Hugh Hewitt on Media Out of Control Exaggerating New Orleans Disorder

Read his great article Reporting Katrina in the Weekly Standard 09/29/2005.

Media reports included:
 “Arkansas National Guardsman Mikel Brooks stepped through the food service entrance of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center Monday, flipped on the light at the end of his machine gun, and started pointing out bodies.
- ‘That one with his arm sticking up in the air, he's an old man.’ Then he shined the light on
the smaller human figure under the white sheet next to the elderly man.
- ‘That's a kid,’ he said. ‘There's another one in the freezer, a 7-year-old with her throat
cut’.”
- ‘There's an old woman, …and that old man got bludgeoned to death," he said of the body
lying on the floor next to the wheelchair.’
- Brooks and several other Guardsmen said they had seen between 30 and 40 more bodies
in the Convention Center's freezer.”

 “NBC photojournalist Tony Zumbado on air” saying “according to them, and what they saw, they left and they're there on their own. There's no police there's no authority. . . . You would never ever imagine what you saw in the convention center in New Orleans. …Dead people around the walls of the convention center, laying in the middle of the street in their dying chairs. . . . They were just covered up . . . Babies, two babies dehydrated and died.”

 “New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass acknowledged that murders and rapes had occurred at both the convention center and the Superdome”

 “"The Dome turned into a den of depravity at some point,"

 “noting reports of rapes and people beaten to death."

 “NBC's Campbell Brown ‘lot of people died, I believe unnecessarily’.”

Hugh writes “now even the mainstream media is figuring out that its performance in New Orleans was a disgrace, an emotion-binging joyride fueled by urban myth, rumor, and a deep desire to injure the Bush administration.”

Hugh Hewitt HughHewitt.com is the host of a nationally syndicated radio show, and author most recently of Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That is Changing Your World.

See Prior Posts:
Ghost New Orleans Police
Media Inaccurate New Orleans Reporting
Lawsuit That Sank New Orleans
New Orleans Levees Failed Not Built to Specification
Environmentalist Lawsuit Blocked Storm Gates to Protect New Orleans
U.S. Hurricanes Getting Worse Due to Global Warming? No
U.S. Hurricane Strikes by Decade
Help Victims of Hurricane Katrina

Democrat NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer Misuses Prosecutorial Power

Democrats have a nasty habit of using government power to bully others. The Clinton Administration sued gun manufacturers even knowing they had a very weak case, but with the hopes that they could intimidate and obtain a favorable settlement. Even though the manufactured were making a legal product, and such a “settlement” could not be passed as a law by Congress, sue someone enough and they are likely to see things your way.

The media seemed convince that the New York Stock Exchange paid its former head Dick Grasso excessive compensation. So Democrat New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer decided to prosecute the Chair of the Exchange’s Compensation Committee.

Read 'Boondoggle of a Case' Eliot Spitzer owes me--and New York's taxpayers--an apology. by Ken Langone in the Friday, September 30, 2005 Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

 “A little more than a year ago I was obliged to defend myself publicly against a legal smear. Eliot Spitzer, the full-time New York state attorney general and part-time fund-raiser for his political ambitions, called me ‘unsavory,’ ‘deceptive" and "tainted’. When many in the media were uncritically swayed by his posturing, Mr. Spitzer then pledged to ‘put a stake through my heart’.”

 “I tricked some of Wall Street's keenest minds, so the accusation goes, into approving a portion of Dick Grasso's compensation when he headed the New York Stock Exchange.”

 “NYSE directors … testimony is clear and consistent. .. each has said they were not deceived in any way. They all confirm that, as head of the NYSE compensation committee, I provided them and the board with complete and accurate information about Mr. Grasso's proposed compensation--and that they approved it.”

Webb interviews revealed in court showed:
 “The directors of the exchange, one and all, had full access to all the details about Mr. Grasso's pay.”

 “There was a unanimous view that Mr. Grasso was doing a praiseworthy job. Asked to grade his performance, most directors replied ‘A-plus’."

 “Thus far, the attorney general has presented a grand total of one person who, as part of a negotiated settlement, signed an affidavit saying that some of the compensation material was ‘misleading’."

 Spitzer’s “office recently said it is low on funds to pursue Medicaid fraud, he is devoting multiple lawyers to this case--which will benefit the state not one nickel. Medicaid spending by the way costs this state more than a quarter of its budget, in excess of $40 billion.”

Mr. Langone is chairman of Invemed Associates and a former member of the board of the New York Stock Exchange.

Red Prior Posts:
Michael Moore: Terrorists Will Win
Black Vote Suppression Guilty or Not?
In England President Carter Criticizes US Foreign Policy
Democratic Party – Supported Expansion of Slavery

Ghost New Orleans Police

A high crime city controlled by the Democratic Party uses taxpayer money not for public health and safety but for political patronage?

From John Fund in the Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal Political Diary (subscription required)
“New Orleans even less of a leg to stand on was the performance of its police force, much of which disintegrated during Katrina. Yesterday, police Superintendent Eddie Compass suddenly resigned even as his department was preparing to hold disciplinary hearings for 259 police officers who had left their posts without permission during the storm. Originally, over 500 officers were said to have been deserters, but the FBI is discovering that many of them fact didn't shirk their duty -- because they didn't exist. An investigation is uncovering evidence that many were ‘ghost’ employees put on the payroll by others who pocketed their paychecks.”

See Prior Posts:
Remember Bush v Gore & that 2000 Election in Florida – What Happened?
Blue States to Secede from the Union
Democrat Leaders Plan To Get Tough With Iran and North Korea
Democrats Chances to Take Back Congress
Democratic Party – Supported Expansion of Slavery

Media Inaccurate New Orleans Reporting

See Los Angeles Times article Katrina Takes a Toll on Truth, News Accuracy by Susannah Rosenblatt and James Rainey
 “Rumors supplanted accurate information and media magnified the problem.” “Rapes, violence and estimates of the dead were wrong.” National Guard spokesman Maj. Ed Bush “conclude[s] that newspapers and television exaggerated criminal behavior in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, particularly at the overcrowded Superdome and Convention Center.”
 “Mayor C. Ray Nagin told a national television audience on ‘Oprah’ three weeks ago of people ‘in that frickin' Superdome for five days watching dead bodies, watching hooligans killing people, raping people’." “The wild rumors filled the vacuum and seemed to gain credence with each retelling — that an infant's body had been found in a trash can, that sharks from Lake Pontchartrain were swimming through the business district, that hundreds of bodies had been stacked in the Superdome basement.”
 “Hyperbolic reporting spread through much of the media.”
 “The Los Angeles Times adopted a breathless tone the next day in its lead news story, reporting that National Guard troops ‘took positions on rooftops, scanning for snipers and armed mobs as seething crowds of refugees milled below, desperate to flee. Gunfire crackled in the distance’."
 “State officials this week said their counts of the dead at the city's two largest evacuation points fell far short of early rumors and news reports. Ten bodies were recovered from the Superdome and four from the Convention Center, said Bob Johannessen, spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. (National Guard officials put the body count at the Superdome at six, saying the other four bodies came from the area around the stadium.)”
 Louisiana National Guard Col. Thomas Beron, who headed security at the Superdome, said that for every complaint, "49 other people said, 'Thank you, God bless you.' "

