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Here's some interesting info on how previous presidents have handled similar disasters: http://www.livejournal.com/community/guerillanews/662942.html
Oh, and Kanye West said that Bush doesn't "care" about black people, not that he hates them. And it's true, Bush doesn't care about black people, but I'm going to try and stay on topic. I don't worship Kanye West for saying this on live TV, although it was great just for the look on Chris Tucker's face afterwards, but I don't think Bush specifically didn't care about the black people in Katrina. It seems to me he didn't really care about anyone down there for a few days, but that's my opinion.
Oh, and in the interest of democracy and free speech, it should -always- be trendy to criticize the government, especially when something goes wrong. That's why we have a government, isn't it? So that they can represent us and what we would like to see done, and if they don't then they've failed?
Kudos for the good post, hopefully I've been responsible in commenting.
Posted by:
Jamie
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Kitsune (hopefully) knows that I'm an avowed anarchist, so I care little for government WHOMEVER is in power. What's plain and simple about the whole thing is that noone can do anything AGAINST NATURE. We're never going to win that battle until we LEAVE EARTH. Even then, contending with supra-orbital physics is no picnic, and xenobiology hasn't even been "invented" yet.
I would tell the people who live in flood plains across the planet to MOVE WHERE IT WON'T FLOOD, but Sam Kinison already kinda covered that with Ethopia and whatnot (rest his soul): problem is, planet's overcrowded ANYWAY, so there's no sense in that statement. What they should do is be learnéd enough to know that when a hurricane is coming, they need to leave (and we should know that we will need to take them in).
All in all, it's a nightmare no matter from which side you're looking: a catastrophe that has claimed, is claiming, and will continue claim lives for as long as Nature holds.
Against the tide, we are powerless; against the wind, we cannot stand; against the darkness of night, we blench and quail in terror. We light the dark with fire and open ourselves to new disaster, even as the wind picks up to throw sparks in our faces. We build walls to hold back the water's inexorable press as we curse the moon which sustains our grand starship's fragile lifesystem. No man - President, King, or Emperor - could ever hope to stand against the fury of Physical Law.
Posted by:
zanbowser
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Jamie, you have been very responsible, and I appreciate intelligent people reading a site primarily about Big Macs and kittens.
But I ask part two of question 1 again, because I honestly don't know.
Anyone who's fought with me audibly (as opposed to over the internet) knows that I think GWB is just as much of a dumb little monkey as probably everyone else, but isn't there a whole administration over there who makes sure he doesn't stab himself in the eye when he eats with a fork?
Surely a bunch of people dropped the ball here.
Surely Clinton's spidey hurricane sense didn't tickle and he hopped on the plane for one of what are hundreds of hurricanes that occur during a term of presidency and he happened to really be needed.
Is it not possible that whatever administration member tapped Slick Willie on the shoulder and told him to get the heck out of dodge did not have a counterpart about a week ago?
When I learned about democracy as a child, I was always taught that it was so great because no one idiot could screw it up, and unlike an aristocracy (at face value, at least, I know there's a parliament to keep things in check) we have a big ol' system to make sure shit doesn't go down and the whole country hates one person.
So, unlike the rest of the world who is shouting, "Bush is such an ass for letting this happen," I'm asking, "Whose fault is it really?"
Thanks for reading my blather.
Posted by:
Kitsune
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I didn't intend to say that this is all Bush's fault, thought I wouldn't be surprised if he found time to read a quick book about a caterpillar before responding. I think the administration fucked up (which is still in part Bush's fault since he gave the most valuable posts to the some of the most insane people in the country), but it's just par for course. Just look at Jeffords, that ex-Republican dude who got so fed up with the Bush administration that he quit and gave an interview about how it was the worst-run and most politically-minded administration he'd ever seen. Or that review by the board of science and technology or whatever, to see how well science and logic are being applied in the government, and the administration failed on nearly all if not all accounts, setting a new record in sucktitude.
Anyways, I've actually been reading your site for years now, I don't think I've ever commented. I had my first Big Mac after reading one of your blogs, so that was a special moment.
Posted by:
Jamie
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The behavior of the press in the days after the hurricane hit - and recall New Orleans wasn't seriously flooded until the next day after the canals (not the levees, which were merely swamped for a while) broke open - is pretty closely tracking their behavior on and after Sept. 11, 2001. It took months before the truth seeped out around their shield of bullshit, and they're still trying to sell it to this day.
The mayor of New Orleans had 2 phone calls in the 2 days before the hurricane hit his town. After FEMA and the National Guard asked him to forcibly evacuate people, Bush personally had to call him the Sunday before it hit to beg him to use the several hundred city-controlled buses to remove people. With over 350 buses, it would have taken about 6 hours. He did not do it.
