry. The Army Corps of Engineers has said that Katrina was just too massive for a system that was not intended to protect the city from a storm greater than a Category 3 hurricane, and that the floodwall failures near Lake Pontchartrain were caused by extraordinary surges that overtopped the walls. ... But with the help of complex computer models and stark visual evidence, scientists and engineers at Louisiana State University's Hurricane Center have concluded that Katrina's surges did not come close to overtopping those barriers. That would make faulty design, inadequate construction or some combination of the two the likely cause of the breaching of the floodwalls along the 17th Street and London Avenue canals -- and the flooding of most of New Orleans. ... The center's researchers said it is too early to say whether the breaches were caused by poor design, faulty construction or some combination. But van Heerden said the floodwalls at issue -- massive concrete slabs mounted on steel sheet pilings -- looked more like the sound barriers found on major highways. He also suggested that the slabs should have been interlocked, and that the canals they were supposed to protect should have had floodgates to keep out water from the lake.

Bush was castigated by the left for saying that the breached were unforeseen. He is now COMPLETELY VINDICATED. And I'm sure the MSM will report that part, too. YEAH RIGHT!

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 3:32 AM ; Permalink;

BAD NEWS FROM THE IAEA IN VIENNA: PUTIN AND CHINA SIDE WITH IRAN

BBC: Russia and China have openly opposed Western efforts to take Iran to the UN Security Council over Tehran's controversial nuclear activities. The US and EU have been pressing for Iran to be referred to the Security Council, which can impose sanctions. But Moscow and Beijing may block the plan, with Russia saying the current situation was "not irreversible ... Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he agreed that Iran should not become a nuclear power. But the country, which has the power of veto on the Security Council, has been calling for more diplomacy. The latest Russian statement is likely to disappoint the Europeans and the Americans who are pushing hard for the referral, says the BBC's Bethany Bell at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna.".

We need to put the screws on these two former commie countries. They are definitely NOT allies, yet - not by any stretch of the imagination. I think - to shake up the Chicoms - we need to get Japan to announce they have nukes. And then we need to find some lever to use on Putin.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 3:11 AM ; Permalink;

ROSA PARKS, CINDY SHEEHAN AND THE LEFT

Confederate Yankee DEMOLISHES those on the Left who'd compare Cindy Sheehan to Rosa Parks. GO THERE AND RTWT! I can only add two things: (1) The entire crowd of so-called "progressives" - and EVERYTHING they have come to stand for - is a pale shadow of what it once was:

We had Martin, and now they have Jesse and Al. We had JFK and RFK, and now they have TEDDY. We had Muhummed Ali, and now they have Tyson. We had Robert Strauss, and now they have Howard Dean. We had Shirley Chisolm, and now they have Cynthia McKinney. We had majority leader Senator LBJ, and now they have MINORITY leader Senator Harry Reid.

And (2) there's another pathetic angle: some of the celebrities of the Left are the SAME EXACT ones that were there 40 years ago! The world has changed, but they haven't. So the Left suffers three ways: (a) because it has some of the same spokesman it had then - people who are stuck in 1968 - it looks as vestigial as it is; it isn't socialism with a happy/human face, but socialism with an old angry face; (b) most of the new celebrities are uneducated idiotic wild moonbats; and (c) because the last 25 years have proven that Leftist ideology has never worked anywhere as well as Hayekian libertarianism.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 1:11 AM ; Permalink;

CLINTON, HURRICANES KATRINA & GEORGES, AND NEW ORLEANS

One of the best posts EVER, by JUST ONE MINUTE - on the 1998 hurricane that nearly struck New Orleans (on Clinton's watch) - Hurricane Georges. It gives context and perspective to Katrina response, has authoritative MSM links backing up EVERY QUOTE, and an absolutely ON TARGET analysis - all proving Nagin and Blanco were MOST culpable for the horrors of Katrina, and that Clinton is STILL a GRADE "A" dissembler!

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:18 AM ; Permalink;

THE GIST OF MOONBAT HYPOCRISY, and why the post-modern Left is NUTS

It's simple, really:

ON THE ONE HAND, the Left gets all bent out of shape if you criticize Islam and non-democratic misogynistic Islamic nations, or argue that race, age and country of origin should be PART of a profile and that police SHOULD profile, or that there are such things as UNIVERSAL RIGHTS.

The Left argues that "we" ("we" being the hegemonic West in general, and specifically the "American Empire") have no right to interfere or intervene in other cultures and countries because values cannot be imposed; there is no such thing as "evil;" good and evil are values which are relative to each culture, and using force to change another culture is nothing more than cultural hegemony motivated by colonialism's naked greed.

That's also why the Left argues that "we" should appease the our foes, appease the "other", appease the Third World and send them unlimited amounts of Foreign Aid - with no strings attached: Because "we" are to blame for their poverty - AND - since it is their poverty which makes them mad at us and attack us, "we" shouldn't get mad at them- "we" have no right to; "we" should instead withdraw from what is properly their sphere of influence (Israel, Saudi Arabia, the Moro Islands, Kashmir, Kurdistan, Spain, Bosnia and Serbia - for starters), and just send them our money.

Yet, ON THE OTHER HAND, the Left has no qualms about accusing BusHitler, KKKarl Rove, and John AshKKKroft of every evil thing under the sun. From (a) planning 9/11 in order to have an "endless war" with which benefits their buddies in the defense contractor industry; to (b) fulfilling their long-held dream of tearing up the Bill of Rights; to (c) lying about WMD as a pretext to steal Iraq's oil. To the Left, Bush and John Roberts and Pat Robertson are dangerously evil people.

This is simply hypocrisy. On the one hand they deny that evil exists (except as defined by each culture for itself), and on the other hand they accuse Bush - and the GOP and conservatives, and pro-lifers, and neo-cons and Zionists of being absolutely EVIL!

And this gets us to what is now the GIST of Leftist hatred of evil right-wingers: ABORTION. Leftists do not believe that life begins at conception - as if some ELSE was conceived - NOT A LIFE; as if an expecting mother was not expecting anything special until the 25th week. This is irrational because all delineations EXCEPT for conception are by definition ARBITRARY. Yet the Left persists in calling pro-life people evil because the Left believes that anyone who wants pregnant women to go to term and give birth and then - if they don't want the baby - just give up the baby for adoption (rather than killing the baby while it is in the womb) are evil. To the Left, people who abort their pregnancies are doing nothing wrong at all.

To the Left, pro-lifers are evil. To the Left, neo-cons - (people who believe that every person everywhere is entitled to their universal human rights and that democracy is the only way to guarantee this, AND THAT SINCE WE ARE THE MOST POWERFUL DEMOCRACY ON EARTH WE HAVE A DUTY TO HELP LIBERATE OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS EVERYWHERE, just as FDR and JFK said) - are evil.

But to the Left, jihadists and islamofascists who openly call for genocidal war are not evil; to the Left, the jihadists're just misunderstood indigenous people who are well-motivated - (their tactics are a bit rough, but then they don't have tanks and jets!).

Which is why the Left openly proclaims that they are more afraid of BusHitler than they are of Binladen. Which is irrational. Which is why the wise man said: "Leftism isn't just a discredited ideology, anymore; it's a mental disorder."

For a compendium of Leftist Moonbat idiocy CLICK HERE.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:00 AM ; Permalink;

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

POLL: WHO SHOULD BE THE NEXT U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL?

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 1:00 PM ; Permalink;

IRAN ISSUES THREATS

FORBES/AFX:

Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani warned that Tehran could quit the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if it is subjected to the 'language of force' in a stand-off over its nuclear programme. Responding to European efforts to haul Iran before the UN Security Council over 'breaches' of international atomic safeguards, Larijani also said Tehran would link its oil business and other economic trade with individual countries based on whose side they took in the dispute. 'If you want to use the language of force, Iran will be left with no choice, in order to preserve its technical achievements, to get out of the framework of the NPT and out of the framework of the additional protocol, and resume enrichment,' Larijani said. 'If, in the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), they want to talk to us in the language of humiliation, threat or introduce the so-called trigger mechanism or take it to the United Nations Security Council, we will revise our stance on the additional protocol (to the NPT) and enrichment,' he added. He later elaborated: 'If our dossier is sent to the Security Council, we will cease the application of the additional protocol' -- a clause that gives reinforced inspection powers to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The more they threaten us, the better our tactics must be! We must keep the heat on them - and turn it up SLOWLY. Soon, Assad will fall, and Iran and Gazastan will stand alone as the sole outposts of unrestrained islamofascism. (NEARLY EVERY other Arab Muslim nation is fighting against the islamofascists and/or democratizing - Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Somalia, and Sudan are barely doing anything). FASTER PLEASE! (MORE HERE.)

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:27 PM ; Permalink;

LONDON'S 7/7 BOMBERS PRACTICED "DRY RUNS"

BBC: "The suicide bombers who attacked London on 7 July staged a practice run nine days before the bombings, police say. Detectives studied tens of thousands of hours of CCTV footage as part of their investigation into the attacks which killed 52 people and the bombers. CCTV images show three of the bombers entering Luton station, before travelling to King's Cross station where they are also pictured. Al-Qaeda has said for the first time the group carried out the attacks. In a videotaped message aired on Arab television station al-Jazeera, al-Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri said the group had the 'honour' of carrying out the attacks. Osama Bin Laden's lieutenant had previously praised the bombings and blamed them on the UK's foreign policy. "

These CCTV recordings prove that terrorists practice in the field, and this makes me believe that the incidents which so many people COMMERICAL JET PASSENGERS complained about the last couple of years were accurate; (commercial jet passengers complained that several suspicious looking Arab men - who boarded the flight separately - subsequently looked as if they were doing reconnaissance and surreptitiously communicating with each other during the flight). BTW: I experienced one such flight - going from Cincy to NYC.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 8:12 AM ; Permalink;

Monday, September 19, 2005

NOKOS CHEAT AND RETREAT - IN JUST 24HOURS!!!!

LIKE SADDAM AND IRAN. IT'S SICKENING. LET'S JUST NUKE'EM AND BE DONE WITH'EM! (UPDATE: MORE HERE.)

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 11:35 PM ; Permalink;

ANALYZING THE NEW ORLEANS DEATH TOLL, SO FAR

In all of Louisiana, the current death toll is 646 ; [the grand total - in all the states effected is 883 - both numbers are SURE TO INCREASE].

That's a lot less than the 10,000 which was predicted by Nagin on Tuesday - after Katrina had spared the city, but while it was becoming uncontrollably inundated by the floodwaters due to 3 CANAL breaks.

Of the 646 deaths in Louisiana, 154 (according to today's NYTIMES) were patients on hospitals and/or nursing homes who were physically unable to evacuate on their own and who absolutley depended on hospital officials and on local and state governments to ENFORCE the evacuation orders they gave; (neither Bush - nor the federal governemnt, nor FEMA - had ANY AUTHORITY to order any evacuation; though according to Governor Blanco's statement on the Saturday before Katrina hit, Bush had IMPLORED her to declare an evacuation).

Can any RATIONAL person blame Bush or the federal government or FEMA for these 154 deaths - 25% OF THE DEATHS - one quarter of the deaths - 1-IN-4 OF THE DEATHS, the deaths of these - the MOST VULNERABLE of all residents of New Orleans?! NO. WILL THAT STOP THE LEFTIES FROM BLAMING BUSH and FEMA and Brown. Of course not; they're not rational. [And the Left will also fail to see that Nagin's and Blanco's utter failure to enforce and/or undertake the mandatory evacuation didn't just harm the patients in hospitals who couldn't physically move on their own, but EVERYONE in New Orleans: the people who had no personal means of evacuating, and the people who did evacuate and whose property was left unprotected from looters by the incompetent and corrupt N.O.P.D.!]

I have a feeling that LAWYERS representing the families of these dead will sue the hospitals and the city and the state, not the feds. And that they'll win.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 10:56 AM ; Permalink;

THE IRAQ WAR'S CURRENT HORRIFYING ASSYMETRY

PRAIRIEPUNDIT LIKS TO A WASHPOST ARTICLE:

WAPo's Knickmeyer demonstrates how the media does not understand war:

"Using enemy body counts as a benchmark, the U.S. military claimed gains against Abu Musab Zarqawi's foreign-led fighters last week even as they mounted their deadliest attacks on Iraq's capital. But by many standards, including increasingly high death tolls in insurgent strikes, Zarqawi's group, al Qaeda in Iraq, could claim to be the side that's gaining after 2 1/2 years of war. August was the third-deadliest month of the war for U.S. troops."

PRAIRIEPUINDIT analyzes this line of reasoning - or should I say DEMOLISHES it:

Knickmeyer's fundamental error is that she fails to comprehend the military significance of attacks by US forces and the military insignificance of attacks by the enemy. Mass killings of unemployed Iraqi noncombatants does not change the corelation of forces. When US commanders talk about death counts and captures, they are talking about attriting the enemy's fighting forces. Killing non combatants does not effect the ability of US and Iraqi forces to continue their operations against the enemy. Cleaning up the enemy infestation of Tal Afar as well as the capture of enemy leadership clearly effects the enemy's ability to operate. It has effected it to the point that the enemy rarely attacks a defended position. The enemy is incapable to taking and holding any postion in Iraq. The US and Iraqi forces are capable of taking and holding any position in Iraq.

What Prairiepundit shows is that the TRUE horrifying assymetry of the "insurgency" in Iraq is NOT the US military versus the "insurgents" (because that's a confrontation we ALWAYS win!), but the assymetrical confrontation between the racist genocidal islamofascist murderers and poor innocent Shias.

The only thing I can add to Prairiepundit's fine analysis is this: at the current rate of slaughter (200/week) it would take the islamofascists 1000 years to kill all the Iraqi Shias. Unless they won and commited mass murder on the scale that Saddam did. Then it would only take a few decades. I don't think that the Shias or the Kurds would ever allow the islamofascists to take over; the Shia-Kurd coalition would win ANY civil war, and they will defeat this "insurgency."

Read the rest of what Prairiepundit has on this - and everything else.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 9:29 AM ; Permalink;

PORKBUSTING: A 100% GUARANTEED WAY TO GET THE CONGRESS TO CUT THE PORK

Glenn and TTLB are nobly trying to unite bloggers and unleash the power of the blogosphere to help cut federal pork-barrel spending by exposing pork projects they know about locally and making a BIG stink. They've even come up with a clever "handle" and a cute logo/button: "PORKBUSTERS."

This is all well and good - and it may expose some heretofore unknown examples of pork (though I'd betchya most people know where most of the fat is: in other peoples districts!!! Heh!)

There's a much MUCH simpler way to do it, and I guarantee it'll be 100% effective:

Let's just put all the Congressmen and Congresswomen on COMMISSION!

That would give them a personal incentive to cut spending. Here's how it would work: The Congress'd get a 2% commission - TAX FREE! - of whatever they cut/save. The Congressmen would have to share it, so, it would get divided by 535 the members of Congress. If they cut $60BILLION, then each Senator and Representative would get $225,000. The more they cut, the more they make. This gives them incentive to cut A LOT. But if they cut too much, then their constituents might vote them out of office.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 8:21 AM ; Permalink;

BREAKING NEWS: BBC - NOKO NUKE DEAL REACHED!

The 6 party talks have worked. According to the BBC: North Korea has agreed to give up all its nuclear activities and rejoin the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Chinese and Korean news agencies say.

According to the report, the USA has given the North Koreans an underatnding that they will not attack.

Hmmmm, er ... um ... I guess this is another example of BusHitler's secret "one note" policy to promote "endless war" and his reflex to make war and his failure to use either diplomacy or multilateralism.

Yeah. Right.

This is further proof that the Bush Administration exhaustively uses all means to GET RESULTS. As it did with Assad and the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, and Qaddafy's WMD programs, the AQ Khan nuke smuggling ring, and Ukraine's orange revolution.

