Sen. Patty Murray's Shocking Discovery - Capitalism!

"With regard for nothing but their own profits, some traders are bidding up oil prices by buying huge quantities of oil just to resell at an even higher price.

You see, these traders never plan on actually using the oil they buy. They just keep buying it to inflate the price so that they can make more and more money when they turn around and sell it. The problem is, families like yours and mine are stuck paying the bill." ~ Washington State Senator and tennis shoe wearing mom, Patty Murray on today's Democrat Radio Address.

Has the woman never even ran a lemonade stand when she was a kid? Is she so out of touch with reality that she thinks retail stores exist on thin air and good intentions? Has she never heard of Wall Street, or the phrase "buy low, sell high?" How can anyone be so ignorant of the American free-enterprise system and be elected to one of the highest offices in the land? Or perhaps she's not as much ignorant to American capitalism as she is hostile to the idea.

"Real Katrina hero? Wal-Mart, study says"

According to ConsumerAffairs.com, a new study has shown that in an emergency, you can expect more help from your local Wal-Mart than the federal government.

We can a find better neighbor, right PARDners?

Empowered to 'do the right thing,' employees gave away supplies and offered sleeping space after the 2005 hurricane. Local knowledge allowed big-box retailers to respond before FEMA could.

Hurricane season is just around the corner, so Americans should know where to turn to if disaster strikes.

It's not the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A new study suggests Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowe's would be a lot more helpful.

The study, by Steven Horwitz, a professor of economics at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., stresses that successful disaster relief depends upon responders having detailed knowledge of a local area and the right incentives to act on that knowledge.

Examining federal and private responses to Hurricane Katrina, the study says why FEMA was destined to fail and why for-profit companies succeeded at disaster recovery.

It also looks at the Coast Guard -- the only federal agency lauded for its Katrina performance -- which rescued more than 24,000 people in the two weeks after the storm.

Local knowledge critical
The study says Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowe's made use of their local knowledge about supply chains, infrastructure, decision makers and other resources to provide emergency supplies and reopen stores well before FEMA began its response. Local knowledge enabled the big-box stores to make plans ahead of the storm and then put them into effect immediately.

"Profit-seeking firms beat most of the government to the scene and provided more effectively the supplies needed for the immediate survival of a population cut off from life's most basic necessities," Horwitz wrote in the study, which was published by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. "Though numerous private-sector firms played important roles in the relief operations, Wal-Mart stood out."

Also, Wal-Mart leadership gave tremendous discretion to store managers and employees to make decisions rather than waiting for instructions from upper-level management, allowing for more-agile disaster response. CEO Lee Scott passed down a guiding edict to regional, district and store managers: "A lot of you are going to have to make decisions above your level. Make the best decision that you can with the information that's available to you at the time, and, above all, do the right thing."

The report calls out several examples of that principle in action:

A Kenner, La., employee used a forklift to knock open a warehouse door to get water for a retirement home.

In Marrero, La., employees allowed police officers to use the store as a headquarters and a sleeping place, as many had lost their homes.

In Waveland, Miss., assistant manager Jessica Lewis ran a bulldozer through her store to collect basics that were not water-damaged, which she then piled in the parking lot and gave away to residents. She also broke into the store's locked pharmacy to supply critical drugs to a hospital.

Freedom to act
Horwitz said the Coast Guard also places a strong emphasis on local knowledge. A flat organizational structure and unique agency culture allow for subordinate officers to alter the plans for a specific operation so long as they follow the commander's intent.

The Coast Guard's experience with search-and-rescue operations and marine work, and its division by geographic area, provide greater expertise for disaster response, Horwitz said.

He also examined the conventional wisdom that businesses take advantage of disasters through price-gouging and other unsavory business practices.

Though some price-gouging does occur during disasters, Horwitz's report details how Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowe's sent truckloads of free supplies to the hardest-hit areas in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He noted that's good public relations, of course, to help build long-term customer loyalty.

"Disaster response happens at the local level," Horwitz said. "FEMA is not local to anyone except people who live in Washington, D.C."