See Prior Posts:
Environmentalist Lawsuit Blocked Storm Gates to Protect New Orleans
Tim Russert Interviews New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin
Laguna Beach Bluebird Canyon Slide Deserves Federal Disaster Aid
Help Victims of Hurricane Katrina

Lawsuit That Sank New Orleans

See the The Lawsuit That Sank New Orleans by David Schoenbrod in the
Wall Street Journal September 26, 2005 (subscription required)

“After Hurricane Betsy swamped New Orleans in 1965, …the Army Corps of Engineers designed a Lake Pontchartrain Hurricane Barrier to shield the city with flood gates like those that protect the Netherlands from the North Sea. Congress provided funding and construction began. But work stopped in 1977 when a federal judge ruled, in a suit brought by Save Our Wetlands, that the Corps' environmental impact statement was deficient. Joannes Westerink, a professor of civil engineering at Notre Dame, believes the barrier would have been an effective barrier’ against Katrina's fury.”

“But for the lawsuit, New Orleans would have had the hurricane barrier.”

“Louisiana State University's Hurricane Center found that [Katrina] ‘flooding of most of New Orleans’ came from breaches of floodwalls on canals adjoining Lake Pontchartrain; Katrina's surges did not pour over the levees but breached them because the Corps' floodwalls were shoddy. The barrier stopped by the lawsuit was designed to keep storm surges out of the lake, so it would have reduced the pressure on these floodwalls.”

See Prior Posts:
New Orleans Levees Failed Not Built to Specification
Environmentalist Lawsuit Blocked Storm Gates to Protect New Orleans
U.S. Hurricane Strikes by Decade

Barabara Streisand Declares Global Warming Emergency

See www.DrudgeReport.com at
Streisand Declares Global Warming Emergency

Barbra Streisand, interviewed by ABCNEWS's Diane Sawyer claims “We are in a global warming emergency state, and these storms are going to become more frequent, more intense,"
and "There could be more droughts, dust bowls. You know, it's amazing to hear these facts."

However she is getting old forgetting a lot. Such as:
- 1947 Category 5 Hurricane struck the Bahamas with winds of 160 mph
- 1950 "Dog" Category 5 Hurricane with winds of 185 mph
- 1951 "Easy" Category 5 Hurricane with winds of 160 mph
- 1955 "Janet" Category 5 Hurricane with winds of 150 mph 1958 "Cleo" Category 5 Hurricane
with winds of 140 mph 1960 "Carla" Category 5 Hurricane with winds of 175 mph
- 1960 "Hattie" Category 5 Hurricane with winds of 140 mph and “Donna" AND "Ethel" -- both storms carried 140 mph winds and formed 9 days apart in 1960
-1961 "Carla" Category 5 Hurricane with winds of 175 mph1969 "Camille" Category 5
Hurricane with winds of 190 mph

See Prior Posts:
U.S. Hurricanes Getting Worse Due to Global Warming? No
U.S. Hurricane Strikes by Decade

New Orleans Levees Failed Not Built to Specification

Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal Political Diary (subscription required)
September 22, 2005 by Holman W. Jenkins Jr includes

“Mr. Bush actually said was that, once it became clear that Katrina would not make a direct hit on New Orleans, it wasn't anticipated that the levees might fail anyway.”

“the Washington Post reported strong evidence that the levees holding back Lake Pontchartrain were never overtopped by the Katrina storm surge -- the predicted form of failure in a storm greater than Category 3. Instead, the floodwalls gave way in two spots in an entirely unpredicted structural failure, which never should have occurred had they been built to specification.”

See Prior Posts:
Environmentalist Lawsuit Blocked Storm Gates to Protect New Orleans
U.S. Hurricanes Getting Worse Due to Global Warming? No
U.S. Hurricane Strikes by Decade
Tim Russert Interviews New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin
Laguna Beach Bluebird Canyon Slide Deserves Federal Disaster Aid
Help Victims of Hurricane Katrina

Prisoners Up, Crime Down

Read Cutting prison numbers in the Tuesday September 20, 2005 The Guardian“A prison population that took four decades to increase by 11,000 between 1951 and 1991, climbed by 25,000 in the following decade, despite the largest and the most sustained fall in crime for more than a century.”

How about that? So, basically whatever it costs to incarcerate criminals it’s a financial plus for the community.

Cindy Sheehan Peace Train is Lonely

See National Review September 22, 2005 piece by Rich Lowery
The Cindy Sheehan Peace Train
Peace signs, Peter, Paul and Mary, anti-globalism operatives — they’re all along for the ride.

“It's not easy staging a cross-country antiwar protest, even a tiny cross-country antiwar protest. Just ask the organizers of Cindy Sheehan's "Bring Them Home Now" tour, which rolled into Washington Wednesday, starting with a hassle with police near the Capitol and ending with a minor traffic accident just a few yards from the White House. It was that kind of day.

Sheehan was scheduled to appear at noon on the front lawn of the Capitol. It couldn't be called a rally; just a handful of Washington supporters showed up on the lawn to join dozens of journalists.”

What a group!

See Prior Posts:
Protesting Soldier Mom Changed Story on Bush
Did Cindy Sheehan Sign Casey Up for the Army?
Casey Sheehan Did Not Die in Vain - Killed in Sadr City Now a Bright Success
Cindy Sheehan, Bush Critic & Media Darling Foreign Policy Expert
In response to questions regarding the Cindy Sheehan/Crawford Texas issue: Sheehan Family Statement

Just Have Another German Election

See German leaders deadlocked on new chancellor
Schroeder, challenger Merkel claim right to lead country after tight vote

Sept. 22, 2005
BERLIN – “German political rivals Angela Merkel and Gerhard Schroeder failed to agree on Thursday who should run the government after inconclusive elections, but vowed more talks to break a potentially damaging deadlock.”

But it includes: “The deadlock, which must be resolved before Oct. 18 to avert the prospect of new elections, could hinder European Union decisions on reforms needed to boost the bloc’s economy and re-energize the EU after rejection of a planned constitution.“

So just have another election.

Afghanistan Voters Defy Islamofascists Death Threats

Millions Vote in Afghanistan Parliamentary Elections 9/18/05 and Defy Islamofascists Death Threats

How's the track record of those unwilling to fight for anything?

"The administration has bungled the challenge [in Afghanistan].. ... The war effort is in deep trouble. The United States is not headed into a quagmire; it's already in one The U.S. is not losing the first round against the Taliban; it has already lost it." Los Angeles Times, Nov. 4, 2001

Hat tip The Belmont Club Rumsfeld Press Conference Sept 20 05

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
“On Sunday [September 18, 2005] the people of Afghanistan voted in their second successful democratic election in less than one year. These were their provincial and parliamentary elections. Terrorists have done everything in their power to try to intimidate the millions of Afghan voters and the literally thousands, in this case of the most recent election, thousands of candidates from participating in their elections. And they failed this week, just as they failed in the successful presidential elections.”