All achieved without the use of force. But - I would guess - that Bush's proven willingness to use force, UNILATERALLY IF NECESSARY, was a major factor in getting the bad guys to play ball. IOW: "PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH."

Bravo. (More here, at the NYTIMES.)

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 1:25 AM ; Permalink;

Sunday, September 18, 2005

SHATTERED MYTHS, SPLINTERED TRIBES - and why it proves we're winning

Bush's bold post-9/11 moves have spurred a worldwide democratic revolution which is shattering old myths and splintering old tribes - ALL FOR THE BEST:

Today, in Afghanistan they're holding parliamentary elections (!!); soon Iraqis will hold a constitutional referendum (!!); Syira was kicked out of Lebanon (!!); the AQ Khan nuke smuggling ring was broken up(!!); Qaddafy renounced all WMD's and quit his WMD programs (!!) ; Pakistan and India hold peace talks (!!); Pakistan's Musharraf meets publically with Israeli officials and Jewish leaders - as do leaders from several Arab Gulf nations (!!); AND THE U.N. LOOKS LIKE ITS FESTERING SORES OF INEPTNESS AND INCOMPETENCE (is the U.N. the Louisiana/New Orleans bureaucracy the world, or what!) is coming to end end and real reform - led by Ambassador John Bolton - will soon be undertaken; and so on...

As these great events occur, idiotic myths which shackled the world to vestigial thinking and stagnant inneffective polices fall by the wayside:

The Leftist myth that the Taliban had halted the herion-trade was debunked by Ahmed Rashid in 1999 - TWO YEARS BEFORE 9/11 - from The Taliban: Exporting Extremism by Ahmed Rashid November/December 1999 Foreign Affairs :

China, too, has been affected by the ascendance of the Taliban. Beijing shunned the civil war in Afghanistan until February 1999, when it first made overtures to the Taliban in an attempt to stem the tide of Afghan heroin flooding Xinjiang. The heroin was helping fund Islamist nationalist opposition to Beijing among the Uighurs and other Muslim ethnic groups. ... Around Kandahar, poppy fields stretch as far as the horizon. In Herat, the Taliban have set up model farms where farmers learn the best methods of heroin cultivation. The U.N. Drug Control Program reports that Afghanistan produced 4,600 metric tons of opium in 1999-twice as much as in the previous year. Afghanistan now produces three times more opium than the rest of the world put together. Ninety-six percent of it is cultivated in Taliban-controlled areas, making the Taliban the largest heroin producer in the world. ... Whereas Afghan opium was exported to the West through Pakistan in 1980, there are now multiple export routes through Iran, the Persian Gulf states, and Central Asia. As these routes expand, so do the beneficiaries. U.S. officials claim that, with most of his bank accounts frozen, bin Laden now finances his operations through opium. Chinese officials report that drug smuggling from Afghanistan is similarly funding the Uighur opposition. Uzbekistan's government has drawn a direct drug-smuggling link between Afghanistan and the Ferghana Valley, where the IMU is based. The civil war in Tajikistan was partly fueled by Afghan drugs, and Pakistan's economy has been crippled by them. Furthermore, according to governments in the region, heroin addiction is growing: there are now five million addicts in Pakistan, three million in Iran, and one million in China,
largely in Xinjiang.

But because there was a temporary surge in herion production in the ensuing chaos after the Taliban were defeated, the Loony Left argued that perhaps this why the "Bush Crime Family" (a term Cindy Sheehan likes to use!) WANTED to crank up the drug trade. WELL: the Karzai goverment is making a lot of progress on that front, and once again heroin production is declining.

Another long-time myth that has crumbled is the myth of Pan-Arabism. The burgeoning civil war in Gaza goes on (with genocidal racist/jihadist Gazans murdering corrupt racist/ nationalistic Gazans and nary an Arab nation takes sides. Sunni Arabs daily murder HUNDREDS of Shia Arabs in Iraq and nary an Arab nation takes sides. And these deadly clashes destroy another myth: the myth of Muslim unity; the myth that somehow Bush's Iraq War was "uniting the Muslim world against the USA." Well, if that was the case why is MOST of the terror and most of the killing Sunni on Shia, and NOT Muslim of non-Muslim!? And Iraq also exposes the fact that the ISLAMOFASCIST ENEMY is most willing to murder Muslims of their OWN SECT: the Arab Iraqi Sunnis are murdering Kurds - who are also SUNNIS!

What do all these shattered myths and the mayhem between these splintered tribes have common?

They were all brought on by the Bush Doctrine, which holds that a false peace and an "unstable stability" brought about by supporting tyrannies was NOT worth a thing, and that risking temporary instability - in order to increase liberty and democracy (and thereby prosperity) - would not only "drain the swamp" (by making life for those trapped in tyrannical nations more worth living), but would make us safer and the whole world more stable and more properous.

Though we are still in the obvioulsy unstable part of the struggle - obviously STILL IN THE DESTRUCTIVE PHASE OF THE "CREATIVE DESTRUCTION" of the previous global status quo, there are ample signs that it is working (see paragraph #2).

As the wise man says: FASTER PLEASE!

WELCOME POLIPUNDIT READERS!

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 10:25 AM ; Permalink;

Saturday, September 17, 2005

BRAVO: ONE COURAGEOUS DEMOCRAT PARTISAN APPLAUDS BUSH'S PROGRAM FOR THE GULF COAST

SHE WAS GORE'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER. SHE WROTE AN OP-ED FOR THE WASHINGTON POST: I Will Rebuild With You, Mr. President
By Donna Brazile
... On Thursday night President Bush spoke to the nation from my city. I am not a Republican. I did not vote for George W. Bush -- in fact, I worked pretty hard against him in 2000 and 2004. But on Thursday night, after watching him speak from the heart, I could not have been prouder of the president and the plan he outlined to empower those who lost everything and to rebuild the Gulf Coast. ... I know, maybe better than anyone, that there are times when it seems that our nation is too divided ever to heal. There are times when we feel so different from each other that we can hardly believe that we are all part of the same family. But we are one nation. We are a family. And this is what we do. When the president asked us to pitch in Thursday night, he wasn't really asking us to do anything spectacular. He was asking us to be Americans, and to do what Americans always do. The president has set a national goal and defined a national purpose. This is something I believe with all my heart: When we are united, nothing can stop us. We will not waver, we will not tire, and we will not stop until the streets are clean, every last brick has been replaced and every last family has its home back. Bush talked about how we bury our family and friends. We grieve and mourn. We march to a solemn song and then we rejoice and step out and form the second line. That line is now open to every American to join us in rebuilding a great region of this country. New Orleans will rise again. My hometown is down but not out, and with the help of every American, it will be back on its feet, bigger and brighter than ever. ... Mr. President, I am ready for duty. I am ready to stir those old pots again. Let's roll up our sleeves and get to work.

Too bad there are not more like her in the Democrat Party - on this front, and on the GWOT. The fact that she is a rarity in today's Democrat Party is the reason they are doing so badly.

Welcome DAILY PUNDIT READERS!

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 1:42 PM ; Permalink;

Friday, September 16, 2005

VOLUN-TOURISM FOR THE GULF COAST!

THE NUMBER ONE INDUSTRY ON THE GULF COAST - FROM NEW ORLEANS TO BILOXI - WAS TOURISM.

It will take some time to rebuild the hotels and restaurants and nightclubs and casinos, (and ALL the secondary services industries which support those enterprises). Since neither the primary or support businesses that cater to tourism are operating, it seems logical to conclude that tourism on the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans is "dead" for the time being.

BUT MAYBE THERE'S A WAY WE CAN JUMP-START IT RIGHT NOW!?

Let's start a new form of tourism: VOLUN-TOURISM. What we can do is get the feds to set up some trailers and tents all over the region for VOLUNTEERS, who will:

(a) pay their own way to the Gulf Coast and
(b) pay for their room and board while doing UNPAID VOLUNTEER work on a reclaimation project - like helping to build a home with Habitat for Humanity, or or helping to clean a school, or well - just about anything.
"Voluntourists" - instead of taking an entirely hedonistic vacation - would get to see the ravaged Gulf Coast and the heroic people of the region up-close while directly helping some people there make a new and better life - and they'd also be indirectly helping the whole nation because they'd be SPENDING money in the region.

I got the idea when a fellow alum from Tulane emailed me that she was going to set up a college reunion for this Spring in New Orleans - so we could paper the city with our money while nostalgically recounting and reliving our glory days in the city we all love.

How 'bout it? How about spreading the word? Maybe we can make this happen for ALL the alumni from all the colleges down there, and for everyone else who loves the Gulf Coast and wants to participate in the rebirth of the region - and speed it along as much as possible.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 6:53 PM ; Permalink;

EMERGENCY IN ASTRODOME: not enough NYTIMES!

The invaluable and brilliant Lorie of POLIPUNDIT saw ABC NEWS coverage of the response to Bush's speech in the ASTRODOME. Then, she hunted down a link to what she saw. GO WATCH IT!

It shows that the poor black people who were rescued from the horrifying chaos of Superdome and the N.O. Convention Center and who were brought to Houston DO NOT BLAME BUSH, BUT BLAME BLANCO AND NAGIN.

Here's what Lorie posted:

All of those interviewed at the Astrodome were black. They were all evacuees from New Orleans. When the first person was asked if she believed the President she said “yes.” She said that what the President said lifted her up and gave her hope. When the reporter questioned her about the slow response of the federal government, she said they did a good job once they got there and that she blamed the local and state officials, who had not done their jobs. She said they were the ones there when the storm hit and they did not do what they needed to do. Then she got on a rant about the buses that were not used. She later said she blamed Mayor Nagin personally. The others interviewed also spoke very favorably about the President.

OBVIOUSLY, this reveals a HUGE GINORMOUS HUMUNGOUS PROBLEM:

FEMA is OBVIOUSLY not providing these evacuees with enough copies of the NYTIMES so that they won;t belive their lying eyesand "learn" - from the likes of Herbert, Krugman, Rich and Dowd - that Bush was really the problem - and Iraq. And Halliburton.

Sarcasm off. MORE HERE AT THE INVALUABLE ATLAS SHRUGS!

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 11:00 AM ; Permalink;

Thursday, September 15, 2005

THE ORIGIN OF THE "ANTI-FEMA/ANTI-BUSH KATRINA MEME"

INSTAPUNDIT posted an email from a reader who lives in the Mississippi area struck by Katrina and who PRAISED the overall response. It's a MUST READ; go there and RTWT!

One thing in partricular he wrote struck me which I think bears repeating.

He wrote this:

So where did this idea of a slow response originate? I believe it came from fearful local politicians, mostly in Louisiana, eager to deflect blame to anyone else. It was picked up enthusiastically by the media. The Cindy Sheehan story was rapidly fading, so this was simply another attack by the media, beleieving they have finally got Bush. The Plame story, the Rumsfield story, Cindy Sheehan, Abu Graib, etc… etc…

I think the most salient point is his first: Nagin and Blanco REALLY BELIEVED that 10,000 Louisiannes had perished (or would) and they desperately feared that they would be blamed. So they IMMEDIATELY started pointing fingers at the feds. They did this even though they - and Landrieu had PRAISED FEMA on Monday - AFTER Katrina had hit but before the CANAL BROKE! (This was reported in the NTYIMES!)

The FACT that they PRAISED FEMA and "Brownie" before the canal break - (for being there, and for being so very VERY prepared!) - PROVES that their attacks on FEMA and the federal response - from Wednesday on - were merely desperate post facto rationalizations. THEY WERE COVERING THEIR OWN ASSES.

Of course: the anti-GOP anti-Bush MSM was only to happy to carry their water - as they did Kerry's.

Now, the death-toll is apparently much MUCH less than the 10,000 they predicted (and which the MSM mindlessly repeated). And the property damage is more widespread than anyone had thought possible. This reveals that the storm was WORSE than anyone thought, and that the response was better than the MSM have yet admitted.

Thank God for the internet - so that the people (people like Glenn's reader) can set the record straight. [BTW: Paul at WIZBANG - a New Orleanian who survived the "Dome - AGREES! Got here and check it out!]

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 8:29 PM ; Permalink;

KATRINA, WHACKO-JACKO, OJ AND KOBE; OR: WHAT'S RACE GOT TO DO WITH IT!?

(CNN) --

White and black Americans view Hurricane Katrina's aftermath in starkly different ways, with more blacks viewing race as a factor in problems with the federal response, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday. The poll found that six in 10 blacks interviewed said the federal government was slow in rescuing those stranded in New Orleans after Katrina because many of the people in the Louisiana city were black. But only about one in eight white respondents shared that view. The numbers were similar on whether the rescues were slower because the victims were poor, with 63 percent of blacks blaming poverty and 21 percent of whites doing so. [...] Among blacks, only 15 percent said Bush did a good job in the initial days after Katrina, and 36 percent thought he did a good job in recent days. The number for whites was 49 percent for the initial days and 63 percent more recently.

IOW: 60% of Blacks INITIALLY felt that the feds were slow, and that this slowness was due to racism. Hhile only 12% of Whites felt this way - five times more.

Is this RACIAL DIVIDE Bush's fault? OR IS IT A LONGSTANDING DIVIDE EXPLOITED BY DEMOCRAT DEMAGOGUES (in the case of Katrina and the enduing rescue and recovery effort)?

Let's look at the facts - by comparing the racial divide on Katrina to previous issues which divided America along racial lines:

According to HARRIS POLLS:

(1) DO PEOPLE THINK MICHAEL JACKSON IS GUILTY OR INNOCENT
"The singer Michael Jackson has been charged with child molestation.

Do you think he is probably guilty or not?" [Base: All Adults]:

PROBABLY GUILTY
White 55%
Black 15%

PROBABLY NOT GUILTY

WHITE 19%

BLACK 59%

(2) DO PEOPLE THINK KOBE BRYANT IS GUILTY OR INNOCENT

"The basketball player Kobe Bryant has been charged with rape. Do you think he is probably guilty or not?" [Base: All Adults]:

PROBABLY GULITY

WHITE 33%

BLACK - 19%

PROBABLY NOT GUILTY

WHITE 25%

BLACK 58%

(3) MSNBC POLL:

Q1: From what you've heard, do you think O. J. Simpson murdered Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman?

WHITE Yes 77% NO 29%
BLACK Yes 22% NO 70%

The divide on these previous matters were all quite pronouced along RACIAL lines. And the racial divide with regard to Katrina is in line with the racial divide on other issues which have NOTHING to do with Bush; in fact; the OJ trial took place during the Clinton years.

THEREFORE: the racial divide is a longstanding issue that has NOTHING to do with Bush or his administration's efforts the last five years - or the federal response to Katrina. Polls reveal that many people are merely responding in knee-jerk ways and using RACE as an excuse, as if the Hurricane did more damage to one race than another race, and as if 1st responders used race to pre-select who'd they rescue. WHICH - TO ANYONE WHO WATCHED THE RESCUES - IS ABSURD AND FALSE.

FURTHERMORE: the politicians who argued and harangued against the federal response and said that it was faulty due to racism are nothing more than mendacious demagogues exploiting and exacerbating a pre-existing racial divide in this country for their own selfish political ends.

THE POLITICIANS WHO MADE THE GROUNDLESS ALLEGATIONS WERE ALL LEFTISTS PLAYING THE "RACE CARD" - AND MAKING THE RACIAL DIVIDE WORSE! They have no shame.

