The Anchoress

A review copy of Bill Kassel’s This Side of Jordan. So far, I like the cover and the feel in my hand. I’ll let you know about the rest anon!

Here, Ron Fournier disgraces his whole profession and his naked, partisan politicizing in this piece should embarrass thinking folks on the left with any sensitivities.

Response to Katrina Poses Chances for Bush

President Bush, who crafted a take-charge image from the Sept. 11 attacks, faces a stiff challenge in responding to Hurricane Katrina.

Cutting short his vacation and marshaling the power of the federal government could help reverse his sliding job approval rating. But the president’s hands-on approach looks a bit too political for some, and makes him an easy target should Katrina’s victims start looking for somebody to blame during the long, costly road to recovery.

Got that? Keep in mind that whenever a member of the mainstream press writes vaguely about “some” as in “some say,” or “some think” they usually mean “WE IN THE PRESS THINK,” this is a pretty sleazy bit of work. This is a piece that sets the president up for failure and begins to put a frame in place - a frame of suspicion and doubt.

Because, you see, the president’s actions on Katrina are not about human need or a chaotic storm, or a president doing his job in a difficult time - this is about pure, unbridled politics, and anything the president does is done in his own self-interest, for political gain and a rise in the polls. Everything he does is to be looked at and judged through that sneering prism and therefore discounted, dismissed or minimized. Anything he does not do is to be looked at through that same distorted prism and magnified, amplified and over-played. This is sick. It is an analysis, but a one-sided analysis that lacks the gerosity to even try to find a sympathetic quote from the other side. Which means that as analysis, it has more in common with propaganda.

This is SICK.

I think Fournier is confused about which president he is writing. We used to have one that did everything by polls. We have lately had one that does what he thinks is right, polls be damned - in fact THIS president declared all of the stricken areas disaster zones even before the storm struck, in order to expedite aid and funding to the area...but Fournier and his ilk cannot see beyond politics. EVERYTHING, to these people is a political manipulation - their hearts are become so cynical I am beginning to fear they have lost their humanity. I really am.

Not a Catholic one, at least. As churches are so frequently at the center of aid and crisis management Hugh Hewitt had suggested that that some regions consideradopting a parish to help speed local efforts along.

Prof. Bainbridge says, “whoa, there, slow down…” and with good reason.

Why? Because of the decision recently reached by the judge supervising the Diocese of Spokane’s bankruptcy case (Spokane declared bankruptcy because the diocese can’t pay all the legal claims arising out of the priest abuse scandal.) Here’s a news summary of the holding:

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams of Spokane ruled Aug. 26 that civil property laws prevail in a bankruptcy proceeding despite any internal church laws that might bar a bishop from full control over parish assets. Diocesan lawyers had argued that in church law parish assets belong to the parish itself, not to its pastor or to the bishop. They said that, while the diocesan bishop was nominally the owner in civil law, even in civil law he only held those properties in trust for the parishes themselves. …
…
In other words, giving money to a specific parish these days for a specific purpose like Katrina relief is no longer safe from the claims of sex abuse litigants. I firmly believe that the Church needs to compensate the victims of priestly sex abuse, but I also don’t want money I give to hurricane relief being diverted to other purposes and, in particular, I don’t want it to end up in some trial lawyer’s contingent fee.

I agree, I concur, and I thank the good Prof for the heads up. My check went out to Catholic Charities today. Best off chosing Salvation Army, CC or World Vision or some other reputable charity and at least feel safe that your donation is going where it is meant to go.

Charmaine Yoest has a thoughtful piece up - she uses a few scenes from the cable-TV film ROME to explore the idea of boundaries within sexual behavior and how the lack of such boundaries will only diminish rather than enlarge. Good post.

UPDATE: Amazon.com has now officially “done something,” by putting a link to The American Red Cross on its opening page. That is not the same as putting up their own Honor System link, as they did in December. But it’s something. Now we can’t say they’re doing nothing. But it seems a little half-hearted, to me.