“Think of it. The country that hosted Osama bin Laden, that supported training camps for al Qaeda, endured decades of civil war, Soviet occupation, drought, Taliban brutality, is now a democracy that fights terrorists instead of harboring them. The Afghan people's courage should be a stunning reminder to all of those seemingly self- confident prognosticators who foresaw an Afghan quagmire. They were not just wrong, they were harmful by making the cause seem hopeless.”

“In thinking about Afghanistan and Iraq, we should ask what history will say. It will not be the daily violence or short-term setbacks, nor which person won the battle for a daily headline by predicting doom and gloom over and over. Instead, it will show that the battle in Afghanistan and Iraq was tough and ugly, to be sure, but that America was on freedom's side, and it will remember the millions of people who have been freed and the hundreds of thousands of coalition forces who helped them achieve that freedom.”

Sunni Cleric Urges Unity Against Violence

See Iraqi Cleric Urges Unity Against Violence by Tarek El-Tablawy in Los Angeles Times September 16, 2005.

“Sheik Mahmud al-Sumaidaei, a leading Sunni cleric whose group is linked to the country's insurgency, criticized militants for targeting civilians. He called for Iraq's religious and ethnic groups to take a stand against further bloodshed.”

" ‘I call for a meeting ... of all the country's religious and political leaders to take a stand against the bloodshed,’ al-Sumaidaei said during his sermon at Baghdad's Um al Qura Sunni mosque.”

“ ‘We don't need others to come across the border and kill us in the name of defending us,’ he declared, a reference to foreign fighters who have joined the insurgency under the banner of al-Qaida. ‘We reject the killing of any Iraqi’."

See Prior Posts:
Jihadists Duty to Kill the Infidels
Public Opinion Way Down - for Osama bin Laden That Is

The Fear Grows in Syria

President George W. Bush said “The defense of freedom requires the advance of freedom”. How’s he doing? This weekend , in addition to German elections between Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s left-leaning Social Democrats and the more conservative Christian Democrats led by Angela Merkel, there’s Afghanistan parliamentary elections. Guess who didn’t show up for the big United Nations confab?

Read Washington Post David Ignatius September 14, 2005 column The Fear Grows in Damascus:

“Notable by his absence from this week's gathering of the U.N. General Assembly is Syria's president, Bashar Assad. The Syrian leader had hoped to attend, and he was even said to be weighing television interviews for himself and his stylish, British-born wife. His decision to stay home indicates the disarray in Damascus these days.”

“The tourniquet that is tightening inexorably around the Assad regime is the U.N. investigation into the murder last February of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri. That probe, headed by a relentless German prosecutor, Detlev Mehlis, has already turned up enough evidence to arrest four security chiefs of the old Syrian-backed regime in Beirut for possible complicity in Hariri's death. Mehlis was in Damascus this week seeking testimony from top Syrian officials.”

“Analysts believe that Assad canceled his New York trip [as] he feared the risk of turmoil in Damascus if he were to leave now. … Credit goes to Lebanon's new government, which was tough and united in making the surprise arrests, at dawn on Aug. 30, of the security chiefs. Rumors are spinning in Beirut and Damascus about which members of the Assad regime are ratting out their friends.”

“a top Middle East expert on the National Security Council staff met for the first time with Farid Ghadry, head of a Syrian opposition group in exile.”

“what's the rush? Right now events are taking their course. A U.N. prosecutor is on the road to Damascus, following the trail of evidence. The scoundrels are running for cover. The Assad regime appears to be caught in a trap of its own making, and every day the balance of fear will tip a little farther.”

Here’s Bush March 8, 2005 Speech
Defense of Freedom Requires the Advance of Freedom
Calling it “a time when the defense of freedom requires the advance of freedom,” the president said part of the U.S. security strategy is “to help change the conditions that give rise to extremism and terror, especially in the broader Middle East.”
Bush accused both Syria and Iran of supporting terrorist groups and sowing division and chaos in the region. “The time has come,” he said, for these two countries “to stop using murder as a tool of policy, and to end all support for terrorism.”

See Prior Posts:
Jihadists Duty to Kill the Infidels
Public Opinion Way Down - for Osama bin Laden That Is

On Iraq Short Memories by Robert Kagan

Hat tip www.RealClearPolitics.com for links to On Iraq, Short Memories by Robert Kagan that ran in the Washington Post on Monday, September 12, 2005.

Kagan claims that the need to militarily intervene in Iraq was clearly established by liberals and Clinton Administration officials. Do they now remember what they said then? Some examples he notes are:

U.N. Weapons Inspector Richard Butler
“the book Butler published in 2000, "The Greatest Threat: Iraq, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and the Growing Crisis of Global Security," in which the chief U.N. inspector, after years of chasing around Iraq, wrote with utter certainty that Hussein had weapons and was engaged in a massive effort to conceal them from the world. "This is Saddam Hussein's regime," Butler wrote: "cruel, lying, intimidating, and determined to retain weapons of mass destruction."

Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
“compare Hussein to Hitler and warn that if not stopped, "he could in fact somehow use his weapons of mass destruction" or "could kind of become the salesman for weapons of mass destruction."

Clinton Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen
“Cohen appearing on television with a five-pound bag of sugar and explaining that that amount of anthrax "would destroy at least half the population" of Washington, D.C. Even as late as September 2002, Gore gave a speech insisting that Hussein "has stored away secret supplies of biological weapons and chemical weapons throughout his country."

Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
“concluded that Hussein's continued rule was dangerous, if not intolerable. Albright called explicitly for his ouster as a precondition for lifting sanctions”

Former New York Democratic Congressman Stephen Solarz
Signed group letter that "any strategy aiming at the eradication of terrorism and its sponsors must include a determined effort to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq."

Former Clinton officials, including deputy national security adviser James Steinberg, ambassador Peter Galbraith, ambassador Dennis Ross, ambassador Martin Indyk, Ivo Daalder, Ronald Asmus and ambassador Robert Gelbard.
“broad bipartisan support for removing Hussein right up to the eve of the war. In March 2003, just before the invasion, [all] signed a letter in support of the war”

Washington Post Columnist Richard Cohen
I recall a column on this page by my colleague Richard Cohen on March 11, 2003,[When Peace Is No Better Than War] shortly before the invasion. He argued that "It has oscillated from disarmament to regime change to bringing democracy to the Arab world. It has linked Hussein with al Qaeda when no such link has been established. It has warned of an imminent Iraqi nuclear program when, it seems, that's not the case. And it has managed, in a tour de force of inept diplomacy, to alienate much of the world, including some of our traditional allies."

