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The Federalist Patriot
02 September 2005
Federalist Patriot No. 05-35
Digest
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THE FOUNDATION
"I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from
distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to
shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct,
will pursue his principles unto death." ---Thomas Paine
TOP OF THE FOLD
OBSERVATIONS ON THE DECENT, THE DIRE AND THE DESPICABLE...
Finally, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, water is flowing out of New Orleans
as Lake Pontchartrain recedes to its normal stage. After the water levels inside
and outside the levees equalize, much of New Orleans' real estate will still be
about eight feet under, where it will remain until levees are repaired and pumps
activated, likely in four to eight weeks. A huge swath of Mississippi and
Alabama is also drying out from this devastating storm---a storm that left some
thousand dead and wreaked incalculable human suffering on more than a million
survivors, most of whom are now homeless and jobless.
In a sense, the shock this week was reminiscent of that Tuesday morning almost
four years ago---but the death and destruction of 9/11 occurred in two hours,
whereas Katrina's mayhem is an ongoing disaster. As it was with 9/11, our
response to catastrophic events such as those witnessed this week define us as a
people; it reveals, proportionally, both the best and worst of our citizens and
our society.
But the media coverage has not been proportional. For five days and counting,
the 24-hour news recyclers have played an endless loop of footage featuring
misery and destruction accompanied by thematic tunes and graphics---surreal.
Those cameras have captured loss and suffering amid misery and looting. To be
sure, that's what they do best---but there is much more to this story than meets
the camera eye.
How we respond to catastrophe says a lot about our character as Americans.
Unfortunately, there were very few cameras this week focused on hundreds of
thousands of decent people responding to very difficult circumstances with great
courage and resolve. At ground level, most who lost all their material
possessions remained thankful---grateful that they, their families and their
friends, were alive. You know the type. Their glass is always half full and they
live for the next sunrise, not the last sunset. Their stories reflect the true
American spirit.
Additionally, those who suffered losses are far outnumbered by relatives,
friends and strangers who have lent a hand and donated material goods, services
and money. These folks have opened their churches, homes and businesses to
provide shelter for refugees invited into their communities. Thousands of
Americans from around the nation, professionals and laborers alike with
expertise necessary for recovery efforts, have left their homes and families in
order to volunteer their assistance. Countless millions are offering daily
prayer for victims. As each day has passed, the ranks of those stepping forward
to help their displaced countrymen have grown exponentially. This is the face of
America, but the cameras have not captured these images.
This is the America that volunteered thousands of personnel and billions of
dollars to help with the recovery effort in South Asia after last December's
Tsunami.
Further, due in part to federal planning efforts by the Department of Homeland
Security after 9/11, federal, state, and local government agencies have
responded to this crisis side by side, expeditiously delivering emergency
support to those who would not---or could not---evacuate in advance of the
hurricane or its residual flooding. National, state and local leaders have set
aside petty political differences in a unified effort to care for the immediate
and intermediate needs of those left homeless. They have also begun to work out
a comprehensive recovery plan for the region.
That notwithstanding, the media focus has been almost exclusively on two percent
of the affected population who have yet to be evacuated---not only the TV media,
but the print media as well. Friday morning, The Washington Post's headline read
"A City of Despair and Lawlessness". Apparently The New York Times got the memo,
too; their headline read "Despair and Lawlessness Grip New Orleans".
Consequently, there is plenty of media coverage on official complaints that
services have not been delivered fast enough, that rescue efforts have been too
slow, and that there have been competing agendas. "We are watching this
devastation unfold on our televisions for days and you have to ask: where is the
federal government?" queried Sen. Frank Lautenberg. "We should have had a
significant amount of troops and supplies there on the ground Monday."
