Maggie's Farm

Daniel Pipes on the Thwarted L.A. Terror Spree

"Terrorist plans that fail don't make headlines, but they should. This was a near-miss. Home-grown radical Islam has arrived and will do damage.

American prisons are comparable to the banlieues in France, the principal recruiting grounds for a criminal form of Islam. As Frank Gaffney observes, "The alleged New Folsom State plot had better rouse us out of our stupor." Will it? Senate hearings in 2003 on prison jihadism yielded distressingly few results.

The emergence of a primarily African-American Islamist terrorist cell signals a new trend. Native-born Americans have taken part in terrorist operations before, but (again, as in London), this case this marks their first large-scale plot."

Read entire.

Sometimes, it's just fun to play the immature gotcha blame game. So I will. I blame the storm. So does Rick.  Fact: Search and rescue and evacuation is not FEMA's job. Fact: Governments don't do very much, very well, except spend $.

Dems strategize about how to best profit from Katrina, here.

Bolton on the job. HT, View from 1776. He has already quietly done a great service.

"If you don't leave, you're on your own." When Nagin said it, he meant it. They still can't get everyone to leave town. Can't leave is one thing. Won't leave is another. At this point, I would suggest "reasonable force." Anyone still there is either deranged or wants to stay and loot.

Owning firearms is a good idea. Auster.

Ayatollah Komenei calls for Jihad against World

Nagin blames Blanco. And the pumps are working now. But anyone who wants to move back to that cesspool is nuts.

Reason # 7,657,789 not to trust the NYT (P'line)

Minor problem: No more NO Etouffe. Open call to NO chefs and sauciers - email us - we'll find work for you here.

Patterico's primary function, IMO, is to find dishonesty, failures of intellectual integrity, and bias at the LAT. He found one here and one here.

NOW gives women a bad name: Shrieking hormonal hysteria re Rehnquist's replacement (and of course, Bush caused the hurricane,too, they say). Meanwhile, Dems exult in his death (via Michelle).

Evacuation Failure - at Pennywit. Hurricane Graph - Proof the wacko enviros are lying thru their teeth - from R. Nation:

Sen. Landrieu threatens violence if anyone criticizes LA: Powerline. Come and get me, Senator. I'd never hit a lady. Reason # 7,387,563 that I cannot read the NYT: Captain Ed. Shays and Lieberman vow probe into f-ups.  Cole asks whether it is possible to evacaute any place. Probably not any city. Excellent timeline of the disaster from Env. Economics.  Oh, and now I see NO did have a plan - they just didn't follow it: Macho Nachos

Chertoff: "We're in Control"

My thoughts: Three or four days late and a dollar short. Finally, the Feds are forced to shove the locals out of the way and take over NO. Just like we said. Here. It may not be legal, but we now have de-facto martial law and a federal take-over of the failed LA and NO govts. But where was FEMA on Weds? And why wouldn't the Gov. call in the National Guard to deal with the "insurgents"? And why did the Fed agencies watch while the local authorities were paralyzed with indecision, ignorance, and obvious incompetence, with barbarians running rampant? (We read that as late as Friday the Governor refused to let the Feds take over.) I want to hear the story from Bush, the head of FEMA, Chertoff, the Gov. of LA, the LA National Guard, the Mayor of NO, the NO Chief of Police, and the NO Chief of the Fire and Rescue Dept., the Chief of the LA State Police, the head of the LA National Guard, and the the person in charge of NO disaster planning. Under oath, please. Again, not that this was a manageable situation but rather one which was certain to result in death and destruction - but you try anything. It was clear on Tuesday that things were going to hell, and all of the past predictions for NO came true. Heck, even Maggie's Farm predicted it last Sunday: "Crash on the Levee." But I already know the answers: there was no real plan for a Cat 4 or Cat 5 storm, other than hope. And hope is not a plan. And, may I ask, what is Chertoff doing with this? This isn't Homeland Security. Is it? Oh, I see, FEMA is now under Homeland Security. Why?

Combat operations in NO: An American Somalia

"Numerous soldiers also told Army Times that they have been shot at by armed civilians in New Orleans. Spokesmen for the Joint Task Force Headquarters at the Superdome were unaware of any servicemen being wounded in the streets, although one soldier is recovering from a gunshot wound sustained during a struggle with a civilian in the dome Wednesday night. “I never thought that at a National Guardsman I would be shot at by other Americans,” said Spc. Philip Baccus of the 527th Engineer Battalion. “And I never thought I’d have to carry a rifle when on a hurricane relief mission. This is a disgrace.” " Read entire.