The governor of each state is in charge of their National Guard units until they're federalized. Louisiana's governor basically had a nervous breakdown live on television last week, and won't allow her NG people to be federalized. So out-of-state members are now taking on responsibilities hers would normally do.
Leaving all of that aside, New Orleans is unlike most cities in the South, because so many people are simply on the dole and without ambition or interest in taking care of themselves. They have to be treated like what far too many of them have shown themselves to be, which is imbeciles and criminals. There are parts of the city which the fire deparment is afraid to enter during night, and police have to have major backup to enter. This is a sick city, with maladministration (and lots of dead people still voting) by a mayor whose skills seem to run the gamut from whining to screaming and blaming others for his own failures. The criminals roving the streets in the aftermath of the flooding are something that hasn't been seen in this country except in cities without competitive elections and where large numbers of the residents' ideas of a father is a welfare check.
Doubtless the coverage will remain as despicable as it's been until those perpetrating it find themselves unemployed by their employers' bankruptcy, if that ever comes to pass.
Posted by:
Monty Burns
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Anybody who blames a natural disaster on a Singular person or administration has the right to be systematically slaughtered. However, if you blame the recovery effort on a Singular person or administration you are climbing up the ladder to a more intelligent society. I'm pretty sure the people saying "It's all bush's fault this happened" are the same people who are saying "The US gov't has a weather machine".
I for one blame the hurricane on the Tragically Hip. (Just kidding)
Posted by:
Likwidflame
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Monty, I'd like to know what it is specifically that you don't like about the media treatment.
I for one have been glued to cnn.com, and feel like I'm getting a fair cross-section of the happenings. I appreciate their up-to-the-minute articles bringing me to light of the new developments and how things worsen/get slightly better as the days pass.
I also appreciate coverage of all the questions I have, like what about all the pets, what about jails or assisted-living facilities, what about the police's families?
I'm not sure how television handles it, but politically skewed or not, people are very curious about what's happening, and if one news station does a story on anything else, they're not getting watched by the inquiring minds who want to know.
If the media is using it as some sort of vehicle for bleeding, leading stories and by proxy, ratings, then I suppose I must be very morbid, because I am curious to know what's going on so far away.
(see new link in the LinkFest)
Posted by:
Kitsune
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Tuckermax is an asshole... but sooo funny some times.
Posted by:
likwidflame
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y'know what i've summarily decided would be great? if Katrina came back and sucked more folks out to sea, leaving a couple more of those billboards with the message "we need to talk... -God" right out there to see. then maybe the Christian fundamentalist windbags will shout to the heavens enough to bring Katrina around YET again to wipe them out as well.
then, it would be FANtastic if some brave cops (or national guard - hell, just concerned citizens with handcannons) would just go down there and start shooting people they see carrying TVs, golf equipment, CDs, liquor, and anything else that YOU CAN'T EAT. no discussion, just shooting. and not just shooting, like "hey, you're carrying a plasma screen TV and i've got a 13 round magazine to empty into you from eight paces" kind of shooting. a bloodbath the likes of which hasn't been seen since the days of legions and barbarians.
maybe then, people would wise up and stop being such scumsucking assbags. governance through abject terror - that's my kinda governance.
::headshake::
::deep sigh::
Posted by:
zanbowser
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"This does not look good for Homestar Wunnur" - Homestar
Posted by:
Michael
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Oh, I don't know, Lauren. I'm probably the last person from whom you'd want an objective opinion on Bush, but the way he's handled this has been so staggeringly incompetent that even fellow Republicans are running for cover.
The fact that the federal response was so delayed and chaotic and uninformed was only part of it. Bush has been gutting FEMA for years, and the current director is just a political crony who doesn't know his ass from his elbow. And he's been saying things - like "no one could have anticipated the breach of the levees" - that are so patently false he's either completely ignorant of the situation or outright lying.
No one is saying Bush had go down there and personally start rebuilding houses, but by any standard of measurement this has been a horrific failure. Even he recognizes it - his guys are in full Political Damage Control Mode.
If anything, this exposes how horribly unprepared we are for a terrorist attack. If the federal government can't properly respond to a hurricane with four days' worth of notice, what the heck are they going to do when the terrorists take out the Golden Gate Bridge?
Posted by:
Zhubin
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Kitsune,
I read your blog from time to time since you always have a witty comment to make or a sassy remark that I find to be quite entertaining.
