March 2005 was a Good Month...

I was reviewing my SiteMeter and noted some oddities...

1. Apparently Mixed Humor at 'Security Watchtower' surfed over from his SiteMeter list. Mixed Humor writes exceptionally well on an exceptional site. Thank you for poking around... And thank Bill Roggio of 'The Fourth Rail' for linking to the 'Security Watchtower'.
   
2. And I noted that someone surfed to the March 2005 archives and spent some time there - intrigued, so did I. What was of interest back in Paleolithic era of Spring 2005.

The complete March 2005 Archive:

1. In 'NeoCons To UN, World Bank, and State', I spent some time defining the NeoCon movement and what the success of NeoCon objectives would look like - as well as what failure would mean. This post was written during the Wolfowitz transition to the World Bank kafuffle and the beginnings of the Bolton to U.N. fiasco. Six months later I have to ask caterwauling Lefties if all the bloviation was worth it. Two of your favorite multi-national entities are being reinvigorated and reinvented.
   
2. In 'Betting on Inside Straights' I discussed what the geo-political world would look like in 2008 when the next American President is elected. Even now, it is starting to seem odd to wail about the war in Iraq. If the Iraqi Constitution is ratified the hollering will seem positively insane!!! I like the odds of each of the trend lines coming to fruition.
   
3. In 'The Net Never Forgets...' I went back nine months in history to a great post and discussion that occurred in 'The Command Post'. The topic revolves around foreign fighter infiltration from Syria into Iraq, how it could be resolved, and future projections if the Iraq endeavor succeeds... For those who wanted success, it is heartening to review a challenge by Julius (a sensible Lefty) - and what actually happened as of March 2005. It only looks better now. Sometimes it is refreshing to look at matrices with the full benefit of 20/20 hindsight.

AQRD, Iraq - Iraq Training Ground Par Excellence...

Re(1): 'Oil Spots and Maneuver', The Belmont Club, Wretchard T.C.
Re(2): 'U.S. Special Forces kill al Qaeda's # 2 in Iraq', The Security Watchtower, Mixed Humor
Re(3): 'The Chopping Block', The Fourth Rail, Bill Hobbs
Re(4): 'Saudi Arabia's Most Wanted', The Security Watchtower, Mixed Humor
Re(5): 'Israeli airstrikes kill Islamic Jihad Chief', The Security Watchtower, Mixed Humor
Re(6): 'Five al Qaeda suspects captured in Somaliland', The Security Watchtower, Mixed Humor
Yes, it is true. Iraq is a the Islamofascist Training Ground:

From Wretchard: 'Oil Spots and Maneuver'

But the worst of it is the wastage to cadres. Those who write that body counts are a meaningless metric to apply against the insurgency ignore the fact that formations which sustain heavy casualties lose their organizational memory while those who suffer lightly retain them. Lt. Col. Joseph L'Etoile is on his third and half of his men are on their second tours of Iraq . For Abu Nasir and many of his foreign fighters, the memory of what to avoid next time has been lost on this, their last tour of Iraq.

A list of the Recruit Training Commanders:

'U.S. Special Forces kill al Qaeda's # 2 in Iraq'

And, one of the commanders resigns his commission:

'The Chopping Block'

And even better, things are looking up in aQRD, Saudi Arabia - the financial center:

'Saudi Arabia's Most Wanted'

Side note: There seems to be some attrition at IJRD, Gaza as well:

'Israeli airstrikes kill Islamic Jihad Chief'

The al Qaeda Blotter:

'Five al Qaeda suspects captured in Somaliland'

IEDs are insurmountable and terrorist organizations do not need experienced leadership.

Always, always get your news from journalists. They received a college degree in media!!! They know what they are talking about when it comes to military strategy - I mean, weren't Rommel, Patton, Sherman, Pericles, Caesar, Augustus, Grant, and Epimenides etc (no particular order) journalists. All information should come from Paul Krugman, Annie Applebaum, Robert Scheer, etc...

We have lost all. Get your burquas tailored... Start growing your beard... It is only time...

And I'm sure the anti-war protesters are protesting al Qaeda recruiting in madras high schools. At least wait till the recruits go through puberty before getting them into the action. Fourteen years old is just too young. Marines goe through 11 weeks of basic training, 2 weeks of SOI, and then constant training while on active service. al Qaeda recruits cross the border, join some terrorist cell, and immediately go on a mission.

Note: aQRD, Iraq is a play on the Marine Corps acronym of MCRD San Diego. MCRD San Diego stands for Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego. aQRD, Iraq stands for al Qaeda Recruit Depot, Iraq.

Price of Gas UP, Oil DOWN...

Absolutely Pure Speculation Alert:

The following speculation is not susceptible to relegation to “My Flameouts” if proven wrong. I have not studied the topic thoroughly enough – but the thought presented is intriguing… It is PURE speculation – and ODD speculation at that…

• Katrina took oil refineries off-line…
• Rita took more oil refineries off-line…

Odd thoughts:

1. The price of fuel will INCREASE
2. The price of oil will DECREASE

Why:
Oil is priced world-wide. The storms took between 10% and 20% of the American refining capability off-line for an extended period of time. Those refineries will not be purchasing oil to process. Thus, there will be a glut of oil while the refineries are repaired and/or replaced. There is not enough extra capacity in American refineries to pick up the slack. Too much supply to match the demand forecast.

And that is where the increased cost of fuel comes in. Our demand for fuel will not be dramatically reduced as a result of the hurricanes. We will simply refine less fuel. This scarcity will also affect Baja California, Mexico. Too little supply to match the demand forecase.

