FEMA is a disater

FEMA has mucked up the hurricane relief process. Helping neighbors in time of need used to be simple. Now it's a Federal process and it prevents legitmate aid from coming into a disaster area quickly.

As one colleague in Search and Rescue said so well, "We have seen the Federalization of compassion; it does not work."

Guns Seized in New Orleans?

"Rescuers" are now seizing weapons wherever they can find them in a house-to-house search of New Orleans (yahoo news story). This concerns me. Are homeowners going to get them back soon? Or is this just a grab by the feds? After all, it's not like the government did a good job of law and order last week. Why should homeowners feel safe now?

Iraq War Casualties: The sad truth

I'm sick of hearing about the "mounting casualties" in Iraq. With all due respect to the 1516 families who've lost a loved one so far, the loss has been far lighter than most experts imagined. If President Bush, in the fall of 2002 and spring of 2003, when he was asking Congress for authorization for the use of force, promised that in less than two years we'd have beaten and captured Saddam, held free and open elections (with a higher voter turnout than the US gets) and suffer about 1500 KIA, everyone would have scoffed at him as naive and a braggard. (Well, that's what the left thinks of him anyway.)

The truth is, the Marines at Camp Pendleton have lost 224 men so far (according to the North County Times), which is less than FDNY lost in 90 minutes on Sept. 11.

The cost of freedom and peace is high. We need to keep it in perspective.
Rick...

(source: North County Times - http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/03/04/military/0_24_193_4_05.txt)

Intro Blog

So everyone says blogging is easy. Sure, but is it useful? I guess that depends on what's in a blog. I'm going to do some test blogging for awhile and see if it's worth it.