Coming from one of the only blue states left in the nation (California) I have to say that Bush's reaction to the natural disaster that affected New Orleans in particular was, to say the least, not one of his best moments.
He is supposed to set the tone for the nation, that is why a lot of people are finding his choices a bit objectionable. Then again the man does appeal to the Nascar crowd and that's how the political machines made him out to be.
Sadly, Bush himself is a complex character, the man himself is funny, witty and full of banter. Most people never get to see that side of him, having a set of friends with political ambitions I have been able to dine with the man and he is quite amicable.
Again, I can see your point of view, I can come to terms with it, and I hope that you can see (from my point of view at least) that Bush version 2.0 has still not learned on how to show emotion and pretend to at least give a darn about the low-income/non-voting, zeros on the left, and this should tell you a lot about his presidency and the people that have been running the show in his name and worst of all in the name of the U.S.A.
Posted by:
Wilhelm
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Although I agree partly with Zhubin on many points, and have chosen to ignore his well-timed crack at the unsafeness of the west coast (see prior post) my thoughts can be summed up by this post from here -- http://dancingwithkatrina.blogspot.com/
From Michael Moore:
>Dear Mr. Bush:>>Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of>Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New>Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you>have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help>finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot.>Man, was that a drag.>>Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We>could really use them right now for the type of thing they>signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How>come they weren't there to begin with?>>Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while>the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was>only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven>people died and, as of today, there were still homes without>power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its>way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you?>I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know>how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had>fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore>and smear. You sure showed her!>>I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead>of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with>your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this>-- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could>you do, put your finger in the dike?>>And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will>reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of>Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third>year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't>cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be>any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much>more important construction job for them -- BUILDING>DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!>>On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have>to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot>descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you>could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you>couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble>and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.>>There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy>and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep>pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky>scientists who predicted this would happen because the water>in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a>storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global>warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a>hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4>tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.>>No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault>that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens>of thousands had no transportation to get out of town.>C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to>Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their>roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing>-- NOTHING -- to do with this!>>You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our>Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of>New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.>>Yours,>>Michael Moore>MMFlint@aol.com>www.MichaelMoore.com>>P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at>your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi>War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in>many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them>before they get to DC on September 21st
From me:
Dear Mr. Moore,My name is Josh Norman. I am a reporter with the SunHerald of Biloxi, Mississippi. Last Sunday and Monday, I was in Biloxi when the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head as a category 4.It was terrifying.Immediately after the storm, I went out and reported on the disaster. I met families destroyed, saw neighborhoods reduced to their concrete foundations, smelled death and dispair and heard the disbelief roll off of everyone's toungue. Disaster, perhaps, is therefore not strong enough of a word.What will be a disaster is a divided and bickering nation.I appreciate your work, Mr. Moore. I understand your viewpoint.I have voted democrat across the board since I started voting ten years ago. I could very easily be described as a liberal too...I was in the Peace Corps for Christ's sake.But I do not feel that now is the time to berate Bush. Now is not the time to bring him down a peg. He may be pathetic, he may be barely able to actually help, but any help he can get down this way is desperately needed. By causing him to divert energies to defend his frequently spotty record people who attack him are diverting his energies away from here.And, I feel like you and others who attack him are diverting your energies away from here too.This disaster is about people. It's about the mother who came home from work and found her baby and husband had drowned in her living room. It's about the casino janitor who came home and found his daughter's baby photos missing - his house had been reduced to a slab - much the same way Hurricane Camille had done to his baby photos.It's about the firemen who had to swim out of their fire station, had their homes leveled, and are still working 20-hour days, 7 days a week.We need help here. Now. Listening to the political bashing, frankly, makes me concerned. I know Bush did wrong. I know there was a major fuck up. Now is not the time for finding of what that fuck up was.Have you spent as much time helping the people of South Mississippi and Louisiana get clothing, medicine, food and water as you have figuring out what Bush did wrong?-Josh
Posted by:
Kitsune
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PS -- Sorry about the stupid justification. I only have to care about the prettiness of line breaks at work. :)
Posted by:
Kitsune
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Well, I'm always wary of the line that criticism undermines national unity, since it's always applied to anti-war arguments, and look where that brought us. And besides, the criticism isn't just partisan sniping - EVERYONE knows how badly he did.
But beyond that, there's a good argument to be made that the criticism is what actually forced Bush to start paying attention. The man didn't even end his vacation until people started howling.
Posted by:
Zhubin
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Let me start by saying that what happened in the Gulf states is beyond terrible. I encourage everybody that reads this post to donate to the Red Cross, even if it is only 5, 10 or 20 dollars. http://redcross.org is the site to visit. They really need all the help they can get down there.
