Merry Christmas!

Mia just told us this was the best Christmas ever. Of course, her standards are pretty low. Every time we have pizza she says that was the best pizza ever. Hamburgers - same thing. But still, I think it went well. She's painting on her new easel right now.

This was the first Christmas that she could grasp the concept of Santa and I think we pulled it off. She was really excited when she went to bed last night.

Well, we still have lots of family to visit so I probably won't be blogging until after New Year's.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Manners

Since I explained to her that she gets presents from Santa and her family, Mia has been talking non-stop about who is giving her presents. Is oma? Yes. Is Aunt Kelley? Yes. Is Santa? Yes. Is Grandma? Yes.

Well, we're going to see grandma today, so I told her not to ask for a present right when we walk in the door:

Me: Grandma will give you a present. But don't ask for it.

Mia: Why?

Me: It's not polite to ask people for presents.

Mia: I asked Santa.

Me: Uh, yes, well, uh it's OK to ask Santa, but no one else.

Discrimination or Common Sense?

Seems that Qantas and Air New Zealand have caused quite a ruckus down-under. Both airlines have a policy of not seating an unaccompanied child next to an adult male. This strikes me as a common sense precaution. Some 95% of child molesters are male. If you're rolling the dice by sending a child on a long journey alone, why not up the odds of a safe arrival by seating the kid next to a woman?

But no. Mark Worsley was offended. Now right-wing politicians are up in arms about the "war on men" and left-wing politicians are in a tizzy about equal rights violations. Since this is one thing the two sides can agree on, odds are this policy has seen it's last days.

Sure, the vast majority of men aren't dangerous to children. Of course, it's even less likely that a man will blow up the airplane he's riding in, yet he still has to submit his shoes to a search. On the off chance. Can't be too careful. Better safe than sorry. And so forth. Was Mr. Worsley just as horrified that he was considered a potential terrorist?

Can't this guy just suck it up and switch seats? You know... for the children.

Oh, Fetus Tree, Oh Fetus Tree

Okay, is it stranger to decorate a Christmas tree with baby dolls representing 11-12 week old fetuses, or to be shocked and offended by said baby dolls? Perhaps the strangest thing of all is to run a new segment on the "Fetus Ornaments Controversy."

A Major, Major Turn

John Burns of the NY Times tells The Newshour:

They want an American military withdrawal, but as I heard it expressed today they don't want it to be precipitous, I'm talking about the Sunni Arabs now. They want it to be staged so that political stability here is created.

I said to one man, it sounds very much as though you have been listening to President Bush. And he laughed and he said, Bush's formula would be fine with us -- so a major, major turn here.

And this:

My reading amongst the mood of the Sunnis who voted was that what they want is well within the reach of what the American command here, the American diplomats, feel should be offered to them over the next several months as a new government is formed.

Does Carl "The Sunni's aren't on board" Levin know about this?

(Via Tim Blair)

Participatory Dictatorship

From Jay Nordlinger:

Okay, I’m holding in my hands a new book, about East Germany. The author is Mary Fulbrook, a history professor at University College London. The book is called The People’s State: East Germany from Hitler to Honecker. (So far, so unpromising.) And here’s how the text on the jacket ends: “Replacing the simplistic black-and-white concept of ‘totalitarianism’ by the notion of a ‘participatory dictatorship’, this book seeks to reinstate the East German people as actors in their own history.”

We like to say that Reagan won, but did he? In the universities, never! “Participatory dictatorship”! The cake is taken. Congratulations, Professor Fulbrook. Comrade Honecker would be so pleased.

I used to think communists and their fellow traveler's felt that they just needed one more chance (and one more, and one more) to get communism right. Apparently, many of them thought they had it right all along. (Via Betsy's Page)

Bush on the latest breach of national security

(Via LGF) Byron York posts the text of Bush's radio address in The Corner:

This is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security. Its purpose is to detect and prevent terrorist attacks against the United States, our friends and allies. Yesterday the existence of this secret program was revealed in media reports, after being improperly provided to news organizations. As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have, and the unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk. Revealing classified information is illegal, alerts our enemies, and endangers our country.

I must say that whenever I bother to check into one of these "disturbing allegations", it turns out there's no there there. Turns out the "hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States" being surveiled are those with "known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations". And it turns out that our rouge president and his NSA have briefed Congressional leaders "more than a dozen times on this authorization and the activities conducted under it".

Munich

Jason at Libertas has a post about Spielberg's latest. He includes the full text of David Brooks' op-ed on the movie:

This is a new kind of antiwar movie for a new kind of war, and in so many ways it is innovative, sophisticated and intelligent.

But when it is political, Spielberg has to distort reality to fit his preconceptions. In the first place, by choosing a story set in 1972, Spielberg allows himself to ignore the core poison that permeates the Middle East, Islamic radicalism. In Spielberg’s Middle East, there is no Hamas or Islamic Jihad. There are no passionate anti-Semites, no Holocaust deniers like the current president of Iran, no zealots who want to exterminate Israelis.

There is, above all, no evil. And that is the core of Spielberg’s fable. In his depiction of reality there are no people so committed to a murderous ideology that they are impervious to the sort of compromise and dialogue Spielberg puts such great faith in.

Which is odd, since those murderous fanatics work so hard to get noticed. Yet, so many in the West work over-time to excuse or ignore them.

Yet more sickness

My Mia, not Ahmadinejad. I'm trying not to turn this into the Vomit Blog, but... I lost my second bedspread in a week last night at midnight. So, today has been all laundry, no bloggy.

We know that Bush is extending his fascist empire

across the globe through the use of America's Imperial War Machine. So, why can't anyone seem to get a decent picture of American soldiers? According to John Kerry, any Iraqi child could snap a picture of one, what with them constantly rampaging through Iraqi houses.

Update: Great comment at Medienkritik: "Spiegel's mistake is certainly understandable. The United States takes all its actions unilaterally. Therefore every soldier you see in a picture by definition has to be American."

analogy with the word woo

That's what someone from Poland was Googling when they found my blog. Somehow, I don't think they found satisfaction.

But on the bright side: Someone from Poland visited my blog. Cool.

Viva La Merchandise...

To rip off a great T-shirt slogan. I get why Che sells T-shirts. Most kids wearing the shirts are way too young to remember his crimes and way too vacuous to care. Long wavy hair. Stickin' it to the man. What more can you ask for in teenage rebellion-wear?

But Erich Honecker? Selling shower gel?














Yeah, that was gonna work.

(Via Observing Hermann, great German culture blog)

Charles Crawford: Closet Anti-Idiotarian

Charles Crawford, British Ambassador to Poland, was exposed, through a leaked e-mail, as an intelligent man with a good sense of humor. He calls the Common Agricultural Policy:

...a programme which uses inefficient transfers of taxpayers money to bloat rich French landowners and so pump up food prices in Europe, thereby creating poverty in Africa, which we then fail to solve through inefficient but expensive aid programmes. The most stupid, immoral state-subsidised policy in human history, give or take Communism.

Ouch. (via The Corner)

Perry DeHavilland is outraged: "Yes, this guy should indeed be fired from his job as an ambassador... he belongs in 10 Downing Street doing Tony Blair's job!"

Nick Schultz to Jonah Goldberg: "There’s a lot of blame to go around in the trade game (and developing countries have their own harmful protectionist policies). But France is risking scuttling the entire poverty-alleviating global trade system to protect 1% of its total wealth. It is one of the most evil government policies known in the history of man. Your ambassador friend is right." More on that 1% figure here.

German-American Relations

The Carnival of German-American Relations is up and it's full of good stuff.

Priorities

I like this from Ace:

Bush demands objective goals be met, and then he hopes for a fairly quick withdrawal. While the Democrats demand a fairly quick withdrawal, and hope that objective military goals will be achieved by the Iraqis.

That seems accurate, at least as it describes the Dean-Murtha-Pelosi-Kerry contingent. Even though the Dem leadership claims their position isn't that different from Bush's every time they're called on it, this seems like a pretty big difference to me.

Making Children's Lit Safe For Children

We've all heard about HarperCollins airbrushing the cigarette from the phots of the illustrator in a new edition of Goodnight Moon. Karen Karbo suggests ways to make this classic even safer for the kiddos.

(Via Joanne Jacobs)

I thought It Was Just Me...

who was unimpressed by the new pseudoephedrine-free decongestants. But Rob at Fortress of Solitude has a low opinion of the new NyQuil. (Via The Consumerist)

The other day, I got carded at Wal-Mart buying cold medicine for Mia. The computer made the cashier verify that I was over 18. What? From what I pick up watching the news, most meth makers are well over 18. And don't they just steal the stuff anyway? Keeping it in the pharmacy at least makes sense as a theft control measure.

