Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Katrina Lessons: Planning and More Planning

Watching the 5th anniversary news shows on Hurricane Katrina and its devastation reminded me of how quickly we forget. Our daily lives get in the way of keeping such a tragedy at the forefront. The pictures were even more shocking today, watching what happened at the Super Dome and on rooftops and on bridges. Or I should say, what didn’t happen.

I heard more than one commentator say something like, “if we can get aid to Haiti and to Pakistan and to a number of other foreign countries within days, if not hours, than how could what happened in New Orleans have occurred?” Where were the airlifted food and water drops? Why did it take four days to get troops in place?

Never mind the poor and inadequate pre-planning that should have been done by the city, the state, and the feds. We can’t change that now but we sure can change the planning for such an emergency response when a disaster strikes again as it surely will.

The government can maintain stockpiles of water and MREs all over the country. By rotating the stock in the normal course of daily use, there will always be a supply in warehouses around our many military bases. Contracts with bottled water makers, food purveyors, and other necessities can be in place for a quick response using trucks or a few spare Air Force C-5s which we have all over the country. If we can deploy a “surge” to the Middle East, how about the same for the Midwest, or the southeast…you get the picture.

Finally, we have to train our citizens to have a plan of their own, especially when they live in an area where natural disasters occur. Families should have contact plans, phone trees, meeting sites, and the like in place before they are needed. It was said that even with the evacuation order in New Orleans (given a little late), many people did not have the means to move out of the way. Maybe true with elderly or the disabled, but in the case of Katrina, there was enough time to walk north far enough to avoid the flooding before the levees failed. To heck with your property, lives are far more precious and finding a ride or walking would have been better than living in the Super Dome, or worse, drowning. The government can’t do it all, but it should have its own plan of action, plus should actively encourage all citizens to have plans and “go-bags” of their own.

What happened in New Orleans five years ago should never happen again. Unfortunately, it will.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Why is Congress' Approval Rating So Low?

For some reason Congress keeps rolling along, thinking that the have credibility to continue passing laws we don’t need or want, and spending money like we had it.

With only a 19% approval rating (I would like to test those 19% for dementia), Congress should have its collective tail between its collective legs and out on the hustings begging for forgiveness. But that won’t happen. They will continue with their collective arrogance and hubris to spend money they really think is theirs, raising the deficit because they themselves won’t have to pay it.

A few of them don’t seem to know the rules the rest of us have to follow like reporting income, not using business (House) stationary for personal benefit, and so much more. They can’t even follow the U.S. Constitution to get a bill passed. The Senate passed the bill to increase border patrol agents and increase border security. Then the House was called back from recess to pass the bill, which would then go to the President. Only one thing wrong. It was a spending bill which, by law, has to originate in the House.

So then the Senate had to be called back, unless most agreed (including Republicans) that they could do a voice vote over the phone or some such workaround. Thanks to a few bipartisan Senators, the bill was passed although not in the usual way.

How can they and their staff not know something about spending bills that we all learned in fifth grade?

But you know what? Nothing will change; or rather not much will change. We, the citizens, rant and complain and rail against both sides and even incumbents. But when we march into the ballot box in November, we will do what we almost always do and vote for our incumbents. Somehow, although we hate Congress, we seem to think our own guys and gals serving us directly are usually all right. It’s must be those from the other states who are bad. Heaven help us. We are starting to see “The Rise and Fall of the American Empire” and not enough of us seem to care.





Saturday, August 7, 2010

Counter-insurgency Seldom Works: A Long Costly Slog

As the American people become increasing tired of the war in Afghanistan, the military and the administration keep looking for victories that will show that the war is winnable. Fewer people believe that everyday.

Most wars of history involve “traditional” methods taught in military academies, where a sort of chess game was played between the sides. In Afghanistan, there is no clear enemy and one that certainly does not subscribe to the “rules of war.” The insurgency continues on with the U.S. and (dwindling) allies playing a sort of “Whack-a-Mole” but never getting to the core.

Guerilla warfare is not new, but it is the lesser method that is often looked down upon by our trained generals. The problem, it seems, is that there are no rules, and therefore hard to define the “game.” In the U.S. Revolutionary War, the colonists essentially won by their guerrilla methods attacking from all sides, within towns, and often without a uniform to identify the combatants from the citizenry.

In the U.S. Civil War, the Confederate Quantrill’s Raiders were successful at terrorizing the people and the Union armies alike. In fact, in 1865 when General Lee could see that the cause was lost, he kept fighting for honor. He was approached by his soldiers who begged him to let them fight by insurgency and guerilla methods, which Lee knew to be their only chance for any success. He knew that insurgents would wreak terror and murder on the North with the Union army unable to quell the actions. Lee knew that he would not have to surrender and that the army as guerillas could keep the population terrorized for decades, and eventually the North would ask for a truce. This was the best and probably only chance the Confederacy had of any success in keeping their new country and with it, its slavery.

Yet Lee, a statesman at heart, also knew he could not put his country (the U.S.A., not just the C.S.A) through this prolonged nightmare of unending battle. He chose to say no to those who wanted to mix with the population and fight in the streets. He did not want to have the country go through that pain.

Today we have a similar situation in Afghanistan. The insurgents will continue to terrorize and mix with the population to plant bombs, murder civilians, execute aid workers, and the U.S. with all its might cannot whack the last mole. Lee was right in thinking that the Union would eventually declare a truce and stop the war, especially after Lincoln was gone. Today, the same thing is starting to happen. Public support is fading and successes are few. Afghanistan does not want our help, cannot form a government that works, and fails to even police themselves. While fighting insurgents we are desperately training Afghans to take over and they are not up to the job. It will not work. We must preserve what treasure we have left, and certainly spill no more blood thinking that we are fighting the ghost of al-Qaeda. No one seems to have a better idea.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Another Peevity: Hey Hey Ho Ho Has Got to Go!

The protests of today will never match those of the 60s and the Viet Nam War era. Today's marches are tame, often lame, and the lamest always resort to the banal chant that goes something like, "Hey Hey, Ho Ho, this (insert the Evil du jour) has got to go,'' and then it is incessantly repeated by seemingly intelligent beings.
I wonder about that. Most protests require some thought and at least a little dedication to the "HH, HH" cause at hand. Why can't someone come up with a chant, rant, or polemic that is more creative and expressive? I suppose that if something "has to go", the chant has to rhyme with "go". So how about "bobo", or "momo". Even better and often more relevant would be "dodo".

I fear this will remain a peeve of mine as this time-honored ditty will rear it monotonous head every time someone wants to protest for a cause. So I say, "Ho Ho, Hey Hey, this old drivel is bound to stay."