Silly Joe Biden – Pejman does a much better job dissecting Joe Biden’s op-ed than I did. The shallowness of the article suggests that the Delaware senator is more concerned about appearing statesmanlike than actually solving problems in Iraq.

Cats and dogs living together

Here’s Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco in the Democrats' weekly radio address:

I want to take this opportunity to thank President George W. Bush. He has recognized that Katrina was no ordinary hurricane and that our federal government will have to help us in extraordinary ways. We are prepared to work as partners.

They must have duct-taped Harry Reid to a chair.

Even the NY Times public editor agrees! – Krugman is a mendacious hack.

Don Luskin, call your office, please.

Nice - The Ex-Donkey has a new design over on his blog. Check it out.

We’re boned

It looks like the Republicans are about to run up the white flag on Social Security reform: “Social Security legislation could be shelved”:

National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Thomas M. Reynolds will recommend to the House Republican leadership that the party drop its effort to restructure Social Security, at least for this year, House Republican aides confirmed yesterday.

Well, forget about election year 2006 so the next best chance for reform is 2007, which is exactly 65 years after the World War II baby boom. So, in other words, if Washington didn’t have the courage to fix Social Security this year, they’ll never find the courage with millions of American voters receiving their first government checks.

Gah, it’s so depressing. Social Security Choice has more. I’m getting another beer.

Because it’s easy to cut spending!

The explosion of spending in the Bush administration is the one thing I cannot abide. I’m not talking about the war in Iraq, or the response to 9/11 or deficit spending to get the country out of recession. I’m talking about the highway bill, the energy bill, and the prescription drug benefit – and not a single veto from this White House to hold the line. Now Bush says he’ll cut “unnecessary spending” to cover the cost of Katrina. Too late. It’s like we blew our paycheck in Vegas only to come home to a flooded house. That money’s gone. Switching to a cheaper shampoo won’t pay the bills.

Yeah, but it’s cold in Oslo – From the Economist: Human development index: “Norway has the highest standard of living in the world and Niger the lowest, according to the UN's Human Development Index. The index takes into account life expectancy and education as well as income per person. South Africa's AIDS epidemic has left it in 120th place in the rankings, despite its relatively high income. The country has fallen 35 places since 1990.”

The government can control your cloned arroyo toad

(I hereby nominate the above for the “greatest blog post title ever.”)

Here’s an excerpt from an Opinion Journal article about the medical marijuana case ruled by the Supreme Court this past summer:

As Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his dissent: "If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything, and the federal government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers." By "enumerated powers," Justice Thomas means the idea that the federal government can undertake only such activities as the Constitution explicitly permits.

Now from today’s hearing for Judge John Roberts:

SCHUMER: OK. Let me ask you, then, this hypothetical: And that is that it came to our attention, Congress', through a relatively and inexpensive, simple process, individuals were now able to clone certain species of animals, maybe an arroyo toad. Didn't pass over state lines; you could somehow do it without doing any of that.

Under the commerce clause, can Congress pass a law banning even noncommercial cloning?

ROBERTS: I appreciate it's a hypothetical, and you will as well, so I don't mean to be giving bindings opinions.

But it would seem to me that Congress can make a determination that this is an activity, if allowed to be pursued, that is going to have effects on interstate commerce.

The Commerce Clause is going to get you, my pretty, and your little (cloned) dog too!

Redistribute Paul Krugman’s salary – From the American Enterprise: “Soak the rich…colleges.”

Transcript – President Bush’s speech from New Orleans

I was zoning in and out during the speech but here’s what I came away with: an abnormal storm overwhelmed our normal capability to address the problem. So now we’re going to spend piles of money building the world’s largest sump pump to save a city that sits underwater. It would have been a much better speech if the President declared that the pork-laden transportation bill that just passed was going to have all it’s expenditures diverted to the Gulf Coast. [Chris Farley voice] "That would have been awesome." [/Chris Farley]

Follow-up – According to Lorie Byrd, hurricane survivors at the Astrodome praised Bush’s speech and blamed Nagin and Blanco. Uh-oh: an intern at ABC News is bound to lose his/her job for poor screening. (Free Republic caught it too).

More – Here’s the video of the exchange from the Political Teen: “Right after President Bush’s address to the nation last night, ABC reporter Dean Reynolds went out interviewing Katrina victims. He asked Bush-bashing baiting questions, however the woman he interviewed didn’t bite on to it.”

Thank you, DSL! – From the Superficial: “Jessica Alba wears bikinis to beaches” That pretty much says it all, with picture goodness.

It requires an understanding of pi – I can’t do it in less than 17 bites. (HT: Fark)

Update (10:20pm) – Got down to 16 bites and “tied with the previous champion.” I think it takes a degree in geometry to get to 15.

Air Enron – Michelle Malkin and Brian Maloney have the latest: AA’s VP of Finance, worked as a finance director at Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club before it “loaned” Air America $875,000. Isn't that special?

Not thinking outside the box

Here’s Ann Althouse on the Roberts hearing: “Joe Biden is hamming it up big time, dramatizing the frustration of not getting Roberts to say how he'll decide specific cases. We've been through this so many times, but Biden seems to think that, if he just emotes more than the others, the American public will finally see the outrage of a judge not committing his vote before hearing the case. Yet every time Roberts explains why he won't answer, he sounds so eloquent and even inspiring about the role of the judge, that it ends up making the Senator look childish.”

I mean, really, how can anybody put up with a guy who doesn’t even know how the strike zone is defined in our great national pastime of baseball? What a maroon!

Extra – More Biden-bashing from Powerline.

Public service announcement – Ace is liveblogging the George Galloway/Christopher Hitchens debate. (And more from Oxblog).

The Grand Challenge redux

From the NYT: “Robotic vehicles race, but innovation wins”

It has been almost 18 months since the Pentagon's research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, first attracted a motley array of autonomous vehicles with a prize of $1 million for the first to complete a 142-mile desert course from Barstow, Calif., to Las Vegas. The most successful robot, developed by a Carnegie Mellon University team, managed all of seven miles.

With the next running scheduled for Oct. 8 - and this time a $2 million purse for the winner among 43 entries - it is clear that many of the participants have made vast progress. For some researchers, it is an indication of a significant transformation in what has been largely a science fiction fantasy.

And here’s the Wired story: “May the best autopilot win” I’ve always said it would be wicked funny if a team hid a midget in one of the trucks and had him drive it across the desert.

Traffic boost? – “Google Inc. unveiled Wednesday a beta version of its search engine for Weblogs, more commonly known as blogs.”