UPDATE: some of my regular moonbat commentors have accused me of being a GOP racist. I responded in the comments but feel it may be necessary to put them here, too:

By your idiotic comments, you Leftie commentors make the best case AGAINST Leftism! You idioitic Leftie guys say i am a racist. Well, that 's pure bullshit, and NOTHING i said was racist. Here are the facts:

(1) My first girlfirend was black
(2) I marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - who is my #1 HERO!
(3) i even supported the BLACK PANTHER PARTY in the 1970's (tho that's something I am ashamed of now!)
(4) AND: I'm a registered DEMOCRAT - and have been since 1974!
(5) If i am a racist then BILL COSBY IS A RACIST because he makes the SAME argument as me: that knee-jerk party affiliation and the welfare state and low expectations WITHIN the black community have contributed to slow economic growth of that community.

Also: my post was about perceptual differences between blacks and whites - about the racial divide. I argued IT EXISTS and that events are often put into that pre-existing "story template," rather than examined according to the actual facts. That's why the polls for OJ/Jacko/Kobe and Katrina are so similar! If people looked at the actual facts - and did not ignore facts which don't fit their story template - then they'd agree more often.

Lookit: OJ was guilty, but blacks who had a story template that said "policemen are racist and try to frame blacks" ignored the facts in the trial - (which made OJ's guilt obvious) - and believed that oj's lawyers had raised reasonable doubt. A similar thing happened with regard to KATRINA: many blacks (and many BDS libs like my Leftie commentors) interpreted events through their story-template.

They ignore facts - that (a) the city of N.O. ignored its own evacuation plan, and that Nagin had the power and means/buses to evacuate EVERYBODY, and that (b) Blanco prevented the resupply of the Superdome and the convention Center, and that (c) FEMA guidelines tell EVERY state and locality to be prepared to handle emergencies ALONE (without FEMA aid) for the first 72-96 HOURS! (and that "a-b-c" list is just for starters!).

ALSO: blacks in Nawlins and elsewhere reflexively vote Democrat even tho' Dems have OVER AND OVER AGAIN let them down - Dems like Nagin and Blanco. Dems and Blacks have run Nawlins for 35 years - during which time THEY IGNORED THE POOR BLACKS AND POOR BLACK NEIGHBORHOODS IN THEIR OWN CITY! The poorest neighborhoods in Nalwins DON'T EVEN GET PATROLLED BY THE N.O.P.D.! And the NOPD is run by BLACKS! One reason that the poor balck people in Nawlins are so VICTIMIZED by crime is because the NOPD - run by blacks - and the city gov't - run by black DEMS - have been able to ignore them because the poor blacks vote with the MACHINE.

MANY MANY MANY political analysyts and BLACK LEADERS have argued that blacks would have MORE POLITICAL POWER - and get better and more effective GOVERNMENT RESULTS - (like better schools and more police in their neighborhoods) - if they DID NOT all vote Dem all the time - BECAUSE THEN BOTH PARTIES WOULD HAVE TO VIE/COMPETE FOR THEIR VOTE AND THEY WOULD GET MORE. Then, instead of getting a black mayor like Nagin (and Morial and Barthelemy and Morial before that - who have each done SHIT for them - they'd get a responve accountable government - WHICH THEY - like all Aericans - deserve! It was NAGIN - a BLACK MAYOR - who IGNORED the desperate people in the Superdome and allowed them to stay in HIS SH--TY, INSECURE, IMPROPERLY SUPPLIED SHELTERS!

BOTTOM-LINE: NOTHING - that's n-o-t-h-i-n-g I have said is RACIST. I want EMPOWERMENT for ALL PEOPLE - INCLUDING BLACK. I am arguing that blacks have been ILL-SERVED by the "welfare state" and the likes of Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and Nagin and Blanco. I am arguing that blacks have been ill-served by their own reflexive connection the Democrats and to "story templates" which prevent them from coming up with effective policies - because NO effective policy can come from a faulty analysis of a problem, and "story templates" prevent good analysis. "Story templates" only reinforce pre-extisting stereotypes.

UPDATE: HERE'S LIFT FROM LORIE AT POLIPUNDIT -
Katrina – “To Cleanse”

This post by Greg Hanke at Impacted Wisdom Truth was inspired by Black Con’s comment here last night which was also the subject of a post here. Hanke writes:
Well now, it becomes clear even to slow-wits like me. The bitter accusations against the Bush administration were a preemptive strike against Bush, and the inroads Republicans have made in the African-American community. I think what the lefties fear is, African-Americans will see that this Republican administration did a better job helping them than the local and state governments, which would cause the wrath of the electorate to fall onto the Democrat party.
So the Democrats had to resort to the lowest of tactics to keep their African-American voters in line by inoculating them with inflamed accusations of racism. Of course, this only works so well. The people blitzed by Katrina know full well that their local governmental authorities let them down. Only time will tell what effect that will have on elections, if any. But the intent of all the vitriol is clear: keep victims, mostly African-American, from viewing Republicans in a positive light by blaring shrill accusations that the “slow” Federal response to Katrina was the fault of a Republican administration full of racists…“Katrina” comes from the Greek word that means “pure” or “to cleanse.” Another word that emerges from that root is “catharsis.” Katrina may indeed help cleanse the state of Louisiana, and trigger a larger catharsis that removes some Democrat influence in the nation at large.

Update: Just to make it clear, the “cleansing” I think he is referring to, and which I agree with, is not of Democrats from Louisiana, at least not in reference to Democrats leaving the state. Instead I believe we may be seeing a cleansing of Democrat group think and of misconceptions that many in Louisiana may have about the Democrat and Republican parties, the roles and functions of local, state and federal government, the welfare entitlement mentality (with the ownership society incentives proposed by the President) and about the President, Governor and Mayor personally. At least I hope that is the case. This “cleansing” will have to come from the observations of the people themselves as the recovery and rebuilding takes place. If they rely on the media, it will never happen. -- Lorie Byrd Posted at 11:08 am Link to this post Comments (11)

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 10:08 AM ; Permalink;

US INCREASES PRESSURE TO ISOLATE IRAN

UK GUARDIAN:

The US administration has embarked on a series of face-to-face meetings with world leaders at the UN summit to try to isolate Iran diplomatically over Iran's push to expand its nuclear programme. In support of Mr Bush's diplomatic drive, US officials have delivered hour-long PowerPoint briefings, entitled A History of Concealment and Deception, to diplomats from at least a dozen countries. The officials making the presentation, which includes satellite photographs of Iran's nuclear installations, admit they cannot say definitively that Tehran is covertly trying to secure a nuclear weapons capability. ... As well as security council members, Mr Bush is targeting the 35 board members of the International Atomic Energy Authority, the UN nuclear watchdog which on Monday will consider referral to the security council. The PowerPoint presentations have been held at the US mission in Vienna, headquarters of the IAEA. ... "This is a subject of grave concern, and it's something that we're spending a lot of time on in this administration. It is very important for the world to understand that Iran with a nuclear weapon will be incredibly destabilising." Nicholas Burns, US undersecretary of state for political affairs, said Iran was probably the most important issue being discussed on the sidelines of the summit.
Autumn may be approaching, but in Turtle Bay (and Vienna) : the HEAT is on! Stay tuned...

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 1:08 AM ; Permalink;

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

BUSH USES RARE UNSC APPEARANCE TO WARN SYRIA AND IRAN

The president spoke to the UN Security Council today. Here's an excerpt:

We have a solemn obligation -- we have a solemn obligation to stop terrorism at its early stages. We have a solemn obligation to defend our citizens against terrorism, to attack terrorist networks and deprive them of any safe haven, to promote an ideology of freedom and tolerance that will refute the dark vision of the terrorists. We must do all we can to disrupt each stage of planning and support for terrorist acts. Each of us must act, consistent with past Security Council resolutions: to freeze terrorists' assets; to deny terrorists freedom of movement by using effective border controls and secure travel documents; to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons, including weapons of mass destruction. Each of us must act to share information to prevent a terrorist attack before they happen. The United States will continue to work with and through the Security Council to help all nations meet these commitments.

This was CLEARLY a message to Syria and Iran (and the Palestinians and the Pakistanis to a lesser extent). They'd ALL better do the above OR ELSE!

And in the ENTIRE speech, Bush never mentioned any naton directly by name; there was no OVERT threat. But the IMPLICATION could not be clearer. That's called "diplomacy." And it ESPECIALLY means that Syria and Iran should be very worried (because their support for terror inside Iraq threatens our soldiers and the emerging democracy in Iraq - the centerpiece of Bush's aggressive pro-democracy efforts). Stay tuned...

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 10:38 PM ; Permalink;

MORE BAD OMENS FROM GAZANS - AND EGYPT

BBC:

Hamas militants have destroyed a section of a concrete barrier erected along the Gaza-Egypt border. Palestinian and Egyptian troops have been trying to shore up the barrier to stop Palestinians crossing into Egypt after the withdrawal of Israeli troops. In chaotic scenes, thousands of Palestinians have streamed over the border in the last few days without undergoing official checks. Despite this, Egypt says that its Gaza border is officially closed. ... The mass crossings have raised questions whether Egypt is be able to honour its deal with Israel and maintain security along the border, correspondents say. ... Israel fears militants will exploit the situation to smuggle weapons into Gaza. Egypt's ambassador to Israel, Mohammed Asim Ibrahim, has vowed to maintain law and order. But the diplomat expressed sympathy for Palestinians from Gaza crossing the border.

This is a MAJOR STRATEGIC incitement by HAMAS against Israel. And a CLEVER one: since it involves Egypt's border with Gaza. Israel must lodge an official protest with Egypt and issue an ultimatum: if Egypt FAILS to live up to its OBLIGATIONS to Israel - to maintain a defensible border with Gaza - then Israel shoulkd UNILATERALLY MAINTAIN THE BORDER WITH MILITARY ATTACKS - STRAFING AND/OR BOMBING THE GAZANS WHO ILLEGALLY ENTER EGYPT. They can do this because Egypt PROMISED to prevent what they are now TURNING A BLIND EYE TO.

It is up to Israel and the IDF to make sure that EGYPT'S ACTIONS AND INACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES. If they do not, then I expect ALL HELL TO BREAK LOOSE, AND SOONER RATHER THAN LATER. Stay tuned...

Also: Bush and Rice ought to be getting on Mubarak's case right away!

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 1:08 PM ; Permalink;

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

BAD OMENS: GAZANS LOOT GREENHOUSES; EGYPT TURNS BLIND EYE

Things are devolving RAPIDLY in Gaza:

AP:

Palestinians looted dozens of greenhouses on Tuesday, walking off with irrigation hoses, water pumps and plastic sheeting in a blow to fledgling efforts to reconstruct the Gaza Strip. American Jewish donors had bought more than 3,000 greenhouses from Israeli settlers in Gaza for $14 million last month and transferred them to the Palestinian Authority. Former World Bank President James Wolfensohn, who brokered the deal, put up $500,000 of his own cash. Palestinian police stood by helplessly Tuesday as looters carted off materials from greenhouses in several settlements, and commanders complained they did not have enough manpower to protect the prized assets. In some instances, there was no security and in others, police even joined the looters, witnesses said.

CBC:

One day after the Israelis pulled out, the Gazan border with Egypt appeared to melt away as thousands of Palestinians used their new freedom to come and go as they pleased. What was a trickle on Monday turned into a torrent on Tuesday as Palestinians from all over Gaza headed to Rafah to cross into Egypt. They pried open doors in the massive metal security wall left by Israel and squeezed through. Before Israel withdrew, Egypt agreed to post 750 security officers on the border to prevent militants from smuggling advanced weapons into Gaza for use against the Jewish state. They Egyptian border guards are not all in place. ... Zalman Shoval, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said Israel might eventually seek international monitors for the border. "The great danger is that both people and arms could be smuggled under the unwatchful eyes of the Egyptians."

Well, well, well: what did you expect?! The Gazans are reverting to form. And acting out this way means it should be obvious to ALL that they have about as much chance as establishing a democracy and the rule of law as do a pack of rabid hyenas. Meanwhile, Egypt renegs on their deal with Israel. And the world says nary a word. Pitiful.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 10:50 PM ; Permalink;

BUSH INCREASES PRESSURE ON SYRIA

UK GUARDIAN:

President George Bush yesterday threatened Syria with increasing isolation alleging that Damascus was "trying to prevent democracies from emerging" in both Iraq and Lebanon. Mr Bush, speaking at a press conference with the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, said he would raise punitive measures against Syria with US allies at the United Nations in New York, where he is due to address the general assembly today. His remarks echoed more specific allegations made by Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to Iraq, in a New York Times interview yesterday. Mr Bush said yesterday: "The Syrian government can do a lot more to prevent the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq. And the Syrian leader must understand we take his lack of action seriously."

AFP/The Peninsula:

These people are coming from Syria into Iraq and killing a lot of innocent people,” Bush said following a meeting at the White House with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. “They’re trying to kill our folks as well. “And the Syrian leader (President Bashar al-Assad) must understood, we take his lack of action seriously,” Bush said. ... Khalilzad said Monday that the United States believes that Iraqi Sunnis are refusing to agree a proposed constitution because of threats from Sunni Muslim extremists who have infiltrated Iraq from Syria, where they have training camps. “Syria has to decide what price it’s willing to pay in making Iraq success difficult. And time is running out for Damascus to decide on this issue,” the ambassador warned.

Based on the Iraq timetable, if Bush warns Syria this week at the UN, then we can expect Assad to fold, or be overthrown by a junta of pro-Western generals and/or Syrian Kurds, and/or invaded and forcibly removed by April.

EITHER WAY: GOOD RIDDANCE!

(PS: I expect our forces in Iraq - in conjunction with Iraqi forces - to get real real real REAL close to counter-attacking jihadists INSIDE SYRIA very VERY soon - a la the bombing of Cambodia and the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the Vietnam War. BECAUSE: to defeat the jihadists inside of Iraq we must keep them from being resupplied and/or replenished.)

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 9:45 PM ; Permalink;

IRAQ A QUAGMIRE? ONLY IN THE TWISTED MINDS OF LEFTISTS AND JIHADISTS

BBC:

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is meeting President George Bush in Washington, for talks which could focus on a reduction of US troops. Ahead of the meeting, Mr Talabani suggested that the US could withdraw up to 50,000 of its soldiers from Iraq by the end of the year. The possible pullout was prompted by progress in preparing Iraq's own forces, he told the Washington Post. This the first time a US or Iraqi leader has mentioned withdrawal dates. ... The US has been training home-grown Iraqi troops to take over from their forces to allow a phased withdrawal. Earlier this month the US officially handed over military control of the southern city of Najaf to Iraqi forces. The move was the first of a planned series of security transfers across Iraq, paving the way for an eventual withdrawal of foreign forces.

Some quagmire! The only quagmire is the one the Left is in: They're stuck in 1968! Oh er um, the jihadists are in another quagmire - one dating from the 11th century!

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:25 PM ; Permalink;

BUSH ACCEPTS SOME RESPONSIBILTY ON BEHALF OF FED RESPONSE

NYTIMES:

''Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government,'' Bush said at joint White House news conference with the president of Iraq. ''To the extent the federal government didn't fully do it's job right, I take responsibility,'' Bush said.

I am convinced that a thorough vetting of the details of the aftermath will prove that the federal/FEMA response will be shown to have been VERY GOOD, and that all the major failures were due to local and state incompetence and negligence. This is based on what we already know.

But that doesn't stop the NYTIMES from MISCHARACTERIZING what Bush said (from the same article):

"President Bush said Tuesday that ''I take responsibility'' for failures in dealing with Hurricane Katrina ..."

OBVIOUSLY THAT IS NOT WHAT HE SAID. They twisted his words to make it seem as if he was admitting total responsibility. WHAT SCUM THE NYTIMES IS. BOTTOM-LINE: Bush has canned brown and taken SOME responsibility for the lack of coordination of the response. THIS IS MORE THAN NAGIN OR BLANCO WHO HAVE DONE NOTHING BUT POINT FINGERS! UPDATE: the MSM is reporting Bush's statement AS IF he accepted FULL responsibilty - which is a distortion which verges on an outright LIE. Gee... I wonder why they would do that!?

