Call A Nut A Nut

North Korea drives me crazy, but that is only because its leader is certifiable.

In the past three days NK has promised, again, to swear off building nukes in return for economic aid and security guarantees. The decision was widely hailed as a major breakthrough, but not 24 hours later Kim Il Jong, or Il Jong I can never remember, decided that blackmail was a better course and declared his country would keep its nuclear program if the West did not supply him with two light-water nuclear reactors.

He did not even wait to see what type of economic aid was forthcoming.

Today a North Korean newspaper said the only reason the U.S. wants that country to drop its nuke program is to facilitate an all out U.S. nuclear attack on Kim and company.

"In a word, it intends to disarm and crush us to death with nuclear weapons," the commentary said.

These words might have been printed as a newspaper editorial, but since the governments runs everything we know they came straight from crazy Kim's mouth.

With this latest bit of insanity, I think it's time for President Bush or Condi Rice to call out this nut job.

In a nationally televised press conference Bush or Rice should say, "any agreement with North Korea is impossible because its leader is certifiably insane. He makes agreements only to reverse themselves 24-hours later. He is unstable and does not understand how the world operates. He should not be in charge of a convenience store, much less a nuclear weapons armed nation."

The U.S. should then categorically deny that it intends to implement any type of regime change with North Korea. We will only fight if it attacks America or an ally.

"With that understood we will not give one penny of aid, food or otherwise, North Korea while Kim is in charge and we will ask the rest of the world to do the same. This will not include a blockade, no force will be used. The unfortunate aspect of this decision is millions will starve in North Korea. To stop this from happening we call upon the North Korean people to take matters into their own hands and depose Kim. We know that country's military leaders are listening. We know they must be more sensible then their leader and realize he will take them down the road to disaster."

And then the president or Condi turns and walks away from the podium.

Communists Alive and Well in USA

Who would have thought that 16 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall that there would still be an active Communist Party in this country.

Well they are and to prove it here is the Marxist's web site.

The last few years must have been tough on our Reds, just check out their tag line.

fight for peace, equality, democracy and socialism

Democracy? What in the world are they talking about. Is it a case of if you can't beat'em, join'em or have Joe Stalin's followers just not as dedicated as in the old days.

Why

This is one of the few times in my life I feel bad for politicians.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina these people from the city, state and federal levels are all taking more flak then a B-17 formation over Berlin in 1944.

Truthfully, some blame for the humanitarian disaster that struck should be aportioned out to each level. The city should have done a better job evacuating or at least ensuring that their shelters were above flood level and properly staffed with police. The state could have called out the National Guard prior to the storm striking, and the president could have been hovering over the area the day after the storm left.

I've said this before and will now repeat it, people expect too much from America. We are a superpower, but not Supermen. Despite lacking super powers look what has already been accomplished. Tens of thousands of people have been relocated and many of them are settling down in their new cities. Electricity is being returned, infrastructure repaired and other evacuees are heading home.

No other country in the world could have accomplished so much in a week. None. Period. End of statement.

But this has not been fast enough. Much like the person who thinks 30 seconds is to long to wait for a hot dog to microwave, the world feels we are dragged our feet. Granted, many of those shouting the loadest are those with the most to gain by making the government look bad. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, everyone in Hollywood and politicians of all stripes.

What did they expect. President Bush to snap his fingers and make everything OK? The unfortunate answer is yes.

International Aid

Well, the othern nation's of the world are finally coming through with aid: According to a story on CNN:

