Back from Chicago

I spent the early part of the week in meetings with my largest business supplier- it was a lot of fun, mainly due to the fact that we were eating at some fairly swanky restaurants on their nickel. Plus, I got to make some new acquaintances from Europe (Germany and Poland), which is always interesting.

I post today to say this: The most interesting observation of the week has to be the possibility that maybe, just maybe people have become sick and tired of all the cell phone interruptions that nearly everyone is switching their phones to vibrate or silent... YES! We had uninterrupted meetings in a room of 60-80 people. Amazing. It's one of those little niceties that make you think that things are going well in the world.

Day to Day Life-

My daughter M. crawled across the room last night for the first time, only to grab a big handful of her sister's food and smear it on the floor... it was fairly entertaining...

The Disaster After the Disaster

As a hawkish Libertarian, I often find myself on economic matters to be far to the right of most people. Strangely enough, I believe that government should be limited to its functions laid out within the Constitution, and nothing more. The tone of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Federalist Papers is generally in agreement with that concept.

There are a number of things that I admire about the President, but his plan for the recovery of the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina is a disaster in its own right. Will the Gulf Coast be rebuilt? Certainly. Will New Orleans once again become a tourist destination that feels and behaves like a third-world country, with presumably less corrupt police? Sure. Will the same problems arise, with no real solutions offered? Maybe.

If any of you Republicans are laboring under the notion that Bush is a free-trade capitalist, let that speech he gave last week put that idea to bed. When the chips are down and the political waters are getting hot, where does Bush look for solutions? The blank check of the taxpayer. He talks a good game when it comes to self-reliance and free-market capitalism, but once again we see that actions are louder than words.

Of course, government does have a role in this recovery. Ensuring security and rebuilding infrastructure certainly qualify. Throwing money at the human and property problems with no overall plan is no solution at all. Why are we not at least taking the time to study other bold ideas? Recently in the Wall Street Journal, someone suggested that the city be rebuilt with the idea of flooding it intentionally, making New Orleans the new American Venice. Surely the Corps of Engineers would have a much easier time dealing with the water if that were the case. Some say the Gulf Coast would be rebuilt far faster than the government could ever do if it were made into a true free-enterprise zone, like an American Hong Kong… People of ability from all over the world would flock to the area to stake out their fortunes, and New Orleans would become a major world player.

Bush’s and by extension America’s knee-jerk reaction to this recovery is a real disappointment. Republicans can really ‘walk the walk’ when it comes to terrorism, but on any number of other issues, they are paper tigers. By the way, was that Bush on TV last week, or was that LBJ? No, it must have been FDR with the New New Deal…

(cross-posted on Framptonia)

Quagmire?

From this Yahoo News/USA Today article, "Number of Attacks Decreases on Baghdad Highway to Airport":

'Attacks on and around the 7-mile highway linking Baghdad to its international airport have dropped 41% since May, the result of increased U.S. and Iraqi troop presence and new tactics to battle insurgents along one of the world's most dangerous roads.

There hasn't been a suicide car bombing on the road since April, according to U.S. military statistics through August.

U.S. officers attribute the decline to an influx of Iraqi troops who have been stationed at key points along Airport Road, which goes by the military designation Route Irish. '

Well, Well, Well...

I read in the September 9th print edition of the Wall Street Journal that a judge fined Sandy Berger $50,000 for taking classified documents from the National Archives... I posted about this situation last year, and now have but one question: Do you think that if YOU were caught taking classified documents from the National Archives that you would be fined, or would you be jailed? I think we all know the answer... Damn, I'm glad we're all equal under the law!

It's Been 4 Years.

This is a photo I took of Lower Manhattan earlier this year. The empty gap in the foreground is where the World Trade Center towers stood. Everyone who can should go to Ground Zero. You will be outraged at all that radical Islam is- We forget that day at our peril.

(cross-posted on Framptonia)

If you enjoy sarcastic humor,

then you've got to have a look at this post by Jackington Viego. Hilarious.

Considering

the high gas prices of late, it's been an even greater pleasure riding my motorcycle to work every day... (45.5 mpg) No complaints here!

It's Human Nature

to blame everyone and everything when it comes to a major calamity such as Hurricane Katrina. A few things about the situation should be pointed out:

• Mother Nature has neither conscience nor ill will. All this talk about "Mother Nature's Revenge" or "wrath" or "fury" is just sensational crap. No human is to blame for this storm; the President didn't order it up. Our refusal to handicap ourselves by not signing on the the Kyoto Protocol also had no bearing on this storm. The atmosphere didn't think to send the storm because it's warming up slowly. The people who advocate such ideas are idiots.


• It's time for all the politicians to quit crying racism over the response of the federal government to the disaster. The response to 9/11 was so much more rapid because New York already had some disaster plans in place on the local level. New Orleans didn't. Case closed. By the way, the people on TV ranting about calling the last people in the city refugees need to consult their dictionary- a refugee is one who seeks refuge. If those people don't meet the definition, no one does. The term 'refugee' is not racist in any way. So get over it.


• Finally, it occurs to me that any half-way observant Islamic terrorist would now be eyeing New Orleans as an excellent target when things get back to normal... It would be far easier to blow up levees than to hijack airplanes; I hope Homeland Security is on its toes from now on in New Orleans. We're just now seeing the disruption in gas prices nationwide, not to mention all the things (grain exports) that go through the port down there. To see the same disaster repeat in New Orleans at the hands of terrorist thugs is probably more than many can take.