Author: Carol Watson

From a speech by George W. Bush on April 20, 2004 , more than two years after the illegal wiretapping of Americans commenced on his personal say so:

Secondly, there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires — a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we’re talking about chasing down terrorists, we’re talking about getting a court order before we do so. It’s important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.

What? Wiretaps require a court order? Our Constitutional rights are guaranteed? Then how come ….

As has always been the case, bigger government with its limitless bureaucracy only results in bumbling on a much grander and more expensive scale.

From the Washington Post today:

“Bureaucracy has murdered people in the greater New Orleans area,” Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, said on CBS’s ‘Early Show.’

“So I’m asking Congress, please investigate this now. Take whatever idiot they have at the top of whatever agency and give me a better idiot. Give me a caring idiot. Give me a sensitive idiot. Just don’t give me the same idiot.”

Hat tip to Billmon

When it comes to the ‘can do’ spirit of private citizens compared to the slogging bureaucracy of big government, the private sector wins, hands down!

MoveOn.org, the civic action, antiwar group, posted a volunteer registry at their website for people wishing to offer shelter in their homes or businesses to families and individuals displaced by Hurricane Katrina. I have been watching with amazement, and a few tears, as the numbers continue to climb, driven by the generosity of Americans throughout the country. While the government gets all the headlines, we, the people, still do a mighty fine job of getting things done … and without costing the taxpayers a dime. It really doesn’t get any better than this.

SUNDAY MORNING UPDATE: 114,006 beds

Watch the numbers here, or better still, participate if you are able.

It was two years ago, on July 2, 2003, that George Bush bragged, “There are some who, uh, feel like that, you know, the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is: Bring ’em on. We got the force necessary to deal with the security situation. “ – George W. Bush, July 2, 2003.

Yankee Doodle, Friendly Fire and matt at Today in Iraq have put together a synopsis of what has happened in Iraq since that speech as their July 4th, 2005 blog entry. I will warn in advance that the photos are not pleasant to look at. Thanks so much, YD, FF and matt for this excellent but painful summary of the war in Iraq over the last two years.

Read here: July 4, 2005

Also available in .pdf format without the photos: July 4, 2005

While the focus has been mostly on Iraq, with the tragic loss of a second helicopter in Afghanistan and the year barely half over, we have already exceeded the casualty count for the entire previous year of 2004. In fact, it’s the highest death toll of any year in Afghanistan.

2005 – 55 (through 6/05)
2004 – 52
2003 – 47
2002 – 43
2001 – 12

Read more here: Operation Enduring Freedom US Fatalities

For the past couple of years, we have repeatedly heard spokesmen from the National Guard and the reserve aver that they were continuing to meet their basic recruitment goals within a few percentage points. It never ceased to amaze me that there were so many who would sign up even as the debacle in Iraq went from bad to worse and record numbers of guardsmen and reservists were being called up for long deployments in combat zones overseas.

Well, maybe those assurances were not quite as optimistic as they had sounded. According to US Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC), who has just returned from a visit to Iraq:

Increasing bonuses and benefits will attract recruits, he said, noting there has been a 75 percent drop in the number of active duty personnel who subsequently go into the National Guard and reserves.

Naturally though, he does note that he still doesn’t think there will be a draft and apparently believes that the Administration will be able to contiually pull live rabbits out of a empty magician’s hat.