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:18 PM ; Permalink;

Monday, September 12, 2005

45 Bodies Found in a New Orleans Hospital

NYTIMES:
The bodies of 45 people have been found in a flooded uptown hospital here, officials said Monday, sharply increasing the death toll from Hurricane Katrina and raising new questions about the breakdown of the evacuation system as the disaster unfolded. Officials at the hospital, the Memorial Medical Center, 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 exceeding 100 degrees. Steven L. Campanini, a spokesman for the hospital's owner, Tenet Healthcare, said the dead included patients who died awaiting evacuation as well as people who died before the hurricane struck and whose bodies were in the hospital morgue. Mr. Campanini said the dead might have also included evacuees from other hospitals and the surrounding neighborhood who gathered at Memorial while waiting to evacuate the city.

SO... after you read the shocking headline - and wade through the BDS BS - you learn a few FACTS: (1) the dead included people who died elsewhere and those who died BEFORE the hurricane; and (2) that the reason for unnecessary death within that hospital was A FAULTY EVACUATION PLAN AND/OR PLAN EXECUTION. And that means the fault of the state and the city - NOT FEMA. Not the federal government. Not Bush.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 11:54 PM ; Permalink;

USA GIVES SYRIA PENULTIMATE WARNING

As reported EVERYWHERE, INCLUDING THE ARAB MEDIA:

The US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, fired a strong warning to Syria yesterday over help that Washington accuses Damascus of giving to radical groups in Iraq. “Our patience is running out with Syria,” Khalilzad told a press conference. When asked how the United States could respond, he said “all options are on the table,” including military. “I would not like to elaborate more, they should understand what I mean,” he added.

I predicted that this front would be our next focus of the GWOT. And that it would come soon. It has just KNOCKED ON THE DOOR. I infer that the USA will soon begin air-strikes against Syria, and to give the GREENLIGHT to the Syrian Kurds that their time has come. STAY TUNED...

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 11:40 PM ; Permalink;

THE BLINKERED LEFT

DEFINITION: blinkered; adj. - A blinkered person is unable or unwilling to understand other people's beliefs, and blinkered opinions or ways of behaving show an inability or unwillingness to understand other people. DEFINITION: Blinkers - blinkers UK, plural noun (US blinders), two pieces of leather that are put at the side of a horse's eyes so that it can only see where the driver leads it, and not anything else.

Since Katrina, I have been debating the response with some of my MANY Leftie friends, (as a former Leftie raised by hardcore lefties in NY, NY, and I have many MANY Leftie friends - and even MORE FORMER-friends who are Lefties!).

One retort they ALL seem to make at some point goes sort of like this: "Don't give me that KKKarl Rove RIGHT-WING BLOG crap!"

They often say this after I send them something from The Washington Times, or POWERLINE, or INSTAPUNDIT, but it is just as likely to come after I send them something from the Washington Post or Fox News or a DoD briefing link or even an article they missed in the NYTIMES! IN FACT: on this blog, about 33% of all my links are to articles in the MSM - like the NYTIMES, the BBC, the WASHINGTON POST and the like! Which PROVES I am better informed than they are. HERE'S WHY:

They say that right-of-center media are bad as if:
(a) ONLY the MSM reports the truth, (and everything else is false); (b) if it ain't never been reported in the MSM, then it ain't true; (c) if it's ever been reported in any media outlet which is right-of-center then it is partisan and false, (but EVERYTHING left-of-center is objective); and (c) - HERE'S THE KICKER - if you ONLY READ/WATCH MSM/Left-of-center media then you are more informed and better informed than if you read all media - RIGHT and Left, MSM and blogs (even though all the bloggers always provide links/footnotes --- something you NEVER see in the DT-MSM!) -- as I do, and as they KNOW I DO since often I am arguing with them about how poorly the NYTIMES covers events and how this is ALWAYS biased against the Right.
Of course, their position is NUTS. But BLINKERING themselves is a necessary reaction formation for Lefties. WHY? Well, they need to do it in order to maintain denial in the face of a reality which contradicts their long-held beliefs, irrational historical analyses and failed prescriptive policies. This is the same impulse which drives them to BDS: BLINKERING themselves and thereby maintaining their wall of denial requires that a lot of emotional fuel; hatred is the fuel.

When Lefties DO start to read BOTH sides, they start to become deprogrammed. That's what they fear.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 10:29 PM ; Permalink;

BUSH IS SAINTLY

CNN showed President Bush touring NOLA on the back of a military truck with ADM Thad Allen, LTG Russel Honore, AND Mayor Nagin and Governor Babineaux Blanco!

After those two clowns spent the better part of the past ten days doing nothing but hissy-fitting, pouting, whining, and attacking him.

HE IS A SAINTLY MAN. There are no 2 ways about it.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 10:24 PM ; Permalink;

NYTIMES PUT OBL ON MAGAZINE COVER TO "HONOR" VICTIOMS OF 9/11

I believe in the 1st Amendment, and the NYTIMES - like EVERY other Left-wing dominated outlet in the MSM - is entitled to print whatever "Bush Derangement Syndrome" infected lies and distortions they want, whenever they want. And they should expect and accept the criticism that some readers of their ideologically infected rag , for THAT is also FREE SPEECH.

HERE'S MY CRITIQUE: By putting OBL on the cover on the 4th anniversary of 9/11 , the NYTIMES exposes itself for what it is, and reveals its STUNNING lack of sympathy to the families of Osama's victims.

They have no shame. IMHO: This kind of stuff aids and abets the enemy, and we all know what that is called. In WW2, FDR punished people for doing what the NYTIMES does almost everyday.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:00 PM ; Permalink;

GAZANS TORCH VACATED SYNAGOGUES

NYTIMES: "KISSUFIM CROSSING, Gaza Strip, Sept. 12 - Palestinians moved into the former settlement of Neve Dakalim today after Israel ended its 38-year presence in the Gaza Strip, setting fire to the main synagogue and ripping out aluminum window frames and metal ceiling fixtures. The Palestinian flag and the flag of the militant group Hamas flew from the synagogue roof. "

The Gazans did NOT choose to reclaim or recycle the religious buildings - as some Muslims have done in the past; for example, the beautiful Hagia Sophia Museum in Istanbul did not become a museum until 1935, as part of Ataturk's reformation of Turkey and Islam; it was built in 600AD as St. Sophia Cathedral -- and was Christendom's 2nd most imporant Cathedral - to St. Peter's in Rome - for 916 years; the cathedral only became the Suleymaniye Mosque in 1453, (and was a mosque for only 481 years); in other words: this edifice was "transformed" TWICE without arson!

OBVIOUSLY, the Gazans could not control their racist hatred, and the Gazan authorities could not control the Gazans. The Gazans torched the EMPTY synagogues and demolished them by HAND by swinging hateful sledge-hammers into concrete columns. This display of UNBRIDLED HATE AND GENOCIDAL DESTRUCTIVENESS reveals EVERYTHING you need to know about the chances Gazans have at establishing the rule of law in their own "space" and about the chances Israel has at peaceful relations with the Gazans. ZERO. NADA. BUPKUS. ZILCH. Only this time - as Mofaz and others in the IDF have WARNED: the response to an attack by the IDF will be more destructive then any other reprisal - ever.

But the Gazans will suffer on the home front, too. Because, HAMAS will do to Gaza what the Taliban did to Afghanistan - and they'll have plenty of help from the other jihadoterrorist groups and from Iran and Syria - (as Egypt turns a blind eye). Gazans now may have been handed their independence from Israel, but unless and until they win their indpendence from jihadism they will achieve neither democracy, nor freedom, nor prosperity.

UPDATE - JIHAD WATCH: "Rajoub: PA to fight terror only if IDF pulls back more." In other words, they will use terrorism until they attain ALL their goals. From the Jerusalem Post: The Palestinian Authority will take all necessary steps to fight terror in Gaza provided Israel withdraws completely and gives hope there will be negotiations over a Palestinian state and more pullbacks from the West Bank, Palestinian National Security Adviser Jibril Rajoub told The Jerusalem Post.

UPDATE #2 (hat tip EURABIANTIMES): A Qassam rocket has been fired from Gaza into Israel. SO: General Mofaz, I'm waiting for the reprisal....

UPDATE #3 - (hat tip McCarthy/NRO/The Corner) - Condi Rice praises the turnover of Gaza and mentions not a word about the torching of the FOUR synagogues. WHEN WILL THE BUSH ADMINSTRATION HOLD ABBAS AND THE PNA TO THEIR COMMITTMENTS?!

UPDATE #4 - The BBC reports on the withdrawal and just MENTIONS IN PASSING THE ARSON ATTACKS AGAINST FORMER SYNAGOGUES:

"Palestinians celebrate Gaza exit - Jubilant Palestinians have taken control of the Gaza Strip following the withdrawal of Israeli troops more than 38 years after they captured the area. Thousands entered the former Jewish enclaves, some setting an abandoned synagogue ablaze in a settlement. Crowds celebrated in the town of Rafah, on the border between Gaza and Egypt. "

They make it sound as if the racist arson attacks (plural) were SINGULAR and just part of the jubilant fun: "OH, THOSE WACKY HAMAS BOYS ARE SUCH WILD FUNSTERS!" In fact, the growing lawlessness of Gaza bodes very VERY badly - for the Arabs and Israel. Gaza needs a few brave men - as brave as the Afghanis and Iraqis and Lebanese who are fighting to establish democracy and the rule of law in their own nations. And Abbas is no Karzai, no Jafrazi, and no Hariri. And there is NONE on the horizon, either. I think, perhaps, that between Arafat and Hamas every reasonable Gazan was either murdered or exiled.

UPDATE #5 - NYTIMES:

"Behind him, a settlement synagogue built in the shape of a huge Star of David was smoldering, fires inside sending smoke through the edges of the star. Atop the building, in the dim smoky moment before dawn, one could see a huge green flag of Hamas, with a smaller Palestinian flag flying below it. A few minutes later, a large black flag of Islamic Jihad was flying just under the Hamas flag, above the Palestinian one. Five minutes later, the Palestinian flag had been taken down altogether."

Sheesh, the NYTIMES makes it sound like the friggin' Star spangled banner! Can you IMAGINE THE OUTRAGE IF IT WAS JEWS BURNING MOSQUES!? I hardly think that they would wax poetic about smoldering smoky pre-dawn moments. They'd be calling for sanctions against Israel! Well, this is just more proof that the NYTIMES - like the Beeb and so much of the MSM is anti-Israel. We should be outraged at these acts of racist violence and we should be demanding that Abbas fulfil his obligations under ther Roadmap and crack down on the terrorists.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 10:51 AM ; Permalink;

Sunday, September 11, 2005

GAZANS CLAIM THEY WILL STILL BE OCCUPIED AFTER ISRAELI WITHDRAWAL

GAZA, Sept. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Mohammed Dahlan said on Sunday that despite an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the coastal strip is still under occupation. In a written statement sent to reporters, Dahlan, who returned Saturday from Jordan for treating back pain there, said Israel still keeps the ability to invade Gaza again in the future by controlling Gaza's airspace, waterway, borders and crossings. "Israel is deceiving itself if it believes that occupying Gaza Strip has now ended," he said. Israeli security sources said earlier that ceremonies of handingover the security control of Gaza Strip to the Palestinian security forces would start at 4:30 pm (13:00 GNT) Sunday at Erez crossing, declaring the start of the Israeli army withdrawal.

This is a bad sign. Scroll down for prediction...

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 10:07 AM ; Permalink;

KATRINA AND THE DUST BOWL

In the 1930's, a ten year drought led to widespread bankruptcies in the Midwest and to the dissolution of scores and scores of family farms - which in turn led to a vast inner-migration as impoverished farmers - known as Okies - left the drought-stricken dust bowls of the Midwest and tried to make a new life for themselves - all over the USA, but mostly out West.

They were refugees of sorts - evacuees - vacating the Dust Bowl for a new "promised land"... The novel THE GRAPES OF WRATH immortalized the ordeal many faced as they made this journey.

The drought was slow and insidious and pernicious; it wreaked its havoc months by month and year by year - months and years that seemed hopeless.

Last week, Nature wreaked a massive and sudden blow to a region almost as large as the area hit by the Great Drought, and has displaced - in one fell swoop - perhaps as many as a million people. Some will make new lives for themselves and their families in the wake of the storm surge and the flood. Some will return and rebuild in their cities and towns, and replant their roots.

With the help of a feeling nation, ALL the survivors, (those who relocate and those who return) - and this nation, will sumount the difficulties brought on by this natural catastrophe, and the efforts and its results will reinvigorate the entire nation. It will be a struggle - just like in the 1930's, but we will make it. And we will be the better for it, too.

Godpseed.

UPDATE: More HERE - (YAHOO/CSM: "The great Katrina migration"), (hat tip PRAIRIE PUNDIT).

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:34 AM ; Permalink;

9/11/05

Four years have passed since they attacked us here - and we FINALLY started to fight back. I pray that all the families of those lost on that day - and in the counter-attack we've been waging since - find more and greater strength and peace each day in the cherished memories and everlasting blessings of their lost loved ones. And: God Bless Our Troops.

Peace through Victory.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:08 AM ; Permalink;

Saturday, September 10, 2005

IDF GIVES GAZANS FINAL WARNING

YAHOO/AP - (hat tip CUANAS): "An hour after we leave the field, there will be a strategic change ... in the nature of our response to even an attempt at terror," Maj. Gen. Yisrael Ziv, the military's chief of operations, told Israel Radio. "We shall have a far more extreme reaction to any attempt."

The IDF can be more lethal and destructive in their counter-attacks now, because Israel no longer occupies Gaza.

[PROGNOSTICATIONS/GAMING/CONJECTURE: I expect this warning to go unheard by either HAMAS or the (either) inneffectual or two-faced Abbas. And, I expect this to occur while the UN general Assembly is in session between 9/14-16 - because the Palestinians (correctly) perceive the UNGA as their ally because they know that the world body (like the Arabs themselves) will always see the Palestinians as the Palestinians see themselves: as victims -- even if they are the ones intitiating attacks.

The next true test will come when Egypt - fresh off of (barely) democratic elections must decide wheter to enforce their border with Gaza, or allow HAMAS to resupply through Egypt. This will be another moment of truth for Mubarak. I would wager he will allow the border to be a sieve - just like Assad does with Syria's border with Iraq.

The next few moves on the board are also predictable: the UN - and the EU - will condemn Israel; Bush and Sharon will be further isolated as they were during the Arafat "freeze-out" period, and Israel will continue to finish the anti-terror fence - unilaterally making themselves safer and unilaterally establishing a border.

What will break this cycle of violence? The (induced) collapse of the Assad regime. This will be sort of a "discovered check" against the Jihadists: they will lose a safe-haven, and it will further isolate Iran - a benefit on all fronts. The collapse of Assad will be brought about by continued attacks along his border and within his borders by infiltarted agents and Syrian Kurds. The mayhem and chaos which will result from Assad's fall will benefit Iraq, and Israel - as HAMAS and Hiz b'Allah and Zarqawi lose a major supplier. The USA will then pressure Israel to make a quick deal with the new democratic regime in Syria, so then they can solidfy their own border with Syria and help the new Syrian regime gain some domestic stability.

ANYWAY, it all begins with the next major HAMAS attack against Israel. Then... we shall see. SO, STAY TUNED...]

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 11:39 PM ; Permalink;

KATRINAGATE

The failure of Governor Blanco to allow the Red Cross or Salvation Army into Nalwins and to resupply the 'dome or the Convention Center - and the failure of the MSM to adequately report that this was the cause of the terrible suffering we all witnessed for 4 days after Katrina hit - is a scandal and it's called BLANCOGATE!