I've posted before on the silliness of these laws that only inconvenience the law-abiding. Criminals are all about ignoring the law, after all.

Update: Stephen Green, also not happy to loose Nyquil.

Snow Day!

There's at least a foot of snow out there. And let me tell you, snow is much more beautiful when you don't have to drive anywhere in it. Mia's home from school today because of the weather. That's no surprise. They close the schools around here for a few inches of snow. The big news is that the university is closed. When I worked there, we joked that they only closed up when the chancellor couldn't make it to campus. (The chancellor lives on campus.)

The Perfect Democrat Movie

Jason at Libertas fisks a review of the Showtime movie Homecoming, where the dead rise to vote Democrat. No, really.

Joe Leiberman keeps reminding my why I left the Democrats

By that I mean that every time he speaks, like in his recent WSJ editorial, he reminds me of what I thought the Democrats were, back when I considered myself one. And then via Instapundit, I see that the arbiter of all things leftist thinks Lieberman is "corrossive to Democratic unity" and can't wait to rid the Democratic party of him.

And that is when I switched sides. When I realized that Joe Lieberman was the only person in the Joe Lieberman wing of the Democratic party. That the party base actively wants to get rid of him tells me I was right. He's waaaay in the minority over there.

Update: As if on cue, here comes Chairman of the DNC, Howard Dean, saying we cannot win in Iraq. Of course, it's all about Vietnam. Then he gets clever:

He said the Democrat proposal is not a 'withdrawal,' but rather a 'strategic redeployment' of U.S. forces.

Redeployment to where? Seems he didn't say. I thought Murtha was just confused when I heard him with Katie Couric this morning. For awhile, I thought Katie had him on the ropes, but now I suspect that his argument is so weak that Katie couldn't help but poke holes in it. He seems to be saying "There's lots of trouble in Iraq. We should move our boys out of the way, to a neighboring country. Then they could go back in if there were trouble." Umm, the kind of trouble you want to run from now, or some other kind of trouble that would be worth fighting.

But apparently this is Democratic foreign policy. Dean again:

And we need a force in the Middle East, not in Iraq but in a friendly neighboring country to fight (terrorist leader Musab) Zarqawi, who came to Iraq after this invasion.

So, it's all our fault that Zarqawi is in Iraq, so we need to move our troops out of Iraq...to fight Zarqawi.

And then they wonder why no one takes them seriously.

(Via Ace)

What is it about Asian Women...

that drives lefties nuts? From Derbyshire:

Since one of the lefty bloggers posted that picture of my wife & I on our wedding day -- Rosie at that point a 23-yr-old working professional woman with a university degree -- you'd be surprised how many mocking, scornful, and downright rude e-mails I have had from sensitive lefty feminist anti-racist souls. Keywords: "mail-order bride," "jailbait," "cradle robber," etc. etc.

The Holiday Tree

Bookworm makes a good point about the concept of a "Holdiay" Tree:

What I also found entirely silly is the ignorance behind the holiday tree. No other winter religious celebration (Hannukah, Kwanzaa) has a tree as its centerpiece. The only one that does is Christmas, which celebrates, yes, Christ's birth. That is, it's a Christian holiday. To take a tree whose only symbolism is manifestly Christian, and to pretend it's just a holiday tree when no other holidays include the tree is so ill-informed.

Is this like what the early Catholic Church did when they co-opted pagan customs and mixed them in with Christian celebrations? Have we gone from "See, you can have all your old pagan fun and still be Christians" to "See you can still have all you Christian imagery without all that pesky religion?"

That Didn't Take Long

Peace group blames U.S., U.K. for Iraq hostages:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A peace group blamed the United States and Britain for the abduction of four activists shown in an insurgent video, saying the kidnapping was the direct result of the occupation of Iraq.

Well, of course. It couldn't have anything to do with these "peace" activists wandering into a dangerous situation armed only with their ideology. And Lord knows it couldn't be the fault of the head-choppers with guns. If it can't be traced back to the Great Satan, it just isn't worth talking about.

The Stepford School

Yes, a school can be too perfect.

I've been checking out schools trying to help us decide where to move. I found the web page of one that claimed to have a modified Montessori program. It's located in a place we call Corporate Woods, a fancy office park filled with law firms. I guess that should have been my first clue. "The Most Academic Curriculum For Your Child" should have been clue #2.

But still I persist, because Montessori elementary programs are few and far between around here. Extra-curricular activities. Full-time registered nurse. F-3 Tornado Shelter. Closed-circuit TV to observe the classrooms. Key card entry. But I finally picked up the undeniable scary-perfection vibe when I read that the playgrounds "...are surfaced in the synthetic “field turf” found in professional football stadiums. Our playgrounds are green in January, produce no grass stains, and are never muddy! "

Plastic grass? Hmmm. I find grass stains as annoying as the next mother, but that doesn't mean I want to ban grass. Maybe I really don't belong in the snobby suburbs.

Technorati Tag: kansas city

Why Teaching Religion in School is a Bad Idea, Part 312

Here's the story of a little dust-up at the University of Kansas over a professor apparently designing a course to mock conservative Christians. The course was originally called "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationisms and other Religious Mythologies," later changed to "Intelligent Design and Creationism." The controversy erupted when an e-mail from the professor to the Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics, a student organization for which he serves as faculty adviser, was made public. In it he "called supporters of the teaching of intelligent design and creationism religious "fundies" and said it would be a "nice slap in their big fat face" to teach the subjects as mythology".

I don't know whether this guy is a righteous advocate of science or a big jerk. But my point is that conservative Christians seem to think the local pastor will be teaching the Bible class at the local high school, when, in fact, it will be taught by guys like this.

Finally Learned Something On The Morning Shows

No, it wasn't insightful commentary on world events, but it was useful. When you are ordering on-line, if there is a box for a coupon code when you check out, then there is a coupon somewhere and if you google the store name and "coupon code", you'll find it. That little trick just saved me $8.00.

Thanksgiving: A Smashing Success

Granted, my standards for success are pretty low. I only had 6 adults plus Mia, but all the food was warm and on the table at approximately the same time and within 15 minutes of the appointed hour. A low-stress holiday with the family. I really can't ask for more than that.

Chopped Liver

That's what they call me when Grandma is around. Mia actually tries to lure Grandma to her room and shut the door to keep me out. My mom and I chatter on endlessly when we get together, so I guess Mia realizes that she will not have Grandma's undivided attention if I'm around. And there is nothing she loves more than undivided attention.

This shunning might make some mother's sad, but not me. Mia is very much a momma's girl, so it's nice to see that she can get along without me for awhile.

Snobby Suburbs

The Kansas City Star recently did a series on the best KC suburbs. As we are currently looking for a suburb to move to, I read the series with great interest. Leawood, Kansas, one of the suburbs we are particularly interested in was ranked number two largely because of the very low crime rate:

South of the Missouri River in Kansas City, violent and major property crimes occur so often that a resident will be victimized, on average, once a decade. Just across the state line into suburban Leawood, however, that threat nearly disappears. [snip]

Why is Leawood so safe? A big part of it is that Leawood simply does more police patrolling than other cities do.

And what do these patrols do, besides making frequent appearances on every street in Leawood? Crack down on moving violations:

Indeed, Leawood’s police have a long-standing reputation for stopping cars coming through town. It even dates back decades to when Police Chief Sid Mitchell was growing up in south Kansas City and attending Center High School.

“I was scared to death to come across the state line because you’d get stopped for going a mile over the speed limit,” Mitchell says. And all these years later, he insists one thing hasn’t changed: “We’re tough on traffic.”

So you get a reputation for being tough on traffic and suddenly, people who have no particular business in your town start to avoid it. Criminals go where they are less likely to encounter police. Sounds like a pretty good idea, right? But no:

...the city has been seen by some as insensitive toward minorities and even as holding a “keep out” attitude toward outsiders.

More derision is heaped on Leawood for traffic control measures it has taken in the past even though they are no longer in effect.

This is one of those things we don't like to talk about. When a town does snobby things like having few large roads connecting to other cites (or particular cities), having fewer and smaller parks to avoid attracting outsiders, and having lots of police poking around... well, then the residents are accused of being snobs, of thinking their town is better than the others. Snobbishness is bad. Snobby people are mean and stupid. Of course.

One inconvienent fact remains. According to The Star's search for the best places to live in the KC Metro, Leawood ranked #2 of 40 suburbs surveyed. Number one was the snobby city just south of Leawood. Number 4, #7 and #8: Snobby. And the rest are too far flung to worry much about criminals driving out from the city (no public transport to speak of here in KC) So presumably, these places are better. They are undeniably better in terms of low crime and good schools, which are the 2 most important thing for people with kids (along with price).

