The Fulcrum
Friday, September 23, 2005
Iraq Disintegrating
Even Bush's closest allies are moving off the reservation on Iraq:
Iraq is heading towards disintegration, raising fears of a wider regional conflict, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal warned on Thursday.And then there's this:
Saudi Arabia's foreign minister says the Bush administration did not heed some Saudi warnings on occupying Iraq and that he doesn't believe a new constitution and elections will solve the emerging nation's problems.
Miscellanea
I took today off; it's a beautiful, early fall day, we have company coming this afternoon and I just couldn't stand the thought of sitting in my office all day today. I could live like this...
We're watching the appraoch of Rita on The Weather Channel and CNN, hoping that friends we have in Houston, who couldn't get out due to the traffic, are going to be safe. Seems that as prepared as Texas thought it was, the exodus didn't go nearly as well as they thought it would. Anyone know why it took them so long to make all lanes on the evacuation routes one-way?
Enjoy the end of your week and have a great weekend. I'll try to get another post or two up for the weekend, but no promises.
We're watching the appraoch of Rita on The Weather Channel and CNN, hoping that friends we have in Houston, who couldn't get out due to the traffic, are going to be safe. Seems that as prepared as Texas thought it was, the exodus didn't go nearly as well as they thought it would. Anyone know why it took them so long to make all lanes on the evacuation routes one-way?
Enjoy the end of your week and have a great weekend. I'll try to get another post or two up for the weekend, but no promises.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Brilliant Bit of Flying
This had to have been one of the most intense things I've ever watched on TV (since 9/11). It also has to be one of the most incredible bits of flying I've ever witnessed in all my years of flying.
What Have They Really Learned? Part II
After all these years of BushCo. you'd think I'd learn. You'd think more of us would have learned the answer to that question. But no. It took a trip over to Paperwight's Fair Shot to get the answer to my question.
What have they really learned? Nothing; they don't want to learn anything.
What have they really learned? Nothing; they don't want to learn anything.
...the Bush people and the modern Republican Party just don't give a tinker's damn about actually governing. It's not that they're too dumb or that every single one of them is incapable of competence (though there are clearly a lot of complete stumblebums with a lot of power in the party), it's that competence is entirely irrelevant to their practices, either with regard to policy or personnel. They're operating with a completely different set of priorities.Make sure to go read the rest. It was an eye-opener for me.
What Have They Really Learned?
With another major hurricane bearing down on the Gulf Coast, every level of government from the smallest town to the Federal level is in a flurry of activity. Nobody wants to be the one responsible for a second Katrina-style response.
But the preemptive declarations of states of emergency, the pre-staging of response teams and supplies, the readying of airplanes and busses for the evacuees; all of that is easy with the images of New Orleans and Gulfport still fresh, still raw. And for FEMA and the rest of BushCo. it's easy given the administration's tanking poll numbers.
The real question is when next year's first "monster storm" threatens, or when a category 4 or 5 storm rages into the Gulf in 2007 how will everyone react? What have they really learned and what - for now - is just the tendency to react, even to over react, after the last debacle? The first hints of an answer to that question at the federal level is not encouraging with the appointment of Karl Rove to lead the rebuilding efforts on the Gulf Coast.
It would not be overstating the case to say there's an ill wind blowing...
But the preemptive declarations of states of emergency, the pre-staging of response teams and supplies, the readying of airplanes and busses for the evacuees; all of that is easy with the images of New Orleans and Gulfport still fresh, still raw. And for FEMA and the rest of BushCo. it's easy given the administration's tanking poll numbers.
The real question is when next year's first "monster storm" threatens, or when a category 4 or 5 storm rages into the Gulf in 2007 how will everyone react? What have they really learned and what - for now - is just the tendency to react, even to over react, after the last debacle? The first hints of an answer to that question at the federal level is not encouraging with the appointment of Karl Rove to lead the rebuilding efforts on the Gulf Coast.
It would not be overstating the case to say there's an ill wind blowing...
Monday, September 19, 2005
Iraq is Making a Difference in the Middle East
Oh is it ever!
"I'm explaining to my fighters every day the lessons I learned and my experience in Iraq," he tells a NEWSWEEK correspondent. "I want to copy in Afghanistan the tactics and spirit of the glorious Iraqi resistance."
Mohammed Daud, commander of the biggest Taliban force in Ghazni province, roughly 100 miles southwest of Kabul
Forsooth Fareed!
Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria lays it out in stark terms - and gets it exactly right:
For all its virtues, the private sector cannot accomplish all this. Wal-Mart and Federal Express cannot devise a national energy policy for the United States. For that and for much else, we need government. We already pay for it. Can somebody help us get our money's worth?The column is well worth reading - and passing on.
Going Home to New Orleans
The conflict - so far pretty low key - between New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Vice Admiral Thad Allen bears watching. It's too soon to say if there are reasons other than those advanced by Allen for people not to return to the city. All indications are that for now, there really aren't the basic services needed to support those who would return.
However, we saw the disregard for the ability of the elderly and poor to evacuate, and there have already been calls for the poor neighborhoods of the area to be returned to wetlands and swamp. And of course there have been various politicians who've questioned whether to even spend the money to rebuild the city at all.
Some of the important questions are:
However, we saw the disregard for the ability of the elderly and poor to evacuate, and there have already been calls for the poor neighborhoods of the area to be returned to wetlands and swamp. And of course there have been various politicians who've questioned whether to even spend the money to rebuild the city at all.
Some of the important questions are:
1. How will those displaced by the storm return to New Orleans?I'm sure I've missed plenty of other questions to be asked but I think these are enough to get some people to pay attention. We shouldn't let the flurry of Rove's PR blitz blind us to what's really going on.Will FEMA again run convoys of busses to reverse the diaspora? Who will want to return and who will not?2. What will they return to?Mini-cities of mobile homes and pre-fab buildings are supposed to spring up all around the Gulf Coast. Will the displaced want to move into these homes or will they demand to return to their old neighborhoods? What services will be available and what will they have to do without - and for how long?3. What will the EPA have to say on the safety of the areas hardest hit?How well will these areas be cleaned and what systems will be put in place to monitor the continuing clean up and long-term health effects of residents who return?4. What areas will be subject to eminent domain?Refinery capacity is badly needed in the country and other industrial areas have long needed room to expand along the Gulf Coast. Will government, at all levels, be able to resist allowing such expansion at the expense of poorer neighborhoods? Should they resist?5. How quickly and how diligently will FEMA and other agencies work to get people out of the "FEMAvilles" they'll be moved to?Will these people be conveniently "forgotten" in their new ghettos, with no means to return home? If so, how long will the sharks wait before moving into their old neighborhoods claiming that they've been abandoned?
