Quick Roundup 9

Saudi Foreign Minister: "The Great Satan made them do it."

As quoted by Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch:

Saudi Arabia has said the West is partly to blame for the current nuclear stand-off with Iran because it allowed Israel to develop nuclear weapons.

The Saudi foreign minister told the BBC statements made by Iran's president were "extreme" but that diplomacy was the way to resolve the crisis....

Prince Saud told the BBC that the West was partly responsible for the current stand-off with Iran over its nuclear policy because, he said, it had helped Israel develop its own nuclear arsenal.

It does not appear that Prince Saud was asked, or volunteered, who was to blame for the actions of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Sudan, Algeria, or his own Saudi Arabia in the events leading up to events such as the Six-Day War against Israel, nor for the actions of Israel.

Good thing the Saudis are on our side in the war on Islamist terrorism!

Provenzo on Poverty-Worship at Capitalism Magazine

Nick Provenzo discusses a some Indians in Alaska who opposed drilling in the ANWR because it would endanger their "subsistence lifestyle". I liked his reply.

The fact is, fully "exploiting" the energy resources of Alaska would be excellent for the Indians -- Indians who desire more for their lives then suffering and needless hardship. I, for one would much rather enjoy the beauty of the land from a heated two story winter lodge, complete with picture windows so I could enjoy the northern lights from the comfort of my arm chair, then from a single-wide trailer as I attempt to endure yet another cold, jobless winter.

The lack of full private ownership in this situation is thus doubly onerous: To those Indians who would be willing to allow drilling on their own land and to their potential customers.

Mayor Nagin and the Man Upstairs

Not content to allow a white man like Pat Robertson to monopolize stupidity on Martin Luther King Day, Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans has decided to start telling us what God is angry about.

Mayor Ray Nagin suggested Monday that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other storms were a sign that "God is mad at America" and at black communities, too, for tearing themselves apart with violence and political infighting.

"Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it's destroyed and put stress on this country," Nagin, who is black, said as he and other city leaders marked Martin Luther King Day.

"Surely he doesn't approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he is upset at black America also. We're not taking care of ourselves."

Nagin also promised that New Orleans will be a "chocolate" city again. Many of the city's black neighborhoods were heavily damaged by Katrina.

Even just this excerpt would almost rate a fisking if it were not so incoherent. On top of claiming that hurricanes are sent as divine punishment, note one of the things they are being sent to avenge, according to Nagin. Yes. "Violence" in the black community, as if that is not its own punishment! And is it just me or does not his silliness about New Orleans becoming a "'chocolate' city" again recall the white segregationists in the sixties, whose battle cry was, "Keep white neighborhoods white!"?

Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech contains a sentence that Mayor Nagin would do well to read, perhaps for the first time: "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

It's not what color the residents of your city are (or will be), Mr. Nagin, that counts, it's their character. Just ask any Houstonian these days.

-- CAV

Updates

Today: Corrected typo.