So we laud a city for having low crime and good schools, but we deride a city for doing what it takes to get low crime and good schools.

Technorati Tag: kansas city

Is this a good idea?

One of Merkel's first moves as Chancellor:

In order to fill budget holes, Merkel and her new government also announced a rise in sales tax by three percentage points to 19 percent in 2007.

Wow, 16% is already high and they're going to 19%? Stores on the Missouri side of the state line advertise how much you'll save on sales tax because Missouri is in the mid-to-high 6% range while the Kansas rate is 7% to8%. I wouldn't buy anything more expensive than a pack of gum in Kansas if their tax rate was 19%.

If you want to know about Bush's trip to Mongolia...

you have to visit Gateway Pundit, because Good Morning America was all about Bush not being able to get some door open while trying to leave a press conference, which apparently symbolizes Bush's whole trip to Asia...or something. Thanks for reminding us what serious journalists you all are there at ABC.

Johnny Depp to Abandon France?

I thought it was Scrapple face:

Hollywood star Johnny Depp is so shocked by the riots raging through France, he's considering abandoning his home in the country.

Why didn't he just buy a "ranch" in Montana like the rest of Hollywood? Thought those sophisticated Europeans couldn't have any problems, I guess. (via LGF comments)

World Beard Championship

The World Beard and Moustache Championships were recently held in Germany. These fine fellows were the winners in the Goatees and Other Partial Beards - Freestyle category. There are 17 such categories. Who knew?

Iconoclasm 201

I'm finally listening to Treason, by Ann Coulter. I never picked it up because I thought it would be a silly screed. I thought I wouldn't enjoy listening to hours of angry diatribe, even if I agreed with the substance of the argument. Then I saw the documentary Is It True What They Say About Ann? I've read her columns, but I'd never seen her in action. I was surprised and impressed. She's not even a little bit angry. Even as she's saying the most outrageous things, she has a barely suppressed smile on her face. I suspect she's shockingly blunt and oh so clever as a way of drawing attention to her arguments.

But what made me run to the library for the audio version of Treason was a clip of her destroying Bill O'Reilly(?) by leading him to agree that McCarthy was horrible for instigating all that HUAC nastiness regarding Hollywood screenwriters and then casually pointing out that HUAC stands for The House UnAmerican Activities Committee, while McCarthy was generally referred to as Senator McCarthy, what with him being in the Senate and all. That's when I realized how precious little I knew about about the whole McCarthy era (if three years can be referred to as an era). And I'm not trusting George Clooney to enlighten me.

The McCarthy stuff is fascinating, but I already had a mini-epiphany on that during the controversy over awarding Elia Kazan an Oscar for Life-Time Achievement. That was the first time I ever heard anyone say that the people named before the committee really were communists. It is always implied, or said outright, that the committee was in the grip of anti-communist paranoia, searching relentlessly for enemies that weren't there and demanding that some sacrificial lamb be produced to satisfy there blood-lust. In fact, Hollywood was filled with communists working diligently for our implacable enemy. All Kazan had done was tell the truth under oath. And even that had nothing to do with McCarthy.

What's truly amazing is Coulter's attack on Truman's image as the first cold-warrior. I live 20 minutes from the Truman Library in Independence, MO and I have to wonder how popular Ann is around here anymore. We really love Harry in this neck of the woods. But I must admit that it never occurred to me that "containment" might not be an aggressive anti-communist stance (Ann: conservatives prefer victory to cowardly containment). I had no clue that the Army kept knowledge of the Venona Project to decode secret Soviet transmissions from Roosevelt and Truman because they couldn't be trusted not to leak to the Soviets that their code had been broken. How deeply embedded were Soviet spies in the US government? Well, let's just say that Stalin knew that we had the A-bomb before Truman did.

All that, and I'm only about half-way through.

Update: Bookworm links to this Coulter article on the George Clooney movie.

Brainwashing 201

The Chronicle of Higher Education has a review of Evan Maloney's Brainwashing 201: The Second Semester:

In a darkened theater, a married couple appears on the screen. "Laura and Roger Freberg seem like normal people," narrates a pleasant male voice. "She's a professor at Cal Poly, and he owns a local business. They've been married since 1972. They live in a beautiful town. And their daughter was recently awarded a Bronze Star for her service in Iraq. But they also have a horrible secret. And for seven years, it made their lives living hell."

"A lot of bad things happened," Mr. Freberg says. Someone tried to break into their house, a swastika was burned on their lawn, and he says, "some really nasty threats" were made against their children.

"Were they closet Nazis?" the narrator asks, to footage of two Nazi soldiers forcibly escorting a priest down the street.

"Did they have people buried in their backyard?" he asks, as viewers see a scene from Night of the Living Dead.

"No, it was something worse ... much worse," he says, dragging out every word. "They were ... Republicans!"

(Via Libertas)

Yep. It's Big

Don't miss The Big Ad. Very funny.

Great Alt. History Potential Here

On November 1, 1950, President Harry Truman was almost assassinated by Puerto Rican Nationalists. Apparently the incident was downplayed at the time, but was really quite a close call. America's Gunfight: The Plot to Kill Harry Truman and the Shoot-Out that Stopped It is a new book out about the incident by Stephen Hunter and John Bainbridge, Jr.

According to Hunter, if four other potential shooters hadn't have backed out (in other words, if there would have been 5 or 6 shooters instead of two)... welcome to the Alben Barkley era.

Listen to the the Hunter interview here (Nov. 14th edition)

Oddly enough, the two assassins weren't the poverty-stricken, oppressed, down-and-outers that you always here about (but somehow rarely see) carrying out these suicide missions. The ringleader was a middle-class family man who spoke English and put his kids in American schools. Hmmmm.

Fascist Propaganda Meets PBSKids

Okay, this National Front video is... well...just look and see.

(via No Pasaran commentor Lou Minatti, who compares it to a "Third Reich version of the Teletubbies," but I'm sure he means Boohbah)

Ideology Makes Bad Science

Dr. E.O. Wilson, expert on biodiversity, Professor Emeritus at Harvard University and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author was on Up To Date today. The discussion was wide ranging, but it started with the doctor expressing concern about the Intelligent Design controversy in Kansas and later touched on his brush with the left in the early 70's.

He was called a Nazi and doused with water while giving a speech because he contended that there is a strong genetic tendency towards racism and war. The prevailing opinion on campuses at the time (and still in the humanities departments) was that humans were blank slates to be written upon by the enlightened left. That he had the temerity to suggest otherwise was intolerable.

Just another story to illustrate that fanaticism isn't found only (or even mainly) in church.

Leaks and the leaking leakers who leak them

Seems the CIA has sent a report to the Justice Department asking for the Post story on secret CIA prisons to be investigated as a possible leak of classified information. How do we know about this report? "The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity..."

(via Ace)

These Things Take Time

I'm amazed that France is only now imposing curfews after 12 days of rioting. Or as La Shawn Barber reader Myopic Zeal puts it:

I have come across this shocking bit of evidence that while France burns, Chirac has spent the last eleven days reading the French version of the much maligned children’s story “My Pet Goat.”

Really. Chirac is making FEMA look speedy.

Mark Steyn Gets Gloomy

Yikes:

... I noticed a few months ago that Telegraph readers had started closing their gloomier missives to me with the words, "Fortunately I won't live to see it" - a sign-off now so routine in my mailbag I assumed it was the British version of "Have a nice day". But that's a false consolation. As France this past fortnight reminds us, the changes in Europe are happening far faster than most people thought. That's the problem: unless you're planning on croaking imminently, you will live to see it.

Is the Pendulum Swinging?

Hugh Hewitt has an interview with Victor David Hanson. VDH suggests Europe is ready to swing to the right:

So while the American people were apologizing for the Patriot Act, to their left-wing European friends, they have not a clue that the legislation a lot of European parliaments is so far to the right of anything that we could imagine, such as deporting a naturalized citizen, without a hearing...

and when the ideas of the far-left prove unworkable:

The idea that there will be somebody who will promise them to bring order, to bring back respect, to bring back reverence for tradition, and to get the economy, to get the society back on an even keel, in the European tradition. And that'll be quite unexpected by us, because we keep thinking that they're left-wing and post-modern, but we don't read their history.

(via Instapundit)

Female Bodyguards Have The Advantage

Here's an interesting blurb at Strategy Page about the use of women in security details. Seems men so under-estimate women that they don't even notice them, turning women into invisible bodyguards. Talk about playing to your strengths.

Night Nine...

of the Paris riots is underway according to No-Pasaran.

