Good news in Lebanon

Government takes strong anti-Syrian, anti-Iranian actions.

The Lebanese government appears serious in its bid to seek justice in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and prevent another bid by neighboring Syria to take control of the country.

Information on Syrian plans to return to meddling in Lebanese affairs, drawing the brittle country once again to the verge of disaster, reached the top political establishment of Lebanon through diplomatic channels.

According to some Lebanese officials, friendly nations have promised immediate help if moves against remnants of the Syrian intelligence arouse threats and hostile moves from Damascus.

At this stage it seems Lebanon is ready for a confrontation with her so-called senior sister – Syria. This will be possible as long as western friends, with the U.S. at the top, continue to support Lebanese moves to challenge Damascus and to tell Syria in so many words: "Stay out and stay away from Lebanon."

Blacks fault lack of local leadership

It's about time that some in the black community are beginning to question what happened to the black leadership during the Hurricane Katrina disaster, especially in the city of New Orleans.

Did FEMA Take Too Long?

Liberal journalists who are long on opinions and short on knowledge have no idea what is involved in moving hundreds of tons of relief supplies into an area the size of England in which power lines are down, telecommunications are out, no gasoline is available, bridges are damaged, roads and airports are covered with debris, and apparently have little interest in finding out.

For instance, it took five days for National Guard troops to arrive in strength on the scene in Homestead, Florida after Hurricane Andrew hit in 2002. But after Katrina, there was a significant National Guard presence in the afflicted region in three.

One officer stated that it took his unit 7 hours to go 70 miles because of all the debris and trees and powerlines down, etc. while trying to get to their New Orleans destination.

Jason van Steenwyk is a Florida Army National Guardsman who has been mobilized six times for hurricane relief. He notes that: “The federal government pretty much met its standard time lines, but the volume of support provided during the 72-96 hour was unprecedented. The federal response here was faster than Hugo, faster than Andrew, faster than Iniki, faster than Francine and Jeanne.”

So they libel as a “national disgrace” the most monumental and successful disaster relief operation in world history.

Eight days after the main levee protecting New Orleans breached the facts are:

* More than 32,000 people have been rescued, many plucked from rooftops byCoast Guard helicopters.

* The Army Corps of Engineers has all but repaired the breaches and begun pumping water out of New Orleans.

* Shelter, food, and medical care have been provided to more than 180,000 refugees.

Journalists complain that it took too long. Well, we don't have teleporters like in Star Trek. Sorry folks that is Hollywood - not reality.

Bringing supplies to an underwater city through an area the size of Great Britain which has no power, no working ports or airports, and a devastated and impassable road network takes time.

Moltenthought says, “You cannot speed recovery and relief efforts up by pre-positioning assets (in the affected areas) since the assets are endangered by the very storm which destroyed the region. No amount of yelling, crying, and mustering of moral indignation will change any of the facts above.”

Guardsmen need to receive mobilization orders; report to their armories; draw equipment; receive orders, and convoy to the disaster area. Guardsmen driving down from Pennsylvania or Navy ships sailing from Norfolk can't be on the scene immediately. “You cannot just snap your fingers and make the military appear somewhere,” van Steenwyk observed.

Relief efforts must be planned. Other than pre-positioning supplies near the area likely to be afflicted (which was done quite efficiently), this cannot be done until the hurricane has struck and a damage assessment can be made.

There must be a route reconnaissance to determine if roads are open, and bridges along the way can bear the weight of heavily laden trucks.

And federal troops and Guardsmen from other states cannot be sent to a disaster area until their presence has been requested by the governors of the afflicted states.

Exhibit A on the bill of indictment of federal sluggishness is that it took four days before most people were evacuated from the Louisiana superdome. The levee broke Tuesday morning. Buses had to be rounded up and driven from Houston to New Orleans across debris strewn roads. The first ones arrived Wednesday evening. That seems pretty fast to me.

QUIZ

What’s the difference between a disaster and an election in New Orleans?

The buses run during an election.

"Why isn’t New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin worried about all the dead people being found in Katrina’s aftermath?

Because they’ll keep right on voting anyway.

Tasteless? Here’s what really tasteless: Cleaning up New Orleans physically without cleaning it up politically. Not draining New Orleans’ political cesspool of organized crime and corruption. Not evacuating Mayor Ray Nagin and every city official and police officer on the take before they get their greasy hands on all those billions of taxpayer dollars to rebuild the place."