So here is the odd thought that will get the anti-Capitalists and the illiterate Lefties all a’rantin’. The price of gas will be increasing as the price of oil decreases – and there is absolutely nothing the President can do about it. More oil will not help, but people will prove too stupid to figure it out within the political news cycle. And, the media is definitely clueless – see a Google search on ‘oil refining storms capacity reduction’

Enjoy that political battle.

The Game, the Season, and the Legacy...

Re(1): 'This Weekend', The Belmont Club, TC Wretchard

To me the American Left looks like a quickly aging professional basketball team that has flashes of greatness past. They appear dependent on other opponents to exhaust the Center-Right coalition. Based on the projected outcome of the 'River Wars' (away from the MSM), the upcoming MSM suprise in the Iraq Constitutional vote, and the Left/MSM confusion on the hurricanes I would not bet against a steadfast Amercia.

To use a sports analogy, the only way to lose in Iraq is for the Left to win games in America.

When the Left won, they controlled the court for a season – if not eras. They leaped into the air to guide ally-oop passes into the bucket. The game was easy. Their defense was more than dogged and determined – it was devastating. Opposing teams lost before they stepped onto the court. The left would lose nine games in a season of eighty-two. People forget the losses.

The first part of their game to fade was the defense provided by the mass media. That happened at or about 9/11 as news junkies migrated to the net. The Left got increasingly lazy, fat, and slow. Their MSM defense could not move with the times. And they are finding that they cannot recruit without blowing their salary cap or endangering their teams ‘chemistry’ – bloated with oldsters well past their prime and dependent on game strategy thirty years old.

Then the transition game vanished. The opposition, motivated by witnessing lazy slugs meandering into a zone defense, and leaning swarming tactics from competition against other adversaries, starts to press both the offense and the defense. Soon enough, the Left stops running the court. Every once in a while they get the gander to run – resulting in ESPN highlight films, but they still lose in the larger context of the game.

Then the offense collapses. They stop playing a team game and start lobbing individual shots over the opposition – sometimes at great range and often outside of an organizational concept. Even luck seems to abandon them. There is internal confusion, jealousy, and anger. Many shots are lobbed into the air, miss badly, and then transitioned by the opposition into an easy score. Every once in a while a spectacular player makes a spectacular play – but they lose in the larger context of the game.

The more minutes, games, seasons played the more the Left loses.

And with this President, at this time, we play the game not in terms of minutes and seasons – but years. Tell me again how this President will quit minutes into a game, and when he has his opponents adjusting to his moves. He may not have the ball, he knows he will not always have the ball, but he is confident. He can still win this one game, but if not, he will adjust and overcome to come out on top for the season.

In the end, with three and one-half years left in this run, can the Left survive elections - and can the ‘insurgency’ survive hard and soft American power?

America, Please Quit!!!

Re(1): 'One Million Reasons to End the War in Iraq', Code Pink

HT: 'A Petition to Lose in Iraq', www.LittleGreenFootballs.com, Charles Johnson

I was made aware of a desperate plea by Code Pink to sign an anti-war petition. Since I view things a bit differently, but still wanted to help their cause, I took it upon myself to write a note on behalf of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. I took this step because the ACLU doesn't seem quick to defend al-Zarqawi's First Amendment Rights. I based this comment on numerous al-Zarqawi communications intercepted by American Baby Killers and Corporatists!!!

My boss (Osama bin-Laden) apparently is stuck in an Afghani cave with only ten freedom fighters. I never get to chat with him…

I’m getting pushed around western Iraq which is making the training of minutemen
rather difficult. Also, my experienced jihadists seem rather satisfied with their 72 virgins. I’m left with teenagers scampering around… And they can’t shoot straight. My suicide bombers have to be drugged up like some 1968 Code Pink Love Child…

My fellow Palestinians, Saudis, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Iranians, Syrians, and even Jordanians seem to be less enthusiastic about simply crossing the border. And the locals seem to have lost interests in martyrdom operations. Allah Akbar, most fighters don’t make it back home to recruit new jihadists. Who came up with that stupid ‘Iraq is a Training Ground’ Powerpoint presentation anyway… That’s one head that should be sawed off immediately.

Damn, that flypaper shit is sticky…

I need the United States to QUIT…

Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Responding to Natural Disasters...

The demonstrable difficulty in tracking the wavering path of Rita proves the inherent difficulty in managing a response to such disasters…

Now, the centerpoint of Rita has moved hundreds of miles north and east – toward Louisiana.

Yesterdays evacuations of the southern reaches of the storm may easily prove irrelevant.

Evacuations of regions outside yesterday’s cone must proceed apace and with minimal warning.

Which regions are Governor Perry to evacuate?

Which cities are to dust off their plans?

Where is FEMA to stage?

We have now been there and done that.

Be flexible and hope the voters elected leadership!!!

Predicting the Lefty Response – A Redux!!!

Re(1): 'Waiting For Rita', www.MichelleMalkin.com, Michelle Malkin

It is simply unkind to predict the Lefts response before their talking heads start spinning. It's just too easy, too simple, too boring... Hopefully it will be more challenging to summon prophesies days before the event and the subsequent caterwauling. Kindof like Nostradamus or like the Bible Code scholars!!!