"...you know, we kept hearing all this stuff ever since September 11th, you know, the Muslim street is going to explode in anger. Well, it finally did, and it was in Paris, not in the Middle East." -- Mark Steyn

Speaking of Zombies...

as I was the other day, Gateway Pundit has a round-up of zombie sightings in polling places across America. The dead, it seems, vote Democrat.

Last Minute Costume Idea

Jonah Goldberg suggests Looting New Orleans Cop: Uniform plus DVD player or other pricey electronic equipment.

Update: I heard a story on the radio this morning about Halloween in New Orleans. They interviewed a man who went as a flooded house, complete with high-water mark and the symbol that indicates a house has been searched. People went as FEMA employees, relief workers and even as mold.

Happy Halloween

What Was I Thinking?

I decided to make a Halloween costume for Mia this year. It was going to be so easy. Needless to say, I spent the afternoon at my mother-in-law's watching her sew it. I did work the hot glue gun to make the tail (She's going as a dog). But it's cute and Mia is very excited about it.

My Kind of Zombie Movie

I saw a great Halloween movie last night. Billed as "a romantic comedy -- with zombies", Shaun of the Dead is very funny and not at all scary. Shaun is sleepwalking through his life. Same dull job every day, same dull pub every night. Combine that with a night of heavy drinking after his girlfriend dumps him, and it takes Shaun 24 hours to even notice there's a zombie invasion. Conservative angle: No guns in London, so they have to improvise with shovels, golfclubs and, of course, cricket bats. See the trailer here.

For another funny Halloween movie see The Nightmare before Christmas.

Can't Please the Pundits

...if you're a Republican, that is.

Tonight, discussion on the local pundit show turned to our Senator, Jim Talent. One of the pundits mentions that a bill he co-sponsored increasing funding for Sickle Cell anemia treatment passed. Then another pundit giggles"Wasn't he out front with a resolution to honor Rosa Parks?" The first pundit smirks "Transparent. Trying for the black vote." Then they all laugh at him. Ha. Silly Republican. Thinking black people would vote for him.

But, of course, back in June these same pundits were horrified by Gov. Matt Blunt's decision to allow the Confederate flag to fly over the cemetery at the Confederate Memorial State Historic Site in Higginsville for one day (Confederate Memorial Day). The flag had been flown there until Gov. Bob Holden banned it in 2003. Arghhh! Think of the black people, said the pundits. I doubt many black families celebrate Confederate Memorial Day with a trip to the Confederate cemetery, but OK...let's think about them.

Are the pundits are suggesting we should take down the flag (on the one day that it's not already down) because that would be an act of authentic caring about black people, but let them die of Sickle Cell anemia, because, hey, that's just silly Republican pandering?

I'm no fan of the Confederate flag. It's just annoying that Talent gets knocked for pandering while Blunt (who probably can count the blacks who voted for him on his fingers and toes) gets knocked for not pandering.

Just in time for Halloween-

Frank Martin gets scary:

For those of you not familiar with the Mount Blanc, it was a cargo ship that was filled with ammunition and explosives that violently exploded after a collision with another ship in Halifax harbor. The effect of the explosion was staggering. Manhattan project scientists, to estimate the possible effects of the Atomic bomb used the explosion of the Mount Blanc as a model for the damage that might be caused by an atomic bomb. This explosion devastated the towns of Halifax and Dartmouth and was so strong that it generated a Tsunami wave that engulfed areas of the town that had just been leveled by the explosion.

And it was all accomplished with nothing more sophisticated than common turn of the century explosives and a simple maritime accident.

Underlining, once again, the fact that weapons of mass destruction don't have to be high-tech to be devestating.

The baseball equivalent of Nascar

That's how Cubs fans view the White Sox, according to Aaron Freeman. He says it's a class thing. I guess we North-siders are a bit snobish. If you're from Chicago, don't miss this commentary on his game attempt to root for the Wh- wh-white Sox.

Cool Geography Site

This site has map games from easy to advanced for every region of the world. It calls out a name and you click on the correct state or country. Or you can drag and drop states or countries into their correct location on a blank map. Or if you're really a glutton for punishment, you can try bodies of water or geographical regions. Hubby and I stayed up past our bedtime naming all the European capitals. Yes, we're nerds.

Quote of the Day

Regarding U.S. opposition to the UNESO treaty that allows nations "to control the import of entertainment from other countries," Lileks says:

Imagine that! The killjoy nation. Monarchy, Communism, Fascism, Socialism, now Tribalism – the US never quite joins in the fun. Everyone else jumps off the bridge, and we hang back, taking notes. Like we’re special or something.

You know you're bureaucratic regulations have gone too far...

when NPR starts mocking you. How Many Euros Does It Take to Change a Lightbulb? That's the title of Scott Simon's interview with a priest from Suffolk, England who had to pay £1300 instead of the former £150 to have 6 lightbulbs changed that hang about 40 feet up in this church. He used to hire a guy with a ladder to do it, but since the EU's "Working at Heights Directive" came out, they have to build scaffolding under each lightbulb. When Simon jokingly suggests the parish use candles, the priest replies that he'd than have to comply with the EU directives on heat and fire.

South Park takes on Katrina Coverage

Newsbusters has a film clip of South Park lampooning media coverage of hurrican Katrina. Here's a bit:

Mitch: “We’re not sure what’s exactly is going on inside the town of Beaverton, Tom, but we’re reporting that there’s looting, raping and, yes, even acts of cannibalism.”

Tom: “My God, you’ve actually seen people looting, raping and eating each other?!”

Mitch: “No, no we’ve haven’t actually seen it, Tom. We’re just reporting it.”

(via Ace)

Ashamed of my Senator

I'm watching Kit Bond (R-MO) trash Coburn: "These amendments won't save money." Really? Bond mentions that Coburn would be more credible if he had some amendments targeting Oklahoma spending. He's right, and Coburn has offered up some museum Bond mentioned.

Club For Growth has comments on C-Span's coverage here.

Update: Patty Murray (D-WA) just threatened every other senator that if they vote for Coburn's bill their own projects will be attacked, regardless of merit. Paraphrase: If you vote for this, you're project might be next. Nice.
Update: John Hinderaker noticed, too: "Nice state you got here, too bad if anything should happen to it"

Update: My other Senator, Jim Talent, voted NO on the motion to kill the smaller Coburn amendment. Yeah, Jim.

Visiting Dachau

PunditGuy visited Dachau concentration camp yesterday. He has pictures and thoughts here. (via The Anchoress)

I will only add this to his observations. One thing really shocked me when I visited five or six years ago. Just as you are entering the camp, there is a huge map on the outside wall of one of the buildings. It's a map of all the concentration and labor camps in greater Germany, circa 1944. I couldn't find that exact image, but it looked a lot like this (follow link or click picture to enlarge):

Note the box that says "Solid squares represent select camps. Because of the map scale, not all camps can be shown or labeled." The map at Dachau is about 10 x 15 feet, so all the sub-camps are shown. It's an amazing site. I had been under the impression that most camps were outside of Germany proper. But it was mainly the death camps that were outside the Reich. Germany was, in fact, covered with camps. A chilling reminder of what a real police state looks like.

It's Not Easy To Make Tom Delay a Sympathetic Character,

but Ronnie Earle is giving it his best shot. From the Media Blog:

"Astonishing, Astonishing" That's Tom DeLay's attorney Dick DeGuerin on the revelation that Travis County district attorney Ronnie Earle, pressed finally to show his evidence now that he has his indictments, does not have the document on which he rested his entire case against DeLay: a list of seven Texas House candidates, which DeLay's Texas PAC allegedly sent to the RNC with a check and instructions to divide it among the candidates' 2002 election campaigns.

I can't wait to hear the explanation for this.

If It Ain't Broke...

According to this IHT article, Iran is the standard-bearer of the movement to wrest supervision of internet from the United States. If that doesn't tell you it's a bad idea, know that Saudi Arabia, China, Cuba and Venezuela are also on board. I'm sure the dictators of those lovely countries have nothing but the best of intentions towards the information superhighway. And yet, the EU wonders, if it should side with that evil cowboy or those loveable mullahs? Guess which way it's leaning?

(via Cuanas)

Nutty Professors

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently ran an article (subscription only, reprinted in full here) on professors with Aspergers deciding whether or not to disclose their diagnosis. I like this part:

...academe is generally considered a more welcoming environment than most for people with autism. They get paid to talk at length about their area of interest in a realm where eccentricity and limited social skills are often seen as signs of genius rather than cause for scorn.

"Universities are probably the place where we get the kindest treatment, where we are respected and valued the most," says Mr. Perner.But, as quickly as the words come out of his mouth, he stops himself. "I tend to romanticize the university. There are definite challenges."