Now to some other points. To blame the President for the gross failures of the
Mayor and the Governor is ridiculous.
In regards to natural disasters, the LOCAL governments are responsible for first response -- in this case the President asked them to act sooner to make Federal intervention happen more quickly and the LOCALS in their arrogance refused.
President Bush declared disaster areas while the locals puttered around and wasted time so the Feds could begin pre-staging.
Our system of government does not generally allow the Fed government to move into local areas without a local request. It is one of the limits we deliberately place on the Federal government to defend freedom.
The locals are pointing fingers both because they are Democrats, and because they are afraid of legitimate accountability for their inexplicable failures of leadership before, during and after the hurricane.
No one needed to stay behind due to lack of transportation. The Mayor had fleets of school buses at his disposal and he failed to mobilize them and any "abandoned poor" are on his head, not the President's.
I agree that overall this situation could have been handled in a better and more efficient manner but before bashing the President get the facts.
/end rant
Posted by:
Kev
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so I said this in my blog, but the whole kanye west thing reminds me of an SNL skit.
clicky clicky
Posted by:
Ryan
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Brilliant, Ryan! 10 points to Gryffindor.
Posted by:
Kitsune
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Damn you, Potter! Voldemort will have his revenge!
Posted by:
zanbowser
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This "blame the locals" line is a talking point by the Bush administration that's a desperate attempt to push accountability away.
Firstly, the declaration of New Orleans as a disaster area on August 27th brought the region in control of the federal government through FEMA, and put the president in direct authority - and hence accountability - of disaster response. Secondly, blaming local governments for not responding to this issue is like a dad blaming his three-year-old son for not defending himself against a child rapist. The local governments have nowhere near the resources to respond to this type of disaster, which was spread over thousands and thousands of miles. This is what federal governments are FOR.
The statement that the locals had buses, and they didn't leave because they were too arrogant, rings particularly hollow when you can actually see the camera footage of people far too old and far too sick to be taken anywhere. The Convention Center was a desperate alternative for those without the ability to leave.
The federal government is not only directly responsible for national disasters of this scope, but this particular administration has been re-elected on the promise of having made this country safer and more able to respond quickly to attack. What happened with Katrina is a stunning refutation of what happens when you gut federal agencies, put cronies in charge of them, and have poor advisers. What happened here is the fault of an incompentent administration, and that's a fact as plainly evident as the corpses floating down the streets of NOLA.
Posted by:
Zhubin
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I just want to say that I think it's despicable that you don't know who Kanye West is.
Posted by:
Matt
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Zhubin: Like I said, the situation could have been handled better. There's no denying that, at least from me. I am just tired of people saying that it is the fault of one human being, President George W. Bush. That notion is ridiculous. Contrary to what you want to believe or say, both the local and state governments dropped the ball. While your usage of "a dad blaming his three-year-old son for not defending himself against a child rapist" conjures up scary imagery, let's get back to reality and recognize that the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana are not three year olds. They certainly should possess the "grown-up" skill of asking for help when realizing that a natural disaster is going to ruin their city and state. Your argument that the city and state were not capable of handling the disaster on their own may be true, but come on, if they knew that they should have reacted and asked for help from the Federal government sooner. Accountability must take place at all levels of government. You can not blame the President every time something in this country goes wrong.
I'm putting on my asbestos suit now to handle the flames I am about to receive.
Posted by:
Kev
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Kev, it wasn't evident that Katrina was turning into a monster storm headed into NOLA until around Friday. The next day the federal government assumed authority for all disaster responses in the region. Read the Declaration of the State of Emergency. What would you have the local governments do? Evacuation orders were delivered, the sick and elderly were moved to where it was thought to best safest, and the locals tried to get as much food/water into the area as they could.
My child rapist analogy is just to point out that the locals simply can't do all that much. Only the federal government has the resources to respond to this disaster, and the federal government ASSUMED the responsibility to do so.
The President is responsible because FEMA and DHS are all executive agencies under his direct control. Not only did he fail to get his administration into action, but for the past three years he has engaged in a series of actions that have made FEMA unable to respond to disasters.
No one is saying that Bush is the ONLY person in the entire government at fault. But Bush is the head of the executive branch and has the ultimate responsibility over it, and he is accountable for the failures of his delegates as well as his own regarding Katrina.
Posted by:
Zhubin
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Your points are all well taken. Thank you for responding in a courteous, non-flaming manner.
I'll end my comments here and once again ask that everyone donate to the Red Cross.