Predictions:

• The Cops will not desert
• The FEMA response will be OK
• The evacuation will be successful
• The National Guard will be mobilized
• There will be nobody stuck in the Astrodome without food and water
• There will be nobody dying in hospitals or elder care centers
• There will be nobody shooting at emergency vehicles
• There will be a crushing increase in the price of fuel

Now the Lefty Response:

1. BusHitler jumped to support a Red State
2. Err America’s watchful eyes saved the world
3. Halliburton will get all the rebuilding contracts
4. Our tax dollars are going to rebuild the big oil companies
5. BushCo (Halliburton, Bechtel, and greedy oil) will gouge Americans on fuel prices

Conservative Knee Jerk Responses:

1. Louisiana is a Red State
2. Who is Err America, anyway?
3. Halliburton signed a contract to rebuild military bases a year ago
4. Libs will consider the rebuilding of roads and infrastructure a corporate subsidy
5. Please idiotarians, about 30% of our refining capability has been wiped within four weeks.

Now, {{ahem}} the proper response:

• Red Governance is simply better than Blue Governance…

Watch and see!!!

UPDATE: Mrs. Malkin, thank you for the link on www.MichelleMalkin.com

Upon being destroyed by the ‘Insurgency’…

Re(1): 'Heads You Win, Tails I Lose', The Belmont Club, TC Wretchard
Re(2): 'More Middlemen in Mosul; Back to the Euphrates', The Fourth Rail, Bill Roggio
Re(3): 'Hard America, Soft America', Michael Barone
Re(4): 'Tribes', Eject! Eject! Eject!, Bill Whittle

We will be crushed by the coming Civil War…

After being crushed by the upcoming Civil War…

America will stand alone in the murder of children…

It never ends…

Always get your war news from journalists in the Green Zone. Remember, these journalists are trained to be journalists. At best, they are fine journalists. At best, they are judicious journalists. At best, they write with flare and emotion.

We rarely see their best…

And a journalist is NOT

• A student of military strategy
• A soldier in the field
• A scientist
• A theologian
• Or a scholar of the public polity.

Their undergraduate degrees are most likely in ‘Communications’ or Left Wing ‘Political Science’ or Moonbat ‘Literature’. All soft degrees. Jounalists are Soft Americans who remain Pink their entire lives..

Hapless Toads Spotted In

Washington…

Over the past week there have been sightings of the Hapless Toad in Washington D.C..

PETA, the Democratic Party, NARAL, and the media elite installed computer chips into the neck folds of a number of these Hapless Toads to study their migration patterns. Each chip contains a unique ID that can be used to identify the Toad and its original habitat. The following Hapless Toads were spotted in Washington D.C. between Tuesday September 12th and Thursday September 16th:

Patrick J. Leahy
Edward M. Kennedy
Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Herbert Kohl
Dianne Feinstein
Russell D. Feingold
Charles E. Schumer
Richard J. Durbin

Most of these Hapless Toads were tagged while rummaging for campaign contributions in Hollywood, California – their natural habitat. Richard J. Durbin and Charles E. Schumer were tagged during an Appellate Court case lawyered by a right wing fanatic named Hugh Hewitt. From media reports, it appears that these Toads can only be protected from extinction if they migrate across state lines – a silly ruling if ever there was one.

These eight (8) Toads have obviously migrated from their summer funding locales. They evidently migrate west to east in search of lush campaign contributions. Note: Apparently, the Hapless Toad cannot survive long in Middle America. They seem to only thrive on blueberries and other blue flowering plants.

The Supreme Court must now leap into action and save the Hapless Toad. They can, through an artful reading of the INTERSTATE COMMERCE CLAUSE of the U.S. Constitution, provide these Toads (and others) the protections of that self-same Constitution.

SAVE THESE TOADS. Their natural behavior of biting, sniping, carping, borking (1), and defecating wherever and whenever they please are not conducive to approval by the great unwashed masses in America. Extinction is a strong possibility – especially in light of slanted right wing media coverage of their natural behavior.

C-SPAN should lose its license after broadcasting these Toads in such a biased, unflattering manner. Editorial judgment must be used to change camera angles and to minimize the effect of these Toads communication patterns. The New York Times and Los Angeles Times serve as a model for the proper illustration of these Toads in their habitat. America may not be ready to accept them, but they come from the same protoplasm as we. It is in our best interests to ensure the protection of all small and insignificant species. We never know when they may prove beneficial to mankind – as a pill, suppository, or herbal tea.

The Supreme Court is there to protect minorities such as these. It is there to enforce today’s desires through the living document that is our United States Constitution. Tomorrows needs can be legislated later.

Today the Supreme Court must ACT NOW. Act locally, think globally.

(1) Borking: A rather unfortunate confluence of belching and flatulence that is best exemplified by the following quote by the Hapless Toad Edward M. Kennedy:

"Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley
abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could
break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, children could not be taught about
evolution"

Borking can be public, as in the above quote, or private, as in the leak of private video rental records (most likely from the same or similar source).

Won, or winning...

Re(1): 'Tal-Afar', The Belmont Club, TC Wretchard
Re(2): 'Battle at the Border', The Fourth Rail, Bill Roggio
Re(3): 'Battle At the Border III', The Fourth Rail, Bill Roggio
Re(4): 'Battle Along the Northern Ratline', The Fourth Rail, Bill Roggio
Re(5): 'Operation Restoring Rights in Tal-Afar', The Fourth Rail, Bill Roggio
Re(6): 'Qaim and the Big Picture', The Fourth Rail, Bill Roggio
Re(7): 'Tal Afar: Calm Before the Storm in Sarai', The Fourth Rail, Bill Roggio
Re(8): 'Balad of the Hellfire', The Fourth Rail, Bill Roggio
Re(9): 'The Battle for the Border IV', The Fourth Rail, Bill Roggio
Re(10): 'The "Islamic Republic of Qaim" Crock', The Fourth Rail, Bill Roggio
Re(11): 'The Anbar Campaign Intensifies', The Fourth Rail, Bill Roggio
Re(12): 'Border Shutdown West of Tal Afar', The Fourth Rail, Bill Roggio
Re(13): 'Border Wars V - Operation Cyclone in Rutbah, Tal Afar, and more', The Fourth Rail, Bill Roggio

