DANIEL SCHORR: On my 89th birthday I ask indulgence to depart from customary      journalistic detachment.</s>ROBERT SIEGEL, host: Our very senior news analyst Daniel Schorr.</s>DANIEL SCHORR: Into the long-running argument about creationism vs. evolution,      there's lately been added a new catchphrase, a version of creationism      called intelligent design.  President Bush has staked out a non-position      on the subject, which is that both sides ought to be properly taught in      the schools of America in case there are some who haven't made up their      minds.  But as the president cut short his vacation by two days to deal      with the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Katrina, he might well have      reflected that if this was the result of intelligent design, then the      designer has something to answer for.</s>DANIEL SCHORR: Rarely in my lifetime can I remember--aside from world wars, the      Holocaust and plague epidemics--so much grievous pain visited upon the      human species by human beings or by forces beyond their control.      Drought, flood and famine, a deadly tsunami, war and insurrection, and      the United States while fending off conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan      leads the way in sales of arms to developing countries.  Death and      destruction seem not to be equal opportunity scourges. Hurricanes strike      with greater force at well-heeled occupants of beach homes than inland      residents.  On the other hand, as The Wall Street Journal noted, the      evacuation of New Orleans was a model of efficiency for those with cars,      leaving the others to seek shelter in the Superdome.</s>DANIEL SCHORR: Are hurricanes part of some mysterious design?  The New York Times      explains that the severity of hurricane seasons varies with the cycles of      natural change in temperature over the Atlantic over several decades.      Did you say natural?  But where does natural come from?  Oh, here we go      again.  This is Daniel Schorr.
NPR senior news analyst Daniel Schorr asks where the scourges of hurricanes, drought, and famine fit into the debate over "intelligent design."