The failure of Mayor Nagin to follow his city's Hurricane Evacuation Plan is a scandal and it's called NAGINGATE.

Together, these scandals - which togther were responsible for the horrific scenes of suffering at the Superdome and the Convention Center - are called KATRINAGATE!

Blanco and Nagin should resign IMMEDIATELY.

Welcome DISSECTING LEFT readers!

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 9:09 PM ; Permalink;

MORTALITY COMPARISONS REVEAL USA RESPONSE TO KATRINA WAS EXCELLENT

Nagin - the inept and negligent and hysterical mayor of New Orleans - who bears major responsibility for the horrific conditions in the Superdome and the Convention Center (because he FAILED to evaucate his poor citizens from the city, and because he FAILED to provide security or sustenance to those who followed his advice and sought shelter where and when he advised them to, and then failed to get his governor to allow the Red Cross or the Salvation Army in to his city to replenish sustenance for his citizens) - predicted a death toll in New Orleans alone of perhaps as many as 10,000 people.

This prediction horrified the public and made people want to BLAME SOMEONE!

The current death toll from Katrina in New Orleans - and the rest of Louisiana and Mississipp and Alabama - is less than 400. This number is SURE to go up, but it is VERY UNLIKELY that it will reach 10,000 or anything near that dire and irresponsible prediction.

BY COMPARISON: the 2003 heat-wave in Europe killed 35-40,000, (14,847 in France alone; 20,000 in Italy). [More HERE.]

And Hurricane Katrina was a HUGE natural cataclysm which wreaked huge damage to 90,000 square miles! In fact, in terms of the force and breadth of the physical destruction it wreaked, Katrina was the worst natural disater to hit a developed nation in all of human history.

I think this proves that the HYSTERICAL charges by the Left and the MSM they dominate (that the Bush Administration dropped the ball) are entirely unfounded.

In fact, if you subtract the horrifying images of the Superdome and Convention Center from the "newsreels" (and your memories) there was next-to-nothing wrong with the federal response (or the federal, state and local responses in Mississippi and Alabama, whose coasts were savaged more completely by Katrina than was the city of New Orleans). And when considers the FACT that the Superdome and Convention Center debacles were strictly the result of local and state government incompetence, it means that there was absolutely NOTHING wrong with the federal response. PERIOD.

Eventually, this truth will come out. The truth always does.

In addition, when New Orleans is restored, renovated and repopulated in RECORD TIME, this will seen as a huge triumph of the federal government's wonderful efforts (huge and comprehensive efforts which went nearly completely UNREPORTED by the MSM but which are compiled HERE by RELIEFWEB, an outfit run by the UN -- hat-tip BRAINSTER).

AND REMEMBER: the CANAL which broke and flooded New Orleans was NEW and up to standard. The Army Corps has utterly refuted the charge that the canal break and the flood which ensued was caused by a lack of funding.

WELCOME ROGER L. SIMON READERS! And welcome DAILY PUNDIT readers, too! Daily Pundit had made a similar comparison a few days ago - proof we should all read it EVERYDAY! Welcome Dr. Sanity readers! WELCOME WINDS OF CHANGE READERS! Welcome DAOU REPORT readers. AND WELCOME TRUTH LAID BEAR READERS! WELCOME MAXED-OUT MAMA READERS - SHE HAS MORE!

UPDATE: Here's a gem from one of my commenters:

It is disappointing that so many conservative bloggers have gotten caught up in the MSM's manipulation of emotions and have joined the hysterical cacophony denouncing Mike Brown and FEMA.

How come FEMA could get it right through 4 devastating hurricanes in Florida last years, with nobody howling for Mike Brown's head, and in New Orleans he couldn't do a damn thing right?

I'll tell you the difference -- Governor Jeb Bush vs Governor Katherine Babineaux Blanco. And with Nagin whining and screaming when he should have been providing LEADERSHIP.

The Federal system is based on subsidiarity, and it usually works well. The local and State authorities usually know what they have to do to provide the basic governmental functions known to the common law. The Federal government is a government of designated powers, and should only do what it is specifically chartered to do. When the dust settles, it will be clear that the Federal response was quick and effective, and that the problems in New Orleans were squarely the fault of the State and local governments.

For 100 years New Orleans has declined to police any neighborhood except the Quarter and the District, and like the Democrat party anywhere, they prefer their voters poor, stupid, dependent, but only if necessary dead.

UPDATE: Brown has resigned from FEMA. The Left, and the MSM they dominate, will declare this is an admission of guilt. BUT IT IS NOT. He has UNJUSTLY become a huge liability to his boss's boss, and is falling on his sword for his boss.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 4:34 PM ; Permalink;

Friday, September 09, 2005

IRAQ, KATRINA AND THE DEMOCRAT'S FATAL DIVIDE

On one side of the Party you have Leftie Dove Democrat Senator Russ Feingold, who was opposed to the Iraq War (as he was opposed to the 1991 Gulf War), and who has proposed setting a deadline for withdrawal.

Another part of the party is represented by Centrist-liberal Senator Joe Biden, who was in favor of the Iraq War (unlike the Gulf War which he opposed), but has consistently criticized the Bush Administration and consistently called for MORE TROOPS to be sent to Iraq, as if that would improve security; (the military people in charge do NOT believe we need more troops; one reasonmthey give is that a bigger footprint would only create more supply needs, and it is the supply-lines which are our weakest points/targets; therefore, they argue, more troops would only make us more vulnerable - but nevermind: Joe Biden thinks he knows better than the generals in charge!).

There are NO DEMOCRAT HAWKS anymore.

The divide between the Feingold/Kucinich/Dean wing of the party and the Biden/Hillary wing is UNBRIDGEABLE.

Even if the primaries are restructured to prevent the activist/Leftist wing of the party to pick a nominee early (by spacing them out again, and by making the larger states - with more expensive campaign hurdles - have more influence in order to weed out the "grassroots leftists, and allow a centrist to have chance at winning the nomination), the left will eiother stay home or vote for a third party candidate.

This inner structural weakness is compounded by demographic facts which make it tougher and tougher for the Democrats to win nationally: the red states are growing while the blue counties are shrinking.

I do not believe ANY potential candidate in the Democrat Party can bridge the inner gap and win in November (by gaining votes in red states).

That's why I believe the Democrats are in MAJOR NEGATIVE ATTACK MODE. Their ONLY hope is to destroy the GOP.

If Bush nominates a black woman to the SCOTUS, he'll peel off enough black voters to make the Democat Party as powerful as the Whigs, and about half as relevant.

PREDICTION: By the time the 2006 elections come up, Iraq will be seen as a huge victory - (check out this NYTIMES GRAPHIC for proof that most things are going very VERY WELL there!) - and New Orleans and the Gulf Coast will likely be well on their way to recovery. (And, after the dust has settled and water receded, most of the blame for the less than perfect first 4 days of recovery effort will be seen as due to incompetence and bad decision-making by Blanco and Nagin, and NOT incompetence or callousness by Buhs or anyone at FEMA or DHS.)

As a result, the GOP will pick up seats in Congress. YES: THE GOP WILL GAIN AGAIN, in spite of the MSM carrying the water for the Left by saying over-and-over-and-over-and-over that Bush is a failure.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 4:20 PM ; Permalink;

POLL: MOST BRITS WANT NEW LIMITS ON ABORTIONS

FROM DISSECTING LEFTISM: Britain: Abortion laws too lax:

"Powerful public support for an overhaul of the 40-year-old abortion laws has emerged from a Daily Telegraph survey of the nation's attitudes to the key ethical and moral issues of the day. Only 27 per cent of those questioned believed that the current 24-week legal limit for termination should be retained. Fifty eight per cent said abortions should not be carried out after the 20th week of pregnancy, with women more likely than men to favour tighter controls."

A 20 week limit would be in absolute accordance with ROE v. WADE - which held that states could only limit abortions which occur BFORE viability; 20 week old preemies routinely survive.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:51 PM ; Permalink;

BUSH SHOULD NOMINATE JANICE ROGERS BROWN, NOW!

If Bush named eminently qualified federal circuit Judge Rogers Brown to replace O'Connor now, he would prove -- once and for all -- that neither he or the GOP "hates black people" as the demagogues on the Left charge.

The Dems and the Left are SHAMELESSLY using Katrina in a last ditch desperate demagogic attempt to stop the current leakage of blacks to the GOP - which if it continues would doom the party to defeat after defeat for decades.

More here.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 10:26 AM ; Permalink;

BUSH DECLARES 9/16 "A NATIONAL KATRINA PRAYER DAY"

BBC: "US President George W Bush has declared Friday 16 September a national day of prayer and remembrance for the victims of Hurricane Katrina." I bet the ACLU sues to stop it.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:34 AM ; Permalink;

UPDATED: ABBAS AND ASSAD BOTH CANCEL NY VISITS

These two items make me VERY suspicious, and a little worried:

1 - Assad has just canceled his NY visit - scheduled to allow him to attend the opening of the UN.

2 - Abbas did the same thing earlier in the day (blaiming it on "unrest" in Gaza).

SO... WHAT DO THEY KNOW? Or fear? I think they might know something very bad is planned to coincide with the UN General Assembly convention - and/or the anniversary of 9/11. AND: while a lot of our resources are focused on the Gulf Coast.

I hope the FBI is reading this...

[ASIDE: Ariel Sharon will be attending. If he cancels, then I am staying out of town!]

UPDATE - 9/9/05: BBC: "French President Jacques Chirac has been advised by his doctors not to travel by air for six weeks, the Defence Ministry said. The advice means the French leader is set to miss the UN general assembly in New York on 14-16 September."

My "gaming" of these (now three) major, sudden cancellations is becoming more serious; now I must wonder aloud: Is this too a cover story?! Has Chirac and France's intel' community's vast contacts in the "radical" and "militant" Arab-Muslim world led them to discover that a major attack on NY and/or the UN is planned to coincide with the General Assembly convention?! I believe that IF this were the case that the French intel' agencies would inform the CIA and FBI - so this scenario is UNLIKELY. Nevertheless, this rash of last minute cancellations is puzzling. Maybe it's really due to the VOLKER REPORT - which has proven that the UN is a hugely inept, wasteful and thoroughly corrupt organization (which is responsible for the biggest financial scandal of all time! $100BILLION stolen!) - having also made the UN opening a bad PR event and therefore a waste of time.

UPDATE #2 - 9/9: "Reuters" - "Iran's speaker cancels US trip over visa delay. The speaker of Iran's parliament yesterday cancelled plans to visit New York for a UN meeting because of delays in receiving a US visa, state television quoted a senior official as saying. "

Hmmm... This beginning to get interesting...

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:00 AM ; Permalink;

Thursday, September 08, 2005

LET'S USE KELO TO REBUILD NEW ORLEANS

Kelo was a bad decision, (articles here and here). But let's USE IT anyhow - (while we can; before the most effected states (LA & MISS) pass laws banning the practices which Kelo allows: chiefly, the seizure of private land by the state in order to give it to a private developer whose redevelopment of said land will have public benefit).

Vast tracts of fouled (and previously BLIGHTED) New Orleans property should be bought by a federal government trust - (overseen by the likes of Paul Volker and Colin Powell and Rudy Giuliani and Tommy Franks and Mario Cuomo and Paul Ueberroth and real estate developers Hovnanian, Trump and Rudin).

Then -- AFTER a master plan is developed, with new state of the art utility, port, and communications infrastructure mapped out and finaced by the commission -- neighborhoods should be put up for competitive bidding by PRIVATE developers.

The private developers would submit master plans of their neighborhood redevelopment - which would have to conform to the federal master plan for the overall city and the neighborhood. And their redevelopment plans would have to conform to historical architectutral standards set up by the commission to protect the CHARACTER of the city.

Private developers redeveloping NEIGHBORHOODS en mass (or at least redeveloping several square blocks at a time) would work faster, cheaper, and bring completed projects to the market sooner than anyone or anything else.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us to redesign and redevelop New Orleans in a way which will leave the mistakes of the past in the past: no more ghetto projects; no more over-crowded poverty-stricken de facto segregated blocks, no more crack-houses.

Let's use Kelo. Let's begin NOW.

UPDATE - 9/21: Welcome readers of NRO's THE BUZZ!

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 9:38 AM ; Permalink;

DEMOCRAT PARTY LEADERSHIP AND LEFTISTS SEEK TO POLITICALLY EXPLOIT KATRINA SUFFERING: the abu-ghraibing of Katrina

NYTIMES:

After 10 days of often uncertain responses to the Bush administration's management of Hurricane Katrina, Democratic leaders unleashed a burst of attacks on the White House on Wednesday, ... From Democratic leaders on the floor of Congress, to a speech by the Democratic National Committee chairman at a meeting of the National Baptist Convention in Miami, to four morning television interviews by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrats offered what was shaping up as the most concerted attack that they had mounted on the White House in the five years of the Bush presidency.

Scum. And why I - a registered Democrat since 1974 - can't support my party right now.

BUT IT GETS WORSE: "THE SHEEHAN-IZING OF KATRINA:"

MoveOn.org steps into the Bush-deranged circus,( via e-mailer Andy Bryant and U.S. Newswire - check out the advice to the MSM at the end of the release about "excellent visuals;" the NYTimes has already set aside space on its Friday front page).

Hurricane Katrina evacuees flew into the nation's capital to tell President Bush to stop blaming local officials for his mistakes and acknowledge that budget cuts and indifference by his administration led to the disaster in New Orleans and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

It could also be called the ABU-GHRAIBING of the federal response - with the images of the Superdome subbing for the images of taunted and abused Iraqi prisoners.

ONE PROBLEM: these attacks are totally false - ESPECIALLY the attack that FEMA has ANYTHING to do with the horrific scenes at the Superdome or the Convention Center.

ANOTHER THING: Why does the Left always seem to revel in EXPLOITING the victim, and never seem to priase the rescuers!?

They have for years besmirched the National Guard (as phony service - as when the lambasted Bush for joining the TANG), the US Armed Forces (and have tried FOR DECADES to cut their budget; Ben Cohen - of Ben & Jerry fame - is the CHIEF FINANCIER of Sheehan, and he has been a leader of an organization which has tried to get the Congress to cut the Pentagon budget for a decade!), and now FEMA.

Yet their own crooked and inept politicians - like Governor Blanco and Bill Clinton and Louis Freeh and Reno and Gorelick and Berger - always seem to be blameless to them.

Sheesh! WHAT HAS THE PARTY BECOME?! A home of hypocrisy, denial, obstructionism, demagoguery, fear-mongering, class-warfare, isolationism, anti-Semitism, race-baiting and propaganda for the Left.

Yuch.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 8:28 AM ; Permalink;

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

NYTIMES' TOM FRIEDMAN - IDIOT

Friedman:

Besides ripping away the roofs of New Orleans, Katrina ripped away the argument that we can cut taxes, properly educate our kids, compete with India and China, succeed in Iraq, keep improving the U.S. infrastructure, and take care of a catastrophic emergency - without putting ourselves totally into the debt of Beijing.
[...] So many of the things the Bush team has ignored or distorted under the guise of fighting Osama were exposed by Katrina: its refusal to impose a gasoline tax after 9/11, which would have begun to shift our economy much sooner to more fuel-efficient cars, helped raise money for a rainy day and eased our dependence on the world's worst regimes for energy; its refusal to develop some form of national health care to cover the 40 million uninsured; and its insistence on cutting more taxes, even when that has contributed to incomplete levees and too small an Army to deal with Katrina, Osama and Saddam at the same time.