-- Sri Lanka has offered what it called a "token contribution" of $25,000 through the American Red Cross.
-- Mexico has offered $1 million and is sending 15 truckloads of water, food and medical supplies via Texas. The Mexican navy has offered to send two ships, two helicopters and 15 amphibious vehicles.
-- Australia is giving A$10 million ($7.6 million), most of it to the American Red Cross.
-- China has offered $5 million.
-- India is making a $5 million donation to the American Red Cross, Ambassador Ronen Sen said Saturday. In addition, Sen said India was willing to donate essential medicines to the relief effort, noting that India has the largest number of Food and Drug Administration-recognized pharmaceutical companies outside the United States.
-- -- Germany has offered a wide range of assistance including evacuation by air, medical services, transportation services, water treatment capabilities, assistance in searching for victims, vaccination teams and supplies, and emergency shelter. Germany has also said it is ready and willing to "dip into its own emergency oil reserves" to release some 2 million barrels a day for 30 days.
-- France has offered mobile help from the French Antilles, which is relatively close to the affected regions, including a civil defense detachment of 35 people, tents, camp beds, generators, motor pumps, water treatment units and emergency kits, two CASA cargo aircraft, a ship (Batral Francis Garnier) and the frigate Ventose with its Panther helicopter, and a hurricane disaster unit (20 soldiers and 900 kg of specialized supplies and medical support).
-- France has also offered assistance from the French mainland including: one or two C-135 planes, one A-310 aircraft , and four C-160 Transalls, an airborne emergency unit. In addition, the NGO Telecoms Sans Frontieres, which specializes in restoring phone lines and Internet service in disasters, is ready to send a team of experts and equipment. Veolia Environment, which has facilities in Louisiana, has offered to make its local water management resources available to the American authorities or the Red Cross. It can also quickly send in a team of hydraulic experts.
-- Japan has offered to provide $200,000 to the American Red Cross. The government of Japan will identify needs in the affected regions through the U.S. government and, upon request, is ready to provide necessary and available emergency assistance supply amounting to up to $300,000 worth of items such as tents, blankets, power generators, portable water tanks and more from a supply depot maintained by the Japanese government in Florida.
-- Cuba's President Fidel Castro said on Friday his nation was ready to send 1,100 doctors and 26 tons of medicine and equipment.

Thanks, it is much appreciated.

Unrealistic Expectations

One week ago today Katrina was a Category 5 hurricane barrelling down on New Orleans. About 75% of that cities population had left for higher ground and the local governments were preparing for the worst.

Well, the worst was nothing compared to what actually happened.

It took about 36 hours for the finger pointing to start, and most of those were targeted squarely at President Bush. The blame game culminated with New Orleans Mayor Nagin going overboard Friday blaming the president for what he perceived to be the poor Federal response to the disaster.

He did not blame himself for leaving 100,000 people in his city with no way to escape. He did not blame himself for designating the Superdome as a safe haven when in fact it was nothing more then a big building below sea level with no emergency facilities. He did not blame himself for having a police force that jumped in and started looting instead of upholding the law. Not to mention the fact that 30 percent of the officers abandoned their posts and ran away, probably to rob Walmart.

No it was easier to shift the blame to the Feds. The same people who helped pour 40,000 troops into the city in four days, organize all of the relief efforts taking place and finally transport the survivors to other states.

I'm not sure what those people not located in the impacted areas expected. I can forgive those directly suffering for screaming and yelling. They are under great duress and do not have the ability to see the big picture that anyone with access to CNN can view.

Anyone watching TV saw dozens of helicopters saving people. The Coast Guard alone pulled out 9,500 people as of Friday. Pretty impressive.

It takes time to organize an effective relief effort. In this case about four days before the government showed up in force, but within 48 hours of the relief convoys arriving the city was all but emptied of people. If buses and Army forces showed up piecemeal even more confusion would have taken place and less accomplished.

Again, the poeple in the city could not know what was being done. They had no power and access to the news, but all the from politicians and idiots like Al Sharpton and Robert Kennedy jr. should have known better. In fact I'm sure they did, but saw an opportunity to bash the president, who does deserve it on several topics, and took their shot.

Oddly, Bush's biggest problem is people around the world think the U.S. can quickly cure any disaster. Tsunami victims last year lashed out at us, Iraqi's cannot understand why we have not destroyed the terrorists and rebuilt their whole country in two years and the hurricane victims expected much more then could be realistically delivered.

Hurricane Politics

It took just three days for politics to reveal its ugly head concerning Hurricane Katrina.

Today the Congressional Black Caucus all but directly stated that New Orleans residents were not receiving help quickly because they are poor and black. Half the democrats in congress are blaming the hurricane's severity on global warming, and thus Pres. Bush because he would not sign the Kyoto treat.

Can't we simply concentrate on saving people before the politicians try to score points for their relection? Their actions are disgusting and these people should be called on the carpet for the actions.