Despite all that, however, and despite acknowledging that "war is bad -- very, very bad," Cohen argued that it was necessary to go to war anyway. "[S]ometimes peace is no better, especially if all it does is postpone a worse war," and that "is what would happen if the United States now pulled back. . . . Hussein would wait us out. . . . If, at the moment, he does not have nuclear weapons, it's not for lack of trying. He had such a program once and he will have one again -- just as soon as the world loses interest and the pressure on him is relaxed." In the meantime, Cohen wrote, Hussein would "He will continue to oppress and murder his own people . . . and resume support of terrorism abroad.”

See Prior Posts:
Iraq war - Did President Bush Lie?

February 2003 Iraq Why Now?

Interesting reading 2 ½ years later. While calling for continual discussion, in its February 23, 2003 editorial, the New York Times understood why it made sense to deal with Saddam Hussein and Iraq militarily. The Power and Leadership: The Real Meaning of Iraq editorial includes:

“Although many Americans are puzzled about why the Bush administration chose to pick this fight now, it's not surprising that in the wake of Sept. 11, the president would want to make the world safer, and that one of his top priorities would be eliminating Iraq's ability to create biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. Of all the military powers in the world, Iraq is the one that has twice invaded its neighbors without provocation and that has used chemical weapons both on its military foes and some of its own restive people.”

See Prior Posts:
Iraq war - Did President Bush Lie?

Our European Allies - Not Much Help

“Consider their response the last time a large U.N.-commanded force went to war—in Korea.”

Hat tip www.RealClearPolitics.com Read Europe Learns the Wrong Lessons by Karl Zinsmeister
“Truth be told, continental Europeans have been making themselves scarce during times of crisis for more than two generations. Their current claim is that lack of a U.N. mandate is what has prevented Europe from standing shoulder to shoulder with the U.S. since the 9/11 attacks. But the Old World’s failure to make any proportionate contribution to the war on terror is actually part of a long historical pattern. Consider their response the last time a large U.N.-commanded force went to war—in Korea.”

“After North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, the U.N. responded militarily. Of the 340,000 troops sent under U.N. control, how many of these do you suppose were European? About 5 percent. In the crunch, only Britain provided meaningful help, sending 14,198 soldiers at the Korean War’s peak. The next biggest European contribution? Greece, with 1,263. France followed, providing all of 1,119 troops.”

“The U.S., meanwhile, provided more than 300,000 fighters. Do the math and you’ll see something interesting: The Korean War alliance included 16 nations, and America supplied 88 percent of the military manpower. The Iraq War coalition included 32 nations, and 85 percent of the G.I.s were Americans. (Poland, Holland, and the Ukraine each contributed more soldiers to the Iraq War coalition than the French did to the Korean War.) See a pattern?”

See Prior Post:
“Ireland today is the richest country in the European Union after Luxembourg”
World Watches as Iraq Becomes Test for Democracy
Iraq is no Vietnam – How’s Troop Morale?
Young Iraqi Shiite Cleric to US: Bet on Democracy in Iraq

Welfare State Failed New Orleans's Poor

Hat tip to CigarJoe
See LBJ's Other Quagmire by Brendan Miniter in Tuesday, September 13, 2005 Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal

“the national debate now under way in the wake of the most devastating hurricane to hit the U.S. in decades ...why tens of thousands of poor people were left behind to fend for themselves in a flooding city. Liberals are now blaming small-government conservatism for cutting "antipoverty" programs. The lyrics are still being written, but the refrain for this ditty is a familiar one: Small government conservatives did it to us again.”

“There is, however, another explanation: The welfare state failed the residents of the Lower Ninth Ward and other flooded New Orleans neighborhoods long before the levees gave way. Large swaths of the city were mired in poverty for decades. One out of four New Orleans residents was living below the poverty line, and tens of thousands of people were living in public housing. These are the people who were left behind in the flood and who have long been left behind by failing schools, lack of economic opportunity, and crime well above the national average.”

“For decades city, state and federal officials poured good money after bad into public housing and other programs. It's reasonable to surmise that Sen. Kennedy is correct about those who wanted to leave: Most people who could arrange for their own transportation got out of harm's way; those who depended on the government (and public transportation) were left for days to the mercy of armed thugs at the Superdome and Convention Center. It was an extreme example of what the welfare state has done to the poor for decades: use the promise of food, shelter and other necessities to lure most of the poor to a few central points and then leave them stranded and nearly helpless.”

“In late August the levees broke in New Orleans. But the welfare state had left the poor stuck in the mud long before that.”

See Prior Posts:
Environmentalist Lawsuit Blocked Storm Gates to Protect New Orleans
Tim Russert Interviews New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin
Laguna Beach Bluebird Canyon Slide Deserves Federal Disaster Aid
Help Victims of Hurricane Katrina

Did Bush Manipulate Facts to Take Us to War in Iraq?

See http://2slick.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_2slick_archive.html

Many anti-war folks are certain that the Bush administration was responsible for public opinion believing that Saddam Hussein and Iraq were involved in the 9/11/2001 attack destroying the World Trade Center in New York. This is a major claim that he misled the country into war. When asked when and how Bush did this manipulation, the best commentator RM states “I don't know why people can’t just acknowledge that he manipulated the public, and THEN debate if it was necessary or not”, but the best evidence offered is “The closest thing to proof of his desire to link 911 to Iraq is the assertion, ‘fight them over there, so we don't have to fight them here’.”

2Slick, a former Army Black Hawk pilot, responded making some great points:

“As a member of the 101st Airborne Division, I knew that I'd be one of the first to go over there, so I listened CAREFULLY. I'm going to say it again- not once did I hear anyone in his administration even imply that Iraq was involved in planning and/or executing the attacks on 9/11.

"I've not seen one shred of evidence to suggest that he [Bush] "bent any facts"- our intelligence matched up with every intelligence agency in the world. He did, however, present a lot of reasons (some turned out to be better than others) for going to war. Is this manipulation? I suppose you could call it that. I'd call it "doing his job."I agree with you about the "we fight them over there, so we don't have to fight them over here" stuff, but I think you read a little too much into it. I don't see anything in that statement that suggests Iraq was responsible for 9/11."

"I think it's pretty obvious that he's making the point that there are terrorists over there who are fighting like hell to keep Iraq from becoming a free society- and it's better that they are engaged in that fight instead of planning and executing attacks on US soil."

"I can tell you that the Iraqi people (whom we are there to help) would rather we be fighting those terrorists in Iowa instead of Baghdad and Mosul, and I certainly don't blame them. But most of them accept that it's a battle between good and evil that needs to be fought and won by the good guys (the good guys being us and the Iraqi Security Forces)."

"I believe that we will prevail in Iraq- and when we do, the Iraqis will begin to enjoy life again. The entire middle east will follow them towards the path of freedom, and the world will be a better place. And I'll just be glad to have been a part of it.”