Apropos of nothing: Britney Spears, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, Lindsey Lohan, Hilary Duff, Kelly Monaco, Eva Longoria, Jessica Simpson. (Update: OMG, how could I forget Jessica Alba? Yes.)

Update again - Here it is: Google Blogsearch

Least-surprising development today: Britney Spears had a C-section to deliver her baby Cletus boy.

Wait! I stand corrected: “Schumer is the only Senator who is demanding a third round of questioning [of Judge Roberts].”

Today’s timesaver: skip Joe Biden’s article

In today’s WashPost, Senator Biden plays statesman with “For success in Iraq, change course.” Problem is, Biden offers no alternatives other than the squishy “build international support” nonsense that everybody recognizes as empty rhetoric. Biden’s article is indistinguishable from a speech he gave to the Brookings Institute in June; here’s what Mickey Kaus had to say:

The only substantial difference with Bush, that I see, is Biden's call for establishing a "contact group" with "European and regional partners." They'd be given "a seat at the decision-making table." The payoff would be that Shia politicians could make concessions to the Sunnis and then tell their Shia constituents, "'The international community made me do it.'" Arguably, that would go over better than, "The Americans made me do it." But Biden's basic strategy--stand up the Iraqi government and military, wean Sunni support away from the insurgents--is the same as Bush's. He should admit it. ...[But he also calls for "clear benchmarks"!--ed Classic makeweight Kabuki Congressional demand. When you have nothing else to say, call for "clear benchmarks" or a "new compact," or a timetable or some other gimmick. Biden has here arguably violated the Benchmark Proliferation Reduction Act by failing to append a Benchmark Proliferation Impact Statement to his speech.]

You can’t change course from the back seat, Joe.

Air America can’t sell air to America – From the Radio Equalizer: “Today's Santa Cruz Sentinel reports Air America affiliate KOMY-AM in Monterey Bay, California, is having a heck of a time finding sponsors. That's despite being in one of the most liberal cities in the country.” That’s funny because when I listen to Morning Sedition on XM radio, all they play is commercials. It seems like five-minute bursts of Bush Derangement Syndrome followed by 15 minutes of ads.

Overplaying their hand, yet again

This is getting tiresome: the monthly declaration that the Bush presidency is “over.” Now WashPost lefty E.J. Dionne, using that Paul Krugman rigor for invective over reason, is declaring the end of the Bush era because of Katrina. Whatever, dude. Hugh Hewitt isn’t convinced – he’s delighted:

The great news about the left is that its capacity for self-delusion is undiminished by the electoral losses of the past few years. It remains eager to believe what it wants to believe, in this case that President Bush is in deep political trouble. Bookmark and save E.J.'s piece. It will be fun to link to whenever the president achieves another political victory.

And, in an excellent post, Academic Elephant opines:

This editorial is pure fantasy on the part of a deeply bitter man who rages against his own impotence.

More from Decision08 and Strata-sphere. Although I complain regularly about the liberal media, it’s clear that it plays right into Republican hands by weaving the cocoon of inevitability around the American Left. All hail the New York Times!

Admitting the problem is the first step

I’ve avoided pointing fingers for the Katrina aftermath and, although I felt the local response was more critical and thus more responsible, the federal response was also deeply inadequate. Today, President Bush stated the obvious:

Bush on Tuesday accepted responsibility for failures in the government's response to Katrina and admitted "serious problems" with the handling of the response to the storm that struck the Gulf Coast more than two weeks ago.
"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government," Bush said at joint White House news conference with the president of Iraq.
"To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush said.

There’s a reason that President Bush’s job approval rating has maintained a solid floor of around 50% (now around 42%) and it’s the same justification that got him re-elected: above all else, Bush was supposed to be the President to “keep us safe.” New Orleans exposed that the federal response to natural disaster was not what the American public required, expected or deserved. But worse than that, Katrina made it clear that Homeland Security appears to be completely unprepared for the exigencies of a terrorist attack since they couldn’t even address a problem known to be heading our way.

Look at these two quotes from an article (linked below) on NASCAR dads:

I asked him, "So you vote Republican?" "Yep," he replied. "Always?" "Pretty much." "So you like Bush?" "Before or after the hurricane?"

Anyway, I found out he was a big Bush supporter but that he too was sorely disappointed with the president's hurricane response. Two men don't make a Gallup poll, but I found this interesting.

Hey, everybody who reads this blog knows I’m a huge Bush booster. I posted daily on Blogs for Bush every day before the election. But the Gulf Coast demanded an overwhelming influx of men, machines, and material and the federal government dropped the ball. Above all, President Bush needs to make this right.

[Side note: if there’s one saving grace for Bush is that he’s been blessed with a feckless opposition party, from Harry Reid to the completely wacked Mary Landrieu.]

Good news: The government took in more in revenues than it spent in August.
Bad news: The government is still spending too much money.
Upshot: The deficit is still huge, just not as huge as it was before. Hooray.

I only have “I”s for me

From the WashPost:

Yesterday's opening of the John Roberts confirmation hearings was a time for historic firsts.
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) made 49 first-person references in a 10-minute statement that was, ostensibly, not about himself.

All humility, that Chuck Schumer. As Bulldog wrote: “Schumer is so egotistical he probably calls out his own name during sex.”

Judge Roberts makes reference to some obscure sport

From Fox News:

"Judges and justices are servants of the law, not the other way around. Justices are like umpires" in that they call the game as they see it, Roberts said in unwritten remarks that took only six-and-a-half of the 15 minutes allotted to him. "I will remember it is my job to call balls and strikes, not to pitch or bat.”

Huh? He should have formed a metaphor from football or NASCAR, not that old and busted “sport.”

Overheard on C-Span - At the very start of the Judge Roberts hearing, he introduced his family. After naming his children, Josephine and Jack, Roberts quipped: "As you can see, my wife has a tight grip on Jack." I love this guy!

We’re more powerful than the Stonecutters – A blue-stater among the NASCAR dads

What liberal media? – Michelle Malkin: “But in their zeal to embarrass the Bush administration, CNN overlooks one very fat and inconvenient fact--and embarrasses only itself.” When will they ever learn?

Get ready for the circus

Here’s Theodore Olson with “John Roberts deserves a dignified process”

A political Gresham's law has debased Senate confirmation proceedings so that they now tend to combine the worst features of reality TV, professional wrestling and celebrity criminal trials. And the more lofty the judicial position, the more the process has sunk into an unseemly and demeaning spectacle. The pathway to service on our most prestigious courts has come to resemble a theater of the absurd, during which prospective judges are probed, humiliated, scolded and scorned. Those who somehow make it through the excruciating process may be forgiven for being embittered by the experience.