In Tal-Afar, Wretchard illustrates the weakness of the Iraqi insurgency:

Terror is a Frankenstein monster which can destroy its creator unless it is carefully controlled. The myriad and decentralized killers, whose decentralization was accounted a military asset by some analysts -- turned their car bombs, mortars and knives on ordinary Sunnis, Shi'as and Kurds. While attacks on the Shi'a pilgrims, for example, may have brought the insurgency momentary recognition in the Western media, no one but a fool could believe it would buy them anything but enmity among its victims. Decentralization turned out to be another term for 'no command and control'. For terror to succeed it must succeed; against an immoveable object like the US Armed Forces it gradually became a public menace and another species of crime.

Al Qaeda is losing a war of attrition that it did not expect to be involved in. A war in which they lose 156 killed against 2 American fatalities - some terrorist training ground Iraq has become, eh. They have not found the weak and indecisive America they expected. Apparently, they were listening to those out of power, and out of influence – namely the Left and the Media. Their unwitting idiot allies, the Left, were too slow in the drive for failure. The beheadings and burnings and mass killings and taped rants have only tempered American steel. The euphoric joy of a personal jihad against America in Iraq is wiping out a generation of recruits bin Laden needs to effectively strike at the West - in the West. America is standing firm, and killing terrorists.

Wretchard also takes a look at the obvious - That the increasingly powerful nation of Iraq may not look kindly at neighboring states fermenting terror in the region:

It also has the advantage of putting the Syrians on notice that the new Iraqi government, which the Ba'athists are increasingly unlikely to recapture, is taking steps to maintain its territorial integrity. Given another year the new Iraqi government may come to regard the Syrian-supported infiltration as a cassus belli -- not necessarily, but the threat is there.

The references to Bill Roggio's editorials are important reads. Understand that the latest offensives are now using very large numbers of Iraqi military troops. In the case of the Tal Afar offensive we are talking about 6,000 Iraqi troops along with 4,000 American troops. These are crush and hold operations.

Thank God there is someone with strength and leadership in office now...

In this total war, there can only be total victory..

Predictions of the Left: Oh how I wish I were wrong...

It would have been nice if I was wrong...

But, Err America's Randi Rhodent performed as predicted:

1. Make BusHitler’s Halliburton Cronies Richer
2. Raise the Price of Oil and Gas
3. Prosecute a War on Poverty using National Guard troops
4. Milk Blue States for a Red State Catastophe

Her predictable responses did not even take a week to shake out.

1. She noted to her six listeners (check out how many PSAs her show has now) that BusHitler signed a contract in 2004 to give all the hurricane rebuilding money to Halliburton. The Honest Rhodent forgot to mention that the contract was for the rebuilding of military bases. Actually, kindof like an insurance policy and a long term maintenance project. The vast majority of funds will be spent on the commercial and residential rebuilding effort.
2. She has made repeated bleatings about BusHitler's cronies making money hand over fist by charging usurious rates for gas. Nuf Said...
3. She read an LA Times article on the air. The article described a fully armed squad of scary National Guard soldiers. These scary killers 'locked and loaded' before joining battle with the displaced and peaceful civilians at the Convention Center. In 'Met by Despair, not Violence', the 'news' journalist embarks on a factless foray into the scary world of Iraq of the West. Trust me, big boys, chilling yells, rounds in the chamber, hair trigger violence. Iraq, Iraq, Iraq... Hey libs, when you portray the military like this is there any wonder why they don't seem to like or respect you...
4. And, of course, the first refrain the Rhodent squalled was about President Bush using the disaster to to disburse and kill poor black Democrats.

Since many must doubt the veracity of my claims (what human could be so deranged) I will try to find direct links to the first two. It appears that they fell into the memory hole on her website...

Welcome to Hard America…

Re(1): ‘Rebuilding New Orleans’, http://www.townhall.com, Michael Barone
Re(2): 'Tribes', www.ejectejecteject.com, Bill Whittle
Re(3): 'Unnatural Disaster: A Hurricane Exposes the Man-Made Disaster of the Welfare State', www.realclearpolitics.com, Robert Tracinski
Re(4): 'The Big Easy Rocked, but didn't roll', Telegraph, Mark Steyn
Re(5): 'Bill Whittle and the Gotha Program', Belmont Club, TC Wretchard
Re(6): 'City to Offer Free Trips to Las Vegas for Officers', NYT, Joeseph B. Treaster

UPDATES - Brief synopsis of articles
HT: www.RealClearPolitics.com
HT: www.PoliPundit.com
HT: www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/weblog.php
HT: www.DrudgeReport.com
HT: www.fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/

Michael Barone ‘Rebuilding New Orleans’: (HT www.RealClearPolitics.com)

But New Orleans' heritages of upper-class complaisance and political corruption -- the result of the city's French tradition -- work against a more broadly based commercial and economic revival. Without changes in these attitudes, historic New Orleans may revive, but the city will become little more than a theme park, like Venice, and not the great commercial beehive it once was.