Apparently Mr. Lautenberg is "logistically challenged." He missed, for example,
the fact that when the levees failed, President George Bush activated 15,000
National Guardsmen (5,000 more on the way), who were joined by thousands of
police officers, physicians and emergency-management specialists from around the
nation. Within
24 hours of the levees failing, there were 50 Disaster Medical Assistance Teams,
25 Urban Search and Rescue task forces, eight swift-water rescue teams, two
Incident Support Teams, and 1,700 trucks loaded with water, ice, meals, medical
supplies, generators, tents and tarps en route. Additionally, FEMA coordinated
massive relief efforts with DHS, DoD, HHS and other agencies with relief
capabilities---indeed, an armada is now on its way.
However, as this column has noted before, individual preparedness is the
foundation of national preparedness. The federal government does not have, nor
has it ever maintained, enough emergency-relief inventories to alleviate all
suffering in a catastrophe of this magnitude. What it does maintain will, at
best, meet only minimal needs and may not be available for days or even weeks
depending on the nature of the catastrophe. (FederalistPatriot.US posts an
excellent resource page "Recommended Action Plan"
(http://FederalistPatriot.US/useprpc/) with all you need to know about emergency
preparedness measures for yourself and your family.)
Mr. Lautenberg will have to cut his summer vacation short and return to
Washington, though, as President Bush will be asking Congress for $10 billion to
cover immediate relief expenditures for FEMA alone.
Lautenberg, however, is not alone in using this tragedy as political fodder. As
President Bush was welcoming Bill Clinton to the White House yesterday to assist
with fundraising for disaster relief, former Clinton senior advisor and noted
White House hatchet man Sid "Vicious" Blumenthal opined, "The Bush
administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for
the Iraq war... The Bush administration's policy of turning over wetlands to
developers almost certainly contributed to the heightened level of the storm
surge."
Apparently Sid has forgotten the Senate's diversion of domestic infrastructure
funding to cover the 700-percent cost overrun for Ted Kennedy's Big Dig
boondoggle. Perhaps that $16 billion American tax payers spent on 7.5 miles of
Boston highway could have been better spent on levee improvements in New
Orleans---but we digress.
The fact is, the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana have been
arguing for decades with the federal government over who should foot the bill
for the NO's gambit on developing ever-widening areas of the sinking swamp
around the city. Every elected official in Louisiana knew that the city was on
borrowed time with its category-three levees. The eventuality of a cat-four or
cat-five hurricane was accepted as a "moral hazard." Indeed, Katrina ended that
debate, and American taxpayers will now be saddled with the cost of the levee
and the total recovery effort.
Naturally, there were also some AlGorite eco-nuts who actually blamed President
Bush and Mississippi governor Haley Barbour for the hurricane. "As Hurricane
Katrina dismantles Mississippi's Gulf Coast," protested Robert Kennedy Jr.,
"it's worth recalling the central role that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour
played in derailing the Kyoto Protocol and kiboshing President Bush's iron-clad
campaign promise to regulate CO2... In 1998, Republican icon Pat Robertson
warned that hurricanes were likely to hit communities that offended God. Perhaps
it was Barbour's memo that caused Katrina, at the last moment, to spare New
Orleans and save its worst flailing for the Mississippi coast." (Are we to
understand that Jr. is now taking his rhetorical cues from Pat Robertson?)
Despite assertions about "global-warming hurricanes," renowned meteorologist Dr.
William Gray, in a recent interview with Discover magazine (which has advocated
the theory of human-induced global warming), begged to differ: "This
human-induced global-warming thing...is grossly exaggerated... I'm not disputing
there has been global warming. There was a lot of global warming in the 1930s
and '40s, and then there was global cooling in the middle '40s to the early
'70s. Nearly all of my colleagues who have been around 40 or 50 years are
skeptical...about this global-warming thing. But no one asks us." Gray was
described by Discover magazine's editors as one of "the world's most famous
hurricane experts." But what do they know. (For an exposition on the causes of
global warming, see "The Earth Day Before Yesterday"
(http://federalistpatriot.us/alexander/edition.asp?id=304)).
On the topic of fossil fuel, OPEC oil topped $70/barrel this week, though it
costs the money-grubbing cartel a mere $4/barrel to produce. (If memory serves,
we liberated this region from tyranny twice in recent history, yet no offer of
reduced oil prices to help alleviate our refining crisis has been forthcoming.)
