Current Events
I'm late, as is usual these days, with this, but still.
Edward Luttwak's "President Apostate" op-ed in the New York Times on Tuesday was so far-fetched it's almost amusing. Muslim security guards not being religiously allowed to protect a potential President Obama because he's an apostate? Quite a stretch. If Obama becomes president, it's likely he will have better relations with the Muslim world not because his father may or may not have been Muslim, but for other, more important reasons, like his worldview. Of course, any of the potentials would be hard-pressed to botch things more internationally with any group than President Bush has.
I have to admit I was glad to hear that the recent large earthquake was in China (although I'd be much happier not to hear of any at all). But China is significantly better able to handle a natural disaster than almost any other country in the world, especially countries prone to natural disasters. Myanmar provides an all-too-obvious contrast, but even the difference between what China has been able to do compared with Iran in 2003 and Pakistan in 2005 is striking.
And I'm glad the early comparisons of these disasters to Katrina has stopped. Despite the sorry handling of that hurricane, a disaster like the one in Myanmar couldn't happen here just from one hurricane or cyclone. 1800 deaths in Katrina is awful, but tiny.
As someone once referred to it, the flavor of the week on my homeschooling message board is food storage. I think it's come up maybe a handful of times in the previous 5 years, but it's quite the thing right now. We tend to store food, but then eat it up and have to get more. That works better when you move a lot.
And my goodness, Obama is an appeaser? No, we can't possibly talk to anyone who doesn't agree with us. Unless, of course, they have oil. (Yes, I oversimplified the argument. But so did President Bush.)