--Dr. Jack Wheeler

No Significant Change

Patrick Michaels, professor of environmental studies at the University of Virginia, offered this insight last week into the alleged relationship between hurricanes and global warming: "[T]ake a look at data for the Atlantic basin for the last 50 years, and you'll find that only ten percent of the variation in hurricane strength and frequency from year to year is related to sea-surface temperature. In other words, 90 percent of the changes in hurricanes...is due to factors other than sea-surface temperatures... [Though] the world's surface temperature has gone up over the last few decades, not as much as a lot of computer models forecast, but it's gone up...there has been no statistically significant change whatsoever in the number of global tropical cyclones."

---The Federalist

"New Orleans has had high rates of illiteracy and high rates of poverty, and long before the hurricane blew in, high rates of children and families with extraordinarily low expectations. In short, much of the city was a mess, and no one was marshaling the considerable resources necessary to help pull its stricken residents out of the trouble of their daily lives."

--- Bob Herbert, New York Times

Dereliction of Duty

Concerned about federal dollars flooding into Louisiana coffers, Rep. Tom Tancredo expresses: "The head of the FBI in New Orleans just this past year described the state's public corruption as 'epidemic, endemic, and entrenched. No branch of government is exempt.' The question is not whether Congress should provide for those in need, but whether state and local officials who have been derelict in their duty should be trusted with that money."

Judicial Benchmarks...

"From the Leftjudiciary, not even a week before Hurricane Katrina hit U.S. shores, the Leftjudiciary was serving up the possibility of much court mischief in blaming human action for "global warming." In San Francisco's federal court, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White ruled that Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and the cities of Santa Monica, Oakland and Arcata, in California, and Boulder, in Colorado, may sue the Overseas Private Investment Corp. and the Export-Import Bank of the United States over building power plants overseas. The plaintiffs are contending such development abroad adds to heating up the planet. The overreach of our courts is surely boundless..."

The Federalist

"The wall of separation between church and state is a metaphor based upon bad history, a metaphor which has proved useless as a guide to judging. It should be frankly and explicitly abandoned... The greatest injury of the 'wall' notion is its mischievous diversion of judges from the actual intention of the drafters of the Bill of Rights."

---Justice William Rehnquist

BIZARRE QUOTES

FROM THE LEFT - OF COURSE.

"The American people expect and deserve accountability, they expect leadership, and they expect competence. They didn't see any of that coming out of the White House following the disaster of Katrina. Instead of unconscionably blaming others, President Bush must take charge and take responsibility."
---House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi

HH: It truly is an amazing thing to watch. The criticism of George Bush over hurricane Katrina has been rampant and immediate and non-stop. The Dems and their activist organizations have blamed Bush for Katrina (global warming), floated the rumor that Bush had the levees blown up, he messed up the relief effort, he took too long, he did not care, was accused of staging a photo- op when he arrived at New Orleans, and numerous other criticisms. All the while, he has not participated in the blame game at all; he has not accused anyone of messing up or abdicating their duties. Yet, they make statements like the above Pelosi quote. They are masters of accusing others of those things that they are actually guilty of themselves.

"What the American people have seen is this incredible disparity in which those people who had cars and money got out and those people who were impoverished died."
---Teddy Kennedy

"When [President Bush] tours the Gulf region...I hope he will stand on a pile of rubble [as he did after 9/11]. And he will look up to the heavens and say to God, 'You're responsible for this. And soon you will hear from us'."
---Illinois Demo-gogue Je$e Jack$on, Jr.

"[These are] sons and daughters of slaves."
---The Congressional Black Caucus's Diane Watson

"It is racist to call American citizens refugees... This looks like the hull of a slave ship."
--- the Irreverent the Irrelevant the Reverend Je$$e Jack$on

"The real question is not only those that didn't get out. The question is: why has it taken the government so long to get in. I feel that, if it was in another area, with another economic strata(sic) and racial makeup, that President Bush would have run out of Crawford a lot quicker and FEMA would have found its way in a lot sooner."
---Al $harpton

"There are people dying and [the US government is] not putting the boats in the water, I think that's criminal negligence. I don't think anybody ever anticipated the criminal negligence of the Bush administration in this situation."
---Sean Penn

"C'mon, they're black!... Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days?"
---Michael Moore

"[If Katrina's victims were white] they would not have gone for days without food and water, forcing many to steal for mere survival. Their bodies would not have been left to float in putrid water. They would have been rescued and relocated a hell of a lot faster than this. Period."
---CBS's Nancy Giles

"[Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and President George Bush] should not be violating the Constitution by telling people to pray for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. It's unconstitutional for government officials to be promoting religion."
---Ellen Johnson, senior priestess of American Atheists

"Back in the real world, America's enemies will draw many useful lessons from the events of this last week. Will America?"

