[joltinjoe]

Iranians should be very wealthy, but their Mullas piss their money away on terrorism. If I were an Iranian I would be pissed.

[facedown]

Sowell bump.

[ElkGroveDan]

Massive bump to the top!

This is what its all about.

[steveyp]

I was waiting for someone to make this observation. Both quakes at 6.5 but death tolls > 25000x different.

Pathetic.

They're living in an islamic paradise.

[OldFriend]

Sorry but his thesis is ridiculous. This Iranian city was built of mud brick a VERY VERY long time ago........is he suggesting it ought to have been levelled and rebuilt to modern specifications?

[CyberCowboy777]

money and power bump.

[HarleyD]

Perhaps if they stop spending their money on nuclear weapons and military hardware and instead put it into other industries they would be a wealthier nation. I guess the author would like us to pay for their industries while they continue to build their military.

[Salvation]

**There is another side to the story of these two earthquakes and their consequences.**

The rest of the story..........


Gotta love that line!

[Fester Chugabrew]

"Wealth is the only thing that can prevent poverty."

"You can observe a lot by watching," too.

[rwfromkansas]

Well, I think the California earthquake struck out in the middle of nowhere, while the one in Iran struck near a major city. That had a lot of impact also.

But, he is correct that the amount of wealth also had a major impact.

[DannyTN]

Wealth certainly plays a role. But there is something to be said about building techniques and earthquake precautions.

My guess is that probably as many lives were loss due to negligence in building design as were loss due to wealth.

I saw one article that said the buildings weren't built according to even the local codes. This implies they knew what to do, but just didn't do it.

[DannyTN]

As much as we might hate to admit it. This is a strong argument in favor of safety regulations like building codes.

No doubt the libertarian sect of freepers would rather have the roof cave in on them, than to put up with the slightest regulation. However, there is a balance. Some level of regs is good and perhaps that's nowhere better demonstrated than in an instance like this.

[It's me]

A an excellent article!

[cake_crumb]

THAT is a good article.

For what it's worth, some Iranian papers are saying basically the same thing. Three differnt editorials in three different papers accuse the government of being responsible for the substandard housing that caused so many deaths. Peopel are demanding the government take responsibility for screwing up the rescue and relief efforts and implimant change. There have been no arrests yet, but expect them to come.

Iranians were not fooled by Khatemi's and Khameni's joint crocodile tear show of feeling their pain.

Khatemi appealed for people to donate to a government fund which he said was to help the injured and homeless.

Instead, Iranians are donating to PRIVATE funds and/or loading their own vehicles with supples and driving out to Bam to distribute themselves.

The szhizophrenic government of Iran looks to be in trouble.

[Al Simmons]

Common Sense BUMP!

[U S Army EOD]

When they compare the Galvaston hurricane to Andrew it is like comparing apples to oranges. Florida didn't go underwater as Galvaston did. The buildings in Galvaston were probably stonger and better constructed than the ones in Florida.

When nature is at it furry, it helps to be in something stronger but sometimes what you are in just isn't strong enough.

[Plutarch]

The infant mortality rate among black married women with only a high school diploma is lower than the infant mortality rate among white unmarried women who have been to college.

I have seen this quoted before, but I haven't seen the actual reference or numbers to back it up.

[narby]

The value of one "culture" over another also applies to the sexual culture. The current argument that it should be OK for gays to marry ignores the fact that gays live a very physically damaging lifestyle. A lifestyle that if encuraged, would then discurage normal two parent households, that as Sowell point out, are far more important than almost anything else to raising children in decent homes.

I don't want to hear this crap that gays can be "normal two parent" households as well. Promiscuity alone (dramatically higher in gay culture), no matter whether gay or straight, is damaging. As it breaks up families and leaves singe parent households with emotionally damaged children in its wake.

[Publius6961]

The deaths in Iran have been counted in the tens of thousands. In California, the deaths did not reach double digits. Why the difference? In one word, wealth.

I rarely feel compelled to disagree with Dr, Sowell, but I must in this case.

In one word: culture

Islam does not permit the excellence of the individual. In theory the "religion" part of the abortion has no centralized authority but in practice it is stifling. It claims to hate sin but tolerates and even encourages social corruption from the top down. It beats women in public for showing ankle, but allows shoddy construction and resulting endlessly repeating mass deaths. And calls them acts of allah (sbuh).

And worst of all, it allows institutionalized hatred to overcome the human need to save as many of the injured as possible. A death cult which deserves to be left to wallow in its own self-made misery.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Thanks for the post from one of America's treasures.