Mr. Barone earlier links events together (me thinks subconsciously):

And some parts of that fabric are not worth restoring. The city of New Orleans has had a horrifyingly high crime rate in recent years, and after disaster hit, the reports of looting -- not just of food and necessities, but of luxury items -- have been rampant. Shots have been fired at rescue teams and police officers; supplies of food and medicines on their way to hospitals have been hijacked; gangs of criminals have stolen boats from survivors. Flooding has produced an urban riot like those of the 1960s or Los Angeles in 1992.

I think the two are linked tighter than Mr. Barone does. Our republic always balances freedom and security.

When, long term, one balances security and freedom like Pataki/Giuliani you have the social structure and mores to survive devastation.

Conversely, when one balances those choices in the vein of a Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, and Louisiana than the polity will not rebuild. These are not center left, sky blue polities. These are the moonbat confederation.

It took a decade to move a moonbat NYC to the NYC that survived 9/11...

New Orleans is dead and will not be rebuilt…

They did not change with the times...

Now the hard thought:
Soft Americans are now being relocated to hard America.

UPDATE (2005/09/05 0940):
Bill Whittle - Tribes (HT: www.PoliPundit.com)

The Pink Tribe is all about feeling good: feeling good about yourself! Sexually, emotionally, artistically – nothing is off limits, nothing is forbidden, convention is fossilized insanity and everybody gets to do their own thing without regard to consequences, reality, or natural law. We all have our own reality – one small personal reality is called “science,” say – and we Make Our Own Luck and we Visualize Good Things and There Are No Coincidences and Everything Happens for a Reason and You Can Be Whatever You Want to Be and we all have Special Psychic Powers and if something Bad should happen it’s because Someone Bad Made It Happen. A Spell, perhaps.

The Pink Tribe motto, in fact, is the ultimate Zen Koan, the sound of one hand clapping: EVERYBODY IS SPECIAL.

Then, in the other corner, there is the Grey Tribe – the grey of reinforced concrete. This is a Tribe where emotion is repressed because Emotion Clouds Judgment. This is the world of Quadratic Equations and Stress Risers and Loads Torsional, Compressive and Tensile, a place where Reality Can Ruin Your Best Day, the place where Murphy mercilessly picks off the Weak and the Incompetent, where the Speed Limit is 186,282.36 mph, where every bridge has a Failure Load and levees come in 50 year, 100 year and 1000 Year Flood Flavors.

The Grey Tribe motto is, near as I can tell, THINGS BREAK SOMETIMES AND PLEASE DON’T LET IT BE MY BRIDGE.

UPDATE (2005/09/05 1010)
Robert Tracinski - Effects of the Welfare State (HT: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/)

The man-made disaster we are now witnessing in New Orleans did not happen over four days last week. It happened over the past four decades. Hurricane Katrina merely exposed it to public view.

The man-made disaster is the welfare state.

... [ed: read the link, never accept these elipses]

There were many decent, innocent people trapped in New Orleans when the deluge hit—but they were trapped alongside large numbers of people from two groups: criminals—and wards of the welfare state, people selected, over decades, for their lack of initiative and self-induced helplessness. The welfare wards were a mass of sheep—on whom the incompetent administration of New Orleans unleashed a pack of wolves.

UPDATE (20050905 1136)
Joeseph B. Treaster - 'City of Offer Free Trips To Las Vegas for Officers' (HT: Drudge)

A day after two police suicides and the abrupt resignations or desertions of up to 200 police officers, defiant city officials on Sunday began offering five-day vacations - and even trips to Las Vegas - to the police, firefighters and city emergency workers and their families.

The idea of paid vacations was raised by both Mayor C. Ray Nagin and senior police officials who said that their forces were exhausted and traumatized and that the arrival of the National Guard had made way for the officers to be relieved.

His words were seconded by the police superintendent, P. Edwin Compass III, in a
separate interview. "When you go through something this devastating and traumatic," Mr. Compass said, "you've got to do something dramatic to jump-start
the healing process."

The officials were planning to send 1,500 workers out in two shifts for five days each. They are sending them to Las Vegas because of the availability of hotel rooms and to Atlanta because many of them had relatives there.

Maybe something can get done with these first responders on vacation. Remember those radio adds for a temp agency...

Remember those fire and police personnel vacationing the week ater 9/11.

Sounds like they all need stars and smiley faces on their school papers.

Hope these 'First Responders' get some new shoes. Apparently, theirs got wet.

I think Joeseph Trester is in the sane ballpark: 'Law Offiers Overwhelmed, Are Quiting the Force'. It really sounds like he is a mole inside Prada - trying to get the word out the best he can. Remember, he has to get his articles past the NYT 'editors'. Read between the lines.

UPDATE (20050905 2056)
Mark Steyn - 'The Big Easy Rocked, but didn't roll' (HT: www.LittleGreenFootballs.com)

My mistake was to think that the citizenry of the Big Easy would rise to the great rallying cry of Todd Beamer: "Are you ready, guys? Let's roll!" Instead, the spirit of the week was summed up by a gentleman called Mike Franklin, taking time out of his hectic schedule of looting to speak to the Associated Press: "People who are oppressed all their lives, man, it's an opportunity to get back at society."

Unlike 9/11, when the cult of victimhood was temporarily suspended in honour of the many real, actual victims under the rubble, in New Orleans everyone claimed the mantle of victim, from the incompetent mayor to the "oppressed" guys wading through the water with new DVD players under each arm.

Welfare culture is bad not just because, as in Europe, it's bankrupting the state, but because it enfeebles the citizenry, it erodes self-reliance and resourcefulness.