---Mark Steyn

"No tragedy is so horrific, no calamity so sad, that somebody can't reduce it to politics. Hurricane Katrina was a tragedy for most of us, but a gift of the gods to the kingdom of the left, where everyone gets up every morning eager to count the ways to despise George W. Bush."

---Wesley Pruden

SEEKING JUSTICE

Four years ago, responsibility for the devastation of 9/11 was appropriately laid at the feet of Islamist terrorists and their state sponsors, who planned, funded and carried out the attack on our nation. It is, after all, in our nature to identify the offender and seek justice for injustice—to reconcile the account.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina's destruction, liberal politicians and media pundits are, again, busy seeking justice—but for an act of nature. There is no "enemy," but they are determined to attach blame for this tragedy on George W. Bush. Their politicization of the human suffering in Katrina's wake is beneath disgraceful, especially because we know after 9/11 that a unified response to catastrophe is critical to success.

---The Federalist

ZARQAWI

This week, Yossef Bodansky, former director of the U.S. Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, issued an analytical report citing a communication between Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden in which al-Zarqawi promises a "Great Ramadan Offensive" against the U.S. and our Allies, especially Israel. According to al-Zarqawi, the attacks are to coincide with the observance of the Islamic holy season beginning 4 October.

---The Federalist

THE FAR LEFT 6

The House yesterday passed an anodyne resolution commemorating the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. It extended sympathy to the victims and survivors; honored the military, first responders, and others who helped; thanked foreign leaders for their support; declared that America is not waging war "on any people or any faith"; reaffirmed a commitment to the global war on terrorism; and vowed "never [to] forget the sacrifices made" on 9/11 or to "bow to terrorist demands."

No one could disagree with that, right? Not quite. The House vote for the resolution was 402-6; here are the six far-left Democrats who voted "no":

*John Conyers (Mich.)
*Barbara Lee (Calif.)
*Jim McDermott (Wash.)
*Cynthia McKinney (Ga.)
*Pete Stark (Calif.)
*Lynn Woolsey (Calif.)

SOURCE: Opinion Journal

UK embassies put names on 'warning list'

BRITISH embassies across the world have drawn up a list of up to 100 radicals who are not welcome in the UK, Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, has confirmed. Details.

"How could a readiness for war in time of peace be safely prohibited, unless we could could prohibit, in like manner, the preparations and establishments of every hostile nation?"

-- James Madison

Unwed women set record for births in 2003

Births to unmarried women in the United States hit a record 1.4 million in 2003, while births to teens fell for the 12th consecutive year. Story.

'Camp Greyhound' home to 220 looting suspects
(Registration required)

More than 220 looting suspects and others accused of violence in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina have been taken to a makeshift city jail known as "Camp Greyhound," the New Orleans bus terminal, to await transfer to out-of-town prisons.

Once again, Rev. Sharpton, I ask: These are just angry voters - right?

Berger Fined for 'Trousergate'

Berger fined for taking papers
By Jerry Seper, Washinton Times

Former National Security Adviser Samuel R. Berger was fined $50,000 by a federal judge yesterday for illegally taking classified documents out of the National Archives by stuffing them in his pants. Registration required.

COMMENTARY

The Tyranny of the Endangered Species Act
By Tom DeWeese

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is the worst, most destructive, and most powerful law ever to come out of Congress (with the possible exception of the federal income tax law). For 32 years the ESA has robbed property owners of their land, killed jobs, destroyed whole industries, and created a government tyranny that would have had our founding fathers in the trenches, locked and loaded. But legislation intended to fix the ESA will give the federal government even greater power to take private property... Full Details

Navy: Iraqis Know MIA Pilot's Whereabouts
By ROBERT BURNS
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) -

The Navy has been unable to determine whether Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher, the fighter pilot shot down over Iraq in January 1991, is dead or alive, but it decided to keep his official status "missing/captured" and intensify investigative efforts.