President Bush will surely be blamed for our high gas prices and our limited
refining capabilities---but those casting the blame are the same folks who have
blocked construction of a single U.S. refinement facility since 1976.
Back in the Big Easy, the ugliest American face projected around the world this
week has been that of the looters. Though they represent far fewer than one
percent of those displaced by the hurricane and its flooding, their repulsive
actions commanded about 50 percent of field TV broadcasts.
On Canal Street, a man sloshing through hip-deep water with ten pairs of jeans
over his shoulder was asked if he was salvaging merchandise from his store. His
reply? "No, that's everybody's store." Sadly, that has been the norm throughout
the French Quarter, where looters have ripped iron gates from storefronts and
taken everything they could lay their hands on. These loathsome creatures have
filled industrial-size garbage bags with clothes and jewelry and floated them
down the street on pieces of plywood, even as National Guardsman sloshed by on
survivor-rescue details. Looters also targeted drug stores and at one point
threatened to raid a children's hospital that hadn't been evacuated. Relief
trucks have been ambushed and robbed by marauding gangs. Ambulances have been
overturned. Nursing homes have been invaded. Stories of rape and murder are now
emerging.
"We will do what it takes to bring law and order to our area,"
said Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco. "I'm just furious. It's intolerable." Here
we would advise Ms. Blanco that in the aftermath of a devastating natural
disaster, and under a state of martial law, the NOPD should be empowered to
discharge their weapons when confronted by these riotous gangs---though
preferably not while CNN cameras are rolling. Alas, by this time next week, Al $harpton
and Je$$e Jack$on will have landed, insisting that these hoodlums are actually
the victims.
Regardless of the bleak and chaotic face the 24-hour news recyclers have put on
this tragedy, the real face of America is that of a million Patriots who have
courageously persevered, and tens of millions who are helping lift them up from
tragedy---but that face is too mundane for news editors, whose primary concern
is market share and advertising revenue.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK...
"The folks on the Gulf Coast are going to need the help of this country for a
long time. This is going to be a difficult road. The challenges that we face on
the ground are unprecedented. But there's no doubt in my mind we're going to
succeed. Right now the days seem awfully dark for those affected---I understand
that, but I'm confident that, with time, you can get your life back in order,
new communities will flourish, the great city of New Orleans will be back on its
feet, and America will be a stronger place for it. The country stands with you.
We'll do all in our power to help you. May God bless you." ---President George
W. Bush
ON CROSS-EXAMINATION...
"If somebody tried to build New Orleans from scratch today, he might be jailed
as a wetlands molester, but he wouldn't be denied subsidized federal flood
insurance. In rebuilding, it would be nice if federal subsidies at least weren't
made available for rebuilding in areas below sea level. New Orleans could then
go back to being the 'Crescent City,' as it was known before its central
marshlands were drained to allow hotels and high-rises at elevations five or ten
feet lower than the river and bay (called a
'lake') just a few hundred yards away." ---Holman W. Jenkins Jr.
ON GLOBAL HOT AIR...
"Back in the 1970s, the hysteria was about global cooling and the prospect of a
new ice age. A National Academy of Sciences report back then led Science
magazine to conclude in its March 1, 1975, issue that a long 'ice age is a real
possibility.'According to the April 28, 1975, issue of Newsweek, 'the earth's
climate seems to be cooling down.' A note of urgency was part of the global
cooling hysteria then as much as it is part of today's global warming hysteria.
According to the February, 1973, issue of Science Digest, 'Once the freeze
starts, it will be too late'." ---Thomas Sowell
THE BIG LIE...
"Well, George and I are leaving Crawford today. George is finished playing golf
and telling his fables in San Diego, so he will be heading to Louisiana to see
the devastation that his environmental policies and his killing policies have
caused... And, should I dare say 'global warming?' and be branded as a
'conspiracy theorist' on top of everything else the reich-wingers say about me."
