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Enter stage right, the newest blog to South Dakota, South Dakota Right to Life. Welcome aboard. They noted this yesturday:On their website, EMILY's list notes that one of the pre-requisites of candidates they help to elect is that they are...

Hugh Hewitt (HT to Power Line):The Fox News Channel's Major Garrett made another appearance on the program this evening, following up on his blockbuster story yesterday. Among other things, Garrett got confirmation from the head of the Red cross --on...

I say problem, and so does Doug Powers:Since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf coast, federal government programs gained an unlikely critic: Democrat politicians. Some Republicans are also joining in, but Democrats criticizing the federal machine is the shocking political equivalent...

I'm going to write a personal check for $55 tomorrow, the amount I've received via PayPal for the Sheriff's Relief Fund. I'm also thinking about just matching whatever all of you have donated for my own personal contribution. That should...

Kaus has it about right: Sure, the Bushies are using the federalism issue, and Louisiana's potentially bruised feelings, as an excuse--especially when they talk about how "it would have been perceived" if Bush had seized control of the relief effort...

Rocky Mountain News excerpt:Seven charges of possible research misconduct leveled against University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill are being forwarded for full investigation, a CU official announced Friday. The allegations, including charges of plagiarism, misuse of others' work, misrepresenting his...

Power Line: Happy Anniversary, Guys...

A Hurricane Exposes the Man-Made Disaster of the Welfare State

H/T to a former Navy shipmate for this article e-mailed to me. He offered it without comment, and if you check it out, you'll see that it speaks for itself. (by the way, he's in the Houston area, a lot closer to the action than the Chief is up in South Dakota.)

If this is just a natural disaster, the response for public officials is obvious: you bring in food, water, and doctors; you send transportation to evacuate refugees to temporary shelters; you send engineers to stop the flooding and rebuild the city's infrastructure. For journalists, natural disasters also have a familiar pattern: the heroism of ordinary people pulling together to survive; the hard work and dedication of doctors, nurses, and rescue workers; the steps being taken to clean up and rebuild.

Public officials did not expect that the first thing they would have to do is to send thousands of armed troops in armored vehicle, as if they are suppressing an enemy insurgency. And journalists?myself included?did not expect that the story would not be about rain, wind, and flooding, but about rape, murder, and looting.

But this is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made disaster.

The man-made disaster is not an inadequate or incompetent response by federal relief agencies, and it was not directly caused by Hurricane Katrina. This is where just about every newspaper and television channel has gotten the story wrong.

The man-made disaster we are now witnessing in New Orleans did not happen over four days last week. It happened over the past four decades. Hurricane Katrina merely exposed it to public view.

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