It’ll never happen but I’d love to see Judge Roberts snap back the same way Brendan Sullivan did in 1987 when he told Senator Daniel Inouye “I’m not a potted plant.” Why should Roberts sit there as Joe Biden eats up 9 ½ minutes of his 10-minute slot giving a speech? It would be priceless if Roberts got up and said: “I’ll be back when you have a question.”

We will not forget – Keep scrolling on Polipundit for many, many 9/11 links along with Instapundit and Winds of Change. Plus don’t forget that “The Flight that Fought Back” will be on the Discovery Channel tonight.

Follow-up – The Flight 93 movie was good but a little heavy on the “every passenger a hero” angle. And I was annoyed at some revisionist speculation that the passengers breached the cockpit door when, in the words of the official report: “Thursday's report gives no indication that passengers ever broke through the cockpit door, but it makes clear that passengers' actions thwarted the plans of the terrorists.” On this point, the movie relived the final moments from the cockpit voice recorder but not this widely reported line: “"In the cockpit. If we don't, we'll die," a passenger is heard saying.” The staged image of burly Americans barreling into the cockpit kind of ruined it for me.

Aside from that, how funny was the “show them the axe” moment? Nice one.

I can’t resist an article that references a Clash song – “If he runs for president in '08, Rudy can't fail” (Yes, I know it’s “Rudie.” Close enough).

The 2nd amendment diary – Day one

After a great deal of introspection, I’ve decided to get a handgun. To be honest, I came very close four years ago right after 9/11. But the lawlessness in New Orleans sealed the deal: I’m not going to outsource my family’s safety to shoe-shopping police officers. To recycle a cliché: I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

So today I stepped into the local “sports” shop, the same one I passed for years without giving it a second thought. Right inside the door was a long line of shotguns and rifles, which brought back memories of my younger days when my old man took me skeet shooting on my uncle’s land in Sussex County, New Jersey. Not to brag, but I was a pretty good shot and bagged my first pheasant when I was 16 or so. More proud than I was, the old man had it stuffed and mounted in my bedroom (a rather strange conversation piece for a teenager in suburban New Jersey).

Anyway, I wasn’t sure what the whole process of obtaining a gun in Massachusetts would entail so I struck up a conversation with a clerk at the store. An affable codger, he informed me (with, I thought, a little irritation at my naiveté) that I would have to go to the police station and sign up for a safety course before I could get a gun permit and come back when you have it.

OK…so I headed over to the police station. A woman behind bulletproof glass told me that the next class was October 1st and that I should hurry and sign up because spaces are limited. Already I was getting the unmistakable impression that getting a handgun in Massachusetts would be both laborious and expensive. Here’s the cost I’ve added up in my head so far:

Basic safety course - $80
Firearm identification card & license to carry - $100
Photo ID for LTC - $5
9mm Smith and Wesson - $300-$400

So in my mind, I’m already a half-grand in the hole without even counting ammunition, range time, and assorted other fees. Plus, it will be a month before I can take the course to even touch a gun. But I’m going to keep this ball rolling. I’ve already told the wife that I’m going to put the gun in a lockbox and plaster the box behind a wall in the basement. I may need a sledgehammer when a crisis hits, but at least I’ll be prepared.

Next installment of the 2nd amendment diary: October 1st (maybe)

“George Bush hates midgets” – Chris Rock scaring the bejesus out of the producers of the celebrity “Shelter from the Storm” telethon.

The government failed. Therefore we need more government?

Here’s the conclusion of David Brooks’ article in the NY Times: “The Best-Laid Plan: Too Bad it Flopped”

This preparedness plan is government as it really is. It reminds us that canning Michael Brown or appointing some tough response czar will not change the endemic failures at the heart of this institutional collapse.

So of course we need limited but energetic government. But liberals who think this disaster is going to set off a progressive revival need to explain how a comprehensive governmental failure is going to restore America's faith in big government.

One of the most disturbing things I heard after-the-fact was that people seeking shelter in the Superdome were supposed to bring their own food and water. I would have assumed, as many did, that the city of New Orleans would at least make some minimum attempt to provide for the evacuees, but it was apparently an afterthought. Maybe the lesson here is that people should prepare with the expectation that the government will not respond, and be grateful if it does.

Howard Dean resurfaces, promptly sticks foot in mouth - I heard this in the car driving home but couldn’t believe it. Rich Lowry confirms: “I think I just heard him [Dean] say, "John Roberts loves the law, but I'm not sure he loves the American people" (quoting roughly).” Karl Rove, your Manchurian Candidate is going overboard.

A quick recovery? - Lorie Byrd of Polipundit lists a series of predictions from reader “Oak Leaf” who is an active duty reservist rounding out almost two weeks in New Orleans. He paints a somewhat more optimistic picture than what the media has presented. Be sure to check it out.

Follow up – “Oak Leaf” predicted: “1. Mayor Ray Nagin (D) estimated that fatalities would be as high as 10,000. While it is conceivable that area wide fatalities could in theory approach 3,000, I strongly believe that fatalities in NOLA, directly attributed to Katrina will be less than one thousand, (1,000).”

From this evening’s NYT web page: “Initial Search Finds Far Fewer Bodies Than Expected in New Orleans”

Somebody call the (laugh) riot squad - MoveOn tries to march on the White House and they’re completely flummoxed by a competing protest and two conservatives. Byron York has the story on NRO.

Nowhere to go but up

The Chicago Sun Times has an editorial advocating the resurrection of New Orleans titled: “We can rebuild it, we can make it better.” Judging by the Slate article “Don’t Refloat” we couldn’t possibly make it worse.

A fair-minded analysis from the Economist – “When government fails”

Darn you John Bolton! – From Opinion Journal “Oil for food as usual - The U.N.’s worst critics couldn’t invent what the Volker report shows”: “In other words, Oil for Food is not about some isolated incidents of perceived or actual wrongdoing during the course of a seven-year effort to maintain sanctions on Iraq, monitor its oil flows and feed its people. Oil for Food is a story about what the U.N. is. And our conclusion from reading the 847-page report is that the U.N. is Oil for Food.”

Better late than never – Will Franklin almost missed his Thursday Social Security post. Today he shows how dependence on Social Security has bound Americans to a government program that makes them poorer…and thus more dependent on the government.

Always outraged - Don Surber nails Nancy “Marge Simpson” Pelosi

Post title of the day – “Pork fails to stop floodwater; government still not big enough”

It’s screedy – James Lileks on Katrina and the Angry Left.