---Peacenik protagonist Cindy Sheehan
NEWS FROM THE SWAMP...
In the Executive Branch, President Bush requested tapping the Strategic
Petroleum Reserve to alleviate pressure on fuel supplies since several
refineries and pipelines are in the affected area. Gas prices continue to soar
for the moment, however.
In the Senate, opponents of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts have found new
hope to stall and politicize the confirmation hearings set to start after the
Labor Day holiday. A new set of documents released by the Ronald Reagan
Presidential Library this week caused Demos on the Senate Judiciary Committee to
claim ever so quickly that the document dump could delay the confirmation
process. However, assuming these documents are like the hundreds of thousands of
other pages on Roberts already circulating on Capital Hill, it is unlikely that
the Demos will find the smoking gun they desperately seek to scuttle the
nomination.
Also, the so-called Alliance for Justice announced its formal opposition to
Roberts this week. This hardly constitutes news, considering that this
organization has been dedicated to discrediting Republican judicial appointments
since the 1980s. Other groups that have issued boiler-plate press releases
opposing Roberts include the NAACP, the Mexican American Legal Defense and
Educational Fund, and the National Women's Law Center.
The Senate is slated to vote on a repeal of the infamous death tax next week,
and it's going to be a close one. Defenders of sending your children's
inheritance to federal coffers have promised a filibuster, while the tax-slayers
are still slightly shy of the 60 votes they need to override such a move. After
a chastising ad ran against him in New Hampshire, home of the first presidential
primary, John McCain promised that he'd vote to end debate, though it's unclear
which way he'll go on the actual vote to repeal. Other ads targeted vulnerable
senators in Montana, North Dakota, Oregon and Washington. Democrats Bill Nelson
of Florida, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both of
Arkansas, have already come on board to overturn the tax. RINOs Lincoln Chafee
and George "Shed a tear for peace"
Voinovich continue to hold out. Make no mistake---all orders of arm-twisting,
metaphorical and otherwise, are considered in-bounds in the effort to eighty-six
this one.
FROM THE WARFRONT WITH JIHADISTAN...
Is it a 'final', or is it a 'final, final'? The Shiite/Kurd majority of the
Iraqi parliament passed the new, 'final' Iraqi constitution last weekend,
leaving its fate in the hands of the Iraqi voters on 15 October. However, the
Sunni minority continues to lodge strong objections to the charter, threatening
to boycott the October vote. Seeking to keep the Sunnis in the process, U.S.
Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad stated that "a final, final draft [of the
constitution] has not yet been presented,"
a very strong hint from the Bush administration that it wants the Shiites and
Kurds to try again to accommodate the Sunnis. Major Sunni objections involve
federalism, which would create majority Kurdish and Shiite states, thereby
decreasing Sunni political power and threatening Sunni access to the country's
oil wealth. Other Sunni objections include purging former Sunni-dominated Baath
members from government and identifying Iraq as an Islamic, but not Arabic,
state, which would tend to push the country closer to Shiite-dominated Iran.
Shiites have stated that the current version of the constitution is final, but
it remains to be seen if any additional "final" versions will come out. While
there has been some political violence and murder, it is still encouraging that
Iraqi leaders are discussing the issues and talking of compromise and/or
boycotts, which are valid political tools, instead of civil war.
ON THE HOMELAND SECURITY FRONT...
New Orleans, one of the nation's most critical strategic ports has been
completely disabled. As resources pour into the Gulf, military and law
enforcement agencies are on high alert in an effort to detect any Jihadi sleeper
cell endeavoring to hit us when we are down.
Speaking of Jihadis, on 14 December 1999, Ahmed Ressam drove off the ferry from
Victoria, British Columbia, into Washington State. There Ressam, AKA the
Millennium Bomber, was arrested with 124 pounds of explosives in his car and
indicted on plans to blow up Los Angeles International Airport. Convicted in
2001, he faced a potential sentence of 65 years in prison but agreed to
cooperate with federal authorities, providing detailed information of al-Qa'ida
operations, in exchange for a sentence of no less than 27 years.