Navy Secretary Gordon England on Wednesday approved the findings and recommendations of a Navy board of inquiry, which concluded that "elements of the former Iraqi regime know the whereabouts of Captain Speicher." FULL STORY

NEWS HEADLINES

Report Warns of Terrorists’ ‘Great Ramadan Offensive’
(CNSNews.com) - Al Qaeda's plans for a series of spectacular terrorist strikes in October, targeting American interests as well as U.S. allies in Europe and the Middle East, are the subject of a non-public report issued by terrorism experts this week. The attacks, said to be coordinated by Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, are planned to coincide with the Muslim observance of Ramadan...

Dependence on Government, Not Racism, Hurting Black People, Pastor Says
(CNSNews.com) - A black conservative leader says don’t blame racism or President Bush for what happened to thousands of poor, black people during and after Hurricane Katrina...

Former Clinton Adviser See Failure at All Levels of Government
(CNSNews.com) – Leon Panetta, a former U.S. representative from California who served as President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, says the race and economic status of the hurricane victims has to be a “consideration” in any upcoming investigation – but that’s not the major focus...

Yahoo Under Fire Over Jailing of Chinese Journalist
(CNSNews.com) – Internet giant Yahoo, accused this week of providing information that helped put a Chinese journalist in prison for 10 years, says it had no choice...

Let the Voters Decide, Governor Schwarzenegger Says
(CNSNews.com) – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed what supporters call a “gay rights” bill on Tuesday night. The legislation was intended to discourage political candidates from using "anti-gay rhetoric" in their campaigns...

UN STORIES

Probe: U.N. Incapable of Running Large Programs
Saddam Pocketed $10 Billion in Oil-for-Food Funds

Annan Faces Most Criticism for Oil-For-Food Scandal

Top U.S. Commander Worries About China Military Buildup

The commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, Admiral William Fallon - on a visit to China - suggests that Beijing's ongoing military buildup might be too extensive for a country not facing any outside threats.

For the past several years, China has been overhauling its military, each year spending tens of billions of dollars on purchases of fighter jets, destroyers, missile systems, nuclear submarines and other hardware, primarily from Russia. Full story.

Expert: China Sees U.S. as Top Enemy

Communist China views the U.S. as an "inevitable foe" and is preparing for a military confrontation, warns an influential Pentagon adviser.

Michael Pillsbury, who speaks fluent Chinese and has written three books on Chinese military strategy, has urged the Pentagon to take a wary view of China's global intentions. Full story.

School Buses Not Good Enough

Many of us have seen by now, the media photos of all the school buses (well over 200 of them) sitting in a parking lot and under water. School buses and city buses were part of the comprehensive emergency plan to evacuate people. Yet these buses went unused, not moved to higher ground and ended up mostly under water. What happened? Why weren't they used? Well, mayor Nagin didn't think the buses were good enough. He demanded more comfortable Greyhound coaches instead.

"I need 500 buses, man," he told a radio station. "One of the briefings we had they were talking about getting, you know, public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out of here."

Nagin responded:

"I'm like - you've got to be kidding me. This is a natural disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."

What great leadership, and what moronic thinking. The people of New Orleans deserve better than this. So while Nagin was waiting for his Greyhound fleet, the floodwaters swamped his school buses.

"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

--- Thomas Jefferson

AFTER THE STORM

Blame Amid the Tragedy
Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin failed their constituents.

BY BOB WILLIAMS

As the devastation of Hurricane Katrina continues to shock and sadden the nation, the question on many lips is, Who is to blame for the inadequate response? READ IT.

Those who lean left but are not consumed by anger and hate (the Placid Left?) would be well advised to consider the damage the Angry Left is doing to their cause. There was one other Angry Left enthusiasm that had some substance to it: Abu Ghraib. The abuses there were a minor scandal. But the Angry Left (and the sensationalistic press) so overplayed its hand that Abu Ghraib has largely faded from political view, except as a symbol of cartoonish anti-Americanism.

A healthy democracy needs a credible opposition in order to keep the government honest. To the extent that our government is honest, it is no thanks to the Angry Left, which is as incompetent as it is vicious.

