Friday, October 07, 2005
No Third Way
Perhaps because of domestic troubles, perhaps because of the accelerating spate of truly brutal attacks abroad, perhaps because of recent reports suggesting the demise of the “Bush Doctrine,” George W. Bush took the time yesterday to reiterate his abstract beliefs. His speech, once again, was excellent and inspiring. An excellent editorial in the Jerusalem Post discussing his speech an editorial culminated in the ultimate tragic observation:
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Monday, October 03, 2005
On the Sad Demise of the Bush Doctrine
I’ve been saying it for three years: I’m a huge fan of the Bush Doctrine. Someday, I hope to live in a country who adopts it as its foreign policy. When I hear Bush’s second inaugural, I even experienced a glimmer of hope--perhaps I do. Sadly, no. And I’m hardly the only one who’s notice it. Michael Rubin provides loads of examples here.
[UPDATE 10/5: On a related note, see my exchange with Reed Hundt on TPM Cafe].
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Who is Harriet Miers?
Granted, it’s not exactly “Who is John Galt?” but it is topical.
Harriet Miers is George Bush’s friend, and as of this morning, his nominee to replace Sandra Day O’Connor as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. So far, that’s about all that I know about her. My quick perusal of the web hasn’t been terribly helpful. As far as I can tell, that’s about all that anyone knows about her.
But I do have two thoughts.
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What Hurricane Andrew Tells Us About How To Fix FEMA
As GAO exhaustively studied FEMA’s disappointing response to Hurricane Andrew, it also presented a new model for FEMA, state, and local government response efforts. The GAO report, DISASTER MANAGEMENT: Improving the Nation’s Response to Catastrophic Disasters, offers an effective response approach that required no additional legislative authority or amendments to Posse Comitatus. I’ve excerpted most of the report below, but read it in pdf version if you can.
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Monday, September 26, 2005
Initiative and Responsibility
David Brown had an interesting piece in yesterday’s Washington Post Outlook section, titled Over-Ruled. Brown discusses the dense network of rules that, as we now all know, complicated efforts to provide adequate relief in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. But Brown’s basic point highlights a very dangerous phenomenon.
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Sunday, September 25, 2005
The Airwaves of Lincoln
[UPDATE 9/25: If you want to hear the interview, follow this link to the WILL archive for the week of Sept. 19, 2005. You can find me conveniently filed under Thursday.]
I’ve got another radio interview coming up, this one on WILL-AM, Illinois public radio. I’ll be on a show called Focus 580 this Thursday morning, September 15, 2005, at 11 AM Central Time. We’ll start by discussing Digital Phoenix and then see where the conversation goes. Digital Copyrights? Antitrust? Offshoring? The tech sector? Who knows. It all seems to be fair game. Stay tuned. . .
[NEW! Rescheduled for 9/22. See information below]
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Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Truth in Advertising
From the pilot on my United flight from SFO to IAD:
“We know you have a choice of many bankrupt airlines. Thank you for choosing us.”
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Saturday, September 17, 2005
Why Not Rush To Judgment?
Following is an excerpt from page 15 of the Department of Homeland Security’s National Response Plan. The Secretary of Homeland Security is supposed to initiate action when the incident is so significant that local government can’t handle it. So let’s stop talking about whether Bush and Chertoff had the authority to respond, the plans in place, or whether the mayor and governor were at fault. The real question is why didn’t Chertoff and Bush exercise their authority. Were they derelict in duty?
A basic premise of the NRP is that incidents are generally handled at the lowest jurisdictional level possible. Police, fire, public health and medical, emergency management, and other personnel are responsible for incident management at the local level. In some instances, a Federal agency in the local area may act as a first responder and may provide direction or assistance consistent with its specific statutory authorities and responsibilities. In the vast majority of incidents, State and local resources and interstate mutual aid normally provide the first line of emergency response and incident management support.
When an incident or potential incident is of such severity, magnitude, and/or complexity that it is considered an Incident of National Significance according to the criteria established in this plan, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with other Federal departments and agencies, initiates actions to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from the incident. These actions are taken in conjunction with State, local, tribal, nongovernmental, and private-sector entities as appropriate to the threat or incident. In the context of Stafford Act disasters or emergencies, DHS coordinates supplemental Federal assistance when the consequences of the incident exceed State, local, or tribal capabilities.
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