Since Mia started talking, she's been displaying an impressive vocabulary, even though mommy is the only one who understands most of it. As for her future prospects, lately I've been thinking less about WalMart greeter and more about quirky MIT student. Maybe she'll have a knack for the hard sciences (like her daddy). Afterall, as someone (can't recall who) once said "NASA is the world's largest sheltered workshop."

On the other hand, this professor from the Maryland Institute College of Art seems to think Autism is a catch-all term for every annoying personality trait and character flaw. She conflates autism with untreated mental illness and then suggest universities not give tenure to autistics (instead of not giving tenure to the untreated mentally ill):

Candidates' disabilities should not prevent them from getting hired. But, at the same time, we are all affected by our experiences. And if I am ever put in the position of casting my vote in the hiring of a midcareer candidate with no previous record of tenure -- especially if he or she seems ... well ... just a little bit odd -- I might, like Bartleby, prefer not to.

Perhaps she was one of the challenges to which the above referenced Mr. Perner was refering.

Mystery Illness #3342

Mia started running a high fever last Thursday. Knowing her class is taking a field trip to the pumpkin farm Monday, I rushed her to the doctor on Friday to get the antibiotics for the presumed ear infection so she would be well in time. Well, her ears were fine. After being scolded many times for waiting 5 days or more to bring her in (she never complained of ear pain), I have apparently become one of those mother's who rushes her child to the doctor for a cold. Sigh. Sure enough she was fine by Saturday afternoon. Of course, 30 minutes ago, in the car on the way to the store, she barfs. What the....?

So I wonder aloud if I should let her go to the pumpkin farm. She says "No Pumpkin Farm." What, don't you want to go to the pumpkin farm? "No!" It appears I am the only consumed by whether or not she will be on the field trip. She couldn't care less. So she stays home.

What You Really Learn If You Study Engineering in College

Kenneth DeRosa, at Kitchen Table Math, goes off on K-12 math education. Regarding the 2/3 of students who start, but don't finish, engineering programs, he says:

Eventually, it all ends in tears (or an extra year of college after you’ve transferred to a nice soft major like human resources, communications, women studies, etc). So you lash out and look for someone to blame...

7. Like your college engineering department. Wrong. The train was slipping off the tracks well before they came into the picture, most likely sometime in elementary school. Don’t blame them because the train finally derailed at their station. Don’t be like the drunk who’s looking for his lost keys under the streetlights because that’s where the most light is. A career in engineering or in one of the hard sciences was effectively foreclosed to you by the 8th grade,. Most likely, you would have been none the wiser had you stayed in the soft fuzzy land of almost every other undergraduate field of study. Everyone would have been happier too because, well, you don’t know what you don’t know. Anyway, you can at least find solace in the words of Homer Simpson when he said to Lisa and Bart after they failed: “Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.” But why blame yourself when you can blame the real culprit...

8. Your rotten K-12 education.

Harsh, but it definately echoes my experience with math.

More Dumb Criminals

Here's a story to give you a warm fuzzy feeling. Seems some kid thought he'd knock over a cigarette store. I guess he didn't count on that reserve police officer being in there. See the amusing take-down here.

Saints and Soldiers

We saw a good war movie last night. Saints and Soldiers is about four American soldiers who escape the Malmedy Massacre during the Battle of the Bulge and are trapped behind enemy lines.

I was amazed to find out afterwards that it was shot for under a million dollars in less than a month. They used WWII re-enactors (who knew?) who came from all over the country at their own expense for the chance to run around in their uniforms and shoot at things. Lucky for film makers that people have such odd hobbies.

The main character is (presumably) a Mormon. Some Amazon commenters found this horrifying, as if a religious character means a "Bible Movie". But the character never really preaches to his commrades, except to insist that most Germans were just like them only in different uniforms. He keeps two of his buddies from executing a German soldier they capture, but shoots plenty of other Germans when he has to. I thought it added a bit of moral complexity to the movie.

Campus Bombers I Have Know

All the recent campus bombings reminded me of my own brush with the criminal element in college. Way back in '91, two guys I knew casually (friends of friends, we attended the same parties) figured they'd try their hand at building a pipe bomb. Having constructed one, they went out looking for a good spot to try it out. They decided on a campus police car. Bad choice. "Using explosives at an institution receiving federal funds" is a federal crime. The ringleader got 27 months, the follower got 21 months.

And, in a way, they were lucky. The campus police officer who found the bomb picked it up and moved it. It exploded shortly after he put it down. They'd have got closer to 27 years if he'd have been killed.

Woo Hoo

2 weeks and three-hundred dollars later, I'm back on-line. Turns out it was just a bad modem all along, but my hubby, who handles all things technical around the house, couldn't be bothered to look into it until last weekend. Afterall, he has high-speed internet at work, so what's the rush?

Train P*rn

We took Mia to the Model Train Expo at Union Station this weekend. I stupidly forgot my camera, so I can't post pics of the cool layouts on display, but I had to mention one thing.

While browsing all the scenery (trees, cars, buildings etc.), I couldn't help but notice the bright yellow packages with the tiny little people in p*rnographic poses. Because what train layout would be complete without model p*rn? The box is opaque, but the manufacturer has helpfully placed a large silhouette of the activity in question on the outside. God forbid your pre-readers should just walk by without noticing. The box also had a warning label: Not intended for children under 6 yrs of age. Gee, thanks for the tip. I might have slipped one of those in Mia's Christmas stocking.

I won't go so far as to say I was offended. More annoyed by the fact that even at a train show, an obvious kid magnet, we can't escape p*rnography. I felt a bit sorry for the men there with their young sons. Well, at least they weren't selling the stuff out of the same booths as the Thomas-the-Tank-Engine stuff.

Update: I'm adding asterisks because, I'm actually getting hits for the google search Thomas Tank Engine P*rn. Eeeeew.

Sometimes A Shark Is Just A Shark

And not a cosmic piece of karma coming to bite arrogant Americans on the butt.

Libertas has a tribute (via Mrs. Happy Housewife) to Jaws on the 30th anniversary of its release. Just to underline how preachy Hollywood movies have become, the author notes:

Would Jaws get made today? Yeah, I think so. But would it be as good even with the same talent available? No, I don’t think so. I don’t think so because the straight-forwardness of the script would be lost in today’s agenda-driven Hollywood.

I think a woman would be put on the boat. Probably in the Dreyfus role. Not because she would be better – who could possibly be better than Dreyfus? – but for politically correct reasons. And she’d of course be a liberal environmentalist feminist who would remind us ad nauseum sharks don’t normally do this. And finally we’d learn the shark attack is “our” fault. That man, specifically America - specifically corporate America - had committed some environmental crime that affected the shark’s natural habitat, and with no choice the shark came to Amity to feed. In other words, poetic justice liberal style.

You know it's true. But commenter points out that the people who produced, wrote and directed Jaws were liberals. Yet they were able to make movies without beating the viewer over the head transparent agendas. What happened?

There is nothing more annoying than having the brick wall of Message pushed over on you when you're trying to enjoy a movie. If you don't agree with The Message, you're scolded like a naughty child. But even if you agree, you feel condescended to. Reminds me of Fatherland, a terribled movie based on a good book. The director went out of his way to announce that the Nazi's were bad - really bad. Gee thanks for pointing that out. I hadn't heard. It shouldn't take an artistic genius to get across the idea that Nazi's are bad. If you have to beat your audience over the head with it, well.... Either you're not much of a director, or you don't think much of your audience. But I digress.

For more on Hollywood preachers, see Debbie Schlussel's post on Flight Plan.

I knew that Broussard character was squirrelly...

but do you think he purposely tried to blame the slow federal response for a death that occurred during or immediately after the hurricane? The story he told Tim Russert didn't seem to make much sense, but then, neither does most of what he says. Luckily, bloggers were on the case. That colorful Cajun is definitely too good to check. (via Instapundit)

U.S out of U.S.

Okay, I think I've mostly avoided discussing Cindy Sheehan on this blog, on the grounds that it's impolite to point and stare as a grieving mother has a nervous breakdown. But I can't help but point this out. Sheehan has a post-Katrina screed up at Michael Moore's site that contains this deep thought:

I don't care if a human being is black, brown, white, yellow or pink. I don't care if a human being is Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, or pagan. I don't care what flag a person salutes: if a human being is hungry, then it is up to another human being to feed him/her. George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power. The only way America will become more secure is if we have a new administration that cares about Americans even if they don't fall into the top two percent of the wealthiest.

I thought the leftie line was: not enough government help, but Cindy's going off in the opposite direction. Actually, she's going off in all directions: We demand security, but we also demand you get rid of those scary men with those yucky guns. Makes a good chant though: U.S. out of U.S. I has to double-check to make sure Iowahawk didn't right this.