H/T to this to Michelle Malkin

Information Week reports:

…mainstream Web sites that had jumped to pull in money for the tsunami victims showed no evidence of repeating it here in the U.S. for Katrina’s. Amazon.com, which raised more than $14 million for the American Red Cross in January via a donation link on its home page, didn’t have one as of mid-day Monday. Nor did Google, Yahoo, MSN, or eBay, all of which hustled earlier in the year to put up donation links on their portals. (Google slapped up an “Information about Hurricane Katrina” link on its Spartan home page, but that led to news sources and stories.)

An Amazon spokesperson said that the online retailer had no plans to post a donation link on its site. “Each case is different,” she said. “The Red Cross has essentially given over its entire site to donations. The tsunami came out of the blue, so it was an ‘all hands on deck’ situation, but the Red Cross has been getting ready for this and getting its message out there for several days.”

Nah, not buying it. It is going to take tens of billions of dollars to put things right in the American South, these are our countrymen, homeless, without schools, without jobs, without anything. I’m not buying the “someone else is doing it so we don’t have to” line. “Someone else” was doing tsunami relief fundraising, too. EVERYONE was doing it, and it didn’t stop Amazon and Google from playing valuable roles in expediting the collection of monies for the tsunami victims.

I am disappointed in Amazon and Google. These are American companies refusing to join in an effort to help America citizens in a time of profound need. We are not without resources, of course, but America is going to have to help America right now. I am very saddened to see these two new, flourishing American success stories so unwilling to lend a hand - and it’s a very SIMPLE hand to lend, too. The installation of a donation button (hell, even “I” can do that) and a list of links.

I don’t want to think the worst. I don’t want to believe that Amazon and Google…and some of these other somewhat left-of-center companies are not on board simply because they can’t bring themselves to help out “the wrong sorts” of (red) states with the wrong sorts of (redneck) people. Everyone is entitled to their politics, but I really, really hope that’s not what Amazon’s disinterest is about. In the face of this cataststrophic loss, I simply can’t help wondering about it, though….I mean, how can anyone look at all of this and think…”nah, we don’t need to pitch in…”

Yahoo has - at least - posted a page full of relief links!

Oh, and there will be a celebrity auction (!) to help Katrina’s victims.

Items include the opportunity to attend Morgan Freeman’s upcoming film, “An Unfinished Life,” a vacation at a Four Seasons resort and memorabilia packages from various movies.

Oh.

Common Sense Junction has a list of countries offering help to the US, and he links to Bernard
who is investigating a glitch somewhere that may be keeping the name KATRINA off the UN rolls. Heh.

UPDATE: Hugh Hewitt writes: At 2:45 Pacific, we heard from Amazon that the company has changed its mind. Some one must have gotten around to asking Jeff Bezos.

I hope this is true, and if it is then good for Amazon for realizing how important it is to help your countrymen.

And I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: God bless Israel and Britain!

As always, so good. And SO RIGHT.

So what to do about our gas crisis? The options are few, but clear. Start with this: The government cuts taxes on gas to put money back in people’s pockets, and reduces the regulatory obstacles to new refinery construction.

The owners will wave thanks as they pass overhead in their private jets.

That’s the sound of Betsy Newmark dropping one great post after another - it’s one of those “just keep scrolling” days at Betsy’s Page. The 25th anniversary of the release of The Blues Brothers (that seminal achievement in the the art of filmmaking) brings us “creepy Bush times” as articulated by the films “brilliant” director, whom Betsy dropkicks nicely. She gives Jonah’s thoughts on Hollywood a nice showcase and then moves to the meat and potatoes stuff, linking to Matthew Continetti’s piece on the war among the democrats.

I personally think Continetti’s thoughts on Mrs. Sheehan are a day late. I think the woman - who started out with sympathetic regard from folks of good will - myself included - is played out, and playing badly. I think her grief is now coming off as scriptable and schedulable and her adolescent, snort-giggle-jeer-cry rhetoric is off-putting. She has disrespected not only the American President, but the those grieving parents of lost soldiers who have dared to disagree with her. I do not think she will be a “force” of any kind in September, or for the Democrats, although I have no doubt we’ll still have to endure her hype.

Gateway Pundit has the links and terrible pictures of the stampeding deaths in Iraq.

Awful. A rumor of a suicide bomber - a RUMOR - killed a thousand people, so many women and children.

This is the price of terrorism and living in a society that tolerates it in any form. Terrorism must be defeated as a means of movement.