See Prior Post:
Iraq war - Did President Bush Lie?
Battle for Mosul: Progress Report
Analysis of Military Situation in Iraq
What’s Happening in Mosul, Iraq
Facts from Iraq
World Watches as Iraq Becomes Test for Democracy
1,286 Accidental US Military Deaths Per Year Twice Iraq Combat Deaths
US Technology to Win War Against Islamofascists
Army Reenlistments Up
How do the US Armed Forces conduct their operations in Iraq?
Iraq is no Vietnam – How’s Troop Morale?
US Technology to Win War Against Islamofascists
Young Iraqi Shiite Cleric to US: Bet on Democracy in Iraq

Environmentalist Lawsuit Blocked Storm Gates to Protect New Orleans

John Fund in Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal Political Diary September 13, 2005
http://www.opinionjournal.com/politicaldiary Subscription Required


“How's This for 'Environmental Impact?'

In 1965, after Hurricane Betsy ravaged Louisiana, the Army Corps of Engineers won a Congressional go-ahead to build two massive storm gates designed to prevent hurricane winds from driving a swollen Lake Pontchartrain into the levees surrounding New Orleans. The Dutch built floodgates similar to those contemplated by the Corps after a 1953 storm flooded much of their country. "If we had built the barriers, New Orleans would not be flooded," Joseph Towers, the retired chief counsel for the Army Corps of Engineers' New Orleans district, told the Los Angeles Times. His opinion is seconded by former Louisiana Senator Bennett Johnson and several experts interviewed by the Times.

The project, which would have cost $500 million in today's dollars to complete, ground to a halt in 1977 … A lawsuit filed by environmentalists blocked the effort.”

Election in Egypt

Wall Street Journal Editorial
"Opening in Egypt"
September 12, 2005; Page A16 (subscription required)

“Last week's presidential election in Egypt is being dismissed in some quarters as a sham, and indeed the vote was much less free than Iraq's or Afghanistan's. But the bigger story is that elections were held at all in that important Arab country, and that a democratic process has begun that may well be hard for Cairo's autocrats to control in the future.

His critics won't admit it, but none of this would be happening at all without President Bush's initiative on behalf of Mideast freedom.”

Battle for Mosul: Progress Report

See dispatch from Michael Yon at http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/
Battle for Mosul: Progress Report

24th Infantry Regiment “Deuce Four” LTC Erik Kurilla was wounded August 19, 2005 in Mosul on 19 Aug, 2005. “When the battalion arrived in Mosul, the mostly-Sunni city had already devolved into an insurgent stronghold. When the home-base for organized kidnap and beheading squads swelled with the steady stream of fighters fleeing the crackdown in Falluja, the local police simply abandoned their stations…. As the Deuce Four heads home this week, they leave behind a Mosul that, while not yet in the clear, is much closer to security and prosperity than anyone would have considered possible eight months ago.”

Recuperating in the US, he gets to see our media and says “When you get the news back here in the states, it’s all doom and body counts. I only wish the American public could see the incredible progress that is being made every day in Iraq, particularly in places like Mosul.”

If we cut and run Kurilla is quoted as saying "Without a strong Coalition military presence in the near term, all our gains would be eroded," "Worse, we'd be consigning our Iraqi allies, who have become increasingly effective fighting side by side with us, to a brutal civil war against an enemy that is savagely intent on clinging to a power they should never have possessed."

See Prior Post
What’s Happening in Mosul, Iraq
How do the US Armed Forces conduct their operations in Iraq?

Japan Koizumi Wins in a Landslide

See Japan's Koizumi Wins in a Landslide

Los Angeles Times September 12, 2005
Japan's Koizumi Wins in a Landslide by Bruce Wallace, Times Staff Writer

"Prime minister's party wins a majority in lower house of parliament, after a brazen campaign that could signal a new political era.

TOKYO — Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi won a crushing reelection victory Sunday, gaining sweeping political command in Japan and securing a mandate for a more thorough overhaul of the nation's sclerotic economy.

The final count gave the Japanese leader's Liberal Democratic Party 296 seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament, up from its previous 212 seats.

The verdict vindicated Koizumi's gamble last month to call an election and force a showdown with lawmakers, including 37 members of his party, opposed to his plan to privatize the massive state-owned postal system.

many also saw postal reform as code for a wider referendum on whether Japan needed to change the way its government and economy operate and on whether Koizumi was the leader to make the fixes.
the sight of its leader publicly jettisoning powerful party rivals in the midst of a campaign was an unusual drama in a country renowned for its dull politics.
kicked the 37 dissident members out of the party

Koizumi's landslide nonetheless purged his party of that old guard, and sent a shot across the bow of any others who might have considered crossing him. "

See Prior Post:
How About City of Laguna Beach Outsource Something?

Union Hires Temps to Picket Wal-Mart

http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110007249

see
Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal Best of the Web Today September 12, 2005

All Work and No Pay
"Picketers have been standing outside a Wal-Mart in Henderson, Nev., holding signs protesting the discount chain's alleged maltreatment of workers. But these people aren't protesting because they believe in what they're doing. They're getting paid for it, albeit at a niggardly rate, reports the Las Vegas Weekly:
They're not union members; they're temp workers employed through Allied Forces/Labor Express by the union--United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). They're making $6 an hour, with no benefits; it's 104 [degrees] F, and they're protesting the working conditions inside the new Wal-Mart grocery store.
Hmm, now we know why unions favor a legally mandated minimum wage. It prevents anyone form hiring even cheaper picketers to picket the picketers."

See prior posts:
Washington Post Editorial on Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)
“Ireland today is the richest country in the European Union after Luxembourg”
Are Oil Prices a Crisis?
Our 'No Risk' Mentality Demands the Impossible

Michael Moore: Terrorists Will Win

“The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not insurgents or terrorists, or The Enemy. They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow – and they will win.”
Michael Moore Terrorists Will Win
Michael Moore Wednesday, April 14th, 2004

See Prior Posts:
Analysis of Military Situation in Iraq
What’s Happening in Mosul, Iraq
Facts from Iraq
World Watches as Iraq Becomes Test for Democracy
1,286 Accidental US Military Deaths Per Year Twice Iraq Combat Deaths
US Technology to Win War Against Islamofascists
Army Reenlistments Up
How do the US Armed Forces conduct their operations in Iraq?
Iraq is no Vietnam – How’s Troop Morale?
US Technology to Win War Against Islamofascists
Young Iraqi Shiite Cleric to US: Bet on Democracy in Iraq

Price Controls on Gasoline

John Fund in Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal Political Diary (subscription required) September 12, 2005

Includes: “Bill Lockyer, California's state attorney general, is leading an aggressive investigation into whether oil companies are violating the state's law limiting price increases for gasoline to 10% over a 30-day period.”

“UCLA economist Mark Kleiman, a self-confessed liberal, is appalled by the economic ignorance of those pursuing ‘price gougers.’ ‘At any price below the market-clearing level, buyers will want to buy more gasoline than sellers have to sell,’ he writes. ‘The result is either waiting in line, which is a very inefficient means of rationing compared to letting the price rise, or some sort of legal rationing system.’ Either way, consumers wind up worse off than if they pay the higher prices until more supplies come on line.”