Gov. Blanco refused help

From the Anchoress:

It seems President Bush tried on Friday night, after meeting with Gov. Blanco, to get her to streamline and centralize the continued efforts in New Orleans. Right away, political motivations are suspected, both in his offer, and her refusal.

Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state’s emergency operations center said Saturday.

The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law.

Indeed it would - and needed, too. Read entire.

Lessons learned from Ivan ignored

"A feckless state governor and New Orleans' mayor repeated the same mistakes they made with Ivan, and hundreds of thousands of largely poor people were forced to endure conditions that one associates with the Third World - not the richest nation on the planet." Read entire.

The Race Issue: Bring it on, says Rick Moran

Rick discusses the destructiveness of the War on Poverty, Moynihan's prescient warnings, and the govt-created culture of dependency. I think he overstates the case, however: the black middle class has been growing rapidly, and it is not only blacks who got caught in the culture of dependency - more whites than blacks. Still, it's a thoughtful essay on a subject which has been highlighted by NO. One paragraph, re LBJ's War on Poverty:

"All these income distribution schemes did was hasten the destruction of the black family which led to a vicious cycle of more dependency, more frustration, and more anger. Even the welfare reform of the 1990’s did little to change what had become a national shame; a permanent underclass unable to escape the ravages of poverty. Millions of young men have grown up, lived, fought, and died in the streets who didn’t have to all because the compassion merchants and anti-poverty bullies have failed to grasp the debilitating effects of dependence on government and the causal relationship between that dependence and the “otherness” felt by African Americans in general but especially by young black men."

From a Lousiana guy, now living in New England

Brewton from View from 1776. commented on our NO post yesterday, re LA culture. One paragraph:

The ethos of the state, particularly in the southern, river delta
half, became entirely one of "eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow
we die."  New Orleans was a great commercial city (the south's largest
and richest as recently as 1945) that rebounded swiftly from the
devastating 1927 Mississippi River flood.  The self-reliance of that
day is long gone.

Bill Clinton tells the truth...more or less: "Shit happens."

Re Katrina, on Captain's Quarters

Government officials and elected leaders urge the citizens to evacuate to save their lives. They warn of the scope of the impending storm and the potential of devastation. They mobilize and priorize. Hospital staff stay on duty to care for the sick and infirm. The doors to the largest facility available that may withstand the storm are opened in hopes that those who had no way of escaping, or somehow learned of them too late, can find refuge.

And tens of thousands ignore them and remain in their homes.

Many of them have cars parked in their driveways. Many who don't are able-bodied and capable of walking. They ignore the warning and simply remain where they are, though they have children and elderly in their care.

With the storm passed, the waters rising faster than the heat, electricity failed and supplies running out, when the truth begins to dawn on the survivors - that the state is not all-powerful, that the mere human beings charged with coming to their aid,are, in fact, mere human beings who cannot come sweeping to their rescue like the cavalry over a Hollywood hill, that there are so many to rescue, because like they, so many have ignored the warnings - do they pool their resources?

Do they find strength in human dignity and sanctity of life? Do the strong come to the aid of the weak? Do they summon patience and resolve in the knowledge that help is on the way, if only they can find the courage to help themselves a little longer?

What is their response to this consequence that has befallen them, a consequence largely of their own making?

"You owe us" .

They take what others have failed to provide, those things required to sustain life - jewelry and television sets. And when taking isn't enough (it never is), they devolve into predation and anarchy, abandon the weak, turn upon the innocent and each other - and all in a matter of days.

In former times entire nations found the strength to rise to the occasion, ordinary people understood that survival depended on their shared common decency and respect for their fellow citizen. That, by co-operating and persevering, they might create coping mechanisms through pooling skills and resources, and to be sure, the majority of those trapped in New Orleans will have done just that.

But, in former times, whole nations were not living in a time of entitlement, where all and any are provided for by an all-encompassing "social safety net", funded by those faceless others with more, who have life easier, whom we have been trained to envy.

