Remaking Man in Marx's Image.

TV programs with a conservative bent on PBS are almost always consigned to Sunday afternoon. There they are likely neither to be seen by public television's predominantly leftish demographic, who would be enraged (and may withhold their $35 annual membership), nor viewed by rightish folk, who may want more. So it was with Heaven on Earth, a three-hour documentary on the history of socialism and communism. One the film's themes, and what certainly has been forgotten in the analysis of socialism's failings, is its inherent need to remake human behavior, expunging people of the intolerable condition of self-interest. In the case of British socialism, (of the Labour Party) this was accomplished by legislation to abolish capitalism and to create the welfare state; in the case of the Bolsheviks, mass murder was the vanguard's prescription for ridding humanity of such misfits. Four star television, available for purchase at the PBS store.

FEMA's Leadership.

FEMA is now receiving close scrutiny, and the qualifications of personnel that fill critical leadership positions. Here is a list of some of the people that fill these positions (from the FEMA website), and a yea or nea as to whether their professional background would be, in our opinion, adequate to emergency managment at such an important level. Keep in mind that this is not a measure of leadership ability.

• Michael Brown, Undesecretary for Emergency Preparedness: Nea (politics)
• James Rhode, Chief of Staff: Nea (politics)
• Kenneth Burris, Jr., Acting Director of Ops: Yea (firefighting & EM)
• Edward Buikema, Acting Director of Response: Yea (police & EM)
• Daniel Craig, Director of Recovery Division: Nea (lobbyist)

Our conclusion is not as unanimous as that of the MSM: some critical positions are filled by people with inadequate resumes, others appeared to have strong experience in emergency management.

Data Recovery for the Katrina Disaster.

Don Singleton has assembled some of the pre-Katrina emergency management documents and plans. For those of you wanting a ground-floor understanding of the process, it's valuable material. Dead Drifts is not joining the blame game. It is just extremely important to know the initial conditions of this situation to competently judge whether officials will draw the right conclusions in after-action studies.

Meanwhile, if you haven't cut a check yet to help the people of the Gulf Coast out, get on it now.

The Big Easy's Soul Lives On.

WWOZ, New Orleans Roots Radio, is now Streaming in Exile. (from Cybrludite)

Your Contribution is at Work.

Certainly, this is just the start.

American Red Cross shelters:

-- Louisiana: 127 shelters; 51,480 people
-- Mississippi: 102 shelters; 13,510 people
-- Texas: 49 shelters; 23,850 people
-- Alabama: 47 shelters; 3,760 people
-- Georgia: 17 shelters; 880 occupants
-- Tennessee: 9 shelters; 70 occupants
-- Florida: 8 shelters; 1,380 occupants
-- Arkansas: 1 shelter; 1,250 occupants
-- Missouri: 1 shelter; 0 occupants

Lock the Doors.

When NASA has had its two Shuttle accidents, at one point the Flight Director orders the doors to Mission Control to be locked: no one goes in or out until all the data of the flight has been secured. It is essential for a successful accident investigation.

The same should hold true for all of the data pertaining to the Katrina Catastrophe. Let's not have any city, state, or federal documents that pertain to the planning and preparations for this disaster to suddenly come up "missing".
For example, the City of New Orleans' disaster plan...(courtesy Bush in a Tree)

The Economic Backwash from Katrina.

Stratfor summarizes the consequences of the loss of New Orleans, the most critical port of the American economy.

"Ironpants" Honore' Takes Command.

Ooorah! Lt. General Honore' and his Task Force Katrina is getting the job done. In the process he blows the air clear of wouldshouldcoulda: when asked why troops weren't just thrown in earlier, the General stated clearly: because they would have become causalities themselves. This guy knows when it's time to kvetch and when it's time to shut up and work.

Jesse, can you just shut up?

Or at least get the facts straight:

Jesse Jackson lashes out at Bush over Katrina response
Doug Simpson / Associated Press

BATON ROUGE -- Racism is partly to blame for the deadly aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said, calling President Bush's response to the disaster "incompetent."...

...Jackson questioned why Bush has not named blacks to top positions in the federal response to the disaster, particularly when the majority of victims remaining stranded in New Orleans are black: "How can blacks be locked out of the leadership, and trapped in the suffering?"

"It is that lack of sensitivity and compassion that represents a kind of incompetence."

U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Russell Honore, head of the military task force overseeing operations in the three states, is black. His task force is providing search and rescue, medical help and sending supplies to the three states in support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency...

A Time for Unity.

Lincoln's allusion has been overused, but it really is time for us to appeal to the better angels of our nature. A reckoning of accountability will one day occur, but we are many months from it, despite the goading by the MSM. Let keep our mouths shut and instead open our checkbooks.

Catastrophe.

Since 911 most Americans have probably wondered when the crippling of an entire city and economic center would occur. Nature has provided the answer - it has happened now. All of New Orleans has gone offline...and it's almost impossible to comphrehend. God be with all of them. And let's roll up our sleeves, even if it's only to write a check.