Then Ressam reneged and did not cooperate with prosecutors as promised. Time to
get tough on terrorists, perhaps? That's not what Judge John Coughenour said
when he sentenced Ressam to 22 years last month. Instead, he used the bench as a
bully pulpit against the President and the War on Terror: "We did not need to
use a secret military tribunal, detain the defendant indefinitely as an enemy
combatant or deny the defendant the right to counsel,"
Coughenour said in sentencing. "The message to the world from today's sentencing
is that our courts have not abandoned our commitment to the ideals that set our
nation apart." Now, as The Patriot previously speculated, the Justice Department
has appealed Coughenour's ruling to the Ninth Circus...er...Circuit. Justice may
be blind and slow, let's just hope it's not stupid, too.
FROM THE "DEPARTMENT OF MILITARY READINESS"...
Last year, The Patriot took up the cause of Army LTC Allen West, who was
indicted on criminal assault charges for the psychological intimidation tactic
he used to acquire vital intelligence from a captured enemy combatant in
Iraq---intelligence that saved the lives of American soldiers facing imminent
attack. Patriot Petitions advocated for LTC West exoneration from prosecution
for his actions, and 147,556 of you answered this call, petitioning in his
defense. Now, with this shameful persecution finally behind him and his family,
LTC West wrote a note to all of our Patriot readers this week:
"Dear Patriot writers and readers, I want to thank you for all your support at a
very difficult time in my career. It is with deep honor and pride that I offer
my sincere appreciation to you and all the Americans that lent their voices to
bolster my family during a very trying period. This month marks one year being
retired from Active duty for my Nation as an Army officer. All is well for the
West family and we have set our sights upon new goals and objectives. I am proud
to be an American. Thanks for continuing to send me The Patriot and keeping us
informed of current political and cultural issues, particularly those regarding
Operation Enduring Freedom and your support for our nation's uniformed
defenders. America must understand that this is a Long War, and a tough fight.
If we walk away, the consequences will be dire. Keep the people informed!
Blessings and Regards." ---Lt. Col. Allen B. West (U.S. Army, Retired)
JUDICIAL BENCHMARKS...
>From the Leftjudiciary, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken has
effectively blocked new oil drilling off the Left Coast for the time being,
ordering further studies of the "environmental risks" ---a process that will
take years. At issue is the federal government's request to extend leases on 36
offshore tracts between San Luis Obispo and Oxnard counties in order for oil
companies to use them for new drilling. Entangled by much legal wrangling, the
tracts have been unused since the leases were taken between
1968 and 1984. The oil companies have now filed suit in order either to use the
tracts or to force the federal government to buy back the leases, originally
bought at $1.25 billion. Some
512 million barrels of oil sits under the ocean floor, waiting to give us some
relief from rising gas prices, but no, the Left doesn't want you to be driving
that SUV anyway! They need that gas for their private jets...
FROM THE LEFT...
Looking to rejuvenate his career as preeminent rabble rouser and almighty big
mouth, "Rev." Al $harpton traveled to Crawford, Texas, to be with Cindy Sheehan
and her anti-war sycophants this week. He made a point of linking his visit to
the anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech," thereby
sullying that historic moment with his presence and Sheehan's continued
defilement of her son's sacrifice.
Now, even the Leftiest of the Left are starting to pull back from Sheehan.
Fenton Communications, a high-power PR firm for the Left and the original
organizer of Sheehan's shenanigans, has stepped down, and the smaller Mintwood
Media Collective has taken the helm. "[W]e're kind of bringing it back to the
original grass roots," said a Mintwood spokesman. Even the mighty MoveOn
organization has backed away from Sheehan, taking a much less visible role in
her 25-state, three-week bus tour and antiwar march on the Capital, slated for
24 September. Now, with President Bush returning to Washington to concentrate on
the cleanup of Hurricane Katrina and the nation focused on how best to provide
relief for the devastated regions, it's likely that Sheehan's fifteen minutes of
fame has now expired.