See Prior Posts:
Washington Post Editorial on Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)
“Ireland today is the richest country in the European Union after Luxembourg”
Are Oil Prices a Crisis?
Our 'No Risk' Mentality Demands the Impossible

Tim Russert Interviews New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin

Meet The Press Sept. 11, 2005

Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans wonders about the Federal government’s response. After all, according to him “the United States that can move whole fleets of aircraft carriers across the globe in 24 hours”. How many knots per hours is that?

MAYOR NAGIN: You know, I'm sure I could have done a lot of things much better, ….

MR. RUSSERT: What's the biggest mistake you made?

MAYOR NAGIN: My biggest mistake is having a fundamental assumption that in the state of Louisiana, with an $18 billion budget, in the country of the United States that can move whole fleets of aircraft carriers across the globe in 24 hours, that my fundamental assumption was get as many people to safety as possible, and that the cavalry would be coming within two to three days, and they didn't come.

MR. RUSSERT: Many people point, Mr. Mayor, that on Friday before the hurricane, President Bush declared an impending disaster. And The Houston Chronicle wrote it this way. "[Mayor Nagin's] mandatory evacuation order was issued 20 hours before the storm struck the Louisiana coast, less than half the time researchers determined would be needed to get everyone out. City officials had 550 municipal buses and hundreds of additional school buses at their disposal but made no plans to use them to get people out of New Orleans before the storm, said Chester Wilmot, a civil engineering professor at Louisiana State University and an expert in transportation planning, who helped the city put together its evacuation plan." And we've all see this photograph of these submerged school buses. Why did you not declare, order, a mandatory evacuation on Friday, when the president declared an emergency, and have utilized those buses to get people out?

MAYOR NAGIN: You know, Tim, that's one of the things that will be debated. There has never been a catastrophe in the history of New Orleans like this. There has never been any Category 5 storm of this magnitude that has hit New Orleans directly. We did the things that we thought were best based upon the information that we had. Sure, here was lots of buses out there. But guess what? You can't find drivers that would stay behind with a Category 5 hurricane, you know, pending down on New Orleans. We barely got enough drivers to move people on Sunday, or Saturday and Sunday, to move them to the Superdome. We barely had enough drivers for that. So sure, we had the assets, but the drivers just weren't available.

MR. RUSSERT: But, Mr. Mayor, if you read the city of New Orleans' comprehensive emergency plan-- and I've read it and I'll show it to you and our viewers--it says very clearly, "Conduct of an actual evacuation will be the responsibility of the mayor of New Orleans. The city of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas. Special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific life-saving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedure as needed. Approximately 100,000 citizens of New Orleans do not have means of personal transportation."

It was your responsibility. Where was the planning? Where was the preparation? Where was the execution?

MAYOR NAGIN: The planning was always in getting people to higher ground, getting them to safety. That's what we meant by evacuation. Get them out of their homes, which--most people are under sea level. Get them to a higher ground and then depending upon our state and federal officials to move them out of harm's way after the storm has hit.

MR. RUSSERT: But in July of this year, one month before the hurricane, you cut a public service announcement which said, in effect, "You are on your own." And you have said repeatedly that you never thought an evacuation plan would work. Which is true: whether you would exercise your obligation and duty as mayor or that--and evacuate people, or you believe people were on their own?

MAYOR NAGIN: Well, Tim, you know, we basically wove this incredible tightrope as it is. We were in a position of trying to encourage as many people as possible to leave because we weren't comfortable that we had the resources to move them out of our city. Keep in mind: normal evacuations, we get about 60 percent of the people out of the city of New Orleans. This time we got 80 percent out. We encouraged people to buddy up, churches to take senior citizens and move them to safety, and a lot of them did. And then we would deal with the remaining people that couldn't or wouldn't leave and try and get them to higher ground until safety came.

MR. RUSSERT: Amtrak said they offered to remove people from the city of New Orleans on Saturday night and that the city of New Orleans declined.

MAYOR NAGIN: I don't know where that's coming from. Amtrak never contacted me to make that offer. As a matter of fact, we checked the Amtrak lines for availability, and every available train was booked, as far as the report that I got, through September. So I'd like to see that report.

MR. RUSSERT: They said they were moving equipment out of New Orleans in order to protect it and offered to take evacuees with them.

MAYOR NAGIN: I have never gotten that call, Tim, and I would love to have had that call. But it never happened.

MR. RUSSERT: Since 2002, the federal government has given New Orleans $18 million to plan and prepare for events like this. How was that money spent?

MAYOR NAGIN: It's my understanding that most of the money--I've only been in office about three years. So we've mainly used most of the money that we get from the federal government to try and deal with levee protection and the coordination of getting people to safety. That's primarily what we use the money for.

MR. RUSSERT: The Superdome was established as a safe haven for people who could not evacuate the city to go to. Why wasn't there water and food and cots and security in place at the Superdome from day one? Couldn't you as mayor have guaranteed that?

MAYOR NAGIN: Well, we put in place the resources that we had to provide security. There was running water at the time. There was backup systems. There was food. We encouraged every resident that was coming to the Superdome to at least have perishable food to last them about two to three days and also to have water to last them about that time. Keep in mind, we always assume that after two to three days the cavalry will be coming.

See prior posts:
U.S. Hurricanes Getting Worse Due to Global Warming? No
U.S. Hurricane Strikes by Decade
Laguna Beach Bluebird Canyon Slide Deserves Federal Disaster Aid
Help Victims of Hurricane Katrina

Remember Bush v Gore & that 2000 Election in Florida – What Happened?

I was chatting with a liberal friend about the 2000 Presidential election and said that "the United States Supreme Court ruled 7 to 2 that what the Florida Supreme Court did was unconstitutional." The response was that I must be ill informed or lying.

A good summary of what actually happened in 2000 was written by James Taranto of Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal Best of the Web Today:
In Florida "Bush had a lead of just under 2,000 votes, enough to force an automatic recount.

That recount cut Bush's lead to less than 1,000 votes, and the Gore camp demanded re-recounts by hand, especially in Democrat-leaning Broward, Dade and Palm Beach counties, which trimmed the margin further. A legal battle ensued between the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. On Nov. 21 the Florida court unanimously overturned a lower-court ruling and ordered the resumption of those hand recounts. On Dec. 4 a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court vacated that ruling and ordered the Tallahassee justices to reconsider its ruling.

Then divisions appeared in both courts. On Dec. 9, by a vote of 4-3, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a full statewide re-re-recount. That was a Saturday, prompting an unusual weekend Best of the Web Today. Florida Chief Justice Charles Wells dissented: "I . . . believe that the majority's decision cannot withstand the scrutiny which will certainly immediately follow under the United States Constitution."

He was right. On Dec. 12, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the Florida court in Bush v. Gore. Seven of the nine justices agreed that the Florida court's ruling was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause, but two of them wanted to give the Floridians more time to resolve the problem. A five-justice majority, however, held that state law set a Dec. 12 deadline and thus put a stop to the re-re-recounting."

