New Quaker Notebook

During the weekend in New Orleans for my number one son's wedding, I got to spend time with friends I haven't seen or talked to for several years. One of these friends, Margot, lives in the Lakeview area of the city, at the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain, east of the 17th Street Canal and downstream of the levee that dissolved during Hurricane Katrina and flooded her home. Lakeview was also the first area we lived after I finished graduate school and began my exile in Louisiana.

What Margot told me is instructive. She said that they packed up and drove north to Shreveport to stay with friends when news came that Katrina would make a direct hit on the area. Like me, they had been through hurricanes before and weren't overly concerned about this one, especially since they were miles away from the storm and could watch it all on television. That's a modern affliction of the American life, isn't it? We watch it on television and it seems more entertainment than something we're living through. She said as much. They watched the storm on television and chatted about it and ate dinner and snacks and enjoyed the time away from the city.

When they were allowed to return home, they discovered that the entire first floor of their tidy two-story home was full of water, with snakes, crabs, and sea plants everywhere. She said this was a shock, but what destroyed her home was the total loss of all of her family's photo albums and memorabilia. She and her husband Billy have two gorgeous daughters, one of whom is the same age as my oldest; the photos, like most family remembrances, span more than one solitary life: marriage, births, childhood snaps, birthday parties, holidays, special events, first days of school, school events, graduations.... All of this was gone, she said. After that, none of it mattered. You have somehow lost it all and repairing the house seemed utterly perfunctory, just one more thing to do after a storm. The house and what filled it simply become mere stuff.

Real Ron Paul

Ron Paul is right on target, again. This is from his weekly column, published last Monday:

Predictions vs Reality in Iraq
Texas Straight Talk
September 22, 2008

On September 10, 2002 I asked 35 questions regarding war with Iraq. The war resolution passed on October 16, 2002. Now today, as some of my colleagues try to reestablish credentials regarding spending restraint, I want to call attention to my 18th question from six years ago:

"Are we willing to bear the economic burden of a 100 billion dollar war against Iraq, with oil prices expected to skyrocket and further rattle an already shaky American economy? How about an estimated 30 year occupation of Iraq that some have deemed necessary to 'build democracy' there?"

Many scoffed at my "radical" predictions at the time, regarding them as hyperbole. Six years later, I am forced to admit that I was wrong. My "radical" predictions were, in fact, not "radical" enough.

I warned of a draining 30-year occupation. Now, politicians glibly talk about a 100-year occupation as if it is no big deal. On cost, according to estimates from the Congressional Research Service, we have already burned through around $550 billion in Iraq, at a rate of about $2 billion per week. Economist Joseph Stiglitz's estimates are even higher, at $12 billion a month. It is a total price tag quickly heading into the trillions, if we don't stop bombing and rebuilding bridges in Iraq that lead us nowhere but bankruptcy! Bridges in this country are crumbling along with our economy, while some howl about earmarks. Earmarks are a drop in the bucket compared to war and occupation.

Yes, I was wrong about Iraq. I knew it would be bad. I didn't know it would be this bad.

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What Margot Told Me

Real Ron Paul