Posted by:
Kev
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Courteous? Yes, lying in a completely partisan way that seems to be remotely related to parsable sentences is courteous. But it's still lying. The fact of the matter is FEMA can't and never could do, and it would be unconstitutional for it to do, what Zhubin and any other partisan hacks wish it would do, which of course is to do the jobs of the failed governor of LA and mayor of NO. FEMA has 2500 employees. They have rules for how things ought to be done. They all require state and local elected officials to cooperate to put them into effect.
The public transportation system of NO had hundreds of buses left doing nothing. The school systems it turns out had many more than that. All told, enough to take anyone who wanted to leave but couldn't afford it out of the city to safer ground. The mayor had to be asked in a phone call by Bush to get his dead ass off the ground and evacuate the people, and he didn't do it. After the canal walls, and NOT the levees, broke (the levees worked as designed, though the water was taller than their height in places for a while. They are intact as they were before the storm to this day - just another fact the media-partisan left haven't gotten around to admitting), it took several more hours for NO to fill with water. Bush flew over the area in a helicopter the same damn day that happened, Tuesday August 30. Now all the kneepad crowd claims he didn't "care" and visited several days later. Well, sorry, but facts sometimes get out around the storm of lies. Just like the FEMA budget was increased under Bush his first year and grew every year since. But again, as with a federal rather than central system, it requires competence at more local levels. Instead of nervous breakdowns and whining racial bullshit by a mayor who's never had any executive responsibility in his little life, as is obviously true about the governor.
It took LA governor Blanco[ut] until Thursday, Sept. 1, to allow the National Guard to move in. She still kept the Red Cross out of the Superdome and convention center because she didn't want people collecting there.
Keep blaming anyone but the responsible ones. That is a characteristic of all those people who won't grow up but instead choose leftism over reality.
At 90000 square miles of damage, this is larger than anything any group anywhere, or any combination of groups could respond to in a short time. But compare how things moved beyond any short-term food/shelter needs in other states to how they went in LA, and the truth becomes quite plain.
While I've got lots of complaints about Bush, for being a wimp against the party of crime and allowing their conspiring media pals to get away with things they could never get away with against someone good at politics, this hurricane is not one of them, nor is the response. That you can find craven Republicans that seem to agree with the party of the child-molesting traitor whose infiltration and takeover of the Democratic Party remains as it was 5 years ago is hardly surprising, nor does it mean anything other than that they shouldn't be in positions of power. We saw that in late 1998 when one of those pols, Trent Lott, said, "You're not going to dumb this shit in my lap!" about the power-abusing, self-abusing 53-year-old criminal's fake trial about to be held in the Senate.
All that matters in the end is the facts, and they don't support the craven critics.
Posted by:
Monty Burns
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s/dumb/dump
Posted by:
Monty Burns
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OK, I haven't been to this site in 8 months because I was without a computer, but I'm staying with a friend who has one. I also know that, generally speaking, this is a pro-Bush site. So...sorry, but I'm gonna leave my comment, then just leave, because I feel strongly enough about this that I want it written down, and monty's last post seems like a spot that could use some balancing.
I lost my home to Katrina, I don't have a job, and my car is damaged - well, I still have my car, but part of my roof is still lodged in the hood, so it's not very driveable. I don't blame Bush for "causing the hurricane", unlike all those other radical liberals who are publicly laying the blame for the weather at the feet of Bush - you can't read a Katrina story without one of those weather-manipulation conspiracy theories in the paper, can you? No, I blame Bush for many other things he's done and not done. Let's start with FEMA: used to be one of the FEW gov't organizations that actually accomplished their job - that is, until Bush & Co. folded it into that powerhouse of progress, the Dept. of Homeland Security. If it hadn't been for the massive efforts by the churches (and I'm an athiest) and the military (those that were left, anyway), the people in my town would have starved or dehydrated before FEMA got anywhere NEAR us. So, blame FEMA, right? Not when Bush is the one responsible for putting the president of the National Arabian Horse Association in charge of the country's emergency and disaster organization. Exactly what was his qualifications for the job, other than having been a close friend of one of Bush's campaign flunkies? Then there's Bush's total lack of empathy with the victims (or the American people in general, but that's another point). What normal person in a position of power like, oh, say, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, wouldn't feel the need to immediately show concern (hell, even FAKE concern) by showing their face and pressing flesh at a time when people who have lost everything need to feel like their gov't hasn't forgotten them and is going to help them? Clinton, Reagan, even Bush Sr. were compassionate and/or smart enough to show up and console people, not stay on their vacation only leaving it to go the opposite direction for a speech in San Diego (feel free to bring up random secluded examples of these other presidents, particularly Clinton, staying on vacation during this or that tragedy - they still won't equal George W's record). Let's talk about blame. Everyone has blame to share, on federal, state, and local levels, but the largest portion should and does lay with Bush. You can point to specific things that New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin and LA governor Blanko forgot to or neglected to do during their handling of the WORST HURRICANE TO HIT THE UNITED STATES (which the Bush Administration did its damnedest to do, before Bush's limp-dick "apology"), but it was Bush who cut funding for the New Orleans levee program.
