It was good that President Bush stepped up during his speech Thursday and acknowledged that the federal government failed to properly respond to Katrina. But where the government may have blown it the most was before the hurricane hit. Leo Bosner, who is in charge of the FEMA unit that alerts officials of impending crises, sent a report to Michael Chertoff, Michael Brown and other top officials Saturday morning, Aug. 27, warning them that Katrina could become a major emergency. He told NPR that he expected the officials to immediately begin mobilizing National Guard troops and evacuation buses, and was shocked when that didn’t happen.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
John Roberts is sailing toward confirmation, if his Senate testimony is any indication. Democrats never laid a glove on him. Although they were frustrated by Roberts’ unwillingness to discuss specific cases and hot-button issues such as abortion, he did say enough to reassure most observers on both sides of the aisle that he has the legal smarts, political skills and judicial temperament to be an excellent chief justice of the United States.
Unlike justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, Roberts clearly is no conservative ideologue. He indicated that he saw a right to privacy in the Constitution (one basis for Roe v. Wade), and that he didn’t think it always possible to discern the intent of the original framers. He also expressed a healthy respect for the legislative history behind laws and for Supreme Court precedent.
This is no radical. For all his smooth dodging of specific questions, Roberts still revealed himself as a balanced and judicious nominee who will be his own person on the bench.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Delta Air Lines. Northwest Airlines Corp. United Airlines. US Airways — it’s tempting to shrug off the multiplying airline bankruptcies as inevitable and evolutionary. Isn’t it a case of the survival of the fittest, with Southwest Airlines as the fittest of the fit? Trouble is, you have to be flying awfully high to see it that way. You also have to not be needing to fly out of smaller markets such as Wichita, which only has one of the successful low-fare carriers, AirTran Airways, because of City Hall subsidies. Maybe the legacy carriers will restructure and reinvent themselves and make it. Let’s hope so, because if they go away, so may air service to many American cities. With Congress having acted after Sept. 11 with a $10 billion airline bailout, it’s fair to wonder whether lawmakers will see a role for themselves when the wannabe fliers are the ones crying for help.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Katrina was no barrel of laughs. But here’s a joke about her making the Internet rounds, as noted by the Balkinization blog:
“Q: What’s George Bush’s position on Roe v. Wade?
“A: He really doesn’t care how people get out of New Orleans.”
Anybody have others?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