These are stupid non-sequitors, which perpetuate a couple of falsehoods: that we have a "trade deficit" with China, one which makes us indebted to them and therefore makes us weak.

The first central flaw of Friedman's is that he hypostatizes a heurisitc device: the figure known as "trade deficit." This figure is derived by subtracting the goods we sell to a country from what we buy from them - AS IF THAT WAS REAL, AND AS IF IT WAS IMPORTANT. It is NEITHER. Here's why the concept "trade deficit" is PURE BUNK (HUGE hat tip Walt Williams):

(1) American companies buy things from China. They pay for them. With Letters of credit, mostly. Effectively: CASH. That's an even-steven/square deal. There is NO IMBALANCE. They get U.S. MONEY (as much as they wanted for the goods); the US company gets the GOODS (for EXACTLY what they were willing to pay for them).

We no more have a "trade deficit" with them (because we "BUY MORE FROM THEM" then we "SELL TO THEM" then you have a "trade deficit" with your grocer when you buy groceries! YUP: you buy stuff from your grocer; you don't sell him a dang thing! You do not have a deficit with him. He gets money; you have groceries. It's an even-steven square deal. You gave him assets, he gave you goods. There is NO DEFICIT.

(2) When the deal is done, China then has MONEY. They can do with it WHATEVER they want. Very VERY often they buy US T-Bills. Because, it s a good safe investment. When they buy T-BILLS, we GET THE MONEY BACK. They get another IOU, this time with a little interest.

(3) The fact that SO VERY MUCH of the dollars that China's get from selling us stuff ends up back here is GOOD for us. And it makes it LESS likely that China will ever do ANYTHING to upset our bilateral relationship.

So Friedman is WRONG. Again. Katrina and China and Osama are as related in REALITY as Moon-beams, salad dressing and firetrucks.

In the end, all Freidman was arguing for was... drumroll please: HIGHER TAXES. No surprise here: That's a liberal's answer for EVERYTHING. And Freidman is NOTHING if he is not a liberal. The "trade deficit" is most often used by isolationists; it's a staple of their demagogery to claim that "it will ruin our economy! And send jobs overseas"

Friedman, though, is pro-trade. So he uses the bogus figure called the "trade deficit" to argue for higher taxes on energy. It's a clever variation on an old favorite Left-wing theme. Which is why the Left loves him.
The second major flaw in Friedman's column is that he perpetuates the LIE that the Bush Administration budget cuts were somehow reposnible for some of the damage which Katrina wreaked on New Orleans. Chief of Engineers LTG Carl A. Strock of the Army Corps has flatly and repeatedly DENIED THIS on TV interviews MANY TIMES - including an appearance tonight on TV. First, the LEVEES DID NOT FAIL. A few canals failed. And the canal which failed MOST (the 17th Street Canal) was one which was COMPLETELY FUNDED AND JUST COMPLETED ACCORDING TO THE MOST RECENT DESIGN SPEC'S. Here's STOCK at a DoD briefing:

"The area where the levee leaks -- where the levee breaks occurred was at its final design configuration. So that was as good as it was going to get. And what does that mean? Actually we knew that it would protect from a Category 3 hurricane. In fact, it has been through a number of Category 3 hurricanes. The intensity of this storm simply exceeded the design capacity of this levee. And those two points-- and others were over top, but those are the two main points of trouble. But that is the basic problem here, is that this storm exceeded the design capacity. ... The other question is, in general is the civil works budget of the Army Corps of Engineers suffering because of the war in Iraq? Not in my opinion. And the reason I say that is that if you look at the funding levels of the corps from pre-war days of 2001 and 2002, it has been a fairly steady level. We are spending a lot of money and the Corps of Engineers is involved in the reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, but we're able to balance that with our human resources and it is not directly affecting our budget. "

ALSO: Clinton cut the Army Gulf Coats budgets. And the NYTIMES caslled them BAD LEGISLATION. SO - if Freidman wanted to be fair in how he applied a lie to fabricate a smear - he would have also criticized Clinton and his OWN editorial board. He did not. He deliberately used discredited line-of-attack against Bush in spite of the fact that it is false, and that he applied it in a biased way. You CANNOT get much lower than that! Only Krugman can, I think. And Herbert. And Dowd. (HEY: That has a kind of catchy ring to it: "KRUGMAN AND HERBERT AND DOWD - OH MY!"

BY THE WAY: does Friedman REALLY think that ANYONE can get elected in this country by calling for HIGHER energy prices or HIGHER engery taxes!? So, he's not only wrong on his facts, and incorrectly applying his incorrect deduction (and idiotically connecting it to the war on terror); he's suggesting that his incorrect conclusions be used to pass bad legislation which would only raise the cost of gasoline, increase unemployment and decrease personal discretionary spending. ON TOP OF THAT (as if that wasn't IDIOTIC enough) campaigning on his suggestion would cost Democrats seats! (This is the only part of it I like! And I'm a Democrat - but a Zell Miller one, NOT a Pelosi-Reid-Dean one!)

His idea - raising the gas tax - would have, though, increased the money the feds could have to spend on whatever pork-barrel projects they like. And that's music to a liberal's ears.

[ASIDE: I suggest that if Friedman really wants high taxes and pretty flood photo opp's (standing in carefully scouted floodwaters - like so many overpaid TV newsanchors!) that he move to GERMANY! He can watch as floodwaters his socialist president (chancellor), wades into floodwaters, and he can have high taxes (on gas and everything else!) and the high unemployment which high taxes cause.]

MORE AT POWERLINE.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 10:12 PM ; Permalink;

RED CROSS: "SUPERDOME DEBACLE BLANCO'S FAULT!"

I saw this story on FOX. POWERLINE and BETSY'S PAGE and RADIOBLOGGER and ALL HEADLINE NEWS are reporting it, too.

It's a BOMBSHELL! Here's an excerpt from a transcript of an interview that Hugh Hewitt (HH) did with MAJOR GARRET (MG) - the reporter who broke the story MINUTES after the story broke:

HH: You just broke a pretty big story. I was watching up on the corner television in my studio, and it's headlined that the Red Cross was blocked from delivering supplies to the Superdome, Major Garrett. Tell us what you found out.

MG: Well, the Red Cross, Hugh, had pre-positioned a literal vanguard of trucks with water, food, blankets and hygiene items. They're not really big into medical response items, but those are the three biggies that we saw people at the New Orleans Superdom, and the convention center, needing most accutely. And all of us in America, I think, reasonably asked ourselves, geez. You know, I watch hurricanes all the time. And I see correspondents standing among rubble and refugees and evacuaees. But I always either see that Red Cross or Salvation Army truck nearby. Why don't I see that?

HH: And the answer is?

MG: The answer is the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security, that is the state agency responsible for that state's homeland security, told the Red Cross explicitly, you cannot come.

HH: Now Major Garrett, on what day did they block the delivery? Do you know specifically?

MG: I am told by the Red Cross, immediately after the storm passed.

HH: Okay, so that would be on Monday afternoon.

MG: That would have been Monday or Tuesday. The exact time, the hour, I don't have. But clearly, they had an evacuee situation at the Superdome, and of course, people gravitated to the convention center on an ad hoc basis. They sort of invented that as another place to go, because they couldn't stand the conditions at the Superdome.

HH: Any doubt in the Red Cross' mind that they were ready to go, but they were blocked?

MG: No. Absolutely none. They are absolutely unequivocal on that point.

HH: And are they eager to get this story out there, because they are chagrined by the coverage that's been emanating from New Orleans?

MG: I think they are. I mean, and look. Every agency that is in the private sector, Salvation Army, Red Cross, Feed The Children, all the ones we typically see are aggrieved by all the crap that's being thrown around about the response to this hurricane, because they work hand and glove with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. When FEMA is tarred and feathered, the Red Cross and the Salvation Army are tarred and feathered, because they work on a cooperative basis. They feel they are being sullied by this reaction.

HH: Of course they are. Now Major Garrett, what about the Louisiana governor's office of Homeland Security. Have they responded to this charge by the Red Cross, which is a blockbuster charge?

MG: I have not been able to reach them yet. But, what they have said consistently is, and what they told the Red Cross, we don't want you to come in there, because we have evacuees that we want to get out. And if you come in, they're more likely to stay. So I want your listeners to follow me here. At the very moment that Ray Nagin, the Mayor of New Orleans was screaming where's the food, where's the water, it was over the overpass, and state officials were saying you can't come in.

UPDATES:

Now - according to BETSY'S PAGE; the RED CROSS is confirming this on their webpage.

AND VIA POWERLINE: it was reiterated during an interview with... NPR! (click link on left side of page) the comment is about 35:40 into the show.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 9:20 PM ; Permalink;

RANK DISTORTION FROM THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE

The crudely (naively?...primitively??) painted cover for the latest NEW YORKER magazine (9/12/05; the grandiosely titled: "REQUIEM" by Ana Juan) depicts a black jazz instrument-playing man standing on what's supposed to be a cast-iron balcony overlooking the flooded streets of the French Quarter; the floodwaters are so high that the street sign pole - (it says Bourbon Street) - is partly underwater.

ONE PROBLEM: the French Quarter remained dry, (as did MOST of ther city which was near the river).

I WONDER: Why did they run a cover that so patently distorts the truth, and that also plays into anachronistic racial and regional stereotypes?

The cover - (sort of a "poster" for the editorial content of the magazine) - reveals more about the New Yorker magazine's penchant for knee-jerk "thinking" and stereotypes, and their own narrow, facile prejudices than it reveals about New Orleans and its flood.

My guess is that they feel they have "artistic license" to depict the catastrophe in a way which their readers will find accessible - and which will reiterate and dramatize their editorial stance toward the flood. Which says a lot about the disdain they feel for the truth and their readers. They are - in effect - saying: "Why let the truth get in the way of a good cover/good story!?"

A more truthful cover might have depicted the Convention Center - itself (like the French Quarter) sitting on dry land, flooded only in a sea of self-inflicted human filth, and human misery born of the mayor's neglect; their own understandable fear, and no one able to take charge and establish order. In other words: a HUMAN tragedy caused (or at least COMPOUNDED) by HUMAN NEGLIGENCE (of Mayor Nagin), and not SIMPLY a natural disaster.

But this truth wouldn't look so nice on coffee-tables. They'd rather have a deceitful yet pretty picture under their masthead than the awful truth. I think that says everything you need to know about The New Yorker magazine.

[Inside the ON-LINE magazine, Nich Lemann - a former contributing editor to The New Yorker, and Nawlins native - can't help but speak SOME truth:

"But it’s also true that, after the levees broke, we watched every single system associated with the life of a city fail: the electric grid, the water system, the sewer system, the transportation system, the telephone system, the police force, the fire department, the hospitals, even the system for disposing of corpses. Perhaps it is all the fault of the force of the storm; I suspect that, as we move into the yearned-for realm of reliable information, we will find out that society and nature were co-conspirators in the tragedy. And the societal fault won’t all have been the federal government’s."

As someone who lived in Nawlins for a few years - and LOVES the city - I believe the truth of this observation will eventually be driven home. That the worst problems were caused by the local "government" - mostly by Nagin...

ASIDE: the LEVEES did NOT fail; a few canals did - chiefly the 17th Street CANAL. The chief of the canal system has said that it would take 20 years to reinforce the canals and make them able to hold back a category 4+ hurricane. Therefore, it is disingenuous to blame Bush - or Clinton, for that matter. This VULNERABILITY would have to have been addressed beginning in the 1980's if is was to have been corrected in time for Katrina.]

A better cover might have depicted the Superdome as an ark - as poor vulnerable people streamed in - AT THE BEHEST OF MAYOR NAGIN - BEFORE the storm - not knowing what was going to be in store for them... not knowing that this ark and its Noah would fail... It would have been a much more sadly ironic and more truthful cover.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 4:10 PM ; Permalink;

ARAFAT'S COUSIN ASSASSINATED IN GAZA

BBC:

"Former Palestinian security chief Moussa Arafat has been shot dead in Gaza, police and doctors say. A cousin of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, he had survived at least two earlier attempts on his life. Moussa Arafat, 65, was a founder of the ruling Fatah movement, whose Revolutionary Council was due to meet later on Wednesday. ... Police said that Arafat was dragged from his house and killed on the street outside. ... His eldest son, Nimhel, a senior Palestinian security official, was either kidnapped or escaped, according to police at the scene quoted by the Associated Press news agency. ... As chief of military intelligence in the 1990s, Moussa Arafat earned a reputation for ruthlessness, including a 1996 crackdown on Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, when he shaved the heads and beards of detainees as a form of humiliation."

Er... um, let's give them a state!

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:07 AM ; Permalink;

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

NAGIN FINALLY ORDERS FORCED REMOVAL

NOLA.COM: Mayor orders forced removal of civilians

Mayor Ray Nagin today issued an emergency proclamation calling on all law officers and military members to begin using force, if necessary to compel all civilians to leave New Orleans. (CLICK HERE TO READ NAGIN'S PROCLAMATION.)

Why didn't he ENFORCE THE MANDATORY EVACUATION BEFORE the hurricane hit!? He could have. He had the authority and the means. It would have been EASIER then, too. When Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation on Sunday, he allowed too much wiggle room, and he opened the (unprovisioned) Superdome and Convention Center up as shelters.

IMHO: Becasue he failed to forcibly evacuate before the storm hiot, and because he failed to provision the shelters with food or crowd control personnel, Nagin is the blame for most of the human suffering and lawlessness (in Nawlins and in the 'Dome and the Conventions Center) for those first 72 hours. Those people should NOT have been in town, and being there they should have at least had provisions for a few days (as FEMA advises). That CANNOT be blamed on FEMA or Bush.

[Well ... not by... er um... anyone rational. Which means the Left can still do it. They are. And the MSM is helping them. Why? Because they're dominated by the Left and because the "blame game" - like the shocking images of human suffering - (and now non-stop images of pet-suffering, and photo opp's of their overpaid anchors wading in carefully scouted foul floodwaters) - it raises ratings. IOW: the MSM is exploiting Katrina for political and commercial gain. They have no shame.]

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 11:10 PM ; Permalink;

BLANCO/CNN: SUPERDOME TO BE DEMOLISHED

MICHELLE blogged that CNN reported that a spokesman for Governor Blanco said the Superdome will have to be demolished.

I don't believe it for two reasons: (1) Blanco is a useless hysterical dithering mendacious dolt; (2) CNN sucks.

I think that PERHAPS the dome of the Superdome will have to be replaced.

Some years back, I lived in Nawlins for a few years -and have frequently visited over the years. I LOVE Nawlins. I NEVER loved the Superdome. Its LACK of architectural details and stark white roof made it impossible to see the Superdome and get any sense of its scale - or any perspective. I think that when they redo the roof of the Superdome, they should also redo the facade, and give it some details - like some setbacks and columns and use larger scaled pieces at the bottom and smaller scaled pieces at the top. The Astrodome on Houstion is nicer.

I think that the roof and facade of the Superdome - and ALL of Nawlins - will be reconstructed much MO'BETTER than ever.

UPDATE: MICHELLE POSTS THIS:

This AP story contradicts CNN: NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A Superdome official insisted Tuesday there were no plans to tear down the building that housed evacuees during Hurricane Katrina and was damaged by the storm. Doug hornton, regional manager for the company that runs the Superdome, said it would take 45 to 60 days for teams to assess the damage to the indoor stadium, which included a leaking roof, problems with electrical and mechanical systems, and loads of human waste left behind after those who rode out Katrina inside were moved elsewhere. He said that while there was ``no doubt'' that the Superdome suffered damage, its structural integrity remained intact, and there was no truth to rumors that officials have decided to tear it down.``To say that the Dome has to be torn down at this point is purely conjecture and speculation,'' Thornton said.

I was RIGHT! About the Superdome AND Blanco!