Damn. I have a LOT more I want to say, but I just don't have the stomach for anymore of it, and I hate to just delete all of this. So I'll just give up by stating this: George W. Bush should be arrested for treason against the United States of America for the steady and complete undermining of our government that his policies and appointments have caused. Thanks to George W. Bush, our form of democratic government is already irreparably eroded, and it probably won't return anytime soon (no matter who wins the next election). And if you're pissed as hell at me for insulting the guy you like so much, then you've become one of the blind followers that will always keep him out of trouble, no matter what crimes he perpetrates on our country, and you are lost.
God save our country (and remember, I'm an athiest)!
Posted by:
MethRattle
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Here's some interesting info on how previous presidents have handled similar disasters: http://www.livejournal.com/community/guerillanews/662942.html
Oh, and Kanye West said that Bush doesn't "care" about black people, not that he hates them. And it's true, Bush doesn't care about black people, but I'm going to try and stay on topic. I don't worship Kanye West for saying this on live TV, although it was great just for the look on Chris Tucker's face afterwards, but I don't think Bush specifically didn't care about the black people in Katrina. It seems to me he didn't really care about anyone down there for a few days, but that's my opinion.
Oh, and in the interest of democracy and free speech, it should -always- be trendy to criticize the government, especially when something goes wrong. That's why we have a government, isn't it? So that they can represent us and what we would like to see done, and if they don't then they've failed?
Kudos for the good post, hopefully I've been responsible in commenting.
Posted by: Jamie- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Kitsune (hopefully) knows that I'm an avowed anarchist, so I care little for government WHOMEVER is in power. What's plain and simple about the whole thing is that noone can do anything AGAINST NATURE. We're never going to win that battle until we LEAVE EARTH. Even then, contending with supra-orbital physics is no picnic, and xenobiology hasn't even been "invented" yet.
I would tell the people who live in flood plains across the planet to MOVE WHERE IT WON'T FLOOD, but Sam Kinison already kinda covered that with Ethopia and whatnot (rest his soul): problem is, planet's overcrowded ANYWAY, so there's no sense in that statement. What they should do is be learnéd enough to know that when a hurricane is coming, they need to leave (and we should know that we will need to take them in).
All in all, it's a nightmare no matter from which side you're looking: a catastrophe that has claimed, is claiming, and will continue claim lives for as long as Nature holds.
Against the tide, we are powerless; against the wind, we cannot stand; against the darkness of night, we blench and quail in terror. We light the dark with fire and open ourselves to new disaster, even as the wind picks up to throw sparks in our faces. We build walls to hold back the water's inexorable press as we curse the moon which sustains our grand starship's fragile lifesystem. No man - President, King, or Emperor - could ever hope to stand against the fury of Physical Law.
Posted by: zanbowser- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Jamie, you have been very responsible, and I appreciate intelligent people reading a site primarily about Big Macs and kittens.
But I ask part two of question 1 again, because I honestly don't know.
Anyone who's fought with me audibly (as opposed to over the internet) knows that I think GWB is just as much of a dumb little monkey as probably everyone else, but isn't there a whole administration over there who makes sure he doesn't stab himself in the eye when he eats with a fork?
Surely a bunch of people dropped the ball here.
Surely Clinton's spidey hurricane sense didn't tickle and he hopped on the plane for one of what are hundreds of hurricanes that occur during a term of presidency and he happened to really be needed.
Is it not possible that whatever administration member tapped Slick Willie on the shoulder and told him to get the heck out of dodge did not have a counterpart about a week ago?
When I learned about democracy as a child, I was always taught that it was so great because no one idiot could screw it up, and unlike an aristocracy (at face value, at least, I know there's a parliament to keep things in check) we have a big ol' system to make sure shit doesn't go down and the whole country hates one person.
So, unlike the rest of the world who is shouting, "Bush is such an ass for letting this happen," I'm asking, "Whose fault is it really?"
Thanks for reading my blather.