(Via a commenter at Ace of Spades. You didn't think I read Moore's blog, did you?)

Poor Dean* Reynolds (from ABC)

at the Astrodome, trying sooooo hard to get someone to say something bad about Bush's speech. But everyone professed to believe Bush's promise to rebuild New Orleans. And person after person blamed the mayor and local government. Dean finally got someone to half-heartedly say they wish more would have been done sooner. But boy, was that crowd down on the mayor. Luckily, Koppel was able to interview George Stephanopoulis to get a few negatives.

Everyone is sounding positive. Even that crazy Broussard guy from Jefferson Parish was upbeat (if not entirely coherent).

Update: Lorie Byrd has more. Video here.

Update: Luckily, ABC was able to ignore its own coverage and find some hostile folks.

* edited to get Dean's name right.

Update (9/16): On the Newshour, they pulled the one negative comment Reynolds managed to drag out of one woman and played that as representative of comments "outside the Astrodome." I almost predicted that in my post last night. Then I deleted it as being paranoid. I guess it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you.

Update (9/17): Matt Duffy's post on selective editing: NPR: Taking the time to frame it right.

Wow

Check out these pictures from Bay St. Louis. Lance from Red State Rant has a friend whose house was 1/2 mile from the beach at 28 feet above sea level. The house was inundated with at least 7 feet of water. I still can't quite get my head around that. Just unbelievable. He also puts in a good word for the way churches are responding:

The work they are doing is nothing short of amazing. They, not any government agency are responding and rallying to the needs of their communities. Tractor trailer loads of support coming in from all over the country. At the church below a semi pulled in with loads of supplies while I was speaking with the pastor about what types of things they needed. I asked the pastor who was coordinating shipments and he said "no one". The trailer load of food and water was donated by three churches in Iowa and was making a stop before heading to another 6 or 7 stops on the way down. I asked the driver about it and his repsonse was "I am delivering til I am out of stuff and then Ill go back to Iowa for more".

Let's Roll?

Or Let's Roll Over? Mark Steyn on the travesty of a memorial to Flight 93 (via LGF):

That sounds like a fabulous winning entry - in a competition to create a note-perfect parody of effete multicultural responses to terrorism.

Fake Facts

The Daily Howler (scroll down to The Joy of Fake Facts) thoroughly trashes the meme that Michael Brown didn't even know there were people at the Convention center until 24 hours after the networks were covering it live:

Don't you guys watch television?” [Koppel] scolded. “Our reporters have been reporting about it for more than just today.” But in fact, Ted’s reporters had not been reporting it until that day; according to the Nexis archives, ABC’s first mention of the Convention Center occurred at 2:30 that afternoon (9/1), in a George Stephanopoulos “Special Report.” Before that, the Convention Center had never been mentioned on Nightline. It had never been mentioned on World News Tonight. It had never been mentioned on Good Morning America. According to Nexis, ABC viewers first learned about the Convention Center at mid-day Thursday—just like Brown, who Koppel scolded in his latest inaccurate report.

This is why I hesitate to pontificate on Katrina. Events have overtaken me. Even as I was watching the coverage, I could tell there was confusion and gaping holes in the storyline. Much was unknown. Now, even things I thought I knew are turning out to be, well, at least inaccurate, if not outright false.

MoveOn Protest Update

The Buzz covered it, including this happy piece of information:

But one statistic stands out: MoveOn only had two Katrina survivors on hand.

Unbelievable

Malkin's got a nauseating MoveOn.org memo alerting the press that Katrina evacuees will be demonstrating in front of the White House to demand Bush acknowledge that he is responsible for every bad thing that has ever happened. Presumably MoveOn in flying these people in, organizing them, and choosing their talking points.

What are they thinking? Rhetorical question. They are thinking about how much they can use these people's suffering to hurt Bush.

Consider, if you will, that American citizens have already freely donated half a billion dollars to the victims of Katrina. That line workers from as far away as Canada have been working non-stop and are almost ready to turn the power on in Mississippi. That the Coast Guard was rescuing people off rooftops before the rain stopped and the Navy wasn't far behind. That the Superdome was nearly evacuated by Thursday afternoon, about 72 hours after the levy break. That a million refugees are being rapidly absorbed by the rest of the country.

And all these people can do is complain? I don't blame them. When you are having the crisis, you want help yesterday. Of course. I would too. But MoveOn is endangering the future welfare of these people.

Mark Steyn relates this story:

I got an e-mail over the weekend from a US Army surgeon just back in Afghanistan after his wedding. Changing planes in Kuwait for the final leg to Bagram and confronted by yet another charity box for Katrina relief, he decided that this time he'd pass. "I'd had it up to here," he wrote, "with the passivity, the whining, and the when-are-they-going-to-do-something blame game."

So far, I have fought this feeling by reminding myself that most of the carping is coming from the talking heads and crazed Bush haters, not the actual victims. Now MoveOn is using the victims with no regard for the consequences.

The people busting their tails on the Gulf Coast right now are too busy to note the Democratic talking point that no one was helping the victims, but when they have time to turn on the TV or pick up a newspaper, they won't be happy to discover that their heroic efforts have been dismissed.

And when the time comes for Congress to vote the money for rebuilding New Orleans or aiding the victims with any of the numerous things they're going to need help with, it would be better for them if they weren't seem as a bunch of finger-pointing whiners who could, apparently get a master's degree, like protester Michelle Augillard, but yet, weren't smart enough to get out of the path of a Cat 5 hurricane.

I guess I shouldn't be shocked at the Democrats trying to rip apart a country that spontaneously came together in the wake of disaster, but I am.

Update: Jim Geraghty nails a whining leftist to the wall:

To save you guys now, I — and a lot of other Americans — will pitch in. We are witnessing the biggest mobilization of civilian and military rescue and relief crews in history. But I have a sneaking suspicion you’re going to want the rest of us to pay for the rebuilding of your city. (In the near future, we’re going to have to have a little chat about the wisdom of building below sea level, directly next to large bodies of water.) And if you’re going to come to the rest of us hat in hand, demanding the rest of us clean up after your poor judgment, I’d appreciate a little less “you failed us” and a little more “we’ve learned our lesson.” (via Ace of Spades)

Foreign Aid

Germany has donated 30 tons of Meals Ready-to-Eat for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. They were even kind enough to drop them off in Pensecola:


(via The US Navy)

Update: CNN has a partial list of the 94 countries and international organizations that have offered aid. It's touching to see countries like Afghanistan and Djibouti on the list. (via BrianDot)

Media Coverage of Katrina

Does the cable new coverage suck as bad as the network coverage does? Luckily the USS Bataan has a web-site, (via Powerline) or I would never have know that they have been in the Gulf of Mexico since LAST TUESDAY. Yes, the day after the hurricane:

The crews flew off Tuesday night towards New Orleans and were tasked by the on-scene rescue coordinators. “Our first mission was to provide food and water and to take some people to a safer haven and to help with the levee by providing sandbags,” said AS2(AW/NAC) Johnny Ramirez, MH-53 Aircrewman for HM-15. “We weren't able to complete our assigned mission Tuesday night because it got too dark and it was too risky to land anywhere with all of the water and power lines. Instead, we just flew Tuesday night to survey the area.”

On Wednesday, a crew from HM-15 assisted with lifting numerous stranded citizens in a very short period of time. “My crew and I airlifted nearly 100 people from the roof of a building and onto a field where ambulances and busses were waiting for them,” said LCDR David Hopper, detachment Officer in Charge of HM-15. “Ten of those who we rescued couldn't even walk; my crewmen had to carry them.”
__

“We have jumped in feet first to provide as much assistance as we can,” said Capt. Nora Tyson, Bataan's commanding officer.

The ship's captain is a woman and they still can't get any coverage. You'd think that would be right MSM's PC alley.

All last week, I was as upset as the next person about the plight of the people in the Superdome. When Brian Williams and the others asked "Where is the military?" I wanted to know too. But I wondered why this intrepid crew of journalists couldn't tell me. "You're the reporter Brian. You tell me where the military is!" Turns out they were on the other side of the city picking people off of roofs. And Brian didn't mention that because....

Maybe the Navy guys are too busy to give interviews.

Update: Lots of commentary on the Media's performance at (where else) The Media Blog.

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

Last year, to assist with catastrophic disaster planning, FEMA Director Michael Brown whipped up a hypothetical "Hurricane Pam" to hit New Orleans:

Participants drew up action plans for dealing with the storm's aftermath in which calls for evacuation were partially heeded, water pumps were overwhelmed, corpses floated in the streets and as many as 60,000 people died -- mostly by drowning. [snip]

"Hurricane Katrina caused the same kind of damage that we anticipated," Brown said Wednesday. "So we planned for it two years ago. Last year, we exercised it. And unfortunately this year, we're implementing it."

