Katrina hits Crawford - Bush decamps to DC

National Guard troops could not have stopped the hurricane or reduced its immediate devastation. However, a few 10,000 trained and organized troops available in the aftermath could well make a real difference in the on-going efforts to provide order, supplies, and assistance.

This administration is legendary for quickly recognizing potential political liabilities and mobilizing to counter them. And they are trying. The problem for them is that the video and 24/7 reporting make it obvious to everyone. Armed force could stop looters in New Orleans. Helicopters and Hummers could help the hundreds of people wading through dirty water. Only the National Guard could provide help on a scale that is commensurate with the need.

President Bush's credibility has been melting away as Americans belatedly correlate (1) the growing costs - money, lives, morality - of the war-without-end with (2) their knowledge that it was avoidable. A soldier's mother's vigil called more attention to the failures of leadership. Now mother Nature has mercilessly exposed how overextended we are. Everybody will feel it soon in higher gas prices - the auto service manager said today his supplier was raising prices $.40 overnight. We can be thankful that we share only a trivial part of our countryman's devastation. Releasing oil from the national reserve is a desperate effort to appear effective. The price of oil did not increase much because it is the refineries, not the crude oil, that is limiting. It is the limitations of our national leaders, now tragically exposed, that is the most damaging.

Rich men, poor country

This is rich: Alan Greenspan and other economists are warning about excessive government and individual debt. As Chair of the Federal Reserve, Greenspan has been a key regulator of the US economy for 18 years. Now, in his last year as Chair, his swan song is a lament for irresponsible financial behavior that he has aided and abetted!

Greenspan explicitly defended the current administration's penchant for increasing spending without increasing taxes to pay for it. Inheritance taxes were cut to allow the richest to pass nearly all their wealth on to their heirs. Taxes on the top 1% have fallen the most dramatically while CEOs in the US increased their pay over 50% last year. Our class mobility is disappearing - the very rich get richer, the poor stay poor. We celebrate the very few "jackpot" winners that manage to beat the odds and get rich, but its rarity proves the evisceration of the meritocracy. Moreover, we delude ourselves into thinking we are owners in an ownership society when in fact we are debtors in an indebted society. A poll reported that 20% of Americans thought they were already in the top few percent of income earners while an additional 20% thought they soon would be. This isn't optimism, it's delusion.

Just 25 years ago, Ronald Reagan was elected president with a promise to reduce the national debt. Instead, he tripled it. Republicans once provided financial discipline but since Reagan was beatified by the right, the wanna-be candidates of both parties have hardly given lip service to debt and compete only in pandering. Party on and don't worry about the bills: (no) bread and circus.

Gee! Email....

Soon, we will have to be reminded that there was seach and email and instant messaging and blogging, etc. in the benighted days before Google (BG), because G is working towards dominating all these functions. I am devoted to Google search - anything else is cluttered, slower, and seems less reliable. But now I've got Gmail - email from Google. And, as you can see, I bloG...

Talk about "viral marketing" and buzz - you've got to be invited to join Gmail! A friend offered - how could I refuse? All the old (and new) adages tell you to just do it: don't look a gift horse in the mouth, opportunity only knocks once... Nevermind that we are talking about just a webmail site. Invitation! The Gall! In G's defense, the service is in beta development stage so they may want to limit the load before they let in the great unwashed. See how insidious the invitation-only approach works? It's like getting past the bouncers at some hot new club (I can only imagine). I'm shocked, shocked at my own smug response...

Unlike Google search, the Ur G (the UrG to search?), which was a breath of fresh air after the increasingly cluttered and slow-loading search pages of the time, Gmail does not appear dramatically different from other webmail sites such as Yahoo (which I rely on). Gmail does offer an intruiging, attractive, and perhaps actually intuitive new discussion metaphor for organizing emails. Instead of each email having its own line in the inbox, whole email threads (postings and replies) occupy a line. When you click on the line, the emails separate and sort themselves vertically based on the sent/received time. Folders are supposed to be replaced by better search tools. Gosh (©), I'm talking myself into liking Gmail in principle.

G bought the Usenet archive from Deja.com in 2001. Blogger was a developed by someone else and bought by G in 2003. Now G is starting instant messaging - which, after a rumored dalliance with meetroduction, is apparently home grown. So far, this looks like Microsoft in their days of assembling Office and then buying a web browser. But somehow it feels different. Maybe that's because G has been free so far. We can try and never have to buy. Sure, there are hidden costs, but there are very small increments and easily ignored. Also, the products to date have set new standards for ease of use and function, something that could rarely be said about MS products since the early years. Google, founded in 1998, is only 7 years old...

Nice pair!

Lee Iacocca and Snoop Doggy Dog, an old hustler and a real one, appear together in a commercial for Chrysler cars. Maybe Lee (“mocha-Cocoa” Snoop?) can supplement his retirement income by appearing in some of Snoop's “girls gone wild” videos. Geezer Gangsta. Suggested tag line: “If you can find better soft porn, buy it!”

How does Snoop maintain his street credibility (he does, doesn't he?) while appearing in so many movies, ads, etc aimed at the middle class? He's a self-admitted former pimp (corrections welcome if I've slandered him) and still obviously exploits women sexually for profit through the videos. Why is he acceptable in a country that won't tolerate even a glimpse of breast during the Super Bowl? He does seem like a nice guy – is that enough?

Credo (this I believe)

Although individual “this I believe” essays on NPR are thought-provoking, collectively they are repetitive and unsurprising. Sure, we all want to make the world a better place. The interesting differences come in how we imagine this better place and how we think it can be attained. These differences would be stark if the essayists were drawn from a wider range. The essays are from people in "all walks of life". Let’s have a Nazi or an anarchist state their beliefs (and not just a libertarian or a smooth right winger posing as a patriot). I think they can be skilled at presenting an attractive, compelling or at least coherent and consistent world views. Internal consistency alone is persuasive. I suppose it might be challenging to get a real Nazi to say what they think for the benefit of National “Pinko” Radio listeners.

What do I believe? I believe in the importance of asking questions. But why do I believe this is important? Is it because it was rewarded during a formative stage in my life or because it was internally rewarding? "Internally rewarding" sounds at least potentially noble but it probably translates into "a behavior that causes the release of some endogenous, morphine-like substance". I don't claim any universal higher value in being open. I think it's largely a consequence of self doubt and awarness of error. How nice an assured self confidence - the unexamined life - would be! Or would it...?

I’m learning too slowly the profound truth underlying the casual aphorisms "it takes all kinds" or “different strokes for different folks”. Before, I thought it was just a tolerant attitude towards differences. Now, I think it reflects the amazing range of perception experienced by people and animals. I’ve been deeply moved by things that leave my friends unmoved and vice versa. The Bible story of Mary and Martha is a good start for appreciating differences but the brilliant truths (if not Truth) within the Bible were too layered for me. One “bright line” or guiding principle is my “gut reaction”. However, some reactions are learned prejudices and should be unlearned. Others should be listened to. I long ago gave up trying to “appreciate” a live symphony orchestra but I just love to hear opera, especially live, or Broadway show tunes, or a country music song with a good story. Why?

Tgrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr [<- typed by Sarah, who is more panther than "Tiger"!]