"The Foreign Groom"

A hit television show is scoring big ratings on both sides of the Aegean. That's right; Turks and Greeks are watching the same show. The storyline features a Turkish girl who falls in love with a foreigner, only to find out later that he is Greek. The show originated in Turkey, but is now being well-received in Greece as well. As my classmate Fatih (see below) says, Greece and Turkey are just a couple who had a bad divorce. And they're quarreling over custody of their child, Cyprus. New TV show ideas: a Palestinian and an Israeli pair up on "The Amazing Race"? A reality show in Northern Ireland: "Who Wants To Marry a Protestant Millionaire?" Or how about "Wife Swap" with a North and a South Korean couple? Or a show where a French politician, a Polish plumber, and an American journalist all switch jobs?

You Might Not Be Cut Out For Mayor of NYC If...

...your name is "Weiner". I would have considered that self-evident, but apparently, Anthony D. Weiner had to drag his unfortunate last name through the public eye before arriving at the same conclusion. And yes, I know it's not "wiener", but does that really matter? Not only is he named after a hot dog (or something worse), but he can't spell.

Day Tripper

So for all of you who have been dying to know about my life in Rochester, here are some photos (and captions) from last Monday's trip to Niagara Falls. We couldn't go into Canada, because with three foreigners and one A-Rab American, the chances of us getting back into America quickly were about as good as Governor Granholm's chances of being elected president (of the U.S., that is). You know when you can take a picture this close to a waterfall that you're going to be the first one to die in the event of an earthquake. The fearsome foursome look down into the potentially deadly waters of the upper Niagara River. Next time we visit, we'll release a canoe carrying a few panicked-looking dummies a hundred yards upstream from here, and watch the reaction when they reach the Falls. Chen Yi is a classmate and friend. She took most of the photos here, but not this one. You can see how weak the railing is - it's bending under her weight! The inseparable threesome: Fatih Bey, scion of the Ottoman Empire, yours truly, and Anita "The Peoples' Choice" Peoples. Like the rest of us, Anita is a first year student, but unlike the rest of us she's in biophysics and gets a stipend twice the size of any of our class. We economists have to live economically. We arrived in Youngstown, at the mouth of the Niagara, just as their Labor Day parade was breaking up. We stopped at the Fife and Drum Pub long enough to get water and see the price of hamburgers. After fleeing the hamburgers, we settled for ice cream and enjoyed the marine scenery at Youngstown dock. They have a U.S. Customs Videophone, so if you arrive with a cargo of contraband maple sugar, please have the politeness to call and report yourself so they can drive down and stop you. We then drove back to Roch Vegas along scenic Rt. 18, on which we stopped for a proper meal (our first of the day) around 3:00pm. We had excellent buffalo wings and good sandwiches at the beach town of Olcott. Mine was the local specialty: Beef on Weck, a simple roast beef sandwich on a heavily salted bulky roll. Not shabby, especially after a long day outside. All in all, an excellent trip.

My Phone Lives!

Thanks to Rasmus Peters for a free Nokia phone unlocking site that allowed me to access the E-Bay phone I finally received yesterday. Call me!

Compassionate Conservatism Lives!

The Feds read my Watchblog post last night and acted on it! AP reports:

The federal government plans to begin doling out debit cards worth $2,000 each to adult victims of Hurricane Katrina, The Associated Press has learned. Homeland Security Department Secretary Michael Chertoff descibed the plan in a conference call with state officials Wednesday morning. The unprecedented cash card program initially will benefit stranded people who have been moved to major rescue centers such as the Houston Astrodome... The cards could be used to buy food, transportation, gas and other essentials the displaced people need, according to a state official who was on the call and requested anonymity because the program has not been publicly announced.

I feel so much better. Hat tip to Drudge.

Byzantine Watch

John Tierney, who is fast becoming my new favorite writer (as Tom Friedman is on leave after continuing to struggle in the clutch when dealing with Iraq), successfully uses the word byzantine in an excellent and even-handed editorial today. He contrasts two styles of disaster preparedness:

Instead of relying on a "Good Samaritan" policy - the fantasy in New Orleans that everyone would take care of the neighbors - the Virginia rescue workers go door to door. If people resist the plea to leave, Mr. Judkins told The Daily Press in Newport News, rescue workers give them Magic Markers and ask them to write their Social Security numbers on their body parts so they can be identified... Yet Mr. Bush, with approval from conservatives who should have known better, reacted to Sept. 11 by centralizing disaster planning in Washington. He created the byzantine Homeland Security Department, with predictable results last week.

Bush could have done better with a Department of Scaring Sense Into Stupid People.