Idaho says "blame the Japanese"

Weatherman claims Japanese Mafia behind Hurricane Katrina: “Here’s a theory that’s sure to cause a storm of controversy: A meteorologist in Pocatello, Idaho, claims Japanese gangsters known as the Yakuza caused Hurricane Katrina.”

And then there’s this under-reported story also from Idaho: “Last week, Japanese scientists explaced... placed explosive detonators at the bottom of Lake Loch Ness to blow Nessie out of the water. Sir Godfrey of the Nessie Alliance summoned the help of Scotland's local wizards to cast a protective spell over the lake and its local residents and all those who seek for the peaceful existence of our underwater ally.”

Idiot!

Ironic headline of the day: “If Mubarak Re-Elected, U.S. Wants Changes” That’s funny on so many levels.

Quote of the Day

From the Boston Globe article: “Democrats shift strategy on Roberts – Plan to use Katrina to highlight racial and economic divide.”

''Trying to connect this nomination hearing for Judge Roberts with the disaster of Katrina, I think, is a stretch." – Senator John Cornyn

No kidding.

The polarization puzzle

Today’s WashPost has an article by Dan Balz titled “For Bush, a deepening divide” that laments the lack of bipartisanship in Washington, esp. in Katrina’s aftermath:

To his critics, Bush is now reaping what he has sown. Their case against him goes as follows: Facing a divided nation, the president has eschewed unity in both his governing strategy and his political blueprint. These opponents argue that he has favored confrontation over conciliation with the Democrats while favoring a set of policies aimed at deepening support among his conservative base at the expense of ideas that might produce bipartisan consensus and broader approval among the voters. His allies and advisers, while acknowledging that polarization has worsened during the past five years, say the opposition party bears the brunt of responsibility. Democrats, by this reckoning, have rebuffed Bush's efforts at bipartisanship, put up a wall to ideas that once enjoyed some support on their side, and, even in the current crisis along the Gulf Coast, are seeking to score political points rather than joining hands with the president to speed the recovery and relief to the victims.

That sounds fair. But then Balz flops over into liberal bias territory with his esteemed expert on political affairs:

"Bush is the most partisan president in modern American history," said William Galston, a professor at the University of Maryland and previously a top domestic adviser to former President Bill Clinton.

Well there’s a neutral observer. Galston continues:

In Galston's view, Bush bears principal responsibility for that condition, saying that on three occasions he passed up opportunities to govern from the center and work more constructively with the Democrats and instead chose a path designed to mobilize conservatives. The first came after the disputed election of 2000, in the early days of Bush's new administration. The second came after the Sept. 11 attacks, when Bush's approval rating rose to 90 percent. The third came after the hard-fought and polarizing election last year.

Well, there you have it. Generalissimo George Bush, who made no secret about his conservative beliefs, won two elections and then (gasp!) proceeded to govern based on that very philosophy! The fiend! GOP chair Ken Mehlman gets the “uniter not a divider” argument right:

Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman offered a vigorous rebuttal to that criticism yesterday. "They've got a one-way street of unity," he said. "It's 'Do what we want, or you're not a unifier.' "

Let’s take my favorite topic of Social Security reform. Here’s what Robert Samuelson had to say about preparing for disaster in the larger context of Katrina:

We do not plan, even when the case for planning seems overwhelming. Examples abound. We know that over the next few decades the number of retirees will double and that the costs of federal retirement programs will explode, requiring huge tax increases (at least a third), unsustainably large budget deficits or deep (and undesirable) cuts in other government programs -- or some combination of all three. All of this has been evident for years: indeed, it is the subject of countless government reports. But successive presidents and Congresses have done little to change matters, the current stalemated Social Security "debate" being a case in point.

Since the start of his second term, Bush has been trying to force Washington to admit what is mathematically undeniable: entitlement spending will overwhelm the government unless reforms are put in place now. Bear in mind that there is almost no short-term political gain for Bush; in fact, it would be much easier to cozy up to the AARP and shuffle off the debt to yet-to-be-born children. To a large extent, Bush was simply echoing the same warnings made by Bill Clinton when he was president.

No matter: the Democrats at first denied there was a problem (or couched it by saying “the system is solvent for X years”). When Bush proposed personal accounts as a better way for Americans to improve on the 2% yield on Social Security, the plan was criticized for doing nothing to fix the solvency problem. So the President further proposed Robert Pozen’s plan of progressive indexing where lower-income workers would keep 100% of their benefits while wealthier retirees would have their benefits indexed to inflation such that they would receive the exact same benefit indexed to current dollars. No dice, said the Democrats, because FDR designed the plan so that everybody that pays into the system will receive a promised benefit, even if it's way above the current benefit value.

As Social Security currently exists, the government will need to start paying off billions in Treasury bonds in 2017 and when they’re gone in 2041, the program can only pay 73% of promised benefits. Demographics are destiny and whatever problems I’ve outlined here for Social Security, the problems of Medicare are even worse.

On this matter – this crisis – President Bush has proposed solutions and asked that the Democrats admit what cannot be denied. In response, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have demagogued the issue and used it as a cudgel in a million fundraising letters. Yet it’s President Bush who’s the “divider” here. Right.

Extra – Additional comments from Ex-Donk and Ruffini.

Lying liar - Al Franken lies and lies about Air America

Two quick blog notes

Except to annoy a particular baseball fan, I do not delete comments unless they contain profanity. Please try to make your point without obscenities. I’m trying to keep this site relatively family-friendly.

And sometime over the weekend, Viking Pundit passed 1 million page views. Thanks to everyone for stopping by (repeatedly).

Jeff Spicoli set sail that day for a three hour tour

In a tribute to the late Bob Denver, actor Sean Penn demonstrates the comical aspects of inept seamanship by boarding a boat with a hole in it. As Penn bailed out with a plastic cup, he assumed a high, strained voice and yelled “Skipper! Help!” to the forced laughter of his entourage.

Actual caption: "US actor Sean Penn bales water out of a boat with a plastic cup as he and members of his entourage make an attempt to rescue stranded people in New Orleans. Efforts by Penn to aid New Orleans victims stranded by Hurricane Katrina foundered badly Sunday, when the boat he was piloting to launch a rescue attempt sprang a leak. Penn had planned to rescue children waylaid by Katrina's flood waters, but apparently forgot to plug a hole in the bottom of the vessel, which began taking water within seconds of its launch."