This has been my fear all along. This is the plan. We are witnessing the plan in action.

(via The Corner)

Blogger Relief Effort

If you've donated to a charity, be sure to register you're donation with TTLB, who is keeping track of the blogosphere's contribution. $ 433,653 in contributions so far.

Who's to Blame?

It's a question we can't help but ask ourselves, even if we know it's fruitless:

Katrina was the third most-intense hurricane to ever hit the United States. It will definitely be the third most deadly, with a shot at the #2 slot (or even, God help us, #1). It will undoubtedly be the most expensive. Either the destruction of the Gulf Coast or the loss of New Orleans would have vied for the title of worst natural disaster in American history. But we got them both within 24 hours.

Yes, local emergency services were totally overwhelmed. But consider Frank Martin's thoughtful post on the matter:

Does it occur to those of you that are blaming the mayor and the New Orleans police department that the very people you are castigating for a “lack of leadership” also lost everything in the disaster? The people everyone counted on to have the plans and to be on the job afterwards were also wiped out in this disaster. This is not a simple high water mark on some rich folks barrier island vacation homes; this is the utter destruction of 4 major cities. [snip]

Stop thinking of this as a Hurricane and start thinking of this as an atomic bombing and you can start to see what happened here was just beyond anyone local to have the ability to deal with it. The hurricane didn’t just destroy the buildings; it destroyed the authority and the infrastructure of local government as well.

The lesson here is that in true large scale disasters, you can’t count on the locals to even be there to take the lead. The assumption has to be that the locals are gone and cannot take part in their own rescue. That is not an assumption we make today in our planning, all disaster planning says the locals “drive the show”. Katrina showed the weakness in that idea. Katrina changed the paradigm of disasters in our memory. I always wondered what would take the place of 9/11 in my nightmares, and now I know what it is.

This is undeniably true. America has traditionally depended on local government to plan for and respond to disasters. The plan was implemented. It just didn't begin to be enough.

It's a waste of time to assign blame now. There will be congressional hearings, probably a full-blown independent inquiry, to spread the blame around later It's also useless to tell the people trapped in New Orleans and all along the coast that their mayor should have had a better plan or that they should have evacuated. Local government failed. We can talk about why later. Right now, people are looking to Washington.

Americans have a very low tolerence for disorganization. We see old people and children with out water, we get upset. We see it in America, we get angry. That may not be rational given the stats I cited above, but that's the way it is. The time for Bush to take control of the relief effort was yesterday, federalism be damned. Save the people now, let the lawyers work out the details later. I just hope that has already happened and we'll be seeing the results soon... real soon.

Update: Looks like things have started to happen. Hopefully, this convoy just the beginning.

Update: Oh yeah, there's gonna be plenty of blame to go around.

Foreign Aid

Bad Hair Blog has a list of 12 countries that have offered us some aid in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Australia has offered two specialist emergency managers. From the looks of things in New Orleans, they couldn't get here too soon.

Help the Victims of Katrina

Today bloggers across the country (and around the world) are blogging to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Donate to The American Red Cross! Or choose the charity of your choice. Instapundit has a list of charities.

Truth Laid Bear has another list of charities.

"The Veneer of Civilization is Very Thin"

said Margaret Thatcher, and apparently, she was right:

The operation to bus more than 20,000 people to the Houston Astrodome was suspended “until they gain control of the Superdome,” said Richard Zeuschlag, head of Acadian Ambulance, which was handling the evacuation of sick and injured people from the Superdome.

He said that military would not fly out of the Superdome either because of the gunfire and that the National Guard told him that it was sending 100 military police officers to gain control.

“That’s not enough,” Zeuschlag. “We need a thousand.”

I guess this is a lesson for next time. Future large-scale relief efforts will need military assistance. I'm sure no one imagined refugee busses would be carjacked or helicopters would be shot at. But now they know.

MO/KAN Helps Out

I'm finding it hard to blog about Katrina. It's so overwhelming that I just don't know what to say. So I'll start with some of the local relief efforts. Here are some of the things being done in the Missouri/Kansas area to help out Katrina survivors:

31 injured children from New Orleans are being flown by the Missouri National Guard to Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. Update: More here.

University of Kansas will admit students displaced by the hurricane.

Missouri National Guard Mobilizing 180 Military Police to send to the Gulf Coast.

Kansas City TV Station raises over $200,000 for The Red Cross. Update: $412,000.

War Reporting For Cowards

Morning Edition just had an amusing story about Chris Ayres, a British journalist who ended up being embedded with the Marines for the invasion of Iraq with almost no idea what he was doing or what he was in for. He's written a book, War Reporting for Cowards.

The story was funny and, as a fellow devoted indoorsman, I sympathize with his ordeal. But I wonder when Morning Edition will be doing a story on war reporting for non-cowards.

The City in a Bowl

I'm beginning to regret that I've never been to New Orleans. There's a good chance it will never be the same after Katrina. A few years back I saw an episode of NOW, The City in a Bowl, on this exact senario. A hurricane direct hit on New Orleans wouldn't even have to be a category 5 to cause enormous damage From the transcript:

DANIEL ZWERDLING: Maestri says, imagine what happens if a hurricane like Andrew comes raging up from the Gulf:

WALTER MAESTRI: The hurricane is spinning counter-clockwise. It's been pushing in front of it water from the Gulf of Mexico for days. It's now got a wall of water in front of it some 30, 40 feet high. As it approaches the levies of the-- the-- that surround the city, it tops those levees. As the storm continues to pass over. Now Lake Ponchetrain, that water from Lake Ponchartrain is now pushed on to that - those population which has been fleeing from the western side and everybody's caught in the middle. The bowl now completely fills. And we've now got the entire community underwater some 20, 30 feet underwater. Everything is lost.

DANIEL ZWERDLING: Remember the levees which the Army built, to hold smaller floods out of the bowl? Maestri says now those levees would doom the city. Because they'd trap the water in.

WALTER MAESTRI: It's going to look like a massive shipwreck. There's going to be-- there's going to be, you know-- everything that that the water has carried in is going to be there. Alligators, moccasins, you know every kind of rodent that you could think of.

All of your sewage treatment plants are under water. And of course the material is flowing free in the community. Disease becomes a distinct possibility now. The petrochemicals that are produced all up and down the Mississippi River --much of that has floated into this bowl. I mean this has become, you know, the biggest toxic waste dump in the world now. Is the city of New Orleans because of what has happened.

Perhaps the silver lining is that Katrina is so big and so threatening that fewer people than usual are trying to ride it out.

Update: Don't miss Brendan Loy's site if you want hurricane news. This self-proclaimed amatuer weather enthusiast is going to be up all night.

Hitchens on Iraq

Lots of good stuff in this Christopher Hitchens piece, such as:

THERE IS, first, the problem of humorless and pseudo-legalistic literalism. In Saki's short story The Lumber Room, the naughty but clever child Nicholas, who has actually placed a frog in his morning bread-and-milk, rejoices in his triumph over the adults who don't credit this excuse for not eating his healthful dish:

"You said there couldn't possibly be a frog in my bread-and-milk; there was a frog in my bread-and-milk," he repeated, with the insistence of a skilled tactician who does not intend to shift from favorable ground.

Childishness is one thing--those of us who grew up on this wonderful Edwardian author were always happy to see the grown-ups and governesses discomfited. But puerility in adults is quite another thing, and considerably less charming. "You said there were WMDs in Iraq and that Saddam had friends in al Qaeda. . . . Blah, blah, pants on fire." I have had many opportunities to tire of this mantra. It takes ten seconds to intone the said mantra. It would take me, on my most eloquent C-SPAN day, at the very least five minutes to say that Abdul Rahman Yasin, who mixed the chemicals for the World Trade Center attack in 1993, subsequently sought and found refuge in Baghdad; that Dr. Mahdi Obeidi, Saddam's senior physicist, was able to lead American soldiers to nuclear centrifuge parts and a blueprint for a complete centrifuge (the crown jewel of nuclear physics) buried on the orders of Qusay Hussein; that Saddam's agents were in Damascus as late as February 2003, negotiating to purchase missiles off the shelf from North Korea; or that Rolf Ekeus, the great Swedish socialist who founded the inspection process in Iraq after 1991, has told me for the record that he was offered a $2 million bribe in a face-to-face meeting with Tariq Aziz. And these eye-catching examples would by no means exhaust my repertoire, or empty my quiver. Yes, it must be admitted that Bush and Blair made a hash of a good case, largely because they preferred to scare people rather than enlighten them or reason with them. Still, the only real strategy of deception has come from those who believe, or pretend, that Saddam Hussein was no problem.