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 10:33 PM ; Permalink;

Saturday, September 03, 2005

CITY HAD ENOUGH BUSES TO EVACUATE AT LEAST 30,000 BEFORE HURRICANE STRUCK

ACE ASKS: IS IT Bush's Fault?

205 schoolbuses, owned and operated by the city of New Orleans (and not the federal government) sat idle asthe ocean swept into the city, and still sit in three foot deep water.
Did Karl Rove order the Mayor of New Orleans not to take the rather simple step of running those buses 24/7 to evacuate the poor (who supposedly didn't have enough money to leave)?More... And nevermind the additional 364 buses of the NO transportation system, which similarly sat in their parking lots while the levees broke.
Remind me again -- who's in charge of a city's transportation system?
Still More... Galveston, Texas had all of its available buses fueled and ready to roll should Katrina hit that city. Why didn't New Orleans!?

By my calculation, 564 buses could have taken AT LEAST 30,000 poor "personal transportation-less" people to safety on Saturday night when mandatory evacuation was ordered and BEFORE the storm struck on Sunday. If they made two trips they might have evacuated EVERYONE WHO HAD NO INDEPENDENT WAY TO EVACUATE! I blame Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco, NOT FEMA or Bush.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 2:21 PM ; Permalink;

GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS EVERYWHERE - including the thousands helping Hurricane victims right here at home!

The US military has used helicopters to RESCUE more than 4000 people since Monday - that's 50/hour 24 hours a day for 5 days NON-STOP! Often refueling in the air to save time! Picking up stranded victims OFTEN ONE AT A TIME! This effort is HEROIC and GREAT and BRAVE and not laggardly or non-chalant. ANYONE who says the response was bad due to lack of effort is either misinformed or DELIBERATELY LYING SCUM. Here are a few articles which describe your military at work:

Guard Pours Into Gulf Region, Engineers Focus on Draining New Orleans
WASHINGTON, Sept. 2, 2005 – As National Guard vehicles forded floodwaters in downtown New Orleans today delivering critical relief supplies and helping law enforcement officials restore order, workers from the Army Corps of Engineers were focused on draining the city and repairing gaps in its levee system. Story

Full-Scale Hurricane Response Continues
WASHINGTON, Sept. 2, 2005 – Military support for the Hurricane Katrina response focused today on continuing to evacuate people stranded along the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast and getting food, water and medical care to the storm's victims. Story

More Soldiers Deploy to Help with Relief
WASHINGTON, Sept. 2, 2005 – Thousands of National Guard and active-duty Soldiers from across the nation are deploying to the Gulf coast to help with Hurricane Katrina recovery operations. Story

Airmen Help on ‘Front Lines’ in New Orleans
CAMP BEAUREGARD, La., Sept. 2, 2005 – In a cramped conference room, Airmen from the 122nd Air Support Operations Squadron here operate and monitor a satellite radio linked to tactical air control party airman in New Orleans to help coordinate disaster relief efforts. Story

Navy Seabees Deploy to Support Recovery
PORT HUENEME, Calif., Sept. 2, 2005 – Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 40 began deploying a detachment of 125 personnel to Gulfport, Miss., Sept. 1 to provide humanitarian assistance and conduct debris removal in the aftermath of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Story

Coast Guard Continue Rescue Operations
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 2, 2005 – More than 4,000 people have been rescued from rooftops, flooded neighborhoods and hospitals throughout the Gulf Coast region since rescue operations began Monday, and joint-agency rescue operations are continuing day and night. Release

Arkansas National Guard Opens Centers
CAMP ROBINSON, Ark., Sept. 2, 2005 – At the request of the governor, the Arkansas National Guard is preparing to open 59 readiness centers (formerly referred to as armories) in 58 counties on Saturday and Sunday to assist with efforts to register hurricane evacuees in Arkansas. Story

Medical Team Aids Hurricane Victims
NAVAL HOSPITAL JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Sept. 2, 2005 – Medical personnel from Naval Hospital Jacksonville, Fla., boarded buses to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., Sept. 1 to rendezvous with the USS Bataan. From there, to New Orleans to provide urgently needed support to relief efforts for residents impacted by Hurricane Katrina. Story

Mobile Utilities Experts Support Relief Efforts
PORT HUENEME, Calif., Sept. 2, 2005 – Naval Facilities Engineering Command’s Mobile Utilities Support Equipment technicians deployed Aug. 31 to Gulfport, Miss., where they will assess damage and urgent utility needs for Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport. Story

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 2:00 PM ; Permalink;

FALSE, ANTI-BUSH KATRINA MEMES DEBUNKED

FALSE MEMES:

False Claim #1: "The imperfect response to this tragedy was due to GOP/BusHitler racism and the fact that those hurt by Katrina were mostly black."

FACT (This point is lifted from James Taranto of the WSJ via NRO's KJ LOPEZ) : "Here are the 2000 US Census's racial breakdowns of the populations of those five Louisiana parishes, along with Mississippi's coastal counties, which suffered a direct hit" - [only New Orleans is majority black; there may be more fatalities and certainly a greater loss of private property outside of New Orleans - but the MSM has foucsed on the city of New Orleans. In fact, one parish adjacent to New Orleans has the same total population as the city of New Orleans and has been virtually wiped out. W = white; B = black]:

Parish or county
Jefferson, La.
W69.8%
B22.9%
Orleans, La.
W28.1%
B67.3%
Plaquemines, La.
W69.8%
B23.4%
St. Bernard, La.
W88.3%
B7.6%
St. Tammany, La.
W87.0%
B9.9%
Hancock, Miss.
W90.2%
B6.8%
Harrison, Miss.
W73.1%
B21.1%
Jackson, Miss.
W75.4%
B20.9%

QUESTION: by focusing on the blacks in NOLA, is the MSM TRYING to make Bush look bad and racist? Could it be that the Left-wing partisan/pro-Democrat MSM is very concerned that the GOP is making major in-roads in the black community, and they are exploiting Katrina to diminish Bush's scuccess on this front!?

FALSE CLAIM #2: "BUSH TOOK THIS EVENT LIGHTLY BEFORE IT HAPPENED."

(2a) "UPI NewsTrack TopNews -- Aug. 27, 2005 at 10:05PM: Hurricane Katrina heads toward Louisiana MIAMI, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- The National Hurricane Center in Miami extended a Hurricane Watch for Louisiana and Florida Saturday as Hurricane Katrina churned across the Gulf of Mexico. President Bush late Saturday declared a state of emergency in Louisiana."

(2b) "Mandatory evacuation ordered for New Orleans -- NEW ORLEANS (AP)" [hat tip POWERLINE] — "In the face of a catastrophic Hurricane Katrina, a mandatory evacuation was ordered Sunday for New Orleans by Mayor Ray Nagin. Acknowledging that large numbers of people, many of them stranded tourists, would be unable to leave, the city set up 10 places of last resort for people to go, including the Superdome. The mayor called the order unprecedented and said anyone who could leave the city should. He exempted hotels from the evacuation order because airlines had already cancelled all flights. Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor at a news conference, said President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding."

The Left, and the MSM they still dominate, are trying to exploit this horrific event for political partisan gain. THEY HAVE NO SHAME.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 11:54 AM ; Permalink;

KATRINA AND THE ROOT CAUSE OF LAWLESSNESS; and how to make NEW New Orleans a "Shining City on a Levee"

What separates lawlessness, and the social chaos which results from that lawlessness, from order is NOT just a thin blue line of police hired to enforce social norms and maintain law & order. It is the conscience of each person. The potential and the INCLINATION to do evil and to commit acts of lawlessness IS within each of us. But MOST of us control it. Our ability to control our behavior and to be "pro-social individuals" has to do with how we are RAISED and NOT OUR GENES (except perhaps in the case of clinically sociopathic criminals).

Many people are raised BADLY - with no respect for law or life. We see this most graphically in parts of Palestine where and when jihadistic parents dress their children up as sucide bombers and extol to them the "loveliness" of committing genocide.

Poverty does NOT cause children grow up badly and to behave in this way - nor does ethnicity; bad parenting does. Some of the finest parents in the history of the world were poor. Or ARE poor! Some of the worst are rich. Poor people can - and DO - raise WONDERFUL children who grow up to be good people (regardless of whether they become rich or poor themselves). And poor persecuted people can also raise wonderful kids. So racism is NO EXCUSE.

The breakdown of LAW AND ORDER in New Orleans is widespread BUT PERPETRATED by RELATIVELY FEW PEOPLE -- by THUGS and CRIMINALS - these are people who were thugs and criminals BEFORE the flood, and they are merely using the flood as an excuse to do what they ALWAYS want to do and often do when tthere is no flood and they think no one is looking!

Primarliy the lawlessness is the fault of the lawbreakers. As I have written and linked to in other posts: lawbreakers have been tolerated for way way WAY TOO LONG in New Orleans. This must stop. Adult lawbreakers must be dealt with harshly and imprisoned. Parents and schools must be made accountable for raising good LAW-ABIDING citizens.

After the clean up, and BEFORE reconstruction, we must plan a "NEW NEW ORLEANS" with better housing, better plumbing, better schools, and better jobs. Whole sections of the city will be bulldozed and perhaps the stae and the city and ther feds should declare vast tracks PUBLIC - by eminent domain - and then redeveloped with factories and schools and churches and everything that makes a city's physical plant attractive to investment, businesses, and the middleclass. I belive that New New Orleans might very well become a shining city on a hill - or levee, (HEH! - you should please PARDON the bad joke!).

With a new urban physical plant - properly zoned and financed by a combination of private and public sources - and with a new public committment to pro-social values and a new INTOLERANCE for lawlessness I am ABSOLUTELY SURE that NEW New Orleans will be mo' better than ever!

Besides the perp's themselves, the LOCAL AUTHORITIES BEAR THE MOST RESPONSIBILTY for allowing the conditions which permitted the lawlessness to be so rampant. The local government was inept and utterly incompetent. They should have been better prepared and had a plan to get poor people out of the city and to prevent looting in the otherwise vacated city. They did neither.

FOR INSTANCE, (as had been noted elsewhere), the locals could have AND THEREFORE SHOULD HAVE commandeered ALL CITY BUSES to forcibly evacuate EVERYONE BEFORE THE HURRICANE. They had the buses. They did nothing. The buses are now flooded, and useless because hey weren't even moved to higher ground for use AFTER a flood! This is UTTER INCOMPETENCE by LOCAL GOVERNMENT - (and somewhat by the state and the feds for NOT CATCHING IT BEFOREHAND).

The slowness of relief is another matter. Water and food should have been air-dropped at all central gathering locations (such as the Dome and the Convention Center) within the first 48 hours. It wasn't. For this the FEMA chief should be FIRED. But the slowness of relief is NO EXCUSE FOR LAWLESSNESS.

NOW: I think that the president ought to appoint Colin Powell and Tommy Franks and Rudy Giuliani (and a staff) nto lead a 3-man "Katrina Reconstruction Presidential Oversight Commission" to advise and assist the 3 effected governors (and all the effected mayors) and to make sure that they DO THE RIGHT THINGS with federal assistance.

My prayers are with everyone suffering from this horrific event.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 10:46 AM ; Permalink;

Friday, September 02, 2005

GERMANY AT THE CROSSROADS: will it elect a Thatcher or a Chavez?

UK GUARDIAN (excerpts):

Sixteen years after the fall of the Berlin wall, Ellen Müller looks back with nostalgia at her life in the then communist East Germany. ... a surge of support for Germany's newest political party, the Linkspartei or Left party ... could ... determine Germany's general election in a fortnight. "All the other parties are interested in strengthening capitalism," says Mrs Müller. "We reject it." The party is the result of a merger earlier this year between east Germany's former Communist party and the Work and Social Justice party, a new group founded by disaffected activists from Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats. After a euphoric start, the Left party ... is expected to capture up to 30% of the vote. If the party does well enough, it could prevent Angela Merkel's conservatives from forming a centre-right government with the FDP, her coalition partner. ... Germany's mainstream political parties have all heaped abuse on the Linkspartei, and in particular, the party's populist star candidate, Oskar Lafontaine. A former chairman of the social democratic party, the SPD, and finance minister, Mr Lafontaine was instrumental in bringing the Social Democrats back into power after 16 years in the wilderness during the Kohl era. But he resigned from Mr Schröder's first government in 1999 in protest at the chancellor's business-friendly policies. He has been a bitter critic ever since. This summer he quit the SPD and announced he was joining the Left party, prompting claims of treachery. The party's other star candidate is Gregor Gysi, a sharp east German lawyer and the leader of the PDS, the former Communist party. ... the Linkspartei's solutions for getting Germany out of its mess include big tax increases, among them a new 50% tax rate on earnings over €60,000 (£41,000) a year. In return, the party promises a minimum wage of €1,400 a month and generous benefits for pensioners and families.

Now let me get this straight: since the Reagan/Thatcher Revolutions the USA and the UK have had HALF the unemployment as Germany and France and twice the economic growth, and yet the Left Party in Germany wants to emulate Cuba and Venezuela and Zimbabwe - and have the government get even MORE involved in the economy (instead of reducing the size of geovernment and cutting taxes). If they do raise taxes and make the job market less free, they'll get what they deserve: a one-way ticket on the road to serfdom.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 11:10 PM ; Permalink;

WHEN LEVEES BREAK - or "I know what it means to miss New Orleans" PART II

A levee is a barrier built to prevent overflow. A literal levee prevents an overflow of water, a flood. Figurative levees are barriers to others things; for instance, a police force is a "levee" against the "flooding" of crime. When there is no police force - or when the police force is seen as weak or unwilling to use force - criminal elements "overflow" - all hell breaks loose. And this is as tough to contain and drain as real floodwaters.

After the liberation of Baghdad, in the absence of a police force willing to use deadly force to maintain order - all hell broke loose. Now, in central Iraq, (including Baghdad) similar criminal sociopathic elements reek havoc and prey upon the general populace, trying use genocidal terror to create the chaos and power vacuum they need to establish the jihadist tyranny they crave. (THEY WILL FAIL.)

Now, in New Orleans a criminal sociopathic element is also reeking havoc upon the populace, exploiting the chaos caused by the levee failure to loot and rape and pillage and desecrate their own city. And for what: a passing selfish moment, a false sense of personal power and an inglorious glory.

We have seen this many times before - after the Rodney King verdict in 1992 in LA; after Hurricane Hugo, to name just a few recent examples. They are criminals "acting out" and they should be squashed.

Commentators who argue that the root cause is either the poverty of the perpetrators, or their hopelessness, slander poor people everywhere.

The "root cause" is BAD PEOPLE; people who are amoral and immoral - and NOT class, NOT race, and NOT creed. NO class or or race or creed is immune from people who are bad. There are criminals in every race, every class, and every creed. LOOK AT IT THIS WAY: if 15% of America is poor, then are 15% of Americans criminals!? Of course not. Poor people are most often victims of crime. And the poor suffering people stranded in Nawlins have been victimized again by the criminal element that has been hampering the relief efforts. So, WHAT'S THE ANSWER?

Applying brute force and unabiguous moral clarity to the rogues. Tolerating NO lawlessness. Rudy Giuliani cleaned up NYC this way. For too long, Nawlins has tolerated too much mayhem and lawlessness. They're suddenly reaping what for decades they sowed.

I KNOW: I lived in Nawlins, years back - when it was safer! And even then - nearly 30 years ago - you could walk 2-3 blocks in any direction and be in danger of losing your life. Part of the reason was that desperately poor and neglected people were scattered thoughout Nawlins: it's part of the levee/slavery heritage; except for the 9th Ward and the newer projects, there WERE no "ghettos"; poor people lived adjacent to planations all over the city, plantations that grew like spokes off the levees. WHITE FLIGHT since the 1970's has exacerbated the situation, and made the CITY of New Orleans poorer and poorer. The local and state government's response to this was permissiveness and the pernicious policies of LOW EXPECTATIONS. The result: a profusion of bad behavior swamped the urban poor: high incidence of teen pregnancy, of highschool dropouts; and crime.