Question - On the eve of the John Roberts hearings, I need to know: if gay marriage is allowed, is there any compelling reason why Charles Schumer couldn't marry a television camera?

Just for the record - An all-time high of $44 to fill my gas tank today. So this is welcome news: “A major pipeline supplying refined crude products from the Gulf to the East Coast is now running at full capacity and is delivering into all locations along its system.”

Knock me over with a feather – Corruption at the United Nations? Say it ain’t so! “A yearlong probe of the Iraq oil-for-food program has concluded that the United Nations allowed "illicit, unethical, and corrupt behavior" to overwhelm the $64 billion operation.” Oh, but John Bolton's the real enemy, natch.

Not the time – Kris on Dummocrats echoes my feelings on the blame game: “Some of us are just political animals. We live and breathe politics. But, there are times when thinking politics first makes us nothing more than, well, animals. I think this is one of those times.” And Ralph Peters in the NY Post laments the “Hurricane of blame” that has followed Katrina.

That’ll get your attention

Demonstrating that the NY Times has at least one good columnist, John Tierney notes that New Orleans should have deployed the “Magic Marker strategy” to sharpen the mind to danger:

Mr. Judkins is one of the officials in charge of evacuating the Hampton Roads region around Newport News, Va. These coastal communities, unlike New Orleans, are not below sea level, but they're much better prepared for a hurricane. Officials have plans to run school buses and borrow other buses to evacuate those without cars, and they keep registries of the people who need special help.

Instead of relying on a "Good Samaritan" policy - the fantasy in New Orleans that everyone would take care of the neighbors - the Virginia rescue workers go door to door. If people resist the plea to leave, Mr. Judkins told The Daily Press in Newport News, rescue workers give them Magic Markers and ask them to write their Social Security numbers on their body parts so they can be identified.

"It's cold, but it's effective," Mr. Judkins explained.

Of course, Tierney’s article was met with this sophisticated riposte over at Daily Kos.

NYT Nuts - Is there any sport in taking down Paul Krugman anymore? He’s the original gorilla of Bush Derangement Syndrome, alternating between articles proclaiming President Bush’s fecklessness and, paradoxically, his all-powerful ability to (always) cause wreckage all around us. Anyway, Rick at the Rightwing Nuthouse fisks the former Enron advisor in “The Fulminator.” Here’s a great opening line: “Watching New York Times columnist Paul Krugman plumb the depths of depraved Bush bashing is getting close to becoming something of a guilty pleasure; sort of like viewing pornography but without the edifying inclusion of the undraped model’s vital statistics to offset the charge of prurient behavior.”

Extra – Here’s Daily Pundit: “I used to hate seeing Frank Rich's byline on NYT op-ed columns, but no longer. Like Maureen Dowd and Paul Krugman, Rich has become an active embarassment, an unwitting ally in the ongoing destruction of the Times as a respectable news organ.”

More from Decision08: “Either Bob Herbert believes what he says, and thus is proven as a delusionary, paranoid mental case, or he intentionally and deliberately engages in a foul, viscious lie, and thus is shown as a despicable moral degenerate.”

Fault lines – After reviewing the blogosphere, it’s obvious I’m fighting an uphill battle here. I’m sure that after the water recedes, there will be plenty of blame to go around from Nagin on up to Bush. I just don’t see the point right now and, as John Podhoretz retells, most Americans understand that human capability to avoid disaster is limited: “You need to look at the world through political glasses to assume that THE key aspect of a natural disaster is the response or lack thereof of the authorities -- whether they be local, state or federal. The president doesn't MAKE hurricanes, therefore he will not be blamed FOR hurricanes. Nor do the governor and the mayor.” The wisdom of crowds shines through again.

The proximate cause

Writing in the Chicago Tribune, Dennis Byrne wonders “Why do we always assign blame?”

Maybe the finger-pointing comes from today's mindset that someone else always must be ready and in charge of ensuring our safety and comfort. Or from an arrogance that we can plan in advance for every imaginable catastrophe. Or maybe it is simply partisan and ideological bunk, opportunistically tossed Bush's way.

This is no apologia for the many possible misjudgments and mistakes that might have been made. Rather it is a disagreement with the simplistic view that "they" can prevent or ameliorate every imaginable calamity. And if "they" don't, it's proof of someone's incompetence, greed or callousness.

We can't always blame everything on someone. Sometimes the greatest talent, deepest caring and best intentions can simply be overwhelmed; it's not someone's fault.

This is right in line with my Occam’s Razor post below about sometimes we should damn the hurricane and focus on the rescue efforts. The blame game feeds into moral vanity and political gamesmanship that helps nobody.

Chief Justice Roberts - Bush Nominates Roberts as Chief Justice – Just curious: I keep seeing video of John Roberts leaving his Chevy Chase, Virginia home in the morning. Is he receiving Secret Service protection? Seems to me that somebody about to head the judiciary branch of the federal government would warrant special security. Anyway, much more on Roberts over at Bench Memos.

A kind of revival – Michael Barone notes that the waters will recede but the underlying problems of New Orleans, widespread crime and corruption, will continue: “But New Orleans' heritages of upper-class complaisance and political corruption -- the result of the city's French tradition -- work against a more broadly based commercial and economic revival. Without changes in these attitudes, historic New Orleans may revive, but the city will become little more than a theme park, like Venice, and not the great commercial beehive it once was.”

A parody of itself - The NY Times angrily demands to know: why did Congress cut the budget for flood protection? Maybe it’s because the NY Times said they should. Must have been one of those Jayson Blair editorials.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist dies at 80 – Rehnquist became an associate justice of the Supreme Court in 1971 which, incidentally, was the last year that the Court had two open positions.

Follow-up – Do you know how conservatives say “No more Souters?” It’s not just because of judicial philosophy: “The Supreme Court released statements by seven Supreme Court justices who paid tribute to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who died Saturday. A statement from Justice David Souter is not expected, the court said.” What a tool.

The anti-9/11

NY Times columnist David Brooks writes that faith in institutions is undermined by the response to Katrina:

On Sept. 11, Rudy Giuliani took control. The government response was quick and decisive. The rich and poor suffered alike. Americans had been hit, but felt united and strong. Public confidence in institutions surged.

Last week in New Orleans, by contrast, nobody took control. Authority was diffuse and action was ineffective. The rich escaped while the poor were abandoned. Leaders spun while looters rampaged. Partisans squabbled while the nation was ashamed.

Brooks suggests that America may be reaching a “bursting point” where cultural and sociological disaffection converge to bring about political change.