As usual, the free market solution is always the better one.

HT: Mike D.

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Wal-Mart: Prescription for Ailing American Health Care

Universal healthcare provided by the government that gaves us the $500 toilet seat and the $250 hammers No thanks, Daily Watermelon. I'll take "Free Market Health Care Solutions" for $1 billion, Alex.

Since launching the $4 prescription program in September 2006, Wal-Mart customers in Washington have saved $11,487,959.73.

The $4 Program provides a solution for the nearly 800,000 uninsured Washington residents (according to the Kaiser Family Foundation) who may may presently avoid filling prescriptions and remain untreated. Nationwide the savings have amounted to more than $1 billion as of March 10.

That's a lot "sickos" treated, eh fatso?

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What the Big Box Battles On the Palouse Are All About

Even though his frequent self-congratulatory egocentrism makes me blanch (e.g. "I'm a university professor with a large, successful, corporate-funded program that advises them on their business,") I generally enjoy Chuck Pezeshki's online comments because he cuts through all the usual bullshit our local liberals spout and reveals the unvarnished thoughts of a leftist in public. Take for example this recent comment on Dnews.com:

It's pretty shallow to define life in America as some kind of enhanced shopping experience. I don't think that the Founding Fathers meant 'pursuit of happiness' to mean price-shopping in a small geographic area. Sadly enough, with the collapse of anything resembling an external life in this country, shopping and over-work have turned into the few available pastimes. Lest ye think that I lament only for liberal pastimes, look at the fate of groups like the Lions. And try to buy a beer in an outdoor venue in the US. Not allowed-- because we're all supposedly hooligans. Even though there are whole continents where such a simple pleasure is a way of life-- not an exceptional activity.

For the last 12 years, this country's hit the skids. People are afraid, and now many are queued up for losing their homes. The collapse is on its way. It ain't gonna be pretty...

Bubba definitely had something to do with it. But GWB hammered the throttle down.

Besides demonstrating a terminal case of Bush Derangement Syndrome, Chuck's comment perfectly illustrates what Professor James Twitchell of the University of Florida in an article in Reason magazine called "Marxism Lite:"

Since the 1960s, the primary "readers" of the commercial "text" have been the well-tended and -tenured members of the academy. For any number of reasons--the most obvious being their low levels of disposable income, average age, and gender, and the fact that these critics are selling a competing product, high-cult (which is also coated with its own dream values)--the academy has casually passed off as "hegemonic brainwashing" what seems to me, at least, a self-evident truth about human nature: We like having stuff.

In place of the obvious, they have substituted an interpretation that they themselves often call vulgar Marxism. It is supposedly vulgar in the sense that it is not as sophisticated as the real stuff, but it has enough spin on it to be more appropriately called Marxism lite. Go into almost any cultural studies course in this country and you will hear the condemnation of consumerism expounded: What we see in the marketplace is the result of the manipulation of the many for the profit of the few. Consumers are led around by the nose. We live in a squirrel cage. Left alone we would read Wordsworth, eat lots of salad, and have meetings to discuss Really Important Subjects.

In cultural studies today, everything is oppression and we are all victims. In macrocosmic form, the oppression is economic--the "free" market. In microcosmic form, oppression is media--your "free" TV. Here, in the jargon of this downmarket Marxism, is how the system works: The manipulators, a.k.a. "the culture industry," attempt to enlarge their hegemony by establishing their ideological base in the hearts and pocketbooks of a weak and demoralized populace. Left alone, we would never desire things (ugh!). They have made us materialistic. But for them, we would be spiritual.

To these critics, the masters of industry and their henchmen, the media lords, are predators, and what they do in no way reflects or resolves genuine audience concerns. Just the opposite. The masters of the media collude, striving to infantilize us so that we are docile, anxious, and filled with "reified desire." While we may think advertising is just "talking about the product," that packaging just "wraps the object," that retailing is just "trading the product," or that fashion is just "the style of the product," this is not so. That you may think so only proves their power over you. The marginalized among us--the African American, the child, the immigrant, and especially the female--are trapped into this commodifying system, this false consciousness, and this fetishism that only the enlightened can correct. Legendary ad man David Ogilvy's observation that, "The consumer is no fool, she is your wife" is just an example of the repressive tolerance of such a sexist, materialist culture.