UPDATE (20050906 0930)
T.C. Wretchard - 'Bill Whittle and the Gotha Program'

"From each according to his abilities. To each according to his need." Which is another way of saying that you get to the same place no matter how you start out. One of the unintended consequences of encouraging dependency is that it annihilates the life history of the dependent. For him there is no memory and no exit.

Overbuild: Because with a little help from our friends...

History will judge the emergency response to hurricane Katrina.

Right now I am thinking it is important that we realize one thing:

We MUST overbuild our infrastructure.

I am concerned that the next natural disaster may have some help becoming a national catastrophe. The GWOT will not have a clean conclusion with the two sides signing documents. We will not know when it ends.

PoliPundit and TheAnchoressOnline...

Re(1): '100 Hours After Stormfall', www.theanchoress.com, The Anchoress
Re(2): ‘Hate Won’t Feed a Hungry Hurricane Victim’, http://www.polipundit.com, Lorie Byrd
Re(3): ‘Rhodes: Bush Happy’, http://www.radioequalizer.blogspot.com, Brian Maloney
Re(4): ‘Predicting the Lefty Response’, http://www.boghieonyoursix.blogspot.com, Me

UPDATE: Liberal Chris the commentator (2005/09/04 0905)

To all,

The post you are looking for is: 'Predicting the Lefty Reponse...'
I strongly recommend: '100 Hours After Stormfall',
And a later Lorie Byrd post: ‘Hate Won’t Feed a Hungry Hurricane Victim’
As well as: 'Even More Unbelivable'

I am an inexperienced blogger and do not know how the big timers 'Bump' a post. So this is the best I can think of.

Another post of interest: 'Notes and Lessons Learned'

And check out the doomdayers:

'The Bursting Point', NYT, David Brooks
'Law Officers, Overwhelmed', are Quiting Force', NYT, Joeseph Teaster
'Guardsmen 'played cards amid New Orleans crisis: Police Official', AFP

See a pattern. The use of the terms administration, Federal, slow Federal response... Also, note the highly estemed scions of journalism that are reporting with that slant.

To make it simple. The Federal government declared the area a national emergency two days before the hurricane hit, and three days before the levies broke. The city declared sites as relocation zones, but did not provision them. The city was mandated to transport people to those sites, but did not. The city was tasked with ensuring transportation from those sites to unaffected regions if necessary, but did not. And who builds, sustains, and trains the police and fire departments of a city? Who is the ultimate authority in the Louisiana National Guard? Why have other destroyed cities and regions reacted better.

Folks: We do not have a Pataki or a Giuliani here.

Apparently, we have a job corp police force where a large percentage deserted during a disaster.
Apparently, we have a job corp National Guard that was either not mobilized.
And there are those who desire a Job Corps Marine Corps...

As stated in an earlier post, it is time the voters in America voted for LEADERSHIP and not pocketbook. It is NOT the economy, stupid. Allow your leaders to listen to your well reasoned bleatings, but say NO when it is not in the best interest of your community or our country. The government is NOT a jobs program!


UPDATE: Liberal Chris the commentator (2005/09/04 0905)
The Liberal argument as posited by Liberal Chris:

Five days to deliver food and water to thousands of desperate and literally dying americans, gathered at a convention center in an American city. that location is on the mississippi river and accessible by truck.

Five days.

If you people aren’t outraged, you are simply not human.

oh, and by the way. bush isn’t responsible for hurricanes. however, the federal government is responsible for responding to hurricanes.

and, bush is in charge of the federal government. hence, the justified anger at the president. these are distinctions that an eight year old would understand.

I am bored dealing with libs. Hope this chap is under 18 years old. His argument is one that can be made by a five year old, or Grey Davis (recalled Governor of California), or maybe even my cat. I have to ask Liberal Chris if his sole experience in driving is on paved roads, if his sole experience boating is on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, if his outcome oriented math classes taught him that Friday morning was five days away from Tuesday (short week, even for a LOP – Low Output Person)

Think it though Liberal Chris:
There are trees, light posts, houses, garbage, and debri in the water
It is very difficult to drive in the water
It is difficult to drive big rigs off road
It is difficult to mobilize when not ordered to mobilize
The local authorities have the early responsibility in emergency relief
And finally, what you read in the NYT on Sunday occurred on Saturday

And why the wait…

“Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state’s emergency operations center said Saturday.

The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. “Quite frankly, if they’d been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals,” said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.”

It sure looks like the Governor of Louisiana is scared of scary guys with big guns. How far left of center do you have to go till you reach the point that you have no trust in your military and your government? I know some right wingers have similar problems – but we stick them in a closet most of the time. We listen to them, check the facts, and act appropriately. The Left seems reflexively anti-establishment. My guess is that you don’t have to move much left of the center point before you squeal for the Job Corps at the expense of the Marine Corps.

But then again, the answer for the fear of Federalizing the effort might have been the result of a lack of medical insurance. Bush Derangement Syndrome. Once again, it is Bush's fault.

Finally, while I am going to mention it I will give you a break since it is obvious your emotions got your knickers in a twitter:

You capitalize Americans – all the time, every time
You capitalize Mississippi – all the time, every time

And not just because they are proper names, but to show respect.

Channeling the Randi Rhodent

As Wretchard often notes: Speculation Alert - this is a predictive channeling of my favorite Err America Host!!!

Breathlessly:

All those people getting conned into the military. Many of them from Louisiana and Mississippi. They are poor. They have no jobs. Bush destroyed their lives. They are being lied to right now.

