Quickly, Now

A series of quick hits on the news of the day:

• Apparently if there aren't any terror attacks in the country for five years it's because the Administration is doing a great job. But if there aren't any terror attacks in the country for 8 years, like under Clinton, that's because the terrorists were "planning."

• I think bringing in the National Guard to New Orleans after a spate of killings there seemed a little hasty, but it's the governor's prerogative. I do think it highlights a problem in the Crescent City, that with all the focus on rebuilding, there is no money to go around for the kind of afterschool and summer programs for at-risk youth that usually help stop this behavior. Nature abhors a vaccuum, as do gangs.

• Sen. George Allen, who has previously been much more concerned with running for President than running for re-election in the Senate, has suddenly become worried:

Allen, who faces a Senate challenge from Democrat Jim Webb, said he probably would not return to Iowa, where precinct caucuses launch the presidential nominating season, before the November election. He dismissed suggestions that other potential White House candidates would have an edge because they are free to roam Iowa.

He ought to worry about Virginia more than Iowa. His state has moderated, and he hasn't. Webb is primed for an upset here.

• Here's a cautionary tale about the dangers of MySpace. Oh, wait, it's actually a cautionary tale about the dangers of Republican strategists, as told on MySpace. Maybe Mike Fitzpatrick should seek legislation to ban Republican strategists from schools and libraries!

• From last week, but important enough to recollect: our emergency room system is a shambles.

The nation's emergency medical system — from the 911 centers that take phone calls for help to the emergency rooms that have become primary treatment centers for millions of Americans — is in a dangerous state of crisis, says a new series of landmark reports.

The reports warn that the U.S. lifesaving system is not only failing to handle daily emergencies but also could break down in the face of national disasters, including hurricanes, disease outbreaks or terrorist attacks.

"We are not prepared," says Brent Eastman, a board member and chief medical officer at Scripps Health in San Diego. "We struggle to survive day-to-day."

Anyone who's been in an ER lately will say an "Amen!" to that. I remember going in for asthma once, I literally couldn't catch my breath, and I waited for 90 minutes. I guess that's what you get when you have the BEST HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN THE WORLD!

• Even older, but worth revisiting: Europe's role in CIA abductions. The Council of Europe contradicts an earlier report absolving the Europeans of blame. I seem to remember that one being trumpeted by the conservosphere, and not a peep on this one. Hm.

• Despite their complicity in secret prisons in Europe, the EU will call for the closing of Guantanamo in a summit with the President this week. Not every country in Europe had a hand in helping the CIA, but this seems a little like misplaced blame to me. I agree that Guantanamo should be closed once everyone in it is prosecuted under due process of the law. Closing it now without doing that will just allow the US to transfer the prisoners somewhere even more secretive. I do agree with this, however:

On Monday a spokesman for the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said it was important to ensure that "in combating terrorism we do not ourselves damage our democratic and legal systems".

"Nobody should be in a legal vacuum," he said.

In Cuba OR in Europe.

• The fight for fluffernutter sandwiches continues. If this was the Reagan Administration that Marshmallow Fluff would be considered a vegetable.