The bad kind of pride

George, accept the aid offers. They're offering it to Americans, not to the U.S. government. The USG is not always going to be all what it's meant to be. The world's people, by-and-large, like and care about Americans. We do, after all, give billions of dollars in private and public donations (and invaluable training, assistance) to other countries every year. We're not above receiving aid when we need it; it's good PR, and it helps Americans.

Already, charges of racism are surfacing from black leaders. I think it's 99% rubbish, but, civil rights activists aren't what they used to be. In saying that the placement of refugees in large city convention centers is somehow racist, we must also assume that giving displaced blacks and whites free medicine, food, clothing, housing and many other things for free, is probably somehow racist too. The problem with activists like Jesse Jackson is that they inherently focus on what makes themselves appear to be legitimate—not on how to better the black community, which is bridge-building. Obviously, if racism was not a problem in this disaster, but only poor logistics, they would be useful only in raising money for victims and nothing else.

Also, some of you may remember my prediction on Friday that Congress will want an investigation on the slow federal response to Katrina. Well, it's already starting.