--- JAMES TARANTO, OPINION JOURNAL

"No tragedy is so horrific, no calamity so sad, that somebody can't reduce it to politics. Hurricane Katrina was a tragedy for most of us, but a gift of the gods to the kingdom of the left, where everyone gets up every morning eager to count the ways to despise George W. Bush."
---Wesley Pruden

I've Made This Point Before

"It is only a matter of hours now that, after any catastrophe anywhere in the world—a tsunami, a hurricane, a terrorist bombing on the London tube—Bush haters find ways to blame President Bush. Hurricane Katrina? Bush haters have pointed their fingers at global warming, the war on terror, the Bush tax cuts, the national dependence on oil—and in every category, Bush is the root of the evil. Forget nature. George W. Bush is more powerful." ---Debra Saunders

HeavyHanded has wondered, even asked others, if President Bush is really this powerful, why would anyone in their right mind, criticize him the way the left does? You wouldn't like his response. You certainly would not live to talk about it. One day, while on your way to [work?] you would be vaporized.

"The physical devastation caused by hurricane Katrina has painfully revealed the moral devastation of our times."

---Thomas Sowell

"Those who called early on for shooting looters on sight should have been listened to—not because property is more valuable than human life, but because when property isn't safe from marauders, human life isn't, either."

--Jeff Jacoby

Bango! Well said, Mr. Jacoby. When looting is left alone and tolerated, even for a few days, it worsens all the inherent problems caused by the disaster; thereby permitting lawlessness to spiral out of control. Do we shoot someone with a loaf of bread? Of course not. Not all looters are going to be gun toters, but all gun toters will be looters - or worse.

"[The situation in New Orleans is] the best commercial for owning a gun I've ever seen."

--- Hugh Hewitt

"The only good bureaucrat is one with a pistol at his head. Put it in his hand and it's good-bye to the Bill of Rights."

---H. L. Mencken

"The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be."

---Socrates

A Couple of Good Commentaries

Not Another Commission!
By Michelle Malkin
Dead bodies are still floating all over New Orleans. Hundreds, if not thousands, of children are still searching for their parents. Wiped-out communities are still awaiting water and power. So, what is armchair first-responder Sen. Hillary Clinton’s first response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster? A commission. But a Katrina Commission modeled after the 9/11 Commission is a recipe for more disaster and dissembling... More

State of the Union
By Ed Feulner
One of the fundamental beliefs that makes America a great idea and a great country is that of national unity. America draws strength not only from her diversity, but also from the fact that we have all historically viewed ourselves as one people. Unfortunately, in recent years the great and fundamental idea “Out of many, one” has come under attack. And today it faces a new and profound threat: a Senate bill named the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act… More

HeavyHanded finds it unimaginable that our Congress - you know the people we elect who are supposed to be so damn smart, would even take the time to vote on this Hawaiian 'Act', much less pass it. It is just unbeleivable!

Gunmen kill Arafat's cousin, a key Fatah figure

By Ibrahim Barzak, Associated Press
September 7, 2005

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Dozens of gunmen stormed the home of deposed Gaza security chief Moussa Arafat before dawn today, dragged him out, and shot him dead in the street, police said.

Arafat, 66, a cousin of the late leader Yasser Arafat, was fired earlier this year by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for his death. Moussa Arafat was linked to corruption charges and had many powerful enemies. Details.

Common Sense Prevails - Sometimes

Fla. appeals court upholds ban of Muslim veil in driver's license photo

Associated Press
Posted September 7 2005,

DAYTONA BEACH -- A Muslim woman who wanted to wear a veil in her driver's license photo must follow a Florida law that requires a picture of her full face, according to a state appeals court.

The Fifth District Court of Appeal upheld a 2003 ruling by an Orlando judge that Sultaana Freeman's right to free exercise of religion would not be burdened by the photo requirement.

Louisiana Officials Could Lose the Katrina Blame Game
(CNSNews.com) – Research into more than ten years of reporting on hurricane and flood control efforts in New Orleans indicates that local and state officials did not use federal money that was available for levee improvements or coastal reinforcement and often did not secure local matching funds that would have generated even more federal funding...

Bork: 'Brilliant' Roberts the Best Conservatives Will Get
(CNSNews.com) – Former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork on Tuesday lashed out at the high court and the U.S. Senate for politicizing the judiciary and offered little hope to conservatives hoping to see Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion, overturned...

Schwarzenegger Urged to Veto, Sign Same-Sex Marriage Bill
(CNSNews.com) – The California Legislature on Tuesday became the first in the nation to pass a bill allowing same-sex marriages, but it's not clear if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will sign it...

Pelosi Says Hurricane Victims Must ‘Get What They Are Owed’
(CNSNews.com) - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says Republicans failed hurricane victims in their time of need, and she complained that the Republican-led Congress – which already has approved $10.5 billion in emergency aid – is “nickel-and-diming the region.”

