Take that, Dallas!

It was Monday Night Football, and the Redskins were playing the Cowboys. For a Redskins fan like myself, it does not get much better than this. The rivalry is ancient, going back decades, and I can remember watching these same games with high anticipation as a kid in front of the TV when I was still trying to figure out all the rules of the game. Actually, this game had more in common than one might think with those ancient days. For one, the coaches were the same. Gibbs was back in DC, and Parcells back in Dallas. Oh, it was just too good.

But things were not going so well. Brunell did not seem confident in the pocket at all, overthrowing or underthrowing his receivers consistently. The offensive line was getting schooled, with Brunell getting sacked and pressured to a far greater degree than his equally aged counterpart Bledsoe. The Cowboys were stuffing the running game, with Clinton getting almost more yards catching than he did rushing (he got held to just over 3 yards per carry). Our defense was doing a great job, but they were a little off their best. Nevertheless, you gotta give them some slack. They can't give us a shutout every game, and due to the ineptitude of the offense they were on the field for the vast majority of the time in 100 degree weather.

It looked as if it was going to be a painful ending, and the Cowboys would win another one, making that 14 of the past 15 games against the 'skins that they would have won. They were leading 13-0 with only a few minutes to go.

And then, in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, a miracle occurred. His name is Santana Moss, our new wide receiver with blazing speed. On 4th down and 15 the Redskins were getting desperate, and Gibbs called a play they had been saving for the end. Moss ran a double fake, and got open and caught an amazing pass from Brunell for a touchdown. Suddenly it was 13-7, and there was hope. And then, 70 seconds later, after another improbable play in which Brunell scrambled for 10 yards, they did it again. Brunnell suddenly looked like the quarterback he used to be back with the Jaguars, chucking a pefect 50 yard pass right over the shoulder of Moss as he outran the coverage with his blazing speed. Did I mention he's fast? :)

And now, amazing as it seems, the Redskins are 2-0. No, they did not play that well overall. No, they did not keep pressure off the quarterback. No, they did not reduce their penalites.

But they won against Dallas, in Dallas. And by gosh, that was worth the entire season right there. It was a thing of beauty. I sincerely hope the Redskins use their bye week to fix their issues, figure out how to get a better running game going, and beat the Seahawks. But even if they don't it's okay. I've already forgiven them.

Roberts

It appears likely that Judge Roberts will soon be confirmed by the Senate as our country's next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, only the seventeenth one in history. As the Senate confirmation hearings have amply demonstrated, Roberts clearly has the intelligence, wit and knowledge of constitutional law to lead the courts. However, I at least am troubled by what I heard when I listened to him answering questions from Senators, and I don't know how I would vote if I could do so.

There are several reasons why I might not vote to confirm this very qualified inidividual, including Bush's refusal to hand over key documents pertinent to the case, but it revolves largely around one main concern: I don't know who he is. Granted, I did not get a chance to listen to the entire confirmation hearings, but I did listen to several hours and some of the key highlights. Roberts did not give us a sense, at all, of how he views the role of government functioning within the confines of the constitution. Those views are in fact very pertinent, since that is exactly what he will be doing.

The rebuttal that he gave to such inquiries was that he did not want to pre-judge any case that could come before the court, and also he felt that disclosing his views would amount to "bargaining for votes". I don't see at all how this is the case. He lets everyone know what his views are, and people vote accordingly -- there is no bargaining involved. In fact, if there were to be bargaining assumed, then we have some level of corruption in the Senate. It disturbes me even more that nobody seems to care that disclosing his views would in fact start leading to bargaining for votes, thus accepting the implicit assumption of corruption. It's tragic.

He knows what will get him confirmed, and he's doing it. I don't know if he's a good man or not, but he's certainly smart. What I'm frustrated with is not him, or the Senate, but the lack of transparency and honesty in the entire process. It's why I could never go into politics.

PS - follow up to posting below

Nice post by Waiter on theology. It goes without saying that while I'm not sure I agree with his entire thought process here, it's great to see people thinking like this.

Oh Katrina

About a solid week has passed since Katrina wrecked her devastation upon the Gulf Coast, drowning New Orleans and Mississippi under a flood of water and wind. Then another man made flood, that of incompetence, washed over the area and turned a catastrophe into a catastrophic debacle. And through it all, thousands upon thousands suffered and survived, or suffered and died, many in the most preventable of ways.

This devastation has shown us many things. It has shown us the power of nature, which is still has the ability to dwarf mans greatest works. It has shown us the failure of the government to prepare our nation for emergencies of any sort. It demonstrated that the wall between first world and third countries is largely economic in nature -- and can be torn down in a matter of days. And finally, it has demonstrated the fact that poverty and race are still huge issues that this country needs to deal with.

