The Exercise of Vital Powers

I’m not entirely sure what all this hub-bub is with Pat Robertson’s comments regarding “killing” Chavez. He explicitly said that he was opposed to the Ford-era Executive Order prohibiting assassinations. He then compared the assassination of Chavez to the costs of a military action in Venezuela. It seems pretty clear when he said “We have the ability to take him out” he was referring to the US Government and not the 700 Club rent-a-cops.

You know, I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he [Chavez] thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war, and I don’t think any oil shipments will stop. … We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don’t need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It’s a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.

I have long been a proponent of assassination over military intervention in cases where it makes sense. Robert Mugabe is a prime case of a foreign leader I’d love to see the US “take out”. And by take out I mean kill. His violation of property rights is about to cause a massive famine in Zimbabwe, which will lead to many more deaths.

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20050826.html

http://www.ejectejecteject.com/archives/000129.html

Only a few minutes ago, I had the delightful opportunity to read the comment of a fellow who said he wished that white, middle-class, racist, conservative cocksuckers like myself could have been herded into the Superdome Concentration Camp to see how much we like it. Absent, of course, was the fundamental truth of what he plainly does not have the eyes or the imagination to see, namely, that if the Superdome had been filled with white, middle-class, racist, conservative cocksuckers like myself, it would not have been a refinery of horror, but rather a citadel of hope and order and restraint and compassion.

That has nothing to do with me being white. If the blacks and Hispanics and Jews and gays that I work with and associate with were there with me, it would have been that much better. That’s because the people I associate with – my Tribe – consists not of blacks and whites and gays and Hispanics and Asians, but of individuals who do not rape, murder, or steal. My Tribe consists of people who know that sometimes bad things happen, and that these are an opportunity to show ourselves what we are made of. My people go into burning buildings. My Tribe consists of organizers and self-starters, proud and self-reliant people who do not need to be told what to do in a crisis. My Tribe is not fearless; they are something better. They are courageous. My Tribe is honorable, and decent, and kind, and inventive. My Tribe knows how to give orders, and how to follow them. My Tribe knows enough about how the world works to figure out ways to boil water, ration food, repair structures, build and maintain makeshift latrines, and care for the wounded and the dead with respect and compassion.

There are some things my Tribe is not good at at all. My Tribe doesn’t make excuses. My Tribe will analyze failure and assign blame, but that is to make sure that we do better next time, and we never, ever waste valuable energy and time doing so while people are still in danger. My Tribe says, and in their heart completely believes that it’s the other guy that’s the hero. My Tribe does not believe that a single Man can cause, prevent or steer Hurricanes, and my Tribe does not and has never made someone else responsible for their own safety, and that of their loved ones.

Excellent read. He takes on the culture of dependency and the difference between take-charge types and hand wringing “Everyone is special” types. He compares New Orleans to 9/11 and the differences between those in the SuperDome and Flight 93. Most of all he shows that the difference isn’t about race, isn’t about red or blue states, and isn’t about party.

Medical Volunteer recounts her experiences in Atlanta shelters:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168849,00.html

Herman Cain on private relief efforts:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168979,00.html

I’m posting these as an archive of the better stories of this disaster.

The Gwinnett GOP has adopted refugees in three hotels in Norcross, collecting money to pay for their rooms, organizing churches to feed the 60 some odd families, and helping to drive people to job interviews and the like. Many of these former New Orleans residents are planning on putting down roots here in Georgia.

Now I return to painting the house.

First up: political reasons why the Bush Administration didn’t federalize the relief effort. Bush/Card/Rove and company should know by now that no matter what they do it will be wrong in the eyes of the left and just done what it took to save lives and relieve suffering. Although when the final numbers are in I predict Katrina will have about the same body count as 9/11.

Instead, the Washington officials decided to rely on the growing number of National Guard personnel flowing into Louisiana, who were under Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco’s control. The debate was triggered as officials began to realize that Hurricane Katrina exposed a critical flaw in the national disaster response plans created after the Sept. 11 attacks. According to the administration’s senior homeland security officials, the hurricane showed the failure of their plan to recognize that local police, fire and medical personnel might be incapacitated and unable to act quickly until reinforcements arrive on the scene…..But just as important to the administration were worries about the message that would have been sent by a president ousting a Southern governor of another party from command of her National Guard, according to administration, Pentagon and Justice Department officials.