The Judgments of the Lord Are True and Righteous Altogether

Some Christians have wondered aloud whether Katrina was God's judgment on New Orleans for its sinfulness. It was, after all, the most immoral of American cities, and a stronghold of demon worship and other rebelliousness. However, the Bible tends to suggest that under the New Covenant, judgment is reserved for the end of time, though this is not explicit. But while the hurricane's devastation may or may not be related to the Big Easy's godlessness, the social after-shocks are an undeniable consequence. Is it any surprise that the city famous for high crime and addiction rates saw social breakdown under adversity? The atomization and general unpleasantness among all involved - victims, the governor, the mayor, etc. - bears witness to a city that lacks love and class. New Orleans was, in its way, a great city, and may again be great. But, as Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, "America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

The New South

This post was originally written for Watchblog. The Gulf Coast has been destroyed by what most people now agree is the worst natural disaster in American history. Never before has so large a region been so utterly annihilated. Estimates of the rebuilding cost have grown exponentially, from $6 or $7 billion during the first few days to $150 billion now. Right off the bat, President Bush is seeking $40 billion to begin the rebuilding effort. No doubt we will have more accurate estimates in the months to come, but it is clear that a gigantic sum of public, non-profit, and private money will be spent to help Gulf Coast residents get their lives back. But how should it be spent? With the caveat that these are preliminary thoughts in the preliminary stages of redevelopment, I offer some principles that governments and non-profits can follow to stretch their dollars farthest and create a sustainable long-term solution for the New Gulf Coast. (1) Use market mechanisms. There is nothing more ineffective than money spent by fiat. Capitalist governments can somehow lapse into communism during a disaster, suddenly believing that they know best how to spend the people's money. The principle application of this is that victims should not be forced to return to the Gulf Coast in order to receive assistance. Those who wish to move away should be able to take some of the money that would have been spent on them along to their new homes. To do otherwise will perpetuate poverty by funneling those dependent on outside money into an area they might not otherwise choose. (2) Compensate in accordance with loss. In the short run, the poor were hardest hit, and are accordingly receiving most of the short-term assistance. In the long run, however, property-owners have paid the biggest toll. A rebuilding program that focuses on rental housing and public-sector buildings will yield a region artificially dependent on outside money. (3) Repeat after me: Big business is beautiful. Big business is big jobs, big construction money, and big municipal taxes. This doesn't mean that municipalities or states should prostitute themselves by offering huge tax incentives, but rather that businesses should be given wider-than-usual latitude to pick locations, buy property, and build facilities. Every regulation reduces the efficiency of industry and its job-creating power; right now, the Gulf Coast needs industry to be as efficient as it possibly can be. Secondly, governments should teach their money to follow the private money. As George Friedman writes for STRATFOR, the geographic importance of New Orleans dictates that a port must exist there. So industry will have to return to the region, and where and how it spends its money will be a good clue to bureaucrats of how best they can spend theirs. (4) Get out as soon as possible. Outsiders, government and otherwise, should make it a point to give control of local institutions back as soon as possible. This is a basic tenet of international development, and the need for locally-led civil society is no less within our borders. (5) Expect civility; punish lawbreaking. The saddest part, to me, of this whole disaster has been the Hobbesian response by many of the victims. Unlike New Yorkers after 9/11, they have been seen as selfish and roguish, lacking in social restraints. This may be an unfair media portrayal; I have no way of knowing. But assuming it is correct, people at all levels of society should demand high standards from those they encounter. The New Gulf Coast will be built of concrete and timber, but its real foundation must be the social contract that allows people to live in community with others. (6) Allow for change. Don't assume the way things were was the best way. In a region as poor and vulnerable as the Gulf Coast, this should be self-evident, but it probably isn't. For instance, could we build parts of the new New Orleans on higher ground than the old one? The redevelopment effort shouldn't be a $150 billion CTRL+Z! Follow the examples of Chicago and San Francisco, and build something better in the place of what was destroyed. ***** In closing, let me paint a picture of what will happen if the opposite is done. New Orleans and other cities will become a parody of their former selves; a crude imitation. Without new ideas, the old problems - both geographical and social - will be recreated, but the soul of cities will be diminished. A boom of public housing construction will make the Big Easy the easiest place to be unemployed and unproductive, and a few years after the units are shown glistening on TV screens they will be as run down and vacant as public housing anywhere. With heavy taxes, environmental restrictions, and red tape, business will be sluggish. Operations will be moved overseas if possible, and fewer and worse jobs will exist in the old population centers. What private redevelopment there is will occur out in the exurbs, with atomized SUV suburbs taking the place of now-unattractive downtowns. Without much aid, small business, hotel and luxury apartment owners will leave their lots vacant, or sell them to Target, or skimp on the rebuilding. And the rest of the U.S. will not see any benefit from their funds; no new residents, no new ideas, no New Orleans - at least not the one we knew and loved. Is this an ugly picture? Yes, but not unrealistic. I was in decrepit Niagara Falls yesterday, and a great many other rust belt cities lie in very much the same condition. The opportunity to reverse New Orleans' three-decade decline, and to uplift many poor Gulf Coast communities, is upon us. Let's turn Katrina to good.

Requiescat in Pacem

Justice William Rehnquist died less than two hours ago, reports Reuters. Hat tip to Drudge. The implications need not be spoken. May he rest in peace and, for the nation's sake, may we find as equanimious and just a jurist to replace him.

Four Indictments and a Funeral

The investigation into Rafik Hariri's assassination has borne fruit: four generals have been charged, reports the BBC. This is cause for celebration, because it shows a willingness to hold the powerful to account under law, and it's not a cop-out (which it would have been if they were charging four corporals). Justice and the rule of law are the true cornerstones of democracy, and InstantReplay applauds every step in that direction.