Sometimes it’s the hurricane

Just got back from my first trip to Vermont where I stayed at the Bald Mountain campground for the weekend. There was an ironic moment when the water pressure for the entire campground failed and nobody could use the toilets or shower. Mindful of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, I didn’t hear a single complaint (although there was plenty of bottled water to go around).

It’s funny how memory works, but all weekend I’ve had a dialogue from the TV show “Doogie Howser M.D.” stuck in my head. After completing his internship, boy-genius Doogie must decide on a specialty and joins the trauma team, working on the most devastating cases to come through the hospital doors. In one episode, the team is working on a guy who was crushed by a truck and Doogie makes a critical mistake. The head doctor repairs the damage but the man dies anyway, and Doogie is beset with guilt at his mistake. But the head trauma doctor does not cast blame [from rough memory]:

Doogie: “I killed that guy.”
Doctor: “No you didn’t. A truck did.”

Now, after a brief review, I’m seeing the same kind of useless recrimination all over the Internet. For every post on Daily Kos blaming Bush, there’s a mirror post on Free Republic castigating Clinton. GOP Bloggers is pointing fingers at Democratic governor Blanco and mayor Nagin; the Democratic Underground is criticizing, um, Bush. Oh and Condi Rice went to see “Spamalot.”

Scrappleface caught the spirit with this faux story: “Fears increased today among hundreds of thousands of refugees from the hurricane-ravaged gulf coast as they faced a Labor Day weekend with little hope of an eloquent speech from President George Bush.” Yes, President Bush gave a flat and uninspiring laundry-list speech. But everything doesn’t have to be done for maximum political impact. Sometimes the government should simply take actions to alleviate the suffering of people. By the same coin, sometimes it’s the hurricane to blame.

We can go through endless cycles of “what-if”s here. The levees were designed to protect against a category 3 hurricane? Shoulda been cat 4-5-6! But there’s plenty of time for that later. Right now the focus should be on the relief effort. And for God’s sake, can we please hold off on the polls? They’re about as useful as Kayne West’s rambling vitriol, helpful to exactly nobody.

In the 2004 Presidential campaign, there was a too-brief moment when both sides put down the swords and stood together as Americans. It was after the Osama bin Laden tape surfaced and both Bush and Kerry announced that the United States would stand firm in the face of terrorism. We need that moment back again.

More to come later after I get caught up.

It’s all too much

I’m going away camping for the Labor Day weekend, far away from televisions and computers. It’s been hard to take in the full measure of this disaster, this living hell on the Bayou. I thought that by now we’d be seeing the domestic equivalent of the Berlin Airlift with tons of supplies dropped by parachute. In fact, I keep wondering why the military couldn’t drop thousands of yellow food packets the same way they did in Afghanistan. I realize the state, local, and federal governments are overwhelmed with a disaster of unheard-of proportion, but something needs to be done on a massive scale and quickly. Send in low-draft paddleboats from the Mississippi. Cut a glacier away and airlift a huge ice cube to Canal Street. Deploy Navy Seals to defend the hospitals. Something, anything, please, now.

I’ll be back Sunday night. Give to the Red Cross or any of the dozens of other charities collecting for relief efforts. Say a prayer.

A gallon of regular unleaded in Western Massachusetts

Here's the price at the Citgo (which is usually the cheapest around):
Tuesday - $2.61
Wednesday - $2.86
Thursday - $3.11

Follow-up – Here’s Lee at Right-Thinking from the Left Coast: “I want to make a prediction here, right now. Within two months, gasoline will be five dollars a gallon.” Golly, I think that’s overreacting. The Gulf Coast accounts for one-fifth of our national petroleum production, so on a supply-demand curve the price of gas should rise 20-30% until supply re-stabilizes. Plus, school is starting up again meaning that the summer traveling season is over yet it’s still warm enough that there won’t be much demand for heating oil.

Update – From Forbes: “Gas, oil prices dip as pipelines restart” – “Gasoline futures prices fell Friday for the first time in a week as some fuel pipelines on the U.S. Gulf Coast began to restart operations shut in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.”

American Red Cross

Time to get a gun? - After reading shocking stories of looting around New Orleans, I've been wondering what I would do in the event of utter chaos. I mean, what could stop these people from looting nursing homes and children's hospitals? Only mortal threat, I fear.

Update – What the hell is wrong with these people? Shots fired at military helicopter assisting evacuation of Superdome.

Gas up

My car has been running a little rough on idle so yesterday I filled up on super unleaded at $2.88/gallon. I consoled myself at the time by saying that would probably be the cost of regular tomorrow.

Sure enough, today the regular at the same station was $2.91 and the super was $3.11. Ouch.

Oil away – “The government's emergency petroleum stockpile — nearly 700 million barrels of oil stored in underground salt caverns along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast — was established to cushion oil markets during energy disruptions.” I always thought the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was supposed to be tapped only in the event of war, but the Department of Energy says “in the event of an energy emergency.” I think this qualifies.

ABC News: “Poorest Hit Hardest By Hurricane Katrina”
New York Times: “The Misery is spread equally”

Bizarro World update – Ted Rall savages Cindy Sheehan that woman. (HT: Grapevine)

New Orleans

What can be added at this point? For a moment it looked like Katrina had weakened and turned east and everybody exhaled a little. Now the rooftops are filled with desperate people, the looters are rampant, and a city is devastated. Instapundit has a long list of flood relief agencies. This is a good place to start: American Red Cross.

Also – The New Orleans Times-Picayune is continuously updating.

The states take the lead - From Opinion Journal: “Medicaid reform could show the way on Social Security”

Krugman: Americans are depressed. Americans: No we’re not

Paul Krugman last Friday: “The bottom line, then, is that most Americans have good reason to feel unhappy about the economy, whatever Washington's favorite statistics may say.”

Today:

The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index, which had declined in July, rebounded in August. The Index now stands at 105.6 (1985=100), up from 103.6 in July. The Present Situation Index increased to 123.6 from 119.3. The Expectations Index edged up to 93.7 from 93.2 last month.

“Consumers appear to be weathering the steady rise in gas prices quite well,” says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board’s Consumer Research Center. “In fact, consumers’ confidence in the current state Situation Index to its highest level in nearly four years (125.4 in September 2001). Expectations continue to suggest more of the same for the remainder of this year.”

Wrong again, Paul, wrong again. (Hat tip to Will who has more.)

80% of New Orleans is underwater – Michelle Malkin has a roundup

Update – The New Orleans Times-Picayune has an electronic-only version out. The headline is simply “Catastrophic” and the leadline is “Katrina: The storm we’ve always feared.”

