Lambert @ Corrent asks:

Am I the only one who finds it creepy that Bush is turning to the Army as the only government institution that works in emergencies? And am I the only one who wonders how broad Bush’s defintion of “emergency” is going to end up being?


No, you’re not.

We have an organization that is designed to handle emergencies. It’s called FEMA. Fund it. Staff it with competant people. Let them do their jobs. If they don’t, fire them.

ADDED: Josh Marshall offers a good perspective on all this. I really like his conclusion:

…you don’t repair disorganized or incompetent government by granting it more power. You fix it by making it more organized and more competent. Just so here — the move to militarize government’s domestic responsibilities rather than improve them is a dangerous trend. And it suggests that, functionally, there’s little left of conservatism today other than a warped big-government authoritarianism.

Governmental incompetence solved — or rather papered over — by militarization has a long history. And authoritarianism’s hand is usually as clumsy as it is heavy.