Fly your Patriot Colors!
Visit the Patriot Shop:
http://PatriotShop.US/
FROM THE "REGULATORY COMMISSARS" FILE...
Ever wonder why California is referred to as the hottest hotbed of the Left
Coast? Or why San Francisco is called "Baghdad by the Bay"? The San Francisco
Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 recently against the area's congressional
delegation plan to berth the USS Iowa as a floating museum in the Port of San
Francisco. Members of Congress representing the Bay Area had pegged $3 million
in 2000 for moving the USS Iowa, which was present at the signing of the 1945
treaty ending the war between Japan and the U.S. Studies indicated the proposed
museum would attract a half-million visitors to the port annually, but these
hardcore Leftists object explicitly and vehemently to the military's policy that
service members may not disclose their private aberrant sexual practices. The
city's Supes also object to the military and the U.S. in general. Our
question: Should the more sensible portions of California simply cede San
Francisco to Massachusetts, or do we just gift the city to our pals in France?
FROM THE "NON COMPOS MENTIS" FILES...
The Rolling Stones have joined the ranks of entertainers who have confused fame
with wisdom. The British rock group, dazed from decades of untold hard partying,
is perturbed that the President of the United States conducts war without
drawing upon the military acumen of aging foreign musicians. "George Bush
doesn't listen to us," guitarist Keith Richards complained when asked about Mick
Jagger's anti-war lyrics in their latest CD.
"I've got strong opinions," Jagger said. "I'm obviously very interested in the
way that we conduct foreign policy in the West. It's one of my interests, if not
passions. So obviously I have opinions about it," Jagger remarked, apparently
speaking from the Deep Thoughts Department.
While perhaps the Stones' salvo against the President is in retaliation for
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's smear against music when he noted going
to war without France is like going to war without an accordion, it is possible
the rockers are melodically expressing displeasure over their absence from the
President's iPod playlist. Regardless of their musical motivation, the next time
President Bush feels the need to confer with geriatric European musicians for
the next AARP concert, they can rest assured he will call the Rolling Stones.
FROM THE "VILLAGE ACADEMIC CURRICULUM" FILE...
An elementary-school teacher in Long Island says she was fired for displaying a
portrait of President Bush in her classroom along with several other presidents.
The pictures were apparently too "political" for her eight-year-olds. The
principal became "outraged and insisted the picture be removed," according to
the lawsuit filed by the teacher. The teacher had volunteered with the RNC for
the president's reelection campaign, while the principal is the wife of Democrat
state Assemblyman Frank Seddio. We're sure "politics" played no role in the
principal's decision. Not surprisingly, this is not the first time such a
travesty has happened. Last year, a South Brunswick, NJ, teacher was
"reassigned" for placing President Bush's picture with other historical American
documents on her personal bulletin board in her classroom and having a stuffed
elephant on her desk. Don't they know elephants are endangered?
AROUND THE NATION...
>From the states, in Kentucky, Republican Governor Ernie
Fletcher is in hot water after pardoning nine members of his own
administration---each indicted for violating the state's "merit system" laws. "I
will not pardon myself," he added. The accused officials allegedly demoted or
fired many Democrat bureaucrats in spite of merit-system laws meant to curb
partisan tactics. Greg Stumbo, the Democrat Attorney General, is hard on Gov.
Fletcher's trail, bringing him before a grand jury Tuesday in an effort to push
the governor out of office. Stumbo has also threatened to turn over any evidence
of federal law breaking to the FBI. Gov. Fletcher has refused to step down,
saying he will leave his fate to the voters. This is a power struggle between
defeated Democrats and newly empowered GOP politicos, typical of the new
political climate around the nation. Stay tuned...
In California, the state senate has become the first to approve same-sex
marriage without a court order. In spite of a voter referendum restating the
definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman passed in 2000
by a large margin, 21 state Democrats decided to thumb their noses at the
people. The bill goes to the Assembly next week, where a similar bill was
defeated in June.
FAMILY AND FAITH MATTERS...