How baseball sold its soul for manufactured popularity

From a book review of “Juicing the Game : Drugs, Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball” by Boston Herald reporter Howard Bryant:

Boston Herald sports columnist Bryant gives the full history behind the steroids scandal that has slowly but steadily enveloped major-league baseball over the past 10 years, a scandal that now calls into serious question the integrity of many of the records set during that time, if not the integrity of the game itself. Bryant begins with the disastrous strike of 1994, which cut short a memorable season and eliminated that fall's World Series. It was from the ruins of 1994 that baseball found salvation in the long ball, whose resurgence came as a result of smaller new ballparks, a reduced strike zone, and a ridiculously lax policy on performance-enhancing anabolic steroids. For example, offenders could be caught using steroids four times before finally receiving a one-year suspension. If players were the obvious culprits, the scandal, according to Bryant, was really the result of interlocking failures: a league that did not have the stomach in the face of record revenues to police itself, a players' union that fought every effort by the league to test its members, beat writers afraid to ask hard questions of the players they covered on a daily basis, and fans, who, fully aware their heroes might be juiced, still flocked to ballparks in record numbers. In presenting this thoughtful, detailed account of what one writer has called "baseball's Watergate," Bryant will bring baseball fans fully up to speed on both the steroids issue and the hoped-for reforms to come.

The buzz going around is that current Hall-of-Famers are going to throw up a wall to players who have been known to use steroids. Damn purists! Next stop: robots.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Air America: “To liberals, corporate double-speak and financial shell games rank as cardinal sins. That’s why it’s been jarring to see the progressive talk-radio network Air America accused of the kind of maneuvering that the Al Frankens of the world would normally rush to condemn.”

The new national pastime, part deux - NASCAR: America’s fastest growing sport: “TV ratings are soaring. Corporate money is flowing. And the crowds just keep getting bigger. NASCAR is racing ahead. The second-most-watched sport on television behind pro football, NASCAR has seen its ratings increase by more than 50% since it inked a six-year, $2.4 billion network deal five years ago; licensed retail sales of NASCAR-branded products have increased 250% over the past decade, totaling $2.1 billion last year alone; and Nascar.com is one of the most highly trafficked sports websites.” (Extended story here along with “NASCAR for neophytes”)

Katrina – What is there to say? They’re posting pictures of the devastation over on Free Republic.

Try to remember forget the soundtrack of your life

Through Damian Penny, the latest funtime list is the songs from the year you graduated from high school. Damian lists the good, bad and ugly from 1991 and, referring to a post by Eric Berlin, notes “I gotta admit, 1986 was even worse. Good Lord.”

Yes, it’s true: the eighties in general was a wasteland of music, but 1986 in particular was a black hole of suckage. From the top 100 songs of my graduation year too, here are the songs that I’ll classify as “wouldn’t necessarily change the station if they were playing.” (There are only 16):

10. Addicted To Love, Robert Palmer
15. West End Girls, Pet Shop Boys
19. Kiss, Prince and The Revolution
23. Sledgehammer, Peter Gabriel
28. Rock Me Amadeus, Falco
37. Something About You, Level 42
44. No One Is To Blame, Howard Jones
49. Walk Of Life, Dire Straits
61. All Cried Out, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam With Full Force
62. Your Love, Outfield
64. Perfect Way, Scritti Politti
65. Living In America, James Brown
68. Word Up, Cameo
78. Life In A Northern Town, Dream Academy
80. Sleeping Bag, ZZ Top
94. Dreamtime, Daryl Hall

As Kent Brockman might say: “What a sad, pointless decade.”

Update - Jed at Boots and Sabers reviews 1992. Pretty bad! But not 1986 bad.

Denzel Washington is awesome.

Update - As a commenter noted from Snopes, Denzel didn't pay for the "entire cost" of a new medical building but he did visit Army personnel and make a (smaller) donation. Still worthy of applause.

He-man woman hater – Here’s Cathy Young in the Boston Globe: “[John] Roberts's views on abortion and other issues may be a legitimate cause for concern for women's rights groups. Yet so far his critics have resorted to so many bad arguments that one must wonder if they have any good ones.”

Top ten Civil War generals

John Hawkins has his list, and here’s mine. Would now be a good time to brag that I’ve read the entire Shelby Foote history on the Civil War? I think so.

1) William Tecumseh Sherman – Except for one battle outside Atlanta (Kennesaw Mt.), almost never made a strategic error on the battlefield. His victories in 1864 paved the way for Lincoln’s re-election. Almost single-handedly broke the will of the South to continue the war.
2) Robert E. Lee
3) Nathan Bedford Forrest
4) U.S. Grant
5) Joe Johnston
6) Stonewall Jackson
7) Winfield Scott Hancock
8) Philip Kearny – Long-forgotten, one-armed Kearny was called “the bravest and most perfect soldier” by Winfield Scott. Fearless in battle, he led a series of charges during the Peninsula campaign and had the cojones to tell George McClellan that he was either a coward or a traitor for retreating. Already a superb general, Kearny would have gone on to greater fame if he had not been killed in 1862.
9) Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain – If only for his show of respect towards Confederate troops at Appomattox. Oh, and there was that Gettysburg thing when he was a colonel.
10) George McClellan – Yes, I know. He screwed up the Peninsula campaign, he failed to pursue the Confederate army after Antietam, he belittled Lincoln at every turn, etc. But in the aftermath of (first) Bull Run, he also assembled, organized and trained the largest army on earth and prepared them for the battle ahead.

Honorable mention: Herman Haupt. Another unsung hero of the Civil War, “General” (he refused a military commission) Haupt was in charge of the Union railroad system which played a critical role in troop transport, military supplies, and communication. He literally wrote the book on bridge building and Lincoln was known to have exclaimed: “That man Haupt has built a bridge across Potomac Creek, about 400 feet long and nearly 100 feet high, over which loaded trains are running every hour, and, upon my word, gentlemen, there is nothing in it but beanpoles and corn stalks.”

This ain’t no foolin’ around

This alert from the National Weather Service is almost hysterical:

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BEDOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

Hat tip to Poliblog who notes: “it reads like a hoax.” It sounds like America’s going to have a tsunami-level disaster on hand very soon.

Cat 5


Looters take your marks: “Mayor Ray Nagin ordered an immediate mandatory evacuation Sunday for all of New Orleans, a city of 485,000 people, as Hurricane Katrina bore down with 160 mph wind. Ten refuges of last resort were set up including the Superdome."