Mixing Politics and Charity?
(CNSNews.com) – Of the many nongovernmental groups offering to help hurricane victims, some have a political message to deliver as well...

Indonesian Muslims Support Embattled Christians
(CNSNews.com) – Embattled Christians in Indonesia, facing intimidation and threats from militant Muslims, are getting offers of help from an unexpected source. The head of Indonesia’s huge traditionalist Muslim organization, Nadhlatul Ulama (N.U.), has spoken out against the actions of Islamists who have forcibly shut down dozens of churches in West Java province...

Egyptians Have Voting Options for the First Time in Decades
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – Egyptians went to the polls on Wednesday in the country’s first contested presidential elections. The government is hailing the move as a major democratic advance, even though President Hosni Mubarak is expected to win a fifth term...

Mayor slams Blanco for stalling
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco has been critical of the Bush administration's response to the disastrous aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but, according to the mayor of New Orleans, her indecision when President Bush offered help delayed rescue efforts and cost lives.

New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin told CNN's "American Morning" Monday that he met with Mr. Bush and Mrs. Blanco on Air Force One on Friday and implored the two to "get in sync."

"If you don't get in sync, more people are going to die," Mr. Nagin said.

Mr. Bush met privately first with Mrs. Blanco, then called Mr. Nagin in for a meeting.

"He called me in that office," Mr. Nagin said. "And he said, 'Mr. Mayor, I offered two options to the governor.' I was ready to move. The governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision."

Full details. Registration required.

NEWS HEADLINES

Roberts’ Confirmation Hearing Starts Monday
(CNSNews.com) – Confirmation hearings for Judge John Roberts – newly nominated to serve as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court – will begin at noon on Monday, Sept. 12, Senate leaders announced on Tuesday. They expect Roberts to be confirmed by the start of the court’s next term, on Oct. 3…

John Roberts’ Critics Outraged All Over Again
(CNSNews.com) – Groups that opposed the nomination of Judge John Roberts to replace Sandra Day O’Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court are even more furious now that President Bush has nominated Roberts to serve as chief justice. The National Organization for Women called Roberts' latest nomination "an outrage and an insult to the women of this country..."

Sen. Clinton Demands a ‘Katrina Commission’
(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has sent a letter to President Bush, urging him to appoint an independent national commission to review hurricane relief efforts -- a panel modeled after the much-criticized 9/11 commission...

Abortion Issue Focus of Dem Bid to Oust Santorum
(CNSNews.com) - Even though the 2006 elections are more than 14 months away, Democratic leaders already have decided that their best shot at unseating Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum is to run a pro-life candidate. The contest already is drawing national attention...

Chinese President’s Debut Visit to US Canceled
(CNSNews.com) – Because of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, Chinese President Hu Jintao has agreed to cancel a scheduled visit to the United States. Analysts say analysts say neither Washington nor Beijing was entirely happy about the visit anyway...

COMMENTARY

Hype, Hypocrisy and Accountability
By Gerard Valentino
The establishment media have spent the last five days placing blame for the human tragedy taking place in New Orleans. What the talking heads on network and cable news refuse to admit is that they are partially to blame…

America As a Third World Nation
By Alan Caruba
The haunting images of New Orleans were those of a Third World nation unable to cope with a natural disaster. The overriding question in the first days following the hurricane was, “What is the government doing?” The government’s response to the disaster suggests that there are, indeed, limits to what it can do. We all need to rely less on the “government,” but it seems unlikely at this point that the government will allow that to happen…

Los Angeles' Thwarted Terror Spree
By Daniel Pipes
The Jewish high holidays this year fall in early October, and that's when a massacre was planned against two Los Angeles synagogues, as well as other targets, according to an indictment just handed down against four young Muslim men. Terrorist plans that fail don't make headlines, but they should. Even though most Jews resist acknowledging it, the Muslim threat is changing Jewish life in the United States. The golden age of American Jewry is coming to an end...

Israel Sending Team to Assess Hurricane Relief Needs Jerusalem
(CNSNews.com) - Doctors, divers and psychologists are among the many Israeli professionals eager to help Americans in the aftermath of the deadly hurricane Katrina, an Israeli official said on Tuesday...

Right to Privacy, or Not ?