A blog from WWL-TV New Orleans, located in the French Quarter, tries separate the fact from rumor of events in that stricken town. The station also features streaming video.

Keep your help simple: if your circumstances are such that you can't volunteer for service in the Gulf Coast, just give money to the Red Cross.

Learning the Wrong History.

Chuck Hagel missed an important point in his Iraq-as-Vietnam arguement: the US cutting and running, and leaving people who put their lives on the line on our word to the wolves...and feeling morally self-satisfied while doing so.

Is "Chippewa" is a Four-Letter Word?

The Sensitivity Flying Squad of the NCAA threatens Central Michigan University with sanctions if they don't abolish the "Chippewa" nickname. It seems however, the local tribe sides with CMU in defending its use:

...The university said the nickname was adopted in 1942 "to reflect the rich Native American heritage of the mid-Michigan region" and its use has been approved by the area's Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.
"CMU's continued use of the name is dependent on whether the Chippewa people in our region continue to feel that CMU's use of the name is in fact a proud reflection and is used with dignity and respect," the university said in a joint statement with the tribe...

Perhaps it is the NCAA bureaucrats who associate "Indian" with a Looney Tunes charicature?

Hitchens Makes the Case.

Christopher Hitchens defends the overthrow of Saddam, filling the inexplicable vaccum left by the White House.

DM ISO S(ane) F.

Mr. Sheehan takes steps for normalcy in his life.

Calling Him a "Fibber" is Polite.

George Will documents another Jimmy "They All Laughed At Me But One Day They'll See I Was Right" Carter whopper. (thanks to VodkaPundit)

The Open Champion.

Tiger was in command, truly a great victory at the British Open. He has the greatest focus of any player on tour, focus that is essential to win the Open.

Nike, however nearly spoiled the moment by running a truly demeaning and tacky commercial where they superposed the toddler Tiger's head on his
adult body in scenes of his earlier triumph at the Open. Yuck.

This contest was won by a man, against other great men of golf - it wasn't won by a toddler. Tiger conducts himself as a man, not an enfante terrible, or some childish savant. Save that kind of marketing for the other sports, where it is much more appropriate.

The Hard Left's Brownshirts in Action.

Antiwar and anarcho/anticapitalist protests frequently have these thugs in attendance. They destroy private property, silence counterdemonstrators (for example, see the video documentation provided by Protest Warriors), and send cops to hospitals. And you don't read, see, or hear anything about these brownshirts in the MSM. Shouldn't these punks be exposed to as much disinfecting sunlight as the KKK when it parades in bedsheets through a town square?

PS - some background on these hoods found at Front Page.

In Praise of the French.

Daniel Pipes claims France is a lot tougher on Islamofascists than the Brits. Pipes makes a few good points, but I doubt that a defending the wearing of a jilbab constitutes weakness in the face of terrorism. Nevertheless, plaudits to France.

The War to Save Civilization.

The horrible events of yesterday in London are a brutal reminder that we are in a death struggle with the forces of evil and darkness. Nothing less. Tom Friedman declared it to be World War III after 9/11; the attacks in Bali, Madrid, Moscow, Beslan, and now London should be ample corroboration for Friedman's claim.

This war's stakes are basic human liberties such as speech, religion, travel, economic, intellectual, and cultural intercourse, and the dignity of individual thought as bestowed by our Creator. These essential freedoms are threatened by a splinter perversion of religion that requires complete and mindless adherence to theology - as revealed by an infalliable elite - or death with rest of the "infidel" world.

A unavoidable decision now faces the peoples of the world, and citizens of civilized societies: will you join this struggle against the forces of darkness or by your inaction collude with them?

Efraim Halevi writes in the Jerusalem Post: (thanks to The Daily Demarche)

...There will be supreme tests of leadership in this unique situation and people will have to trust the wisdom and good judgment of those chosen to govern them. The executives must be empowered to act resolutely and to take every measure necessary to protect the citizens of their country and to carry the combat into whatever territory the perpetrators and their temporal and spiritual leaders are inhabiting.

The rules of combat must be rapidly adjusted to cater to the necessities of this new and unprecedented situation, and international law must be rewritten in such a way as to permit civilization to defend itself. Anything short of this invites disaster and must not be allowed to happen.

The aim of the enemy is not to defeat western civilization but to destroy its sources of power and existence, and to render it a relic of the past. It does not seek a territorial victory or a regime change; it wants to turn western civilization into history and will stop at nothing less than that. It will show no mercy or compassion and no appreciation for these noble values when practiced by us.

This does not mean that we can or should assume the norms of our
adversaries, nor that we should act indiscriminately. It does mean that the only way to ensure our safety and security will be to obtain the destruction, the complete destruction, of the enemy.

Much has been said in recent years about the vital need for international cooperation. There is no doubt that this is essential. Yet no measure of this will suffice and it cannot replace the requirement that each and every country effectively declare itself at war with
international Islamist terror and recruit the public to involve itself actively in the battle, under the direction of the legal powers that be...