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CSPAN's In Depth program from Book TV has now video archived the Harvey Mansfield show from this past weekend. Sure it's three hours long, but while the interview starts slowly (my kingdom for Brian Lamb!) you soon find out why...

The federal response to Katrina was not as portrayed

Now HERE's a big shocker! The MSM not reporting the reality of events, but rather tailoring their report to match their agenda! Say it ain't so...but is is, unfortunately.

It is settled wisdom among journalists that the federal response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina was unconscionably slow....But the conventional wisdom is the opposite of the truth.

Once again, "ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS, WE PRINT".

From a man who has some REAL experience with such matters:

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."

The same style of journalism that reports on events in Baghdad from the hotel bar, is active in the hurricane areas, as well:

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

Indeed!

Oh, Jesus Christ....

Roberts Rebuffs Democrats' Questions

THe Chief heard some of the hearings with Judge Roberts - one thing that was readily evident was that one good, sound judge was able to run circles around a whole klatsch of LibDonk senators out to try to Bork him. How sweet it is!

Chief Justice-nominee John Roberts repeatedly refused to answer questions about abortion and other contentious issues at his confirmation hearing Tuesday, telling frustrated Democrats he would not discuss matters that could come before the Supreme Court.

This has become known as the Ginsburg Standard, after the absolute refusal of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to answer ANYTHING specific about any case that might POSSIBLY come before the court.

Roberts struck sparks when he indicated his refusal to answer certain questions was based in part on a precedent of "no hints, no forecasts, no previews" that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg set at her hearings a dozen years ago.

What drives the Donks crazy, is that the sauce for the goose has turned out to be sauce for the gander - plus the fact that it is apparent that Judge Roberts is far and away the intellectual master of the law, and that senators like Kennedy, Biden, and Leahy don't have enough background to do more than run through obviously canned questions prepped by their staff flunkies.

The Cheif remains cautiously optimistic on Roberts' overall legal orientation, but in spite of the Donks' fulminations in the hearings, it looks more and more like there will be a decisive and positive vote on the confirmation.

Power Line: Happy Anniversary, Guys...

As I've stated in this space before, I think that the registered voters of Louisiana have a lot of questions that need to be answered. Nagin said that by daybreak, he might have to order the first mandatory evacuation in...

This from Robert Scheer, the LATimes version Paul Krugman. Instead of the much-celebrated American can-do machine that promises to bring freedom and prosperity to less fortunate people abroad, we have seen a callous official incompetence that puts even Third World...

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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