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Some Call It A Bonfire/Carnival Of Classiness...

We call it "Classiness, All Around Us."

Tearing Apart America-

Patrick Ruffini (who has a lot of good stuff this week, and whose blog was also knocked out by the Los Angeles mini-blackout) ponders who really divided America:

Bush hasn't changed since 9/11 -- in fact, he's been lambasted for staying so consistent despite changing facts on the ground. But the Democrats have. And it's only fair to call a spade and spade. If they're the ones who changed, then the nation's "divisions" can be laid at their doorstep.

I've noticed this for some time now. Politics, for some, is all about undermining the other guy's campaign slogan. Well, one of President Bush's slogans in 2000 was that he was a uniter, not a divider. He brought Democrats and Republicans together to get things done in Texas. And he gave it his best shot in Washington, despite the disputed election results in Florida.

But Washington is intractibly petty. And Democrats are primarily responsible for the divided nation today. They actively divided America so they could point at Bush in 2004 and say, "he broke his promise."

2.

"Hey, where the white women at?"-

Paul, of Wizbang, notes that the media coverage of Hurricane Katrina might lead one to believe that only poor minorities were hurt by the storm:

The media coverage really has been amazing. 80% of what the national media has reported thru all this was flawed in some non-trivial way. I know better because I live there but for Joe Six-pack living in Iowa, he has no clue what really happened in New Orleans.

After watching the media bungle the coverage in New Orleans, I can only imagine what is really happening in Iraq.

Increasingly, citizen-journalist bloggers will be able to report on events, but not in these sorts of natural disasters. In the aftermath of Katrina, the establishment media once again, ever so briefly, had a monopoly on the news, and they took advantage.

3.

9/11 Changed Everything-

The neo-neocon explains how she changed her entire outlook in one instant, on 9/11:

I knew immediately and intuitively that a watershed event had occurred. I didn't know the exact parameters of it, nor any details of the direction in which we were headed, but I knew that this moment felt like a break with everything that had gone before. Assumptions I hadn't even known I'd held were dead in a single instant, as though their life supports had been cut. I didn't know what would replace them.

It's always a pleasure to read her thoughts on the world. There are thousands just like her, too. But for many Americans, unfortunately, nothing at all changed on 9/11. Or, if it did change, the old habits have since creeped in.

4.

Iraq -

Iraq has taken a definite back seat in the national media. But that doesn't mean the mission is over just yet. File It Under, which is wonderfully free of cat-blogging, puts Iraq in perspective:

The cost of lives has decreased since the early days of the introduction of the fire arm to the battle field in proportion to the increase of medical ability.

The Iraq war does not reflect a unfair burden of any race.

The cost of lives is still proportionately smaller than that of historic conflicts in part due to the increase in technology.

Despite intense spurts of activity, the insurgency has begun to lose it's effectiveness at claiming American lives.

Iraq can and will go down in history as an amazing success story, but only if we have the will to finish the job. And we're more than halfway there.

5.

Katrina Vultures-

Protein Wisdom blog takes issue with those cynically using Katrina (such as Terry Neal) to bust on President Bush:

And now, like a bayou gator, he’s hoping to feast on the carcasses of Hurricane Katrina’s victims—though his hunger has little to do with a biological imperative and everything to do with a petty and vicious partisan streak that Neal, try as he might, is unable to hide.

When the story of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath are told, I promise to portray what I find honestly, as I’ve tried to do throughout this national nightmare. In the meantime, though, I will continue to document the politicized excesses of the sensationalists and partisans—nowhere so unseemly as in this latest desire on their part to turn thousands of dead humans into rotting, emotionally charged political props, all under the guise of “respect” for the “Truth.”

The good news: the New Orleans death toll will not be anywhere near 10,000 or 20,000. It might not even get close to 1,000. And that is good news.

6.

Katrina Chickenhawks-

Winds of Change blog coins a great, mocking term for the left-wing armchair rescue/relief workers:

So let's keep playing chickenhawk; let's apply it to another situation. "Don't advocate government actions that will involve sacrifice unless you're also putting yourself directly in the place of those who may be asked to sacrifice."

....

Looks stupid to me, too, but put up or shut up, chickenbeaver! Hey, your game, not mine.

Incidentally, some idiot instant messaged me quite a bit in the thick of the rescue and relief efforts, telling me how Bush is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and untold destruction, as he likely sat behind his computer screen shoveling Cheetos and Dr. Pepper down his throat. I called him a Katrina chickenhawk. Chickenbeaver is a bit better, though.

7.

Exploiting Grief To Advance Unpopular Pet Causes-

Ankle Biting Pundits blog explains that liberals are using Katrina to recast their failed sales pitches on a variety of political issues:

I think I've diagnosed their illness. They're suffering from political version of Munchausen By Proxy Syndrome.

They know they've lost the battle of ideas. So they keep hoping for some sort of White House scandal or slip-up will help them achieve their political aims. And it's not going to work.

8.