When the looting started, and national guardsman rolled down the streets in their high water vehicles, pointing guns at desperate men in torn t-shirts, I could not tell the difference between this scene and one I had witnessed on the same news channel a few days ago from Sudan. How does a thing like this happen in the richest country on earth? Possibly because many of our leaders often forget that there are those who are not partaking of this wealth, and that cannot afford the gas to get out of town, even if they did own a car. And sadly, poverty is often accompanied by certain racial characteristics, particularly being black or hispanic.

There have been some really bitter recriminations against local, state, and federal administrators regarding the incompetence with which this situation was handled. The fact that it was incompetently handled should not be up for debate. When we can drop MRE's to places in Baghdad within hours notice, but cannot get them to our own citizens in days, there is incompetence. When the head of FEMA, days after the disaster, does not know there are people starving in the convention center, there is incompetence. When there are Coast Guard ships sitting off the coast with food, water, first aid, that are barred from helping for days, there is incompetence. In fact, the level of incompetence here is astounding. But where exactly does the blame lie?

I know the administrations line: "Don't play the blame game". Bullshit. People died, and we need to hold the people responsible accountable for this. That's what a democracy is all about.
(what a democracy is not about, by the way, is having National Guardsman prohibit the media from photgraphing the dead on the streets of New Orleans so that the public won't know what's going on. And yes, they are doing this). So who is accountable? The mayor ordered the mandatory evacuation of the city, but did so with only 24 hours notice, and did not provide enough buses and transit for the poor to escape. The Governor has prepared the necessary funds, but somehow failed to secure the Louisiana national guard to help the rescue efforts until Day 4. FEMA? I won't even go there. They were utterly useless. And then of course the President, who was still on vacation three days into the disaster, and the vice president who was still on vacation five days into the disaster. Oops.

The mayor, while shouldering some of the blame, does not shoulder much of it. True his orders to evacuate the city came late, but it's actually still unclear that he has the authority to do that. The fact that he took matters in his own hands and ordered the mandatory evacuation is commendable. The fact that he did not provide adequate transportation for everyone to get out is his fault however, and he needs to stand up and be responsible for that. The Governor has done a good job -- she has been one of the most reasonable voices I've heard throughout this whole affair. My only criticism of hers is that she was so preoccupied with evacuations and then with the state budget that she did not spend nearly enough time on getting search and rescue on the ground as quickly as humanly possible. And because of this lives were lost, so don't think that I'm letting her off easily. It was a serious mistake.

However, the majority of the blame lies with the federal government, and with the President. This is for two main reasons: (1) He appointed someone unqualified to head FEMA, and then allowed that organization to fall into disarray. (2) He did not react quickly enough. Now, I know that the President cannot do everything, and of course the majority of the blame here goes to the people heading up the national organization that is specifically charged with making sure that shit like this does not happen. The people in charge of FEMA had no information, no contigency plans, no logistical needs analysis, and no clue. The president also did not react quickly enough -- if he was watching CNN, he would have seen the devastation. In fact he was probably watching it, from his ranch in Texas, in between workout sessions.

As Harry Truman noted when he was president: "The buck stops here". Bush allowed this to happen on his watch, and that will not be forgotten. He is due to visit New Orleans again on the anniversary of 9/11. I think it is the first time when is evocation of that memory will not be enough to hide the truth of his domestic failures in homeland preparedness.

Katrina

Amazing how something with such a pretty name could be responsible for such devastation. Initially, when I heard she had been reduced from a Category 5 to a Category 3 storm, and then that she was not going to hit New Orleans head on as originally thought, I thought that this was not going to be a big deal. I don't mean that callously - I know that hurricanes are a huge problem for anyone who lives on the gulf coast, but generally they've been through so many that they are well prepped for it. They know what to do, the warning system is well in place, recovery efforts are planned for deployment, etc.

But then the levees broke, and suddenly things are really really not good. I try and make a point of not watching much TV, but some of those images are brutal. I cannot fathom what sort of individuals would start looting and shooting when so many around them are dying of thirst. I also groan when I think of all the millions of dollars and thousands of national guardsman that should be helping with this disaster but are instead hopelessly stuck in Iraq. And above all, I pray that those who are starving find food, those who are dehydrated find water, and those who lost everything find someway of starting again.

I don't have much time right now - you might have noticed a lack of posting recently - that's because my parents are in town, and I'll be in LA this weekend for a wedding. But in the meantime, while you're waiting with baited breath for a new post from me, consider donating for disaster relief.