Needless to say, in such a system the only safe place to be is tenured, underpaid, self-defined as marginalized, teaching two days a week for nine months a year, and writing really perceptive social criticism that your colleagues can pretend to read. Or rather, you would be writing such articles if only you could find the time.

See, the problem with Chuck's ascetic Waldenesque utopia is that he and his elitist and enlightened academic chums who share his vision don't just want to decide what goods, stores, leisure pursuits, lifestyles, thoughts, feelings and beliefs are worthy for themselves, they want to decide for you also. This is the path to a totalitarian society.

Another example of Chuck's line of thinking is the book "The Politics of Meaning: Restoring Hope and Possibility in an Age of Cynicism" by Michael Lerner. This book and its message have been enthusiastically embraced by Hillary Rodham Clinton ("It takes a village to raise a child"), among others. Jonah Goldberg in his #1 bestseller "Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning" states that modern American "progessives," like Chuck, share the same nostalgic tradition as the communists and fascists in that they want to use political power to reestablish in the alienated modern city the lost innocence of community and kinship of the pre-modern village.

This is what the fight over Wal-Mart and Hawkins in our community is all about, not water, traffic, or stormwater runoff. I thank Chuck for reminding everyone of that.

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Hope for the future

Hans Rosling's 2006 and 2007 20 minute videos describe (with amazing graphics) how there will soon be NO ‘third world.’ I highly recommend them.

Improved health and wealth are taking over the planet and we hardly noticed. Rosling's presentaions are to me the most interesting analysis of the world’s population since the idiot Paul Erlick wrote “The Population Bomb”. Erlick, whose book I read while I was in high school in the 70’s, predicted that all was lost. We’ll soon run out of food, and we’ll all die - if we don’t force people to stop reproducing. That sort of short sightedness has always affected my politics. The correct answer to Erlick’s 'dilemma' was of course staring him in the face: free market economies and the green revolution would totally transform the planet. Though Rosling is from socialist Sweden you’ll see he can’t help but come to the same conclusion.

You can run Rosling’s software at http://www.gapminder.org/ but check out his talks first.

I'm Not a Wingnut, But I Play One on the Internet

"I thought I would stand here like this so you could see if I was really as big a son of a bitch as you think I am."

- George C. Scott as General George S. Patton, Patton, 1970

Like Elmer Gantry, I once again stood behind a podium at the University of Idaho this evening to preach the gospel of corporate America and the free market to poor lost college students who normally don't get to hear it.

UI Economics professor Steve Peterson had me speak to some 75-100 students as part of a "Riddles and Paradoxes" speakers series on economic growth and its interrelationship with environmental issues.

As always, I love to speak anytime (and at length) about growth and development on the Palouse. It was great fun, although the wireless microphone batteries were dead, so I'm a little hoarse after speaking somewhat loudly for over an hour. Thanks to Steve for the invite. I'd post my presentation, "The False Dilemma: Big Boxes, Small Towns," but I'm not quite ready to transfer over to Roadrunner yet and I can't upload anything else to my Adelphia web space (I'm holding on to Adelphia until the bitter end.) If anyone knows of a good, free file hosting site, please let me know.

A real surprise treat was meeting Duane Brelsford's youngest daughter, a UI student, after the presentation. We had a very nice chat. Luckily for me, I had good things to say about her dad, Pullman's biggest developer, in my presentation!

But special thanks to the UI student I spoke with who told me that the Moscow Civic Association/PARD types had warned him that I was a far right wacko. He said after hearing me speak, he could see that I wasn't like that at all. In fact, he stated, my arguments made more sense than theirs. I still remain hopeful that the vast majority of people out there will believe the truth if they could only hear it.