Posted by: Kitsune- - - - - - - - - - - - -
I didn't intend to say that this is all Bush's fault, thought I wouldn't be surprised if he found time to read a quick book about a caterpillar before responding. I think the administration fucked up (which is still in part Bush's fault since he gave the most valuable posts to the some of the most insane people in the country), but it's just par for course. Just look at Jeffords, that ex-Republican dude who got so fed up with the Bush administration that he quit and gave an interview about how it was the worst-run and most politically-minded administration he'd ever seen. Or that review by the board of science and technology or whatever, to see how well science and logic are being applied in the government, and the administration failed on nearly all if not all accounts, setting a new record in sucktitude.
Anyways, I've actually been reading your site for years now, I don't think I've ever commented. I had my first Big Mac after reading one of your blogs, so that was a special moment.
Posted by: Jamie- - - - - - - - - - - - -
The behavior of the press in the days after the hurricane hit - and recall New Orleans wasn't seriously flooded until the next day after the canals (not the levees, which were merely swamped for a while) broke open - is pretty closely tracking their behavior on and after Sept. 11, 2001. It took months before the truth seeped out around their shield of bullshit, and they're still trying to sell it to this day.
The mayor of New Orleans had 2 phone calls in the 2 days before the hurricane hit his town. After FEMA and the National Guard asked him to forcibly evacuate people, Bush personally had to call him the Sunday before it hit to beg him to use the several hundred city-controlled buses to remove people. With over 350 buses, it would have taken about 6 hours. He did not do it.
The governor of each state is in charge of their National Guard units until they're federalized. Louisiana's governor basically had a nervous breakdown live on television last week, and won't allow her NG people to be federalized. So out-of-state members are now taking on responsibilities hers would normally do.
Leaving all of that aside, New Orleans is unlike most cities in the South, because so many people are simply on the dole and without ambition or interest in taking care of themselves. They have to be treated like what far too many of them have shown themselves to be, which is imbeciles and criminals. There are parts of the city which the fire deparment is afraid to enter during night, and police have to have major backup to enter. This is a sick city, with maladministration (and lots of dead people still voting) by a mayor whose skills seem to run the gamut from whining to screaming and blaming others for his own failures. The criminals roving the streets in the aftermath of the flooding are something that hasn't been seen in this country except in cities without competitive elections and where large numbers of the residents' ideas of a father is a welfare check.
Doubtless the coverage will remain as despicable as it's been until those perpetrating it find themselves unemployed by their employers' bankruptcy, if that ever comes to pass.
Posted by: Monty Burns- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Anybody who blames a natural disaster on a Singular person or administration has the right to be systematically slaughtered. However, if you blame the recovery effort on a Singular person or administration you are climbing up the ladder to a more intelligent society. I'm pretty sure the people saying "It's all bush's fault this happened" are the same people who are saying "The US gov't has a weather machine".
Posted by: LikwidflameI for one blame the hurricane on the Tragically Hip. (Just kidding)
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Monty, I'd like to know what it is specifically that you don't like about the media treatment.
I for one have been glued to cnn.com, and feel like I'm getting a fair cross-section of the happenings. I appreciate their up-to-the-minute articles bringing me to light of the new developments and how things worsen/get slightly better as the days pass.
I also appreciate coverage of all the questions I have, like what about all the pets, what about jails or assisted-living facilities, what about the police's families?
I'm not sure how television handles it, but politically skewed or not, people are very curious about what's happening, and if one news station does a story on anything else, they're not getting watched by the inquiring minds who want to know.
If the media is using it as some sort of vehicle for bleeding, leading stories and by proxy, ratings, then I suppose I must be very morbid, because I am curious to know what's going on so far away.
Posted by: Kitsune(see new link in the LinkFest)
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Tuckermax is an asshole... but sooo funny some times.
Posted by: likwidflame- - - - - - - - - - - - -
y'know what i've summarily decided would be great? if Katrina came back and sucked more folks out to sea, leaving a couple more of those billboards with the message "we need to talk... -God" right out there to see. then maybe the Christian fundamentalist windbags will shout to the heavens enough to bring Katrina around YET again to wipe them out as well.
then, it would be FANtastic if some brave cops (or national guard - hell, just concerned citizens with handcannons) would just go down there and start shooting people they see carrying TVs, golf equipment, CDs, liquor, and anything else that YOU CAN'T EAT. no discussion, just shooting. and not just shooting, like "hey, you're carrying a plasma screen TV and i've got a 13 round magazine to empty into you from eight paces" kind of shooting. a bloodbath the likes of which hasn't been seen since the days of legions and barbarians.
maybe then, people would wise up and stop being such scumsucking assbags. governance through abject terror - that's my kinda governance.