I would make only one addition: During the US Supreme Court Bush v. Gore oral arguments, Gore attorney David Boies admitted that “re-re-recount” had essentially no standard whatsoever for evaluating chads to determine if a ballot had a valid vote.
See: http://www.nationalreview.com/lowry/lowry121100.shtml

Iraq war - Did President Bush Lie?

Did the President lie? Did the President hype intelligence? Has Bush said anything different from President Clinton when he ordered military action in Iraq and addressed the American people saying:
· [The] “mission is to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors.”
· “to protect the national interest of the United States and indeed the interests of people throughout the Middle East and around the world.”
· “Saddam Hussein must not be allowed to threaten his neighbors or the world with nuclear arms, poison gas or biological weapons.”
· “to oversee the elimination of Iraq's capability to retain, create and use weapons of mass destruction, and to verify that Iraq does not attempt to rebuild that capability.”
· “at the end of the Gulf War … Iraq agreed to declare and destroy its arsenal as a condition of the ceasefire.”
· “With Saddam, He has used them…even against his own people …and I have no doubt today, that left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will use these terrible weapons again.”
· “The UN Security Council voted 15 to zero to condemn Saddam's actions and to demand that he immediately come into compliance.”
· “Saddam [had] one last chance to prove his willingness to cooperate.”
· “along with Prime Minister Blair of Great Britain, I made it equally clear that if Saddam failed to cooperate fully, we would be prepared to act without delay, diplomacy or warning.” “So Iraq has abused its final chance.”
· “the inspectors are saying that even if they could stay in Iraq, their work would be a sham. Instead of the inspectors disarming Saddam, Saddam has disarmed the inspectors.”
· “This situation presents a clear and present danger …The international community gave Saddam one last chance …And so we had to act and act now.”
· Otherwise “Iraq would be free to retain and begin to rebuild its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs in months, not years. .. someday -- make no mistake -- he will use it again as he has in the past.”

For the complete transcript of President Bill Clinton’s December 1998 remarks, go online to
“Transcript: President Clinton explains Iraq strike”

See Prior Posts:
1,286 Accidental US Military Deaths Per Year Twice Iraq Combat Deaths
US Technology to Win War Against Islamofascists
Army Reenlistments Up
How do the US Armed Forces conduct their operations in Iraq?
Iraq is no Vietnam – How’s Troop Morale?
US Technology to Win War Against Islamofascists
Young Iraqi Shiite Cleric to US: Bet on Democracy in Iraq

New Orleans Police Fails to Report for Duty

New Orleans Police
A touching article about the difficulty of the police, many themselves homeless, but includes of “1,700 officers … More than 200 have quit. About 500 are unaccounted for.”

Obviously getting control of the City and preventing looting is near impossible when the local police force fails to report for duty.

See Los Angeles Times “A Home for the Brave”

See prior posts:
Laguna Beach Bluebird Canyon Slide Deserves Federal Disaster Aid
Help Victims of Hurricane Katrina

Iraq and Vietnam Nine Big Differences

By: Michael Medved Monday, Aug 22, 2005

Iraq and Vietnam: Nine Big Differences- And One Crucial Similarity

DIFFERENCES
1.THE ENEMY- “the nation of North Vietnam, with more than a million men under arms”

2.THE ENEMY'S ALLIES- “unlimited support from two of the three most powerful nations on earth: the Soviet Union and Communist China”

3.OUR ARMY—“Everyone fighting in Iraq - including National Guardsmen and reservists- at one time or another enlisted voluntarily in the military. Cindy Sheehan notwithstanding, all those who sign up for the U.S. military are clever enough to understand the very real possibility that at one point you might be required to use your expensive training in actual combat.”

4.CASUALTY RATES – “Vietnam - in which 58,000 Americans gave their lives for their country. The Iraq War has been going on for two and a half years - with a killed-in-action rate of approximately 800 per year”

5.THE MEDIA – The same with the “the mainstream media .. emphasizing bad news, and downplaying every sing of progress. The difference in media coverage remains profound, however, since the emergence of new media (talk radio, Fox News, the Internet and the blogosphere”

6.POLITICS – “In the '60's and '70?s, the Democrats remained the dominant party in the nation, enjoying uninterrupted control of both houses of Congress during both decades…..Today, by contrast, the Republicans maintain control of both houses of Congress (and the majority of state governorships) and Republicans remain almost unanimously behind Bush.”

7.SCANDAL – “the self-destruction of the Nixon administration in the most devastating scandal in U.S. political history. .. the Democrats .. preventing President Ford from re-supplying our South Vietnamese allies when the North broke its agreements under the Paris Accords and launched a massive invasion.”

8.THE PAST –“Unlike Vietnam, where Communists could claim that they represented a nationalist reaction to French (and then American) colonialism, the population of Iraq maintains clear memories of the rabidly anti-American Hussein regime which brought about the nation's economic and cultural ruin.”

9.THE STAKE – “Islamic fanatics killing more of us in that one day than the Iraqi insurgents have managed to kill in two and a half years. America's stake in defeating a ruthless enemy in Iraq isn't abstract or nebulous: it's real, immediate, urgent and palpable. Anti-war extremists may downplay the every day dangers of Islamic terrorism, but most Americans understand that it still represents a significant menace to both our lives and our way of life.”

“And this recognition brings me to the one great SIMILARITY.. Our citizens worry about the war, and long for our troops to come home, but only a very small percentage (about 20%, according to most polls) want us to run up the white flag, abandon our Iraqi allies, and strangle an infant democracy in its cradle.”

See Prior Posts:
Analysis of Military Situation in Iraq
What’s Happening in Mosul, Iraq
Facts from Iraq
World Watches as Iraq Becomes Test for Democracy
1,286 Accidental US Military Deaths Per Year Twice Iraq Combat Deaths
US Technology to Win War Against Islamofascists
Army Reenlistments Up
How do the US Armed Forces conduct their operations in Iraq?
Iraq is no Vietnam – How’s Troop Morale?
US Technology to Win War Against Islamofascists
Young Iraqi Shiite Cleric to US: Bet on Democracy in Iraq

Proud of US Withdrawal from Vietnam?

Some remember the US withdrawal from Vietnam blissfully.

Let’s recap the facts:
Despite the signing of the1973 Vietnam Peace Accords with the last US combat troops leaving Vietnam on March 29, 1973, Democratic liberals abandoned our allies in Vietnam failing to fulfill our obligations.

Two years later, in 1975, the Democrats in Congress, "resisted President Gerald Ford’s January request for additional military aid to South Vietnam and Cambodia. This appropriation would have provided the beleaguered Cambodian and South Vietnamese militaries with ammunition, spare parts, and tactical weapons needed to continue their own defense. Despite the fact that the 1973 Paris Peace Accords called specifically for ‘unlimited military replacement aid’ for South Vietnam, by March the House Democratic Caucus voted overwhelmingly, 189-49, against any additional military assistance to Vietnam or Cambodia." (By James Webb former Navy Secretary http://www.taemag.com/issues/articleid.16181/article_detail.asp)

We abandoned our allies not to the Vietnam insurgency, but to a large conventional North Vietnamese army that invaded South Vietnam in violation of the Peace Accords. If we now "Bring the troops home from Iraq", those Iraqis who have worked with us to foster democracy will be tortured and killed. We have enough blood on our hands; let’s not abandon another ally.