I'm just a person who believes in facts, common sense, the traditional values that made this country great, and calling things like I see them. People can apply whatever label to me that they like.

The Professor's Progress

I have nothing against professors. In fact, I'm married to a member of the WSU faculty. I know professors are very intelligent and well-educated people who have worked hard to get where they are. I have friends, political allies, and people whom I admire very much that are or were professors.

What I am against are very intellectual people who purposefully turn a blind eye to all reason, evidence, logic, and truth in the name of some political ideology and espouse patently nutty ideas like Chuck Pezeshki's economic desert, Queen Nancy's eco-communalist "sustainable Mexican fishing village" and PARD's latest "Buy Local" campaign. To believe that the Palouse can be some sort of self-sufficient hippie commune where all we need is love and that we're somehow not part of a global economy is to ignore all reality.

I have been tough on WSU professor Kathryn Meier in the past. She has written some really awful NIMBY drivel. But in her last Town Crier column in yesterday's Moscow-Pullman Daily News, I have to give her credit for opening up her mind and discovering some of the things we all already know, even if it doesn't follow the politically correct party line:

A couple of weekends ago, I had the pleasure of attending a local sustainability dinner sponsored by Rural Roots in Moscow and initiated by a group from New York

The setting was magnificent, the bluegrass music was great, the company was very enjoyable and the food was wonderful.

As you might expect, many of the participants were already committed to sustainability issues. I don't consider myself an apostle of sustainability, even though my husband and I raise and grow much of our own food. We do so primarily for personal enjoyment, exercise, and food quality - not on the basis of political principle. I am certainly not in league with the "freegans," who attempt to utilize exclusively local products, and to barter rather than using currency. This seems unnecessarily complicated to me, albeit in the guise of simplicity. However, the dinner and other publicity have made me think a bit more about what sustainability means.

In the broadest sense, it appears that the sustainability initiatives are designed to make us think about how we can live more harmoniously in our environment, using the minimal amount of resources. I think this is a goal everyone can appreciate, and one that can be approached at many levels. On the surface, it would seem that sustainability is more easily achieved on the Palouse than in a large urban center, since we are in a food-producing region.

However, international economics make this more complicated than it appears. Much of the food grown locally is exported, and there are relatively few produce farmers in the area. Moreover, much of the farming we do is dependent on petroleum energy obtained from distant sites. Thus, matters quickly become more complicated. Finally, I would note that our farm experienced freezes Aug. 11, and again Monday - emphasizing the difficulty of sustaining oneself in an area with a short and fickle growing season.

Monday, I drove down to Lewiston to pick up some supplies, including animal feed. Several thoughts crossed my mind on the way home. First, while in Clarkston at a big-box store, I succumbed to the impulse to purchase a new frozen pesto-based pizza that was imported from Italy. On the way back, I realized this was quite a silly thing to do. We can make good pizza at home, using some of our own produce and homemade pesto in the process. Does it make any sense to purchase pizza that has been flown across the globe from Italy? I was falling prey to the "convenience" aspect as well as to the opportunity to try something new. We all make decisions like this every day. The decisions may not be "wrong," but we might choose to do otherwise if we kept the bigger picture in mind.

I next began to consider the trip as a whole. We are accustomed to driving relatively long distances for supplies on the Palouse. While this is easy and pleasant, at least in summer, it consumes fuel. I may feel smug about my use of a hybrid vehicle, but it still uses petroleum. The only good excuse that I could come up with is that I made use of a single trip to shop at several stores, and even picked a flat of wild blackberries along the way.

In the end, I conclude that all of us can do better, but that the freegan ideal is impossible for most of us. In my particular case, the air travel required of an active academician uses excessive resources, no matter how well justified. Thus, we all make compromises in our daily lives. I have nothing against a global economy and can only hope that we can use it wisely to trade for goods that cannot be produced locally.

When at home, or trekking across the state or the world, we can all work to become aware of the wonderful products that are available along the way - fruit, vegetables, cheese, meat, and crafts - and support the local producers by buying from them directly. We can make more efficient use of our time, and of petroleum-based energy, by foraging as we go. And please don't forget to stop and pick the berries alongside the road.