Arizona Senator John McCain offered some surprising remarks this week, telling
the Arizona Daily Star that he supported the teaching of intelligent-design
theory in public schools. "There [are] enough scientists that believe
[intelligent design] does [qualify as science]." McCain continued, "This is
something that I think all points of view should be presented." McCain also
announced his support for an Arizona ballot measure to ban so-called homosexual
"marriage," though he continues to oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment on
federalist grounds (a position endorsed by the Editors of this publication).
Why is this news? McCain supporters have, on the whole, loved the Senator for
his "moderate social views." In the wake of his conservative pronouncements on
two of the most controversial positions, the silence has been deafening. That is
to say, the McCainites are cutting their man some slack---or maybe they're just
waiting to see if he's just faking right to run left---perhaps with another
presidential bid in mind.
ON THE FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE...
In addition to pounding the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Katrina apparently did a
number on the nation's space program as well. The Space Shuttle's external tank
is manufactured at the Lockheed Martin Michoud facility outside New Orleans.
While the facility apparently came through relatively unscathed, the employees
did not. Some 60 percent or more of Michoud's employees lost their homes. With
no water or power expected at the facility for at least
4-6 weeks, and with a majority of employees needing many months to recover from
Katrina, the plant is barely operational. The re-engineering of the shuttle's
tank, required before it can fly again, is on temporary hold. Rumors suggest
NASA may try to move some of the tank work to Kennedy Space Center, with the
next shuttle launch now no earlier than May 2006.
AROUND THE WORLD...
While Katrina brought tragedy to the Gulf coast, half a world away tragedy
struck again when some 953 Iraqis were killed in a stampede during a pilgrimage
to an Islamic shrine in Baghdad. Another 815 were injured. The stampede started
as pilgrims were crossing a bridge across the Tigris River and terrorist
insurgents began firing mortar rounds in the direction of the shrine. Then a
rumor of a homicide bomber in the crowd began to break out, leading to the
deadly rush from the bridge. Most suffocated on the bridge itself, while many
others plunged to their death, either jumping or being forced over the edge.
Of note, the pilgrims were all Shiite Muslims, heading for a Shiite shrine. The
bridge is located in the Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiyah, one of the last
holdouts of resistance in Baghdad against U.S.-led liberating forces and a
former bastion of support for Saddam Hussein. Adhamiyah residents didn't
hesitate to take to the river to save hundreds of drowning Shiites, though, then
delivering them to Sunni hospitals, Sunni mosques and Sunni homes. Survivors and
rescuers alike credit the actions of the Sunni neighborhood for the hundreds of
lives saved. With a national constitution and the future of their country at
stake, this respite from religious rivalry may prove an important crossroads for
Iraq.
THIS WEEK'S "ALPHA JACKASS" AWARD:
"The disaster took more lives than any other single incident in Iraq since the
U.S.-led invasion in March 2003." ---reporting by The Washington Post,
associating this week's tragic events in Baghdad with the U.S.-led invasion, not
the al-Qa'ida-led terrorist insurgency of Iraq---even though they're the ones
who fired the mortars
AND LAST...
The American Left has generally devolved into thumb-sucking mode over all the
things they are against. No new ideas, no optimism---only screaming "Not in our
Name" or "Not in my back yard" and other high chair banging. A prime example is
the proposed 130-turbine wind farm off Cape Cod that would produce
three-quarters of local power, reducing their dependence on nasty electric
plants. While it's clear that Sen. Ted Kennedy opposes the wind farm---his view
of the sound might be slightly affected (if, indeed, he can see between five and
thirteen miles offshore)---even GOP senators John Warner and Lamar Alexander are
balking at the idea. Of course, it has nothing to do with their property in the
area. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., even held a fundraiser against the project. Leave
it to the hypocritical Left to want other people's money to oppose alternative
energy sources! All in all, The Providence Journal said it best: "[T]here are
two sets of environmental policies in the United States today:
one for the very rich and one for the yahoos."
Lex et Libertas---Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander,
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