“There is no America out there waiting to bail us out. We have to be our own America.”
–Col. Austin Bay (on the Hugh Hewitt Show, Tuesday, August 30) H/T Just a Woman.

Mudville Gazette is writing on the extensive military response to Hurricane Katrina. More than 9,000 soldiers have already been deployed to affected areas and that number will grow. It’s an extensive effort and a US NORTHERN COMMAND looks to be continually updated. Along with Michelle Malkin’s non-stop work, the Mudville and NORTHCOM sites might be two to keep open and at the ready for breaking news. Greyhawk ends his message with a depressed acknowledgement that the press cannot help itself and is already trying to politicize this tragic issue. I think it will backfire on them.

On the plus side for the press, The Times Picayune, in the thick of things is doing a great job of simply bringing the news as it happens.

Btw, the Army Corps of Engineers are not exactly doing a dance about the chances of draining NO.

DO routinely check in with Michelle Malkin - she is simply doing phenomenal work - she’s actually keeping up with all the breaking news. She also has a tremendous roundup of local and community help and aid. Excellent work.

Reuters is reporting that the economic fallout from Katrina may not be too awful:
Hurricane Katrina is likely to have only a modest impact on the U.S. economy as long as the hit to the energy sector proves transitory, White House economic adviser Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday.

“Looking forward … reconstruction is going to add jobs and growth to the economy,” he added. “As long as we find that the energy impact is only temporary and there’s not permanent damage to the infrastructure, my guess is that the effects on the overall economy will be fairly modest.”

News to keep in mind and maybe spread around.

The President has released some petroleum reserves. A neighbor told me that in the course of her daily errands yesterday she noticed her favorite station had raised its prices by 18 cents. The gouging begins. I recall President Clinton released some reserves during the 2000 election campaign. This seems a better reason, for certain, but I am always uncomfortable when they are touched. Too much like touching your principle.

Btw, I have no patience for the silly asses who are unable to blog beyond “Bushisafuckingmoron” nonsense. One blurb I read carried on about how “…it took Bush several days to even make a coherent comment and express his sorrow after the December Tsunami…” Uh-huh…because, if you recall, while the rest of the world was standing around, biting their collective lips, wailing that only the UN had the “moral authority” to take charge of the striken area and posing for “we feel so bad” photo-ops, President Bush was co-ordinating a massive relief effort with Australia and Japan, and sending US Aircraft Carriers and relief via our servicemen. Forgot that already, eh? No, I’m not linking to the haters. If you need to go witness their two-handed self-gratification, you’re welcome to it, but not via this site. They are almost becoming parodies of themselves - purveyors of BushHate Porn.

Slightly offtopic, but I woke up this morning with an odd thought in my head: We have tragically lost 1848 servicemen in Iraq. President Bush has met with over 900 of their families. President Bush has literally met with HALF of the grieving families of our soldiers. That’s pretty amazing when you think about it. He gets no props for it, of course, but still - amazing. Meanwhile, “the smart people” are talking assassination and pie throwing re Paul Wolfowitz. I am so tired of the “smart people.”

Fausta at Bad Hair Blog has lots and lots of links, and she also asks that I help remind folks that “the American Red Cross has nothing to do with the policies of the International Committee of the Red Cross and has in fact withheld funds from the ICRC to protest its blatantly biased agenda.”

Done and done.

Louisiana guy Rod Dreher writes:It’s interesting to think about the massive recriminations that are going to take place in the aftermath of this storm. Not a single soul in Louisiana can say they didn’t see this coming. Like everybody else in south Louisiana, I grew up hearing about the Big One that was going to hit New Orleans one day…. All of this was predicted … but nobody made serious efforts to protect against it by strengthening the levees. That would have been difficult and expensive.

Pirates Cove links to some really rather disturbing talk by Chris Matthews. I too have noticed that he and a few others in the press seem almost disdainful of this story - as though covering “those rednecks” is beneath them.

Yes, Virginia, storms and chaotic weather did happen before January 21, 2001 and even the NY Times says so. And so does this guy.

Seminarians based in NO are safe and helping about 100 others stay safe. Just thought I’d post positive news.