Ukraine-

Publius Pundit examines Viktor Yushchenko's decision to sack the entire government and start over in Ukraine:

The Orange Revolution was about change, not simple government stability. It’s a good thing that the old government has been sacked, as their infighting was damaging the country. Investors are liking the makeup of the new government, but the fact is, Yushchenko’s government has not fulfilled a great many of its promises to clean up pervasive corruption from the top down. If the intention of the new cabinet is to clean up the country where the old government wasn’t able, then this is indeed a necessary move.

Bizarrely, antiwar.com picked up this story as some sort of evidence that peaceful democratic revolutions are bad. How pathetic. Change the name on the website, already, "antiwar.com."

Change it to "commie-loving scum." Change it to "anti-capitalists 'r' us." Change it to anything, but stop pretending you are really just anti-war. Or else, stop acting so gleeful and smug about a potential setback in the peaceful march of freedom and democracy around the globe.

9.

Heat Wave-

The reliapundit notes that the death toll for Katrina is actually miraculously and remarkably low:

BY COMPARISON: the 2003 heat-wave in Europe killed 35-40,000, (14,847 in France alone; 20,000 in Italy). [More HERE.]

And Hurricane Katrina was a HUGE natural cataclysm which wreaked huge damage to 90,000 square miles!

Oprah Winfrey said right after the hurricane that America owes the people of New Orleans an apology.

For what, Oprah? Not building a magical hurricane machine to stop a hurricane from smashing into the coast?

Let's get serious, here.

10.

French Newscasters-

Rob Port of Say Anything blog offers some advice to CNN:

Want to fix your ratings? Her name is Melissa Theuriau. Hire her. Now. We don’t care if we can’t understand her, its not like anyone pays attention to your “reporting” any more anyway.

Worked for Fox, to some extent. Could work for CNN. And her French leanings would fit in nicely at the left-wing network.

11.

Bush's Hurricane-

The Nose On Your Face political satire blog notes that the Bush family has had connections to disasters throughout history:

The Black Plague (6th century AD)- Acting on a dare from drinking buddy Alaster Kennedy, hard partying Barclay Bush releases a boxful of infected English Black Rats in his town's marketplace. This sophomoric prank unwittingly causes millions of deaths and forever drives a wedge between the two dynastic political families.

Blaming Bush for anything and everything bad has become over-the-top in absurdity, but it has also simultaneously become amazingly predictable.

12.

Rail-

Political Calculations blog examines a proposed rail line in the West:

Economically speaking, of all the ways to transport people between cities, rail is perhaps the stupidest. Nowhere else do we see the confluence of extraordinarily high infrastructure costs (land, construction, equipment, facilities, etc.) and extraordinarily high operating costs (labor, maintenance, fuel, utilities, overhead, etc.) combine with extraordinarily low demand by commuters to produce such little tangible benefit.

Rail is so 19th century.

13.

Business Week scandal-

Powerline blog notes that Business Week allowed a DNC hack to write an article, without noting his status as a hack:

So there you have it: Business Week published a vicious attack on President Bush by a man whom the magazine blandly represented as a telecom executive, writing in his field of expertise. But the magazine not only forgot to mention that Hindery was the CEO of Global Crossing; it also omitted the highly-relevant facts that Hindery is a Democratic Party activist and fundraiser, and was, fact, a contender for the Chairmanship of the Democratic Party.

Sadly, this isn't all that surprising.

14.

The Media Tsunami-

Roger L. Simon notes how members of the establishment media have failed us:

It is the media too that fanned the flames of partisanship here, looking to assign blame before anyone could possibly understand what was happening. They are an increasingly reactionary force in our society, driving people toward partisan reactions and further and further from the ability to reason with each other. People like Nancy Pelosi, screeching for the head of the President during a natural disaster, are essentially creatures of the media. They are nothing more.

And when Republicans win policy victories or victories at the polls, the media always seem so astonished. There is reality. And there is the liberal media reality.

15.

Sharia-

In The Bullpen notes that Canada made a good move on carving out special Islamic law jurisdictions for Canadian Muslims:

Sharia Law will not be used in Canadian courts.

Good.

Also, don't forget to check out all the old Trivia Tidbits Of the Day, the Reform Thursday series, the Quotational Therapy sessions, and the Wednesday Caption Contest (entries are due each Tuesday at 11:59 PM Central Standard Time).

Last Week's Classiness Certification from WILLisms.com:

*September 6, 2005.

WILLisms.com offers a weekly classiness roundup as a weekly feature, every Tuesday, with 15 blog posts deemed classy. The criteria for submissions: incisive original analysis, quirky topics nobody else is covering, fantastic graphics, or other posts that took a lot of work. We love to spread the word on upcoming blogs, being that WILLisms.com also fits that description. If you would like to nominate a post on your blog or another blog for inclusion, email us at WILLisms@gmail.com. Write "Classy Nomination" in the subject. You can also utilize this page to make your submissions. The deadline is each Monday at 11:59 PM Central Time.

Classy.

Posted by Will Franklin · 13 September 2005 06:00 PM

Comments

Posted by: David at September 14, 2005 02:33 AM

Posted by: Steve at September 15, 2005 10:12 AM

Posted by: Will Franklin at September 15, 2005 10:49 AM