Those human failings, irresponsible and anti-social behaviors that once brought consequences in the community - shame, ostracization, and deserved personal deprivation - are today excused, assigned new and neutral nomenclature (all the better for medical diagnosis), prescribed "tolerance", and if possible, assigned the politics of race or class, so that collective guilt may be mined to ensure that self-destructive behavior gains not only acceptance, but state funding.

The predatory violence and anarchy befalling New Orleans is not the result of a freak convergence of forces brought on by unnatural disaster.

It's a warning.

Read the entire excellent piece.

Lord of the Flies

From Newsmax:

Armed gangs of roaming thugs are the primary reason relief efforts in flood-ravaged New Orleans have been delayed, a prominent New York congressman said Friday morning.

"The main problem in obstructing the relief operation - it's almost like a Mogadishu-like gang situation that's prevailing in New Orleans," Rep. Peter King told WABC Radio's John Gambling.

From Gov. Barbour (Mississippi):

"We're going to rebuild the coast bigger and better than ever," he said. "But it's not going to get done next month. It's probably not going to get finished next year. It's going to be a long time. We're in it for the long haul."

Do you call that "learning from experience"?

And a quote from Powerline (we rarely quote them, since we assume you read them, but I can't help it:

"Dr. David Caskey writes from Louisiana. We can't vouch for what he says; all I know is, he's there and we're not:

A lot is going on down here that is not in the news. First, our esteemed governor and the mayor of NO are both idiots. This is the real reason for problems. Second, the NO police force is second only to the mafia in corruption and much of the looting and theft are coming from them as well as their lassitude in doing their job. Third, all Louisiana communities need clothes of any kind. See if your local Salvation Army will send to the shelters throughout the state and blog to give any clothes to the [Salvation] Army. You notice I did not say the Red Cross, they do not have a sizable presence here and are only fishing for money like after 9/11."

Confirmation of above from a reader:

"That's right--cops are seriously corrupt and if you do not act like a racist - avoiding black neighborhoods, which is most of the city - and being careful of where you go and what you do - by the time you have lived in New Orleans one month, you will be forced to. Expect no help from their cops. Its' a big dirty secret. Relief does not get in because they are scared shitless and they should be--I personally know over ten people held at gunpoint including my best friend and roommate while I lived there. You don't garner a name like the Big Easy for nothing. NO is the crime capital of the US, and it has never bothered the Mayor. This isn't about race - I am not white - it's just a black city, and a city with minimal morals."

And more confirmation here.

But, despite all of the politicization and lies and problems, the main thing now is just to help those folks, the good and the bad.

T. "Bubba" Bechtol, part time City Councilman from Pensacola, Florida, was
asked on a local live radio talk show the other day just what he thought of
the allegations of torture of the Iraqi prisoners. His reply prompted his
ejection from the studio, but to thunderous applause from the audience.

"If hooking up an Iraqi prisoner's scrotum to a car's battery cables will
save one American GI's life, then I have just two things to say: "Red is positive - Black is negative"

The Help Pours In - Up to $100 million as of yesterday noon, according to this piece in the NYT.

The Cavalry Arrives - 12,000 National Guard troops arrive.

Denny Hastert must be a Maggie's Farm reader: "Don't re-build." Here.

And so must the Editorial writers at the NYT - "The conceit that we can control the natural world is what made New Orleans vulnerable." Here. However, they undo that statement by proceeding to explain how if govt had spent 17 billion, it might have helped.

Press urges Gov. Barbour to blame Bush for Katrina. And BlameBush has the grisly truth about Bush's visit today to New Orleans:

But will the cameras be on as he cashes the check for all the war profits he's made as working families struggle to keep their heads above water? Will they capture the look of orgasmic joy on his face as he surveys the piles of dead Democrat voters? Will the microphones record the screams - the horrible screams - as Bush rips the head off a hurricane victim with his bare hands and drinks the blood from his skull? Of course not. The media will show us exactly what Rove wants us to see: Bush hugging paid shills with phony compassion.

Katrina effects on travel, here.

Bayou Looters in CT - Not all of the looters are in New Orleans. Also from the NYT: "Federal prosecutors sued the Bayou Funds yesterday, saying the hedge fund company and securities firm run by Samuel Israel III directed a years-long fraud that attracted more than $300 million from investors. Mr. Israel is said to be at the Westchester County house he rents for $32,000 a month from Donald J. Trump. "Click here: U.S. Sues Bayou; Fraud Cited - New York Times