::headshake::
::deep sigh::
Posted by: zanbowser- - - - - - - - - - - - -
"This does not look good for Homestar Wunnur" - Homestar
Posted by: Michael- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Oh, I don't know, Lauren. I'm probably the last person from whom you'd want an objective opinion on Bush, but the way he's handled this has been so staggeringly incompetent that even fellow Republicans are running for cover.
The fact that the federal response was so delayed and chaotic and uninformed was only part of it. Bush has been gutting FEMA for years, and the current director is just a political crony who doesn't know his ass from his elbow. And he's been saying things - like "no one could have anticipated the breach of the levees" - that are so patently false he's either completely ignorant of the situation or outright lying.
No one is saying Bush had go down there and personally start rebuilding houses, but by any standard of measurement this has been a horrific failure. Even he recognizes it - his guys are in full Political Damage Control Mode.
If anything, this exposes how horribly unprepared we are for a terrorist attack. If the federal government can't properly respond to a hurricane with four days' worth of notice, what the heck are they going to do when the terrorists take out the Golden Gate Bridge?
Posted by: Zhubin- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Kitsune,
I read your blog from time to time since you always have a witty comment to make or a sassy remark that I find to be quite entertaining.
Coming from one of the only blue states left in the nation (California) I have to say that Bush's reaction to the natural disaster that affected New Orleans in particular was, to say the least, not one of his best moments.
He is supposed to set the tone for the nation, that is why a lot of people are finding his choices a bit objectionable. Then again the man does appeal to the Nascar crowd and that's how the political machines made him out to be.
Sadly, Bush himself is a complex character, the man himself is funny, witty and full of banter. Most people never get to see that side of him, having a set of friends with political ambitions I have been able to dine with the man and he is quite amicable.
Again, I can see your point of view, I can come to terms with it, and I hope that you can see (from my point of view at least) that Bush version 2.0 has still not learned on how to show emotion and pretend to at least give a darn about the low-income/non-voting, zeros on the left, and this should tell you a lot about his presidency and the people that have been running the show in his name and worst of all in the name of the U.S.A.
Posted by: Wilhelm- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Although I agree partly with Zhubin on many points, and have chosen to ignore his well-timed crack at the unsafeness of the west coast (see prior post) my thoughts can be summed up by this post from here -- http://dancingwithkatrina.blogspot.com/
From Michael Moore:
>Dear Mr. Bush:>>Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of>Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New>Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you>have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help>finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot.>Man, was that a drag.>>Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We>could really use them right now for the type of thing they>signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How>come they weren't there to begin with?>>Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while>the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was>only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven>people died and, as of today, there were still homes without>power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its>way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you?>I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know>how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had>fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore>and smear. You sure showed her!>>I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead>of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with>your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this>-- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could>you do, put your finger in the dike?>>And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will>reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of>Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third>year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't>cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be>any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much>more important construction job for them -- BUILDING>DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!>>On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have>to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot>descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you>could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you>couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble>and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.>>There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy>and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep>pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky>scientists who predicted this would happen because the water>in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a>storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global>warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a>hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4>tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.>>No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault>that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens>of thousands had no transportation to get out of town.>C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to>Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their>roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing>-- NOTHING -- to do with this!>>You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our>Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of>New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.>>Yours,>>Michael Moore>MMFlint@aol.com>www.MichaelMoore.com>>P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at>your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi>War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in>many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them>before they get to DC on September 21st
Posted by: KitsuneFrom me:
Dear Mr. Moore,My name is Josh Norman. I am a reporter with the SunHerald of Biloxi, Mississippi. Last Sunday and Monday, I was in Biloxi when the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head as a category 4.It was terrifying.Immediately after the storm, I went out and reported on the disaster. I met families destroyed, saw neighborhoods reduced to their concrete foundations, smelled death and dispair and heard the disbelief roll off of everyone's toungue. Disaster, perhaps, is therefore not strong enough of a word.What will be a disaster is a divided and bickering nation.I appreciate your work, Mr. Moore. I understand your viewpoint.I have voted democrat across the board since I started voting ten years ago. I could very easily be described as a liberal too...I was in the Peace Corps for Christ's sake.But I do not feel that now is the time to berate Bush. Now is not the time to bring him down a peg. He may be pathetic, he may be barely able to actually help, but any help he can get down this way is desperately needed. By causing him to divert energies to defend his frequently spotty record people who attack him are diverting his energies away from here.And, I feel like you and others who attack him are diverting your energies away from here too.This disaster is about people. It's about the mother who came home from work and found her baby and husband had drowned in her living room. It's about the casino janitor who came home and found his daughter's baby photos missing - his house had been reduced to a slab - much the same way Hurricane Camille had