Did you listen to the deserter I just interviewed. He told you he joined the military after the tsunami relief and never expected to go to Afghanistan. To Afghanistan… Hear me - TO AFGHANISTAN. He is not going to the next tsunami relief effort. He is not preparing for the next tsunami relief effort. He is not waiting for the next tsunami relief effort. He is not writing SOPS for future generations to aid in the next tsunami relief effort. This kid went through boot camp, infantry school, advanced infantry tactics, advanced weapons training and then straight to Afghanistan as an untrained high school brat. He is just 25 years old.

Don’t they [Karl Rove and BusHitler] have any morals? Don’t they [Karl Rove and BusHitler] have a conscience? They lie, lie, and lie some more.

These kids thought they were going out to save poor black people from hurricanes. Bush is taking these kids to war for Halliburton. They did not know the military fights Bush’s Wars of Aggression. Did you know Bush signed a contract last year with Halliburton to give them all the money for hurricane relief? These children are going to be ordered to massacre and torture people – and they will have to do it. I just had Seymour Hersh on. He told you so. He speaks the truth. Abu Ghraib. The Pentagon Papers. Hersh is my god!!!

And so forth.

One can only hope I was hearing voices - but I know these people like every inch of my glorious naked body. Oops...

Just joking, you don't have to be Rush Limbaugh to predict the actions of moonbats. I think the above will bellow from the microphone in October - once the National Guard makes their annual recruiting goals.

An Army/Navy/Air Force/Marine Corps/Coast Guard to believe in...

Osama and Moonbats,

This is starting to look like an advertisement for our Active Duty and Reserve military. A fine and good military which serves and secures a fine and good nation... Hurts, doesn't it.

You are going to really have to look hard for baby killers. And the murderers of 100,000 dark skinned civilians. Seymore Hersh, write an article about the rapes and killings that occurred in the Superdome. Blame it on the military or something. Tell the world that Bush and Rumsfeld and Cherthoff ordered those miscreants to act the way they did – maybe some memo somewhere. I hope you fall into the crap you seek.

Personally, I am watching the media lionize the Federal response and our military. Maybe, just maybe, some of the embeds from Operation Iraqi Freedom will win the internal media battles and we can see our military for what we and they are. It is going to be damn hard to denigrate our military and our military leadership now.

Betcha military recruitment explodes this month.

Betcha even the Army Reserve and National Guard exceed the annual recruitment goal – and they are down 20% to date. Hey, Grand Rhodent of Err America, less than a month to go to reach the annual goals. I will make that bet. And don’t try to BS me – I can get access to the raw numbers.

Betcha the chap that holds the position of ‘Commander In Chief’ sees a bit of polling rebound.

And I’ll bet that the Media Party tells the world his resurgence is due to good weather or something or other…

An Exploitable Pattern...

Re(1): ‘Lowry: Lawlessness in New Orleans is a national disgrace’, Salt Lake Tribune, Rich Lowry
Re(2): ‘Mandatory Evacuation ordered for New Orleans’, Associated Press, 2005/08/28
Re(3): ‘City of New Orleans Hurricane Plan’, City of New Orleans

HT: http://www.instapundit.com/
HT: www.PowerLineBlog.com
HT: www.bushinatree.blogspot.com

Update (2005/09/03 1419 PST)

A Few Things:
No sites were specified in the Hurricane Plan
The sites, when specified, were to be provisioned by the City
The city was responsible for emergency transportation from evacuation centers

More things:
President Bush pleaded with Governor to evacuate the city on August 28,2005
The evacuation order took place Sunday, August 28, 2005
People were told by the Mayor to go to the Superdome as part of the plan
People were already arriving at the Superdome as early as Sunday morning

The Mayor of New Orleans

told those who had to move to the Superdome to come with enough food for several days and with blankets. He said it will be a very uncomfortable place and encouraged everybody who could to get out.

When partying in the French Quarters we call this Bring Your Own Beer

The storm hit Monday
The levies broke Tuesday…

Question: Did New Orleans follow the policing and leadership model of a Giuliani New York?

This city was doomed at any large scale emergency…


Shall we look at Los Angeles, San Fransisco, and Chicago before Osama turns his eyes westward? Do these great metropolitan centers also suffer from the same acceptance of lawlessnes as New Orleans. Are their local and state leadership still looking for 'root causes' of crime? Now, bin Laden has to realize he doesn't need to kill massive numbers of people. He only has to destabalize the unstable.

Update (2005/09/03 1419 PST):
Looks like the esteemed Mayor of New Orleans could have evacuated to the Louis Armstrong International Airport - about 120 miles closer to the action than where he actually went... And it is an airport... By that I mean a transportation, supply, and telecommunications hub. Don't mean anything by that comment - of course...

Viewers from www.TheAnchoressOnline.com

Re(1): '100 Hours After Stormfall', www.theanchoress.com/, The Anchoress
Re(2): ‘Hate Won’t Feed a Hungry Hurricane Victim’, http://www.polipundit.com/, Lorie Byrd
Re(3): ‘Rhodes: Bush Happy’, http://www.radioequalizer.blogspot.com/, Brian Maloney
Re(4): ‘Predicting the Lefty Response’, www.boghieonyoursix.blogspot.com, Me

To all,

I actually surfed to the www.TheAnchoressOnline.com after seeing the site appear on my 'Site Meter'. This site is now in my personal blog roll. I noted that Lorie Byrd of www.PoliPundit.com linked as a result of a comment, but couldn't figure out where the traffic from The Anchoress was coming from. Well, the Anchoress linked in the body of the best post on the Katrina relief effort I have found... To both, thanks - I guess... I don't advertise my blog. I started it so I did not have to provide an email address.

