Month: August 2005

Kos can’t help himself:

This is the greatest disaster to hit our nation in most of our lifetimes. Worse than 9-11.

It is indeed devastating. But we do not know how many have died; and we also know that this was an act of nature, not a premeditated attempt to murder innocent people. Do some on the anti-war left have to keep minimizing what happened on 9/11? And then, of course, it’s impossible for Kos to mention an awful tragedy without a dig at president Bush. That said, he has a point. The photograph he mentions from yesterday does strike me as completely off-key, and a pretty terrible p.r. posture for a president in the middle of a natural catastrophe. Who on earth signed off on that one? Playing a guitar? It’s the kind of image that can truly alter the perception of a president.

“The people of Bangaladesh have to live in a river delta because their whole country is one. Americans, by contrast, inhabit a roomy country and do not have to put themselves in the path of catastrophes that are completely predictable except as to date and time in order to make a quick buck in real estate or enjoy the view and a nearby swim for a few or many years. We need to have a serious think about whether it’s the duty of the rest of us to subsidize these choices.” – Mark Kleiman, asking some perhaps-too-soon questions raised by Katrina. The debate is worth having. But it should not detract from simple human sympathy for those caught in this awful event.
CORRECTION: That post on Mark Kleiman’s blog was by a guest-blogger, Michael O’Hare of the Goldman School at UC Berkeley.

A law-suit against a reader’s comment.

“Full blame for the misuse and abuse of the National Guard belongs to Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, a testily glib figure of monumental complacence. Unlike many of my fellow members of the Democrat party, I don’t hate George Bush or regard him as venal. He is sincere but narrow: most problematic in his presidency is his curious inability to fire those who have given him lousy advice and betrayed their stewardship. Is it some sentimental twist on family loyalty?” – Camille Paglia on misjudgment in the conduct of the war in Iraq.

Instapundit has compiled a series of charity links for the victims of Katrina.

GAY ANIMALS: The animated version.

Britain considers banning “violent and abusive” pornography. My response is basically this one.

Some Germans start lecturing the U.S. about global warming. As if any serious expert believes this is in any way connected. And while the waters continue to rise in New Orleans. Extra points to the Green Party, of course.

I haven’t commented on Katrina because there is nothing much to say that isn’t being reported by others far more qualified than me. But the devastation is still gut-wrenching and all-the-more disturbing for coming slowly, after the initial storm. The rest of us can pray and pitch in where we can.

“Too many Christians think if they shout loud enough and gain political strength the world will be improved. That is a false doctrine. I have never seen anyone “converted” to a Christian’s point of view (and those views are not uniform) through political power. I have frequently seen someone’s views changed after they have experienced true conversion and then live by different standards and live for goals beyond which political party controls the government.” – Cal Thomas, today. I differ with Thomas on many issues, but he has a long record of being committed to the role for faith that I believe is found in the Gospels, not the broadcasts of politicized televangelists. I wish more political conservatives would speak up in this way – for the sake of politics and Christianity.

GAYS AND LESBIANS: Common goals; very different cultures.

I’m as interested in strategies to win in Iraq as anyone, which is why I linked to Andrew F. Krepinevich’s essay on an “oil-spot” strategy. But I didn’t emphasize something that some readers have pointed out – and I should have. It’s the last paragraph:

Even if successful, this strategy will require at least a decade of commitment and hundreds of billions of dollars and will result in longer U.S. casualty rolls. But this is the price that the United States must pay if it is to achieve its worthy goals in Iraq. Are the American people and American soldiers willing to pay that price? Only by presenting them with a clear strategy for victory and a full understanding of the sacrifices required can the administration find out. And if Americans are not up to the task, Washington should accept that it must settle for a much more modest goal: leveraging its waning influence to outmaneuver the Iranians and the Syrians in creating an ally out of Iraq’s next despot.

I’ve always thought of the Iraq operation on such a scale; which was why I was so shocked by the way in which the campaign was conducted from the very beginning. I could not understand why such a mammoth undertaking with such huge consequences would be conducted on the fly, with too few troops, no real concern for post-war stability, indifference to looting and random violence, and on and on. Incompetence is one answer. Another is Rumsfeld. In Rumsfeld’s mind, if there’s a contest between a vital American interest and his own pet theories, pet theories will always win. The president has split the difference, speaking grandiloquently about the goal while backing a defense secretary patently unwilling to provide the resources or commitment to make it work. It seems to me that the sure sign that we are actually planning to win in Iraq will be when the president fires his defense secretary.

A REELING CHURCH: This strikes me as an important development: a court has ruled that Catholic parishes facing sex abuse cases can have their property removed in damages, including churches. Wally Olson has the details.