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On the scent of Africa's landmines

Here's a great use for the large rodents. Abundant, and expendible, they're also cheaper than other candidates for this task, such as dogs and lawyers.

...scientists have shown that rats can be trained to be a safe, fast, reliable and cheap method of locating mines of all kinds, according to this month's issue of BBC Wildlife, published today.

You just KNOW that PETA won't be happy about this!

F.E.T.E.

I spent the last five days in the gorgeous District of Columbia straddling two academic conferences: The annual meetings of the American Political Science Association, and the Association of Politics and Life Sciences. APLS was more interesting to me because...

Chief nearly rendered speechless

The disaster resulting from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans & environs, and coastal Mississippi and Alabama is of such a scope that descriptive terminology somehow falls flat in the face of the reality.

As more news comes out, the situation only worsens, at least thus far. Perhaps the description "...of Biblical proportions." is appropriate for once.

Our prayers go out to those affected, and we wish them as speedy a resolution to thier problems as may be possible.

The OTHER aspect of this that renders one speechless - but for a different reason are the attempts of certain libDonks to blame the problem on Bush and other conservatives. What a total crock. The Chief would like to slap 'em up side the head, except for the fact that s--t splatters. RFK Jr., and the others of their ilk on both sides of the Atlantic once and for all need to get a #12 cork installed in their pie holes.

United States of Shame

DISCLOSURE NOTE: The above is Maureen Dowd(y)'s header on this column of tripe.

Whys do the libs make it so easy to rip their spiel to shreds? This is a primo case in point, as the Chief will humbly demonstrate:

And when you combine limited government with incompetent government, lethal stuff happens. America is once more plunged into a snake pit of anarchy, death, looting, raping, marauding thugs, suffering innocents, a shattered infrastructure, a gutted police force, insufficient troop levels and criminally negligent government planning. But this time it's happening in America.

The very first sentence - no resemblence to reality. I guess the rest is to compare New Orleans, LA to Baghdad. Not much resemblence in reality, but why should THAT be a hindrance to a good slam at the administration.

Ms. Dowdy need to be swatted with a cluebat here: FEDERAL troops are NOT sent in UNTIL REQUESTED by state and local authorities. National Guard is under the direct control of the state governor, unless they are "federalized". In both cases Maureeen, why aren't you asking your fellow-lib moonbat Gov. Blanco why she was asleep at the switch on this one? NOTE: In Mississippi, and Alabama there was no problem with getting the troops out. It seems the Governors THERE did their jobs...and while there was a major disaster there - worse in Mississippi than in Louisiana, there was no anarchy, since (GOP) GOv. Haley Barbour knew how to get his ducks in a row.

W. drove his budget-cutting Chevy to the levee, and it wasn't dry. Bye, bye, American lives. "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees," he told Diane Sawyer.... Why does this self-styled "can do" president always lapse into such lame "who could have known?" excuses.

Maybe because the excuses are just a statement of fact - which I realize is an alien and difficult concept to the denizens of the NYT.
If this was such a big problem for so long, why didn't the State of Louisiana and City of New Orleans as least make SOME attempt to beef up the flood defenses. One would think that this would be their first concern. Over the years, this issue was discussed by them, with the ultimate decision being not to bother with spending THEIR money on the situation. So why then is it a problem for the rest of the country?

Who on earth could have known that Osama bin Laden wanted to attack us by flying planes into buildings? Any official who bothered to read the trellis of pre-9/11 intelligence briefs.

...unless the Clintonista Jamie Gore-lick's "firewall of separation" prevented the relevant official from getting the word as to what was being planned. Remember that? No? Oh, that's right, THAT wasn't the President's fault, so it doesn't exist in the minds of MSM pseudo-wonks such as yourself.

Who on earth could have known that New Orleans's sinking levees were at risk from a strong hurricane? Anybody who bothered to read the endless warnings over the years about the Big Easy's uneasy fishbowl. In June 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, fretted to The Times-Picayune in New Orleans: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

"...doing anything we can..." except putting your money where your mouth is. HEY! If you have a problem - fix it! All roads don't automatically lead to Washington for taking care of local infrastructure.

It would be one thing if President Bush and his inner circle - Dick Cheney was vacationing in Wyoming; Condi Rice was shoe shopping at Ferragamo's on Fifth Avenue and attended "Spamalot" before bloggers chased her back to Washington; and Andy Card was off in Maine - lacked empathy but could get the job done.