Yes, choice is wonderful and something we utilize every day. That is what is so fantastic about free enterprise and free trade and why socialism was such a miserable failure. A centrally-planned economy that the liberals so desire takes those decisions and places them in the hands of a few. Humans naturally rebel against such an arrangement.

And the Palouse does benefit quite nicely from that global economy. The wheat, dry peas, lentils, garbanzo beans, and canola we grow are shipped all over the world, as are the cutting-edge electronics of Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories. Is it too much to ask that we have a few amenities to make life more enjoyable in return?

And as I have pointed out frequently, big box stores in Pullman mean less driving long distances, less fuel consumed and less carbon emissions. If we're going to buy the stuff anyway, why not buy it here? Isn't that what sustainability is all about?

Mikheil Saakashvili for President

A new Ronald Reagan?
It is time to change our constitution not for a California Governor but a genuine leader, even if we have to import him from a former Soviet bloc. Georgia’s president Mikheil Saakashvili is my man for US president. From the online WSJ:

At a dinner for Georgian businessmen, the president delivers a speech hammering home his well-honed message of self-help. "The government is going to help you in the best way possible, by doing nothing for you, by getting out of your way.

Well, I exaggerate but you understand. Of course we will provide you with infrastructure, and help by getting rid of corruption, but you have all succeeded by your own initiative and enterprise, so you should congratulate yourselves."

He has to be doing something right if the Russians are lobbing missiles into his territory.

Our neighbor to the south could learn something from this guy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The complete story from the WSJ.
Georgia on His Mind (subscription)
By MELIK KAYLAN August 25, 2007; Page A7

On Aug. 8, a missile the size of a bus struck near a village some 50 miles north of this Eurasian country's capital city, Tbilisi. It failed to explode. In all likelihood the missile came from Russian jet fighters violating Georgian airspace, as Georgians quickly claimed -- the incident was eerily similar to one in March, when Russian attack helicopters flew at night and, without provocation, fired missiles into Georgian territory.

In both cases, Georgian authorities showed the world radar flight path data as proof. The world did nothing the first time, and will likely do nothing again. Meanwhile, unexplained incursions continue daily. This is the kind of near-lethal brinkmanship which Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili believes will only encourage more belligerence from Russia.

Mr. Saakashvili has spent his first three-and-a-half years in office impelling his country forward economically, courting NATO and EU membership, eradicating corruption and trying to woo Russian-supported secessionists back into the fold. Above all, he strives daily to keep his country, with a population of four million, on the mind of Western nations so its security and success will seem synonymous with theirs -- and keep the Russians at bay. The Russians still seem to perceive post-Soviet Georgian independence as a kind of betrayal, responding with an array of destabilizing policies, such as the imposition of embargoes on Georgian goods.

Earlier this summer, I spent some time with Georgia's president, checking on his progress. He has quite a story to tell, particularly about the economy. According to Mr. Saakashvili, Georgia's GDP was less than $3 billion five years ago. It's now $8 billion and will double in three years, and he is straightforward about his inspiration.

"I finally met Margaret Thatcher in London this year," he shouts over the noise of helicopter engines as we fly adjacent to the snow-peaked Caucasus mountains. "I always admired her, and I always thought, if I could do in Georgia a fraction of what she did in the U.K., I would be very happy. … And she said to me, 'you are doing all the things in Georgia that I wanted to do in the U.K. and more . . . '"

It's a strange place for an interview, but Mr. Saakashvili keeps a merciless schedule. On this day, after a speech in the main square of Tbilisi, he is presiding over five separate ribbon-cutting ceremonies around the country.

We begin the tour with a three-kilometer visit down a coal mine that has sat unused for 15 years, with the mining community above it going to ruin. It is now being revitalized with German money and machinery. We end the tour past midnight, at a new Turkish-built airport at the resurgent Black Sea resort of Batoumi.