Childish: That's how I'd describe most of the anti-war movement. Inarticulate: That's how I'd describe the Bush Administration's response to it's critics. Luckily, we've got folks like Hitchens to sort it all out. (via LGF)

Here's an Idea

Jimmie at The Sundries Shack wonders why there is no weekly war news show with in-depth stories about what our soldiers are really doing on the ground in Iraq, especially the good news.

I agree there is a market for this type of show. Typical new stories on Iraq are boring for anyone who keeps up on the war at all because they're so superficial. As I type, NBC News is doing an "in-depth" piece on... Cindy Sheehan. Again. This "in-depth" piece ran about 3 minutes.

I think a show that had a weekly feature on some of the cool high-tech whatzits the military is using would attract viewers. Some of that stuff is seriously sci-fi.

But I suspect it's not lack of audience interest, but a lack of reporter/producer interest that keeps a show like this from developing. First, reporters are notorious for messing up military stories due to total ignorance of things military. Doing an intelligent show on a regular basis would be hard. Second, there is such a stigma against being seen to be in the Bush's pocket, I can't see any network except Fox doing this.

Ultimately, I think stories like Captain Brian Chontosh's single-handed destruction of the enemy would be quite popular. Which is why the MSM doesn't do them. Most media types (to the extent that they are liberals) frown on violence and see it as their duty to save us from our unseemly jingoistic impulses. Telling hero stories would lead to viewers being pleased that people had died. How Yucky. Cool high-tech weapons? Aren't' those for killing people? Also Yucky.

I'd almost rather they didn't try it. Best case senario: They turn it into some tacky Cops thing.

Mistaken Identity

Apparently, Kansas Senator Pat Roberts is getting a little feedback (positive and negative) from people who mistake him for Pat Robertson. He was just on the radio telling the story of a women who told him he was doing the Lord's work and wondered why he looked so different on TV. Other people call his office to chew him out for all the crazy things Pat Robertson says. That must be truly annoying.

Where Communism Really Excels

Don't miss Verifrank demonstrating where communists really out do capitalists.

School Starts Tomorrow

I guess that's why I haven't been blogging. I've been keeping up with other blogs, but my extra brain power is thinking about Mia. She'll graduate from the great preschool program she's in this year. She's slated to go to kindergarten at our less-than-reputable local elementary school. I doubt that will happen. So, I've tracked down the local Montessori schools with elementary programs and will check those out in the fall.

We also have to decide whether to chase around to more doctors trying to find a diagnosis. I just discovered the term "hyperlexia". It's sometimes applied to kids who begin to read precociously and spontaneously (no mom with flashcards) yet have a language disorder and some autistic behaviors, but not enough to be diagnosis with autism. 90% of these kids are boys, but other that, it sounds like Mia. Of course, little of the great diagnosis chase is covered by insurance, so the pursuit is expensive. On the other hand, a diagnosis could be helpful in dealing with the school district. Decisions, decisions.

Sharon Calls the World's Bluff

More insight from David Frum, this time on the Israeli withdrawl from Gaza:

In Charles Dickens’ novel David Copperfield there is a character who answers every request with a sigh: Ah, if it were up to him, he would of course say “yes” with pleasure – but his partner, Mr. Jorrocks,* is so very difficult ….. In just such a way, European and American political leaders favor a “peace process” that moves the Palestinians ever closer to statehood, without ever quite reaching it; a process that positions the Israelis as the Mr. Jorrocks of the world.

Ariel Sharon has decided to put an end to this play.

Lileks attacks the First Amendment...

by having an opinion. Here's more on the Freedom of Speech defense:

Might as well get it out of the way: This is a cruel, false, chicken-hearted attempt to smear Cindy Sheehan, the protesting mother who lost a son in Iraq.

That's not the intent, but that's how some will respond. Some people think that any time you argue back, you're Stifling Dissent. For them, merely discussing Ms. Sheehan's views is the rhetorical equivalent of sending her to Abu Ghraib.

(Via Instapundit)

Update: While we're on the subject of Lileks, don't miss his take down of the Presbyterian Church (USA) for divesting from Israel:

But they're not anti-Semites. Heavens, nay. Don't you dare question their philosemitism! No, they looked at the entire world, including countries that lop off your skull if you convert to Presbyterianism, and what did they choose as the object of their ire? A country the size of a potato chip hanging on the edge of a region noted for despotism and barbarity. By some peculiar coincidence, it happens to be full of Jews.

Col. Shaffer Speaks

Col. Shaffer was just on Talk of the Nation, sounding credible and offering explainations to a lot of the questions that were asked about his story yesterday. The show should be available here this evening.

Update: Jim Geraghty has the main points right now.

"Freedom of Speech, Baby"

Jonah Goldberg addresses one of my pet peeves today. His peg is a quote from Dan Savage, guest blogging at Andrew Sullivan's site:

I'm all for what she's trying to do. Yes, she appears to be — say it ain't so! — slightly partisan. But since when does being slightly partisan disqualify someone from having an opinion? Rightwing bloggers would have us believe that, unless you're a Republican (and an R who supports the war, no questions asked), you have no right to speak out about the war.

I knew instantly where he was going. This "freedom of speech" defense is the biggest red herring going and it is ubiquitous. Most rightwing bloggers aren't saying she can't say what she's saying. They're saying what she's saying is wrong. They're addressing her arguments with more arguments and they're met with an army of straw men.

Or as Jonah puts it:

But, if you want to defend somebody's controversial statements, saying "so-and-so has the right to his opinion" doesn't get you out of the gate. It just sucks up air and fills space. Intellectually, it's got the nutritional value of Styrofoam. You might as well say "Oo-ee-oo-ah-ah, ting-tang-walla-walla-bing-bang" instead and then move on to your next point. It's not interesting, not smart, not insightful. Saying Cindy Sheehan has a right to criticize the president is like saying she's a carbon-based life form: True, but utterly beside the point.

I think Jonah hits on why this is so annoying:

I mean, if you immediately assert that someone has the right to say something as a way to rebut criticism, aren't you implying that such criticism violated their rights — which is, by definition, unconstitutional.

The paranoia enters into it when you consider the nature of the accusation. If you immediately assume that criticism from the political Right is tantamount to questioning someone's constitutional right to speak in the first place, what you are really saying (Pace Dan Savage) is that if you scratch a conservative you'll find a Storm Trooper just under the surface.

When I meet this "argument", I always assume the person wishes to change the subject, since the statement is non-responsive, the conversation equivalent of putting one's hands over one's ears and singing "La, la, la, I can't hear you."

Update: Spoons comments:

You have a right to your opinion...But to actually say so, and to pretend that that is a substantive argument, is asinine.

Jonah's G-File should be read to every high school student on his first day of civics class, and every new college student on the first day of Freshman orientation.

Schroeder's Ace in the Hole: George Bush

It's election time in Germany again and Ray and David are shocked, shocked to see Schroeder sucking up to Iran and playing the anti-American card. Are Germans going to fall for that again? Soon we'll find out if they dislike George Bush more that they dislike double-digit unemployment and a stagnant economy.

Bill Spricht also has a good post on how sad it is to see our sometime ally working against us with such fervor:

Let’s be frank: when it’s campaign season in Germany, dictators the world over smile with joy as the German chancellor assures them that they are safe.

Fake tattoos and the War On Drugs

If you've got young kids, you probably have some experience with fake tattoos. Mia just got some at a fish hatchery we visited while we were on vacation. These tattoos were around when I was a kid, but I never got one because when I was in jr. high (almost 25 years ago), they were banned from school. In fact, the school sent letters home warning of the threat posed by these little novelties. The danger: the tattoos could actually be a hit of acid. Seriously.

In light of the recent moves to restrict the purchase of cold and allergy medications containing pseudoephedrine, I would like to point out that while 20 years ago the drug scare de jour was banned from my school, today The Missouri Department of Conservation prints them up and hands them out to 4 year olds.

I realize that Meth is a very bad news. I live in Missouri after all, where 2,788 meth labs were busted in 2004 alone. But at some point it becomes a case of banning steak knives to stop stabbings. I fear we are nearing that point. Frankly, I would give up my cold medicine in a heart beat if I thought it would stop people from destroying their lives with drugs. But it won't. There was a story on the local news last week about kids choking each other to get the high that allegedly comes from stopping the flow of oxygen to the brain. I don't appreciate giving up rights, or even be inconvenienced, over these inhabitants of the shallow end of the gene pool who will skate around these regulations without missing a beat. As with the tattoos, in a few years we'll be wondering what all the fuss was about since now everyone's sniffing (insert household product here).

Update: Here's an article on the chokers.