The new American pastime – Quentin Tarantino “intoxicated” by NASCAR

A republic, if you can keep it

From the WashPost: “Iraq negotiators sign draft constitution”

Shiite Muslim and Kurdish negotiators formally signed Iraq's new draft constitution Sunday, moving it toward a national vote over the strong objections of some Sunni Arabs in the talks, who rejected a final draft.

President Jalal Talabani was expected to sign the draft charter later Sunday, officially concluding the phase of writing the constitution and committing it to a referendum to be held Oct. 15.

Of course the Sunnis are still deep in denial: “We’re not in power anymore? The majority will govern? What’s up with that?” That aside, there’s a lot to like in this Constitution including freedom of religion and rights for women, including fixed representation in the government. We’ll have to see how the referendum goes, but it’s fair to say that a democratic government in the Middle East (maybe) is a good thing.

Joe Biden lives! – Mark Kilmer has the Sunday morning talk show lineup on his spiffy newly-designed blog.

Ain’t gonna drive your car no more – I know this will be of interest to only a couple of readers, but there’s a NASCAR race tonight in Bristol, TN. Through no fault of his own, Kevin Harvick wrecked his car, headed off for his RV, and basically said he was done. The car was repaired but with Harvick out they put Scott Riggs in to finish the race. Harvick had reportedly changed his clothes and headed off the track.

Harvick was on the bubble whether he would make the Nextel chase and now it looks out of reach. He’s probably heading out to slash Dale Jarrett’s tires or something (Dale started the wreck in a purely retaliatory swerve against the side of Ryan Newman’s car.) He was very unhappy with his crew chief and spotter, too.

Update: Matt Kenseth won the race. Dale Jarrett refused any interviews. That is all.

Avert your eyes, children – Coming soon: “Tribune Media Services columnists Victor Davis Hanson and Arianna Huffington will square off in a debate about whether the U.S. is "internationalist or imperial." Bill at Brain Droppings wryly characterizes this debate as "Bambi vs. Godzilla."

Lest we forget – Christopher Hitchens crams down your throat a gentle reminder of the progress the GWOT has gained in “A War to be Proud Of.” (Complete with handy list.)

Whoops!

At the pro-Bush rally several miles away, there were some heated moments when two members of Protest Warrior, a group that frequently holds counter protests to anti-war rallies, walked in with a sign that read "Say No to War — Unless a Democrat is President."
Many Bush supporters only saw the top of the sign and believed the men were war protesters, so they began shouting and chasing the pair out. One man tore up their signs. When Will Marean of Minneapolis kept repeating that he was on the Bush side and tried to explain Protest Warrior's mission, one Bush supporter shook his hand and apologized.

Protest Warrior has been known to confuse with their brand of satire. When Time magazine ran a story about Ann Coulter, PW were identified in photos as “protesters” against Coulter.

Let’s call it “junk science”

In January, Wired magazine ran an article called “Instant Detox” about a radical new procedure to clean up heroin addicts by putting them under general anesthesia and shock-cleaning the system. The kickquote: “Kick heroin in 24 hours - no willpower, withdrawal, or preaching required. Call it a cure. Call it junk science. Call it the one-step program.”

Now some serious doctors say, yes, it’s too good to be true: “An increasingly common method of heroin detoxification under general anesthesia is ineffective and unsafe, according to a study by psychiatrists at Columbia University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia.” (Hat tip: Good “stuff”)

Flash and crash – From Private Radio: “There is no anti-war movement”

Right on urgency, wrong on solutions

Tonight on “60 Minutes II” there was a story about the behemoth known as AARP and how it's opposed Social Security reform. As this excerpt shows, they understand the need for action [emphasis added]:

[AARP head Bill] Novelli, and many economists, say Social Security will be solvent for another 35 years. And minor changes today will keep it solvent for decades beyond that.

"In your judgment," Rather asks Novelli, "is Social Security in dire straits, in deep trouble right now?"

"No, no. It's not in crisis. But, it does need to be strengthened … for future generations. And if we take steps now, it'll be a lot less painful than if we wait until later."

Unfortunately, the AARP won’t elucidate what these “changes” or “steps” might be but you can bet they’re not going to support benefit cuts for their 30+ million members. By default, that means more taxes on younger workers who are already surrendering 12.4% of their pay for entitlements.

When Social Security started, the payroll tax was a forgettable 2%. Would Franklin Delano Roosevelt approve of a system where young workers give up 6 times that amount in every paycheck? Where 80% of Americans pay more in payroll taxes than income taxes? Where every American under thirty today would pay into the system only to see it go bankrupt and able to pay only 72% of promised benefits? I think he’d be shocked at the monster he’d created, an anachronism anchored in Depression-era policy.

GOP straw poll

Patrick Ruffini has the results of his poll of Republican candidates for 2008. With over 16,000 responses counted, Rudy Giuliani was the winner with 30% of the vote. Interesting. Condi Rice was far ahead among the “fantasy” candidates.

No need to solve for X

Jay Tea over at Wizbang linked to a Boston Globe story about the math question that stumped the most students on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assesssment System (MCAS) test. Here it is:

Of the people in attendance at a recent baseball game, one-third had grandstand tickets, one-fourth had bleacher tickets, and the remaining 11,250 people in attendance had other tickets. What was the total number of people in attendance at the game?
A) 27,000
B) 20,000
C) 16,000
D) 18,000

Jay provides an extended answer and writes that he had the solution in “30-40 seconds.” Not to brag, but I had it in about one. One-third plus one-fourth makes up more than half of the baseball fans, so the remaining 11,250 comprises less than half. If that share is less than half, the total is more than double 11,250 making (A) the only reasonable answer.

Is that so hard? Still, with paper, pencil and calculator at hand, half of all Massachusetts students missed the question. Considering that random guessing would produce a 25% success rate, the 50% level is a little startling. What would Danica say?

As I like to say, there are three kinds of people in the world: those who can count and those who can’t.

Social Security reform - Whoops, I almost forgot to link to Will Franklin’s “Reform Thursday” post. Be sure to check out the colorful graph showing how private accounts in Galveston, Texas (where they opted out of Social Security in the early-eighties) are making everyone there rich:

These Texans have a retirement plan that not only lets them sleep at night but also gives them a far better pension than does Social Security. In addition, their plan provides life insurance and disability benefits that are far better for most participants than Social Security's survivor and disability benefits. This approach also has low administration costs.

Over the past 20 years, the Galveston residents have averaged a return of 8%, far above the current return of 2% for Social Security recipients. (Scroll down to the title reading “Stop shafting American workers”.)