Quick Roundup 8

Medieval Mentality, Modern Weaponry

According to news reports, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sees himself as on a divine mission.

The most remarkable aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad's piety is his devotion to the Hidden Imam, the Messiah-like figure of Shia Islam, and the president's belief that his government must prepare the country for his return.

...

All streams of Islam believe in a divine saviour, known as the Mahdi, who will appear at the End of Days. A common rumour - denied by the government but widely believed - is that Mr Ahmadinejad and his cabinet have signed a "contract" pledging themselves to work for the return of the Mahdi and sent it to Jamkaran.

Iran's dominant "Twelver" sect believes this will be Mohammed ibn Hasan, regarded as the 12th Imam, or righteous descendant of the Prophet Mohammad.

He is said to have gone into "occlusion" in the ninth century, at the age of five. His return will be preceded by cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed. After a cataclysmic confrontation with evil and darkness, the Mahdi will lead the world to an era of universal peace.

This is similar to the Christian vision of the Apocalypse. Indeed, the Hidden Imam is expected to return in the company of Jesus.

Mr Ahmadinejad appears to believe that these events are close at hand and that ordinary mortals can influence the divine timetable.

I do not know whether Pat Robertson also sees the events in Iran as leading to an apocalypse, but the medieval mentality of Ahmadinejad, in which God actively toys around with the world, bears a striking similarity to his.

The Feds knew all along.

A January 4 article in City Journal by Nicole Gelinas echoes a few of my recent blog entries on the increase in crime seen in Houston after Katrina. Three things are particularly noteworthy: (1) The Feds knew before the evacuation that crime would probably increase wherever the evacuees landed. (2) There was a concerted effort by the government and the media not to warn the host cities in the name of political correctness. (3) There are some pretty dangerous criminals among the refugees.

(1) Indeed, after New Orleans was evacuated, New Orleans's FBI office sent out a bulletin quietly warning Houston and other southern cities to look out for an increase in violent gang activity -- and Houston's police chief, Harold Hurtt, has told the Chronicle since then that there's no doubt that "gang members [from Louisiana] did relocate here to Houston. "

(2) The national media's fixation on Katrina evacuees' skin color, and the same media's easy amnesia about the real violence that plagued New Orleans immediately after the storm, obscured a burgeoning crisis that still demands sustained attention: Katrina's floods dispersed throughout the unprepared South the uniquely vicious New Orleans underclass culture of drugs, guns, and violent death.

(3) [The following is a sample of the violent crime experienced in Houston in connection with Katrina evacuees. --ed]

December 29: A gun battle at a run-down motel ended with one young New Orleans evacuee dead, with a bullet in the head.

December 19: A New Orleans evacuee was found shot to death in an apartment.

December 5: A New Orleans evacuee was shot to death near his car.

November 20: A New Orleans evacuee shot a fellow evacuee to death at a pool hall.

November 1: A New Orleans evacuee was stabbed to death by a Texan who, police have determined, was defending himself from an attempted carjacking at the hands of the evacuee. [numbers and bold added]

Gunbattles and carjackings are some of the most violent crimes in the book, and both often affect victims unknown to the perpretrator.

Somehow, I don't think that Martin Luther King fought the good fight just so unsuspecting citizens (of all shades) could be subject to a crime wave and left to face it unprepared merely because the criminals were hiding among a black population.

DeLay in Trouble

A much-publicized poll this week shows that Tom DeLay's support may be eroding in his home district. Whether you believe that poll or not, it is important to remember that not only does DeLay have to contend with the fallout of his legal troubles, the demographics in his district don't help him, either.

-- CAV