Just four years ago, before the nonviolent Rose Revolution disposed of the Shevardnadze regime and soon voted in Mr. Saakashvili, Georgia was widely considered a failed state on a par with Zimbabwe -- with corruption rampant, a stagnant economy and several civil wars smoldering.

That's changing. Three years ago, Mr. Saakashvili famously fired 15,000 traffic policemen and dissolved the pervasive bribery ethos in one stroke. The country is booming: Everywhere new hotels, factories and well-lit roads proclaim the changes. Even the old Soviet tower blocks look festive and newly painted. Foreign investment flows in from every quarter: Kazakhstan to the east, Turkey to the south, Europe and the U.S., the Gulf States, even from Russia, despite all of Mr. Putin's embargoes -- and despite the shadow of two secessionist "black holes" inside Georgia backed by Russian arms and money: Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Mr. Saakashvili points out a little town in the distance, Tskhinvali, the disputed heart of South Ossetia, nothing more than a sprinkling of houses on a rise of farmland deep inside Georgian territory. "We've offered them everything they want . . . language rights, their own political structures, cross-border rights to their fellow Ossetians. … They probably would agree if they were free to do so."

I point down to the terrain beneath us and comment that if the well-regulated squares of green fields down below are any indication, Georgia's agriculture is doing well. "In Soviet times," he says, "all this was a chaotic mess. In contrast, you'd fly over Western Europe and see miles of perfectly cultivated land . . . Now Georgia is the same. It's beautiful to look at. That's the aesthetic look of the free market."

A day or two later, at a dinner for Georgian businessmen, the president delivers a speech hammering home his well-honed message of self-help. "The government is going to help you in the best way possible, by doing nothing for you, by getting out of your way. Well, I exaggerate but you understand. Of course we will provide you with infrastructure, and help by getting rid of corruption, but you have all succeeded by your own initiative and enterprise, so you should congratulate yourselves."

Mr. Saakashvili's style of leadership feels like a permanent political campaign -- which it is, in a way. He seems determined to show citizens how it's being done, visibly to demonstrate accountability, transparency and political process, so they grow accustomed to the sight of politicians answering to them -- in short, to Western political habits. All the while, he's exhorting and explaining, striving to change attitudes ingrained through decades of Soviet rule and 15 years of stagnation, strife and corruption. "I keep telling people that this is not a process like some silver-backed gorilla leading them to new pastures. They must do it themselves, and they are."

Mr. Saakashvili famously gets very little sleep, calling his aides at 2 a.m. to remind them of neglected tasks. During the day, he never stops moving.

On one occasion, a sudden onset of severe bad weather forces down both his helicopter -- and the one behind it that is full of his security -- in farmland beside a small town. No matter. His aides borrow what conveyances they can, and we end up with the president driving a 1956 Volga modeled on a postwar American Dodge. As the sleet and hail hammer down, the car lurches along and we all double up in helpless laughter because the windshield wipers don't work. Mr. Saakashvili sticks one free arm out the driver's-side window to wipe the windshield manually while he drives.

At one point I ask him if security and dealing with Russian threats are a top priority. "We have two limbs of Georgia which are currently detached," he says, careful not to sound provocative, "and we have a hostile, powerful northern neighbor, even more powerful every day with oil money. But we can't be living in a state of gloom and paranoia. . . . When the Russians imposed the embargo on our wines, we simply found new markets. Like-minded countries such as Poland and the Baltic states actively sought out our products.

"When Russia cut off gas supplies, we had to work on developing new sources. So we're developing hydro-power and coal and nuclear energy. Next year, we'll be fully supplied by Azerbaijani power. . . . Everyone said we'd never survive but our success gives confidence to everyone else."

Mr. Saakashvili notes that his country had to diversify its markets anyway. "Georgia's natural strength is its role as a crossroads both culturally and geographically. It was always a kind of bridge on the old Silk Road. So we're building up our highway system; we're completing our rail link from Batoumi to Istanbul through to Europe; we've got the new international airport there.

