Summary: Here's what I thought you'd like to hear about today: Politicizing the California Fires - Some Fantasies in the MediaWorking with George - Nancy Pelosi's view of the PresidentWhy Does the Religious Right Prefer Hillary to Giuliani? - Dobson's AnswerDemagoguing the Jena Six in the House - Appealing to the prejudices and Fears of the PeopleCourage in India Pakistan - Benazir Bhutto after escaping an attack and I did write India by mistake. Sorry Download Subscribe Add Wizbang Podcast to iTunes Politicizing the California Fires - Some Fantasies in the Media It was inevitable that some in the media and the political world would try to politicize their fantasies about the causes of the California wildfires. The fires are no joking manner. People's lives have been lost and thousands of homes destroyed or damaged this week. But the speed and ferocity with which the media and their anti-Bush friends have pounced on the fires for their own benefit was stunning. I'm going to play three examples. Two are from Air America, a station known for polemics against the Bush administration. First, thanks to the Radio Equalizer, we have Randi Rhodes speculating that Blackwater is somehow involved, then Mike Malloy accuses the "Bush Crime Family" of setting the fires. Moonbats. Play clip. Not to be outdone, the Junior Senator from California, Barbara Boxer used her hearing into the effects of Global Warming on Public Health issues, to claim that there is shortage of equipment in California to fight fires, and it is somehow the fault of the Bush Administration's war in Iraq. Thanks to C-SPAN for the audio. Play clip. That was Kit Bond setting her straight, re-framing her complaint about equipment into a promise to vote to increase funding for the national guard in the next Pentagon authorization bill. Fat chance Kit. As Don Boudreaux on Cafe Hayek wrote:this war, while it does interfere with efforts to extinguish wildfires, does not interfere any more so than does nearly any other government program you care to name. Resources have multiple uses and are scarce. To use a worker or raw materials fighting a war is to take that worker and those materials, at least for a time, away from other potentially valuable uses. The same is true of using workers and other resources to fight the "war on drugs" -- or using workers and other resources to administer agricultural price-support programs -- or using workers and other resources to run the Departments of Education, Transportation, Commerce, and so on -- or using workers and other resources to enforce the Endangered Species Act. The question is not does fighting the war in Iraq reduce government's (and private persons') ability to battle the wildfires. Of course it does. The questions are, rather, are too many resources devoted to fighting the war? Will Americans likely be made better off by taking some resources away from the war effort and put instead to other uses? Boxer's attempt to blame property losses in California on Iraq are easy and simplistic, but she is just wrong. As a Senator, she has the power to buy whatever the forest fighters might need. As it turns out, the fire fighters are not likely to need many of the up-armored Humvees, or MRAP vehicles, or remote control IED defusing systems that are now in use by the National Guard in Iraq. They need highly trained personnel and specialized equipment. If it is so important to buy that stuff, then propose it. Otherwise, shut the heck up. Moonbat. The press is really looking for someone to blame for this tragedy. Listen to this excerpt from the Pentagon Press conference discussing what they were doing to help California. When Lt. General Steve Blum, Chief of the National Guard Bureau got up to answer questions, he was asked there was any way that the war in Iraq made things worse in California. Listen to one reporter pleading for material she could use. Thanks to the Pentagon Channel for the audio. Play clip. How effective would your typical Marine