"Sen. Teddy Kennedy has demanded that the Bush administration waive attorney-client privilege and release internal memos John Roberts worked on while in the solicitor general's office 15 years ago, all of which were supposed to be held in the deepest confidence. Apparently, Kennedy thinks public officials have no right to keep even their attorney-client communications secret.

This surprised me because the senator is such a strong advocate of the (nonexistent) 'right to privacy.' And not just in the way most drunken, Spanish quiz-cheating, no-pants-wearing public reprobates generally cherish their own personal right to privacy. I mean privacy in the abstract. I know as much about the 'right to privacy' as I know about any other made-up, nonexistent right, but I would have thought that any 'right to privacy' would protect confidential attorney-client conversations at least as much as, say, abortions in public buildings. But I'll have to defer to the expert." (Emphasis mine -H.H.)

---Ann Coulter

GOOD AND EVIL

From one of my favorite thinkers, Mr. Clarity himself - Dennis Prager:

"Regarding the issue of judging anyone evil, the best response is a question: Can we judge anyone to be good (not perfect, just good)? Of course we can. But if we can't call anyone evil, we can't call anyone good, and we certainly know that there are good people. If there are good people, there have to be not good, evil people. Anyone who remains unable to morally judge people who slit the throats of innocent people, who place bombs in the middle of markets, and who murder anyone attempting to help women achieve basic human rights is a moral imbecile.

As for the Bush administration being equally evil, this, too, reveals the responder's values. It is one thing to believe the war was a mistake; it is quite another to regard it as a function of the administration's desire to enrich Halliburton or expand the 'American empire,' or because Jewish neo-conservatives pushed docile Gentiles—Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld—into waging it 'for Israel.'

Such views are held by people who are so angry and so brainwashed about conservatives that they have lost the elementary ability to identify real evil, which is what Islamic and Baathist terrorists and 'insurgents' are... It is one thing to oppose the war in Iraq; it is quite another to deny the evil of those we fight there. That is what the Left in America routinely does. And that is why the culture war in America is as important as the military war in Iraq."—Dennis Prager

CHARITY

"I don't believe an individual's commitment to helping the less fortunate can be measured by the amount of money one thinks the government should take from others. Having money taken from you does not make you charitable. Conversely, believing the government should leave people's hard-earned money alone does not make one uncharitable. Rather, the charity is in the giving... I believe private charity could assuage most of the problems the government purports to solve with programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, and welfare. And it can conquer Katrina, too... Federal and local government programs, of course, are making huge efforts and progress as well. The military and police, needless to say, are always invaluable in search and rescue efforts. I don't mean to diminish the good work those public servants have done and will continue to do saving and rebuilding lives. What I do say is that private charity allows the generosity and ingenuity of Americans to meet the unpredictability of life head-on in a way a staid government program never could."

---Mary Katharine Ham

It's All My Fault

"Let me make this clear: Everything which has happened as the result of Hurricane Katrina is my fault. Mine. Alone. No one else's. Stop wasting energy pointing fingers and put your hands to work helping out. It was me. Got it?"

Rich Galen takes a shot at all the finger pointers. Read his column here.

GUNS AND SELF-DEFENSE

"How often do Americans use guns for defensive purposes? We know that in 2003, 12,548 people died through non-suicide gun violence, including homicides, accidents and cases of undetermined intent... Criminologist and researcher Gary Kleck, using his own commissioned phone surveys and number extrapolation, estimates that 2.5 million Americans use guns for defensive purposes each year. He further found that of those who had used guns defensively, one in six believed someone would have been dead if they had not resorted to their defensive use of firearms. That corresponds to approximately 400,000 of Kleck's estimated 2.5 million defensive gun uses. Kleck points out that if only one-tenth of the people were right about saving a life, the number of people saved annually by guns would still be at least 40,000... A gunned-down bleeding guy creates news. A man who spared his family by brandishing a handgun, well, that's just water-cooler chat."

--—Larry Elder

"Work as if you were to live 100 Years, Pray as if you were to die To-morrow."

-- Benjamin Franklin

Bush vows to replace Rehnquist quickly

"There are now two vacancies on the Supreme Court, and it will serve the best interests of the nation to fill those vacancies promptly. I will choose in a timely manner a highly qualified nominee to succeed Chief Justice Rehnquist."

That was President Bush, yesterday, vowing to move quickly to appoint a replacement for Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist; and today already, it has been announced that John Roberts has been asked, and has accepted, Bush's offer to become Chief Justice.