"Eastwards we're connecting all the way to China via a ferry across the Caspian. It will offer an alternative to the trans-Siberian railway. And of course, the same goes for pipelines such as the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline which goes through Georgia."

I ask him if the Russians are making a big push now with maximum pressure while they can, realizing that before long, consumer countries will develop alternate supply routes to avoid Russian strategic pressure. "No, I don't think the Russians are calculating logically or strategically," he says. "I think it's an emotional and volatile process for them. Logically, they should realize that stable relations all around will pay off for them more in the long run. Instead they're driving countries to find alternative partners . . ."

He also speaks about Russia's domestic anti-Georgian campaign. "It wasn't working very effectively until they actually went to all the schools and asked for a list of all the children with Georgian names. Suddenly, the parents realized this was serious. That and the endless corruption of the Russian system became unbearable for them -- so now we have tens of thousands of qualified Georgians . . . coming back and repatriating their money to Georgia."

There is a general sense in Georgia that the U.S. could be more supportive but badly needs Russian help over such critical areas as Iran, North Korea and the fight against terror. Does Mr. Saakashvili think that the U.S. could do more? "All we ask for is moral support," he answers. "It's all about shared values. You can see that the U.S. has a lot of moral authority here. We have a historic sympathy for the U.S. and the West. America should know how strong it still is and keep up the pressure at the highest levels. It should help enhance stability and serve as a deterrent to Russian adventurism."

Mr. Saakashvili also says that "Europe is waking up. After the French election, I was invited on a full state visit. That did not happen in the time of [former President Jacques] Chirac -- he had other priorities. Europe is becoming aware that it must engage with the 'near abroad' region between itself and Russia. Europe is ending its false pragmatism.

"In return," he continues, "we are doing our utmost to stay engaged in the international community and to fulfill our obligations. Georgia has 2,000 troops in Iraq now deploying to the Iran border . . . to interdict arms smuggling across the border and we have told them not to be passive -- [instead] to be active and get results. Before now they were in the Green Zone but now they will be acting as part of the surge, going wherever US troops can go. . . . failure in Iraq will be a disaster for everyone.

"For us it's also a matter of national pride. Georgian soldiers have always been famous for their courage but they've never fought as Georgians -- they've always fought in others' armies. We've had generals in Mameluke, Russian and Soviet armies -- even top U.S. generals. Now they will be serving in our name and for our country. In the 1920s Georgian officers fought for Polish independence to keep out the Bolsheviks (Retired U.S. Gen. John Shalikashvili's father was one.) Poland has just put up a monument to those officers (to the chagrin of Mr. Putin)."

* * *

Nearing the end of our time together, I ask Mr. Saakashvili, whose administration will surely be remembered for the number and pace of its reforms, if he feels he can let up. Is he on schedule, and what's left undone?

Mr. Saakashvili responds by stressing the importance of integrating Georgia's ethnic minorities. "There used to be areas where only Russian was spoken and the central government had no influence. Now they are all voluntarily learning Georgian. It's important that we show an example to secessionist zones, that they have nothing to fear, that in fact their identity will be better protected by us than Russia."

He also speaks about the vital importance of "ridding ourselves of corruption," of reaching "the point of irreversibility. That's why we are in a hurry. If you relax on corruption it will come back in two months."

Mr. Saakashvili notes of his own country as well as many others emerging from the shadows of communism: "These are not societies with much experience in democratic processes. In parts of Eastern Europe they keep electing useless populists who are corrupt. So far the people here have made the right choices but we must govern in a way that's instructional and symbolic so it settles in the public's consciousness, and they learn to evaluate you by achievement. Democracy means constantly outperforming yourself or you are out on your backside. That's as it should be."

As night falls, back in the sky, we fly close enough to the Abkhazia border to see the contrast between well-lit Georgia and Russian darkness over the secessionist zone. From up above, and on the ground, the symbolism is clear enough.

But to Mr. Saakashvili, the more important issue might be: Is this distinction clear to his friends in the West -- and how far will they go to stop the darkness from spilling over into Georgia?