“Can you imagine how it would have been perceived if a president of the United States of one party had pre-emptively taken from the female governor of another party the command and control of her forces, unless the security situation made it completely clear that she was unable to effectively execute her command authority and that lawlessness was the inevitable result?” asked one senior administration official, who spoke anonymously because the talks were confidential.
http://nytimes.com/2005/09/09/national/nationalspecial/09military.html?ei=5094&en=29839ee3ffe8c2ba&hp=&ex=1126238400&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1126236989-fSoeMZQuZ+3iSeSg1ozCcQ

Next: relief organizations complain about individuals taking the initiative to bring relief supplies into the region. Part of me wonders if they haven’t caught the same “we are professionals and you aren’t, so butt out” mentality from DHS.
How many times have you chewed on a dollar bill when you’re hungry?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/07/AR2005090702070_pf.html

And rebutting the “Bush didn’t fund the levees” nonsense:

over the five years of President Bush’s administration, Louisiana has received far more money for Corps civil works projects than any other state, about $1.9 billion; California was a distant second with less than $1.4 billion, even though its population is more than seven times as large…..For example, after a $194 million deepening project for the Port of Iberia flunked a Corps cost-benefit analysis, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) tucked language into an emergency Iraq spending bill ordering the agency to redo its calculations……the Bush administration’s funding requests for the key New Orleans flood-control projects for the past five years were slightly higher than the Clinton administration’s for its past five years.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/07/AR2005090702462.html

Transcript of Special Report with Brit Hume from Wednesday night

Sorry for the silence, I’ve taken the week off to paint the house. Blogging will return on Tuesday.

Anne Rice (the Vampire lady) on the unique cultural treasure that was/is New Orleans
I disagree with her last statement. America never dismissed you, we didn’t turn our back. The Government - at all levels - did.

Thomas Barnett (Pentagon’s New Map) analyzes the system pertuberance that is Katrina.
I too think this will be an event that the Bush Administration will not recover from. Say goodbye to social security and tax reform. Prominent Republicans will begin to distance themselves from the President. Expect GOP losses in the midterm elections. The big question inside the GOP - who will be the nominee in 2008? - will start to be answered in the next few weeks.
Sad to say, the best-working aspect of the emergency response to date has been the media—the MEDIA for crying out loud!

Wonder why the feds failed so miserably? look no further

The state government denied access to the Red Cross and Salvation Army. Times-Picayune story

Finally I’m thinking I’ll do Marti Gras this year. Red Cross donations are for immediate needs. If you really want to help the people of New Orleans we need to stimulate their economy in productive ways.

Never really had much respect for American Football, but this is really low

New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson is leaning strongly toward moving the Saints permanently to San Antonio following the devastation to the city and the Superdome by Hurricane Katrina, a state senator who has spoken with a top team official said Saturday.

The reaction from FEMA was an absolute joke. They were not aware the SuperDome was being used as a refugee center until Thursday. (See the interview with FEMA head Brown)

Apparently FEMA hasn’t learned the lesson the CIA has: CNN (and Fox, and MSNBC, etc) are one of your best sources of on the ground intel. FoxNews has been reporting the SuperDome has been a refugee center since last Sunday.

Second FEMA does not have any form of robust communications system in place than can be dropped into the hands of local officials. As covered elsewhere in this blog, NOPD has been directing people to congregate places for rescue, but rescuers don’t know they are there.

Third: Whey the hell are they waiting for govenors to request this equipment. Someone should just make the decision to deliver it.

Finally, they should have anticipated some (but maybe not all) of the violence. This is a poor city. Poor cities have drug problems. If water isn’t getting into the city, neither are drugs, and you are going to have lots of addicts getting pretty desperate for a fix after a few hours or days. Violence was inevitable.

I’m glad to see someone competent - Lt. General Honore - on the scene.

An entire fleet of school buses the mayor could have used to evaculate the poor who did not have transportation.

Here is a young man I’d be willing to hire into my business:
http://www.newschannel5.tv/2005/9/1/4255/Taking-refuge-in-the-Astrodome

Eighteen-year-old Jabbor Gibson jumped aboard the bus as it sat abandoned on a street in New Orleans and took control.

“I just took the bus and drove all the way here…seven hours straight,’ Gibson admitted. “I hadn’t ever drove a bus.”

The teen packed it full of complete strangers and drove to Houston. He beat thousands of evacuees slated to arrive there.

Don Boudreaux, of Cafe Hayek, mourns for his home town and teaches us a valuable lesson about relying on government to protect us.

Nicole Gelinas gives us a bleak picture of New Orleans’ future.

New Orleans Times 2001 series on what would happen when the big one hits

Mark Burnett - 15 floors up in the CBD - gives us The Real News.

Georgia State has opened its doors to displaced students from Gulf Coast schools.

A bleak picture
I had always hoped that Haiti would become more like New Orleans, but what’s happened is New Orleans has become more like Haiti here recently.

The Volokh Conspiracy covers the implications for the legal system

Finally Scott Lynch has a good rant on why we should help the people devastated by this disaster.