This was NOT benign neglect. Neglect is never benign. It was MALIGNANT NEGLECT. The poor were neglected as much as the levees.

Now, eveyone should see that it was not benign; we should see that DECADES of laissez faire policies and (for all intents and purposes permitted) corruption and ineptness (born of low expectations) have left the ENTIRE city vulnerable to its worst elements - elements which probably INTENDED FROM THE VERY FIRST HURRICANE WARNING to remioan in the otherwise evacuated city JUST IN ORDER to loot.

MORE than the levees will have to be rebuilt.

The city will have to rebuild a sense of moral outrage and an intolerance for crime and anti-social behavior. Only a chastened city, with new found moral courage born of moral outrage will have the fortitude to rebuild. The city whose charm exploited the sexy allure of the liminal and the spicy scent of danger, must re-awaken or redevelop in itself more temperate and more subtle and more sophisticated enticements.

In Nawlins - a city of rich blends, this will lead to the creation of a new and "odd blend." There will have to be more overtly Puritanical standards, and an more intensified Protestant work ethic (in business and government). And this must be achieved while protecting the "le bonnes temps roulets" attitude and the cultural gumbo/racial melange which almost always ONLY arises from a relatively open society which encourages cultural exchange and experimentation.

I believe this new hybrid can be bred. If it doesn't, then the literal and figurative bayou will reclaim Nawlins, swallow it up and leave posterity only a legend of what once was.

I'm praying that the people of New Orleans (and the surrounding parishes) rise to the occasion. Just as the levees are rebuilt and the floodwaters held back, so too can their churches and schools and civic organizations "rise up" and take control, drain the city of its foul waters, and revitalize that lovely, that sweet, that sweet and pungent tropical city. Together - with a new spirit that is as strong as the mighty Mississippi, and that is just as intolerant of crime, corruption and ineptness, and that has an ambition as strong as the region is diverse - they can cook up a future as deliciously rich and as fascinatingly complex and as tantalizingly satisfying as any gumbo or etouffe or bourbon cocktail, and as intriguing as any Jazz improvization, and as complex as the jasmin, honeysuckle and stale-beer laden music-filled air itself.

It won't be easy. In the meantime, I'm praying for all the suffering people, in Nawlins and along the Gulf Coast - that their suffering is soon ended. Godspeed.

UPDATE: Nicole Gelinas at CITY JOURNAL (hat tip POWERLINE) has a great essay which reiterates some of my themes. Here's an excerpt:

The vicious looters aren’t the face of New Orleans’ poor blacks. Their victims are: the thousands of New Orleanians who made their way to shelter before the storm, and who rescued others and brought them to shelter during and after the storm—but who now cannot get the help they desperately need. This week’s looting was predictable. When Hurricane Georges, another potentially catastrophic storm (it spared New Orleans at the last minute) was about to hit in 1998, I foolishly refused to evacuate my Uptown apartment. More than one person said I should evacuate not due to the storm, but because looters would terrorize the city afterward. Was this week’s looting preventable? Failure to put violent criminals behind bars in peacetime has led to chaos in disaster.

Like I said. And RTWT. More HERE.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 4:40 PM ; Permalink;

CNN: ASTRODOME FULL UP! REFUGEES TURNED AWAY...

... According to Sean Callebs of CNN who was reporting from the scene as buses were turned away (c.11PM local time)! According to a polceman Callebs interviewed, a local Fire Marshall said the 'Dome was FULL UP, and local police had to enforce this decision. Shocking. FEMA - and state authorities - who said that the 'Dome could accommodate 20,000 seem incompetent.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 1:11 AM ; Permalink;

THEORY: BSE SPREAD FROM CJD HUMANS TO CATTLE?

BBC: The first cases of BSE or "mad cow disease" could have been caused by animal feed contaminated with human remains, says a controversial theory. It proposes that some raw materials for fertiliser and feed imported from the Indian subcontinent in the 60s and 70s contained human bones and soft tissue. ... The UK imported hundreds of thousands of tonnes of whole bones, crushed bones and carcass parts in the 1960s and 1970s to make fertiliser as well as meat and bone meal feed. Nearly 50% came from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, where gathering large bones and carcasses from the countryside and from rivers is an established local trade. ... Human remains have been described in material delivered to processing mills. And during the 1960s, human material was confirmed in consignments of bones shipped into French docks from Asia. A spokesman for the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it went along with the findings of a 2001 report into the origin of BSE, where a favoured hypothesis was that BSE had its origins with scrapie. But the spokesman said the department was open minded about new findings. ... only a tiny amount of contaminated brain tissue is needed to transmit human CJD to nonhuman primates in the lab. On the other hand, nothing is known about the transmission of human prion diseases to cattle. It was shown in the 1980s that prion proteins could survive the entire chain of processes leading to the production of animal feed in an infectious form. The feeding of mammalian meat and bone meal to farm animals has been banned since 1996. Yet sporadic cases of BSE have occurred in the UK and in Europe, where regulations were also tightened, since the ban. These cases remain unexplained.

Fascinating.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 1:08 AM ; Permalink;

WASHPOST: US TO PUT MORE EVEN PRESSURE ON SYRIA

The WASHPOST writes it up today. I wrote about it three days ago. Stay tuned.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:52 AM ; Permalink;

LEVEE FAILURE: THE CLINTON YEARS

EU ROTA (hat tip NO PASARAN) details how from 1993-2000 the Clinton Adminstration refused to allow the Army Corps - or anyone else - to get the funding they needed to redo the levees and rebuild the marshes/bayous. The list is comprehensive and damning.

From the facts EU ROTA marshalls, one must conclude that Clinton ignored the dangers on this front as he did the dangers from jihadoterrorism. I'LL GO FURTHER: I believe that - in twenty or thirty years - most historians will look back on his presidency as 8 wasted years in which we mispent the peace dividend, did nothing on emerging crises in energy and immigration and heathcare - while we dreamed a silly dream of a "new economy" as the jihadoterrorists attacked us over and over and over again. IOW: it was an eight year disaster.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 12:40 AM ; Permalink;

Thursday, September 01, 2005

CAUTION: WILL JIHADISTS TRY TO STRIKE US NOW - HIT US WHILE WE'RE DOWN?

Gentleman never strike a man when he is down. The jihadists are NOT gentleman. That's why I think the Jihadists are probably trying very VERY hard to hit us right now, right here at home, while we're down. After all, due to Katrina and the ensuing NOLA levee failures, we have just sustained a major jolt: a key section of an entire region is demolished and reeling; oil markets are tense, and domestic oil refining and mining is very STRAINED; National Guard resources are starined as they shift to help; a million people are displaced. These pains and losses are effecting the entire nation, in negative way, economically and emotionally.

If I were a jihadist I'd say a attempting a major terrorist attack against NYC or DC or Houston or a major port RIGHT NOW would be very VERY high on my list. Because we are already reeling, the effects of a major terrorist attack (or a series of minor ones) would be compounded dramatically - in real and emotional terms. The would be more terrifying than ever. I hope the DHS and FBI are listening...

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 3:31 PM ; Permalink;

WHAT'S THE FUTURE OF OIL, OIL-SHALE, AND COAL - AND AMERICA'S POTENTIAL ENERGY INDEPENDENCE

BETSY'S PAGE has a fascinating post on an article about the VAST amounts of oil shale in the USA, deposits which contain 100 times the amount of oil as there is in Saudi Arabia. She believes that we will eventually find a way to extract the oil which is both clean and economical - especially if oil stays around $70 a barrel.

There's ANOTHER vast reserve of oil-containing reserves in the USA in the form of COAL. And the technology to convert coal into oil ALREADY exists - it's been around since the 1930's:

"REUTERS" - 8/26/05 - HELENA, Montana - Montana's governor wants to solve America's rising energy costs using a technology discovered in Germany 80 years ago that converts coal into gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel. The Fischer-Tropsch technology, discovered by German researchers in 1923 and later used by the Nazis to convert coal into wartime fuels, was not economical as long as oil cost less than $30 a barrel. But with US crude oil now hitting more than double that price, Gov. Brian Schweitzer's plan is getting more attention across the country and some analysts are taking him very seriously. Montana is "sitting on more energy than they have in the Middle East," Schweitzer told Reuters in an interview this week. "I am leading this country in this desire and demand to convert coal into gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel. We can do it in Montana for $1 per gallon," he said. "We can do it cheaper than importing oil from the sheiks, dictators, rats and crooks that we're bringing it from right now." The governor estimated the cost of producing a barrel of oil through the Fischer-Tropsch method at $32, and said that with its 120 billion tons of coal -- a little less than a third of the U.S total -- Montana could supply the entire United States with its aviation, gas and diesel fuel for 40 years without creating environmental damage. An entry level Fischer-Tropsch plant producing 22,000 barrels a day would cost about $1.5 billion, he said.

LET'S BUILD TEN! (There's more at the "Reuters" article; go there and RTWT!)

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 11:12 AM ; Permalink;

KATRINA: THE LARGEST NATURAL, HUMAN AND CULTURAL DISASTER IN AMERICA'S HISTORY

My heart goes out to all who are suffering as a result of the Hurricane and ensuing floods. The devastation along the Gulf Coast is mind-boggling, and heart-rending.

I'm especially pained by the devastation of New Orleans. Years ago, I lived there and I still have friends there. And though I have been back frequently, in some ways I have never left. The city stays with you - not unlike my other favorite town, Paris; as Hem' wrote, "Paris is a moveable feast." So is New Orleans. I pray that the city comes back - MO' BETTA DEN EVA! In some ways, it will. Buildings and levees will be rebuilt. Other losses can never be regained: the loss of life. But losing New Orleans would be as tragic to our nation's culture and cultural history as Italy losing Venice. That's a loss no one can allow to happen. We won't.

- Posted by Reliapundit @ 11:01 AM ; Permalink;

THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

* * * PROSPERITY IS A BY-PRODUCT OF LIBERTY * * * PEACE IS A BY-PRODUCT OF VICTORY * * *

Friday, September 30, 2005

MSM BIAS: KATRINA AND IRAQ

MORE BLATANT MSM BIAS: SHEEHAN VERSUS BENNETT

Thursday, September 29, 2005

THE MYTH AND LIE OF A "BALANCE" ON THE SCOTUS

SHOULD LOS ANGELES BE REBUILT?

ISRAEL-JIHADIST WAR CONTINUES TO HEAT UP: jihadists in West Bank call off truce

THE RECURRING MYTH OF THE IMPENDING GOP BREAKUP

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

DELAY INDICTED

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

IDF CONTINUES ATTACKS ON GAZA; CUTS POWER TO GAZA CITY

Monday, September 26, 2005

KARL ROVE CAUSED HURRICANES

THE BEST WAY TO END FEDERAL PORK: THE LINE ITEM VETO

KATRINA AND RITA PROVE OFF-SHORE OIL-DRILLING IS CLEAN AND SAFE

Sunday, September 25, 2005

LEFTIST DEMAGOGUE SCHRODER BLINKS

ASSAD'S DESPERATION SHOWING - and it kills...

HOORAY FOR POLAND! Commie doves defeated by pro-American, freemarket, hawks

THE VIETNAM WAR WAS A COLOSSAL MISTAKE - MADE BY THE VIETNAMESE SOCIALISTS

ISRAEL RETALIATES WITH AIRSTRIKES AGAINST GAZA: HAS THE WAR AGAINST HAMAS BEGUN?

Saturday, September 24, 2005

IAEA GIVES IRAN AN OPEN DEADLINE

Friday, September 23, 2005

DEMOCRAT SILENCE ON GAZA SYNAGOGUE DESECRATIONS IS DEAFENING

SAUDI PRINCE FEARS IRAQ MIGHT BECOME 3 NATIONS

"Global terrorism is not a revolution, but an attempt to suppress a revolution."

SYRIA'S BAATHIST ASSAD REGIME WILL FALL SOON AFTER 10/25/05

SILENCE = PROOF THE WORLD NOW THINKS ISLAM IS A GENOCIDAL CREED

BBC: "A US court hears of Lynndie England's alleged role in the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Iraq. "

WB YEATS: WHY COMBATING THE LEFT AND THE MSM THEY DOMINATE IS SO DIFFICULT

EU3 CAVE IN/JOIN CHINA AND RUSSIA IN APPEASMENT OF IRAN; USA GOES ALONG, FOR NOW...

Thursday, September 22, 2005

SHEEHAN COVERAGE PROVES MSM BIAS

THE SELF-IMPOSED CENSORSHIP OF THE LEFT

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

RICE REPEATING POWELL'S AND CLINTON'S ERROR: coddling the PNA in spite of their refusal to fulfill their treaty obligations

MORE EXPERTS AGREE THAT BUSH WAS RIGHT; THE CANAL BREACHES WERE UNFORESEEN AND THE CANAL WALLS SHOULD HAVE HELD

BAD NEWS FROM THE IAEA IN VIENNA: PUTIN AND CHINA SIDE WITH IRAN

ROSA PARKS, CINDY SHEEHAN AND THE LEFT

CLINTON, HURRICANES KATRINA & GEORGES, AND NEW ORLEANS

THE GIST OF MOONBAT HYPOCRISY, and why the post-modern Left is NUTS

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

POLL: WHO SHOULD BE THE NEXT U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL?

IRAN ISSUES THREATS

LONDON'S 7/7 BOMBERS PRACTICED "DRY RUNS"

Monday, September 19, 2005

NOKOS CHEAT AND RETREAT - IN JUST 24HOURS!!!!

ANALYZING THE NEW ORLEANS DEATH TOLL, SO FAR

THE IRAQ WAR'S CURRENT HORRIFYING ASSYMETRY

PORKBUSTING: A 100% GUARANTEED WAY TO GET THE CONGRESS TO CUT THE PORK

BREAKING NEWS: BBC - NOKO NUKE DEAL REACHED!

Sunday, September 18, 2005

SHATTERED MYTHS, SPLINTERED TRIBES - and why it proves we're winning

Saturday, September 17, 2005

BRAVO: ONE COURAGEOUS DEMOCRAT PARTISAN APPLAUDS BUSH'S PROGRAM FOR THE GULF COAST

Friday, September 16, 2005

VOLUN-TOURISM FOR THE GULF COAST!

EMERGENCY IN ASTRODOME: not enough NYTIMES!

Thursday, September 15, 2005

THE ORIGIN OF THE "ANTI-FEMA/ANTI-BUSH KATRINA MEME"

KATRINA, WHACKO-JACKO, OJ AND KOBE; OR: WHAT'S RACE GOT TO DO WITH IT!?

US INCREASES PRESSURE TO ISOLATE IRAN

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

BUSH USES RARE UNSC APPEARANCE TO WARN SYRIA AND IRAN

MORE BAD OMENS FROM GAZANS - AND EGYPT

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

BAD OMENS: GAZANS LOOT GREENHOUSES; EGYPT TURNS BLIND EYE

BUSH INCREASES PRESSURE ON SYRIA

IRAQ A QUAGMIRE? ONLY IN THE TWISTED MINDS OF LEFTISTS AND JIHADISTS

BUSH ACCEPTS SOME RESPONSIBILTY ON BEHALF OF FED RESPONSE

Monday, September 12, 2005

45 Bodies Found in a New Orleans Hospital

USA GIVES SYRIA PENULTIMATE WARNING

THE BLINKERED LEFT

BUSH IS SAINTLY

NYTIMES PUT OBL ON MAGAZINE COVER TO "HONOR" VICTIOMS OF 9/11