Sure, you’re smiling now, kid, but remember: this time next year you’ll look like me.

For those who are lucky enough to have remained unaware of the existence of Daniel Pipes, don’t read this.

Old Daniel, that noted “expert” on the Middle East who loosed Laurie Mylroie on the unsuspecting world, who convinced the Reagan administration to back the only Persian Gulf leader who shared our views, Saddam Hussein, is back in the news.

Juan Cole reports that Daniel is now backing a new NightMare, Michelle Malkin. Ms. Malkin wrote a book justifying the World War II internment camps for the Japanese Americans, with an idea of re-establishing a similar system for Islamic Americans, and Pipes approves.

The only reason Pipes hasn’t disappeared into the oblivion that he so richly deserves is because neocons worship at his altar. This is the type of diseased thought that has infected what passes for leadership in the current administration. It doesn’t matter how many times such prophets are exposed as false, they continue to be listened to and to affect policy with disastrous results.

The Farmer at Corrente talked about waiting for Hurricane Andrew and its storm surge and made the comparison with the tsunami.

I was in Opal in 1995 with a 10-15 foot storm surge and then Ivan this year with a 20-30 foot surge. I have seen what water can do, playing with bridge spans that weigh tens of tons like they were Legos, lifting 60-foot boats and carrying them a half-mile inland, picking up a four-bedroom house and moving it a quarter mile. After months they were still pulling cars and dumpsters out of the Santa Rosa Sound where the water had left them.

While you might drown in the water, the real risk is the debris that the water picks up and carries with it: you can swim to the top of the water, but not if you have been hit with a slab of concrete flowing with the water. Debris is the killer and the destroyer, remember that the Columbia space shuttle was destroyed by a chunk of foam insulation that hit a wing. Many of the buildings destroyed by tornados and hurricanes are lost when debris impacts weaken the structure and the wind can finish the job. There is a lot of video footage of buildings losing a window and then seemingly exploding. Many of those who drowned were trapped as buildings collapsed around them.

The older condos on the barrier island South of me were designed with “break-away” first floors. The concept, which has been proven through several hurricanes, is for the first floor to surrender to the pressure, which saves the rest of the structure. Only the main structural pillars remain to support the upper floors, but it is not shifted on its foundation. This same concept is the reason that many indigenous people build on stilts, to allow water to pass under the house.

Better known as Artie Shaw, he was a maverick who will forever be tied to a single performance that no one ever bettered: Begin the Beguine. He was one of the great musicians of the Jazz’s Swing Era.

He denied he was married eight times, as was often reported, but he was married multiple times, and to many of the icons of feminine beauty of the time.

Friday Cat Blogging^TM [Kevin Drum]

Wow! Who knew? They had the good ‘nip at the party.

At the end of an earlier post on the reaction of Bush I mentioned a missed opportunity.

This theme was echoed by Juan Cole and Natasha at Pacific Views, as well as by some reporters, and other bloggers.

If experts and non-experts alike, as geographically diverse as this group, can figure out that this disaster was an opportunity for the US government, why can’t the US government figure it out?

This is exactly the same “lack of imagination” that was a primary factor on September 11^th. By failing to get rid of the people who should have taken action, Bush has left the US as vulnerable to attack as it was on September 10^th, 2001.

First, the United States has only actually pledged $15 million to the effort. The other $20 million may be forthcoming from the US Agency for International Development, if they can “free it up”. It is also SOP [standard operating procedure] for the bulk of US AID money to come in the form of credit, rather than grants.

Where does the US stand on the list of donors [assuming the entire amount is given]:

UK $96 million
Australia: $46.7 million
EU $44 million
US: $35 million
Canada: $33 million
Japan: $30 million
France: $20.4 million
Denmark: $15.6 million
Saudi Arabia: $10 million

Pfizer, the drug company, has pledged $10 million in cash and $25 million in medical supplies to the region. Many brewers and soft drink bottlers in Asia have switched production to bottling drinking water to send to those affected.

After Hurricane Frances FEMA gave $28 million to Dade County, Florida, which is distressing a lot of people because Dade County experienced only heavy thunderstorms, nothing more severe.

Not only does that put the “stingy” response of the Bush initial offering of $15 million in context, it also highlights a problem with sending his brother, and my governor, John Ellis Bush, to Asia with Colin Powell to coordinate American relief efforts. The official story is that “Jeb” has experience dealing with disasters.

“Jeb” has experience calling his brother to tell him we had another hurricane in Florida, and massive Federal funds were needed to preserve and encourage Republican voters, many of whom live in Dade County. Since there is no election; these people couldn’t vote in it, if there were; there is no massive pot of money of available; I must assume this is a blatant attempt to give “Jeb” some international exposure for a White House run.

Update: [4:39pm] US raises contribution to $350 million. I guess “Jeb” was too embarrassed to be associated with the paltry money his brother had put forth and wanted to make a larger statement for his 2008 run.