The last time a president faced a similar situation of having to fill two Supreme Court vacancies was when President Nixon found himself having to fill two vacancies as well in 1971.

Republicans are saying (and I hope they are right) a second vacancy should not complicate the nomination of Appeals Court Judge John G. Roberts Jr., who was named to fill the seat of retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Democrats, however, are calling for the Senate to postpone Judge Roberts' confirmation hearings (scheduled for tomorrow) to focus on hurricane relief and honoring Justice Rehnquist. (Let's hope they do a better job of honoring him then their pal, law professor Dershowitz).

Focusing on hurricane relief is a smoke screen. Relief, cleanup, etc. is, and will be, a lengthy process. This is simply another stalling tactic, which we have become accustomed to, from the party of obstructionism.

Besides, the thought that they cannot have the confirmation hearings and focus on hurricane relief at the same time is laughable. If they cannot have more than "one iron on the fire" at the same time, they all need to resign immediately, and go back home where they pontificate in a more leisurely environment.

Fonda will join Galloway's anti-Bush tour
"Jane Fonda will join George Galloway, the most radical member of the British parliament, on a tour of the United States to accuse the Bush administration of spending money on Iraq that should be spent to help the poor of New Orleans."

Maybe Jane can get John Kerry* to tour with her. It would be like the good old days. Also, Mr. Kerry and Mr. Galloway could exchange "I hate George W" stories.

*John Kerry served in Viet Nam, you know.

Possible Minnesota Slogans

* I came, I thawed, I transferred.
* Survive Minnesota and the rest of the World is easy.
* If you love Minnesota, raise your right ski.
* Minnesota - where visitors turn blue with envy.
* One day it's warm, the rest of the year it's cold.
* Minnesota - home of the blonde hair and blue ears.
* Land of 10,000 Lakes & 10,000,000,000 mosquitos.
* Minnesota - come fall in love with a loon.
* Land of many cultures - mostly throat.
* Where the elite meet sleet.
* Minnesota: CLOSED FOR GLACIER REPAIRS.
* Land of 2 seasons: Winter is coming, Winter is here.
* Minnesota - glove it or leave it.
* Minnesota - have you jump started your kid today?
* Many are cold, but few are frozen.
* Why Minnesota? To protect Ontario from Iowa!
* WARNING: You are entering Minnesota, Please use an alternate route!
* Minnesota: theater of sneezes.
* Jack Frost must like Minnesota - he spends half his life there.
* Land of 10,000 Petersons.
* Minnesota - home of the Mispi-Mispp-Missispp (Where the damn river starts!)
* There are only 3 things you can grow in Minnesota: Colder, Older, & Fatter

The Compassionate Left

More wisdom, and let's not forget to mention compassion, from the looney left. Law professor Alan Dershowitz calls Chief Justice Rehnquist a Republican thug on Hannity and Colmes.

Gunmen Attack Contractors on Louisianna Bridge

Police shot at eight people carrying guns, and killed at least five people Sunday after gunmen opened fire on a group of contractors traveling across a bridge that spans a canal connecting Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River while on their way to make repairs.

Fourteen contractors were on their way to launch barges into Lake Pontchartrain to help plug the breach in the 17th Street Canal, and as they were traveling across the Danziger Bridge under police escort, they came under fire. None of the contractors was killed.

I am sure the attackers were just angry voters - right Rev. Sharpton?

Ya' Gotta' Love the Aussies ....

"Normally when natural disasters strike, the U.S. is called upon to be the deliverer of aid, and it has not been found wanting," Sydney's Daily Telegraph said in an editorial. "But now, the roles are reversed ... because of the close relationship between Australia and the U.S., we should be first in line."

Georgia voter-ID statute assailed

The Justice Department recently approved a new voter-identification law in Georgia that has civil rights groups "seeing red", saying it will disenfranchise blacks, the elderly and rural voters.

More class warfare, folks.

And what is it that has riled up these activists "civil rights groups"? It is that "un-American" requirement that keeps popping up again, and again. State legislators said the new law will require voters to present...GASP....photo identification, such as a driver's license or a state school ID. Their goal of course is to prevent voter fraud and keep noncitizens from voting.

Why, this just AIN'T RIGHT.

Rehnquist Passes Away

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist died yesterday at his home in Arlington, with his three children at his side. He was 80.

With his three children there at his home, the 80 year old Chief Justice has passed away, succumbing to thyroid cancer.

Condolences to his family and friends. May he rest in peace.