Again Dowdy, we are a FEDERAL republic...the first responsibility is at the local and state levels. Also, the state and local emergency response plans stated in plain English which one would (apparently falsely) assume you can understand, that there was a 72-96 hour inherent delay in the application of Federal resources to a disaster situation.

Lacked empathy? Why? Because they didn't go running around like a bunch of headless chickens making a ruckus as moonbats are wont to do to exhibit the "symbolism" of "doing something" instead of giving the plans the required time to be implemented. Also...the Chief admits bafflement as to the responsibility of Secretary of State Condie Rice in this...I wasn't aware that New Orleans was in a foriegn country, at least since the 1804 Louisian Purchase. I mean the State Dept. IS tasked with FORIEGN relations, no?

When they were deaf for so long to the horrific misery and cries for help of the victims in New Orleans - most of them poor and black, like those stuck at the back of the evacuation line yesterday while 700 guests and employees of the Hyatt Hotel were bused out first - they shook the faith of all Americans in American ideals. And made us ashamed.

That bit with the hotel guests was managed by the Black mayor of NOLA. Yep, he's shameful!

But it is a chilling lack of empathy combined with a stunning lack of efficiency that could should make this administration Louisiana and New Orleans leadership implode.

IN SUMMARY: What a total load of dreck, but, all too typical for the NYT and its inimitable Maureen Dowdy.

In this post about Ellsworth I argued, amongst other things, that in the name of economic development conservatives must not fall into a reflexive anti-government stance. Here's an example of a conservative Republican foolishly willing to drive the anti-government bandwagon...

I just got my new Lexus and returned to the dealer the next day complaining that I couldn't figure out how the radio worked. The salesman explained that the radio was voice activated. Watch this, he said. Nelson! The...

Chad Schuldt takes some east coast conservatives to task for suggesting that we rethink how much money the federal government spends on agriculture and highways. As I mentioned earlier today, it is not all that surprising that Chad uses these...

Carried Away

This WaPo coverage of looting in the wake of Hurricane Katrina has more than a little sympathy, rationalization, and justification for much of the looting going on.

...as we are also learning from the post-Katrina chaos, what we think of as looting may be more complicated than it seems.

No, it's NOT complicated, moonbat. Stealing stuff, is stealing stuff. And most of the stuff being taken is NOT survival supplies!

Benigno E. Aguirre of the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware has been watching and reading about looters in Louisiana. "It may look from the outside as if they are stealing or breaking the law," says Aguirre, "when in fact some of them are trying to survive."

Yep - it DOES look that way, maybe because what's happening IS bad. If some ARE trying to survive, this isn't the prevailing behavior. For instance when a Wal-Mart was invaded by the latter-day barbarians, the guns, and electronics were the FIRST targets of opportunity, followed by other consumer items. The food, and (non-alcoholic) beverages were largely ignored. Yep, survival is insured by a new plasma HD TV!

On the other hand, he says, some of the thieves are garden-variety crooks. "There is always a very small number of people that are predisposed to crime, and they see a disaster as an opportunity to act." There are the disenfranchised who jump at the chance to get even with those who have more stuff than they do. "Disasters can become opportunity for class warfare, and that kind of appropriation of other people's property should be prosecuted," he says.

"Class warfare"? Sounds like our academician has been imbibing wisdom from the fountain of Marx. At least he concedes that they should be prosecuted, thanks be for small favors.

Many may be people taking drastic measures required by drastic times. And some, he says, are the in-an-emergency equivalent of hunters/gatherers, foraging for food, fresh water, medicine, matches, batteries, everyday essentials that are just not available. Not at home, not at shelters.

Again, the Wal-Mart case (as well as others) would be a counter-indication of the validity of this statement.

The images are played on TV over and over: Windows are smashed. Huge dudes muscle into an abandoned store and hustle out with stolen TVs and boomboxes. Women hoist unwieldy packs of diapers and cartons of baby formula. Run-amok hooligans snatch up jewelry and electronic gizmos. Other things are stolen: shopping carts of soda pops and snack foods, clothing, bicycles. There are survivors, scavengers and criminal looters, and it's hard to tell the difference.

No, the distinction is too fine. If someone breaks in to get some bottled water, or food to survive, the Chief would say OK. ANYTHING else - including "scavengers" are thieves. That's it. Comprende?

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