See prior posts
Analysis of Military Situation in Iraq
What’s Happening in Mosul, Iraq
Facts from Iraq
World Watches as Iraq Becomes Test for Democracy
1,286 Accidental US Military Deaths Per Year Twice Iraq Combat Deaths
US Technology to Win War Against Islamofascists
Army Reenlistments Up
How do the US Armed Forces conduct their operations in Iraq?
Iraq is no Vietnam – How’s Troop Morale?
US Technology to Win War Against Islamofascists
Young Iraqi Shiite Cleric to US: Bet on Democracy in Iraq

Keeping Order How’d Los Angeles Do?

Watts Riots 1965 Six Days
In 1965, the African-American community of Watts was the site of six days of race rioting that left 34 people dead and caused over $200 million in property damage.

The Watts Riots in 1965, in addition to 34 people were killed, 1,100 people were injured, 4,000 people were arrested, and an estimated $100 million in damage was caused.

Rodney King Riots 1992 Six Days
1992 Los Angeles riots
58 people killed “with as many as 2,000 persons injured. Estimates of the material damage done vary between about $800 million and $1 billion. Approximately 3,600 fires were set, destroying 1,100 buildings, with fire calls coming one every minute at some points. About 10,000 people were arrested”

Democrat Party Race History

I keep on running into liberal Democrats who think that Republicans are racists and that the racial appeal is the reason for the Republican election success in the South. In the December 15, 2004 Los Angeles Times article “GOP Has Lock on South, and Democrats Can't Find Key”, Ronald Brownstein writes the Republican “party expanded its appeal by courting Southern whites with conservative messages on such nonracial issues as taxes, national defense and moral values.”

Nonetheless, a liberal I chatted with was unconvinced apparently not knowing that it is the Democrat party that has the long record of racism in this country. A little knowledge of history might be helpful.

Republican Dwight Eisenhower proposed the 1957 Civil Rights Act to ensure that all African Americans could exercise their right to vote. It was passed due to the leadership in the Senate provided by conservative Republican leader William Knowland of California and Democratic leader Lyndon Johnson overcoming opposition by Southern segregationist Democrats. It is noteworthy that having presidential aspirations, and concerned about support from the solid South, Senator John F. Kennedy voted against the 1957 Civil Rights Act.

Thanks to the leadership of President Johnson and Republican Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination in public facilities, in government, and in employment. To accomplish this, they had to overcome a filibuster by Southern Democrat Senators.

Twenty-seven Senators voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, twenty-one Democrats and six Republicans. Senator Barry Goldwater voted no stating that “you can't legislate morality”, a position based on principle. While one would not accuse Barry Goldwater of being racist, the twenty-one No votes by Democrats were cast by those who supported Jim Crow laws and segregation including Al Gore’s father.

These Democrat Senators had significant seniority and maintained their positions of power for many years. Only one changed parties; Strom Thurman becoming a Republican in 1964.

Democrats have had difficulty getting elected without resorting to racism. This includes Jimmy Carter. From http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/James%20Earl%20Carter,%20Jr.
“In his 1970 campaign [Jimmy] Carter was elected governor on a pro-George Wallace platform. Carter's campaign aides handed out thousands of photographs of his opponent, the liberal former Gov. Carl Sanders, showing Sanders associating with black basketball players. On the stump, Carter pledged to reappoint an avowed segregationist to the state Board of Regents. He promised as his first act to invite former Alabama Gov. George Wallace into the state to speak. Old-line segregationists across the state endorsed Carter for governor.”

Brownstein writes that “Republicans now hold 22 of the 26 Senate seats in the 13 [Southern] states.” I think history makes quite clear that without the racist appeal, the Democrat party had and has little to offer Southern voters.

See Prior Posts
Blue States to Secede from the Union
Democrat Leaders Plan To Get Tough With Iran and North Korea
Black Vote Suppression Guilty or Not?
In England President Carter Criticizes US Foreign Policy
Hillary Clinton Not Likable Enough to Be President?
Democrats Chances to Take Back Congress
Democratic Party – Supported Expansion of Slavery

Our 'No Risk' Mentality Demands the Impossible

Wall Street Journal
Letter-to-the-Editor
September 2, 2005

Our 'No Risk' Mentality Demands the Impossible

In response to your Aug. 22 editorial "Vioxx Verdict":
I am horrified at the implications of the Vioxx decision. During a 23-year practice as a surgeon, I often had to discuss risks vs. benefits with patients. The most important factor I emphasized was that benefits outweigh risks.

It seems to me that the defense was flawed in the Merck trial. The defense should have been based on the fact that given the evident and trumpeted risks associated with these anti-inflammatory drugs, the slightly increased, and at that point theoretical, risk of a heart attack was unlikely to dissuade anyone willing to accept those more evident serious complications from taking the drug given the demonstrated benefits.

A society that has come to demand a complete absence of risk will cease to enjoy many of the blessings of innovation and progress. Unfortunately, society, with the legal profession in the lead, has come to demand the impossible.

Martin A. Thiel, M.D.
Williamsburg, Va.

U.S. Hurricanes Getting Worse Due to Global Warming? No

Read The Belmont Club

The Imperfect Storm
The Imperfect Storm 2
The Imperfect Storm 3

James Glassman argues that the frequency of giant storms has actually been decreasing over time, based on NOAA data.
“Giant hurricanes are rare, but they are not new. And they are not increasing. To the contrary. Just go to the website of the National Hurricane Center and check out a table that lists hurricanes by category and decade. The peak for major hurricanes (categories 3,4,5) came in the decades of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, when such storms averaged 9 per decade. In the 1960s, there were 6 such storms; in the 1970s, 4; in the 1980s, 5; in the 1990s, 5; and for 2001-04, there were 3. Category 4 and 5 storms were also more prevalent in the past than they are now. As for Category 5 storms, there have been only three since the 1850s: in the decades of the 1930s, 1960s and 1990s.”

See MIT researcher Kerry Emmanuel's comments “results suggest that future warming may lead to an upward trend in tropical cyclone destructive potential” however his web site includes “Neither basic theory nor numerical climate simulation is well enough advanced to predict how tropical cyclone frequency might change with changing climate, and both give conflicting results on the change of tropical cyclone frequency on doubling atmospheric.”

A New York Times article citing Emmanuel says: In an article this month in the journal Nature, Kerry A. Emanuel, a hurricane expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote that global warming might have already had some effect. The total power dissipated by tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic and North Pacific increased 70 to 80 percent in the last 30 years, he wrote. But even that seemingly large jump is not what has been pushing the hurricanes of the last two years, Dr. Emanuel said, adding, "What we see in the Atlantic is mostly the natural swing."

See Prior Post: U.S. Hurricane Strikes by Decade