Here is the post I think The Anchoress wanted to direct to: 'Predicting the Lefty Reponse...'
If you got here from somewhere else, here is the Anchoress post mentioned above: '100 Hours after Stormfall'
Here is the post from PoliPundit: 'Unbelievable'
Another greate PoliPundit post: 'Even More Unbelivable'

Katrina: Notes and Lessons Learned...

Please do not make one-million Americans a permanent dependent class... Even in these trying times allow the people the opportunity to excel. Do not lock them physically or figuratively in the Astrodome. We should be working to transport, care, and guide our people using all assets of our great nation – moral, physical, and financial.

Television Pundits and Politicians remember one thing… This is America… This is not a game of Civilization III. The government (note the lower case) does not rebuild a city. The property that remains is owned by private citizens and businesses. You cannot mandate how or where this city will be rebuilt. Government should help guide and structure the growth of our new city.

Media… I know your on-site reporters are in the thick of things. I know you have to seek experts in an event of which there are no experts. Please understand. Leadership is not grabbing a hard-hat and wading boots and personally saving one valued citizen. Many others die if the solution is not organized and effective. Sometimes it pays to assess the situation and act coherently. Please note the news on Saturday, September 3 2005. Your solutions would still have individuals heroically saving individuals. They would be doing so for weeks. In another week they would be pulling the dead from the waters. Those dead are now alive and kicking.

All voters… Learn that when you pull that lever you are supposed to be voting for leadership – not jobs, not the environment, not abortion, not military expenditures, not pretty hair, and not a particular political party. You are not simply voting ‘It’s the Economy, Stupid!’. You are not voting for jobs programs circling around safety requirements. You allowed your politicians to create ineffective employment programs to maintain your levies and dikes. We, in California, voted for unabated social and environmental programs. Much of California burned to the ground. The rest is going broke. We all voted for the rolling good times of the 90’s and created a military too small to deal with war. Vote leadership. Accept that leaders sometimes say NO.

Finally, and most importantly, we should all kneel to our God and thank him/her/it that we do not have a power and publicity grasping President… We have seen a dramatic failure in our federal form of government. The city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana were, and are, badly served by the leadership they voted in. Hard Left Libs: Please do not destroy our federal form of representative government because of a localized failure. Our President will NOT grasp the power dropped into his hand.

She Jumped the Shark!!!

Re(1): '100 Hours After Stormfall', www.theanchoress.com/, The Anchoress
Re(2): ‘Hate Won’t Feed a Hungry Hurricane Victim’, www.polipundit.com, Lorie Byrd
Re(3): ‘Rhodes: Bush Happy’, www.radioequalizer.blogspot.com, Brian Maloney
Re(4): ‘Predicting the Lefty Response’, www.boghieonyoursix.blogspot.com, Me

Read the references and see for yourself how low a turd can go…

Follow it out to sea,
Where it is pumped by the city sewer system,
With the force to pop it right over a great white shark...

The Grand Rhodent of Err America spoke thus (paraphrased, maybe Brian Maloney can find tape 2005/09/02):

Bush is using the Katrina hurricane to kill and disburse poor black Democrats. Bush is actively relocating these Democrats deep into red states where they will not affect elections. He is trying to rig the gubernatorial and mayoral elections of Louisiana and New Orleans through death and forced relocations…

And then she ranted about BusHitler’s friends getting control of all the beach front land for redevelopment…

Halliburton is going to get all the money for rebuilding whatever damage is caused by the hurricane as a result of a contract signed by Bush in 2004.

NOT A DIRECT QUOTE, BUT LISTENING TO FIRST HOUR AGAIN - DIDN'T GET REPLAYED

Senator Durbin, that is your cue. Sir, please use a Gulag analogy this time..

I used to listen to some Err America to see how the other half views things. I have commented that Jerry Springer really is ‘The Voice of Reason’ at Err America – most of the others are off their meds. There have been other oddities and some financial misgivings – yuk, yuk. But nothing like this. This is a dangerous parody. If it was funny South Park would have already done it - it is not funny.

When something jumps the shark it is in actuality a final cry for attention. When the Fonz did it his show was in the tank. The episode was highly publicized to get whatever interest was possible.

The Fonz’s last fans viewed utter and complete nonsense.

Anyone else want to speak at the funeral/celebration…

UPDATE:
Someone, please find tape of Randi flying over the shark. It occurred a bit over an hour into the ‘show’

UPDATE 2:
You know how pundits and blog authors complain that stupid Senatorial comments are used by al Jazeera to pump up the 'militants'. We might want to look at how CNN feeds Err America. Kinda odd that an unbiased news organization like CNN and Err America have such a symbiotic relationship. Any crackpot statement or concept hatched by one appears in the other. Nice that CNN provides the 'news' feed for Err America.

THE Answer to the Left Wing Carping...

re(1): '100 Hours After Stormfall', www.theanchoressonline.com.com, The Anchoress?

After getting mentioned in PoliPundit, I was watching my visit count go into the stratospheric (but still low) three digits on Site Meter when I found a refering site I hadn't seen before. I do not know how the author of the Anchoress, or a reader of that blog, knew about my site but I am happy I followed the link. It is awesome.

There is NO better discussion of the scope of the disaster and the actions taken, and being taken, to mitigate it. Read the entire post - '100 Hours After Stormfall'.

You want to address the Bush Bashing
You want to address the City/State Government Bashing (of which I am guilty)
You want to address the righty whine about foreign government support
You want to address the activation of the US Military
You want to address the stupid left wing ranting going on at Err America

Read the post...