A Small Victory is collecting good news in all the bad, which is a great idea. We need more stories like this, about the positive stuff people are doing, and less about the negative. She also has some terrific links, pictures and round-ups.

Betsy Newmark helpfully links to a Walter Williams piece that puts gas prices in context: In 1950, a gallon of regular gasoline sold for about 30 cents; today, it’s $2.50. Are today’s gasoline prices high compared to 1950? Before answering that question, we have to take into account inflation that has occurred since 1950. Using my trusty inflation calculator (www.westegg.com/inflation), what cost 30 cents in 1950 costs $2.33 in 2005. In real terms, that means gasoline prices today are only slightly higher, about 8 percent, than they were in 1950. Up until the recent spike, gasoline prices have been considerably lower than 1950 prices.

Austin Bay is writing about the Democratic Surge. Not what you might think:

Four years ago, Osama bin Laden designated Afghanistan as the launch pad for his global jihad — the world war that would make him an imperial caliph. The possibility of democratic elections in Kabul never crossed his demented mind….Afghanistan remains a damaged, looted society pulverized by three decades of war, but it now has hope.

And since we’re talking hope in the ME, you might want to read this piece on Iraq as well.

Don Singleton tells us that on this day in history:

# 1886 An earthquake rocked Charleston, S.C., killing up to 110 people.
# 1887 Thomas A. Edison received a patent for his ”Kinetoscope,” a device that produced moving pictures.
# 1888 Mary Ann Nicholls was found murdered in London’s East End. She is generally regarded as the first victim of Jack the Ripper.
# 1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act prohibiting the export of U.S. arms to belligerents.
# 1954 Hurricane Carol hit the northeastern United States, resulting in nearly 70 deaths and millions of dollars in damage.
# 1997 Diana, Britain’s Princess of Wales, was killed in an early-morning car crash in Paris, France. Also killed was her millionaire companion, Harrods department store heir, Dodi Fayed. The couple was being chased by aggressive paparazzie (photographers) on motorcycles at the time of the crash.

Just thought you’d like to know.

The looting news is depressing and I think the extensive coverage of it is probably not helpful. I tend to agree with Jonah that food, water, diapers - you may as well be pragmatic and take them - the food is only going to rot, anyway - but the looting of people’s homes, the stealing of televisions and goods - it’s not right. It cannot be excused. And what the hell are you going to do with a vacuum cleaner with a world under water? (I think the press would be really smart to abandon coverage of looting - they are complicating things for themselves, even with their captioning. Go see!

When New York was attacked on 9/11 there was no looting. There is no excuse for it, now. I know the situations are not the same - NY had power, for one thing - but I do think in this case leadership makes a difference. Mayor Giuliani was a reassuring, strong and confident presence in NY. Mayor Nagin, even before the storm struck, looked to me like a man who increasingly wished everything would just go away.

Hugh Hewitt is also thinking about media responsibility, particularly as it - insatiably hungry for new images - decides to focus on looters. Wizbang says bloggers should stop playing Monday Morning Quarterback and do more - he has suggestions for the “more” and his point is well taken…but it is the nature of the blogger to do both, to help and to kvetch! All kidding aside, Paul is homeless now, and a paypal button has been set up to help him here.

I’m figuring we’ll be seeing First Responders mobilizing from surrounding states. I know some of my NYFD friends are talking about heading down that way to help out. Godspeed.

PunditGuy has some firsthand refugee blogging.

Completely O.T., but you’re probably ready for O.T. Was Shakespeare a Catholic? I know it doesn’t matter, but he’s always fascinated me.

A little more OT, but this time it’s important, Ed Morrissey continues his dogged and intense scrutiny of the 9/11 Commission. I’m glad he’s doing it, too!

Finally - no way to get around it…Bad press for the President

More links on Katrina here.

First - a little good news in the midst of all of this death and destruction, there is life.

Glenn Reynolds has a good list of Flood Aid Organizations and Truth Laid Bear is in the process of organizing a bloggers consortium of aid. Send him (or Glenn Reynolds) an email if you want to participate. TLB also has continual updates.

Another excellent resource of Aid Organizations here. Amy Welborn also has a heartrending notice from one of her readers.

From an emergency notice put on the TV station’s web site, which mirrors a bulletin they just had on TV (I’m watching online):
****ALL RESIDENTS ON THE EAST BANK OF ORLEANS AND JEFFERSON REMAINING IN THE METRO AREA ARE BEING TOLD TO EVACUATE AS EFFORTS TO SANDBAG THE LEVEE BREAK HAVE ENDED. THE PUMPS IN THAT AREA ARE EXPECTED TO FAIL SOON AND 9 FEET OF WATER IS EXPECTED IN THE ENTIRE EAST BANK. WITHIN THE NEXT 12-15 HOURS****>>
As all of us native Louisianians know, the “entire East bank” constitutes all of New Orleans, Metairie, etc.
The question of New Orleans’ survival as a city was in some question an hour ago. Now, I think the question may have been answered. New Orleans will not be habitable for a very long time, and then only after the expenditure of unfathomable treasure.
May God have mercy. Lord have mercy. I am out of words for prayer other than that. Lord have mercy.
I think I am going to go cry now.

Michelle Malkin is tremendously on top of things and up to the minute. If you haven’t checked her out, just open a window and keep her there. Hit “refresh” from time to time - she’s quite amazing. Right now she is posting about the situation at New Orleans Parish Prison, and I must say that Confederate Yankee has been on that story all day. He also has a response to the question of whether NO should be rebuilt.

Michelle is also linking to some really shameful Koz madness - people who can’t let go of the Bush-hatred for a moment (this is ALL his fault, of course - because he went to war and shorted the National Guard, because he dared to go on vacation, and dared to be in San Diego today and dared to…umm…oh, yeah, not sign the Kyoto treaty and dared to…well, he must have done something else.) I won’t even link to this blather. But it is very, very sad that in the midst of all of this human misery and suffering, as so many people are trying to band together and help, some can only sit and stew in this weird sort of mental masturbation in which they are trapped.

The National Guardsmen are on the job.

In the midst of brutal ugliness, Hugh Hewitt has found a tiny, beautiful sprig - a bit of writing from Times- Picayune staffer, James Varney:

A 20th century symbol, William Faulkner, was first published in The Times-Picayune while he was living in the city and writing his first novel. He called the city, “a courtesan whose hold is strong upon the mature, and to whose charm the young must respond.” Now, in the 21st century, the courtesan cries for help. The response from young and old will decide if she lives or dies.

Quite true. The president began to respond to this Hurricane before it even struck. Now it is up to how the rest of us respond - including the press - to see if this catastrophe will be a monsterous ending or if something new and fresh may be gleaned from it. I wish I could say I felt hopeful.

Don Singleton is linking to Rich Lowry’s excellent debunking of the Katrina-is-from-global-warming theme. Come on, people, even the freaking New York Times has admitted it’s not true.

Hugh also has links to churches in NO and Biloxi and Jewish organizations as well.

Lucianne.com has a running thread with breaking news and lots of first person information. As with Michelle’s blog, just keep a window open and keep checking it out.

Sensible Mom picked a heck of a day to come back from her blogging break.

Varifrank is good ‘n pissed and I am too. He quotes the Germans blaming the US for Katrina and writes:

Over the history of the United States our answer to the needs of the people of other countries as they face natural and man made disasters is “how can we help”. The European answer is a shrug, the words “you deserve it” and a giggle. And that my friends, is what makes us who we are and who they are.

I am praying that America can bring herself to shine, as she always has, through this disaster. Frank urges people to donate blood, if they can. Ed Morrissey has more to say about Germany, and it’s worth reading.

And don’t forget to check out the latest on Able Danger when you have a second. In the midst of the Katrina disaster story, some overexposed stories are happily being pushed aside, but I don’t think we want this to be one of them.

Another story we’d rather not see lost, Iraqis are demonstrating for their Constitution.

Maxed Out Mama is thinking about perspective.

This story is going to get lost in Katrina news, but I am posting it, in case anyone wants to read about how terror is losing its grip as a means of movement.

Are you getting the sense, watching the press on this story, that they have been caught completely off-guard, somehow? They seem not to be able to find their focus on this story - unlike the 9/11 disaster wherein the press managed to do some excellent work, it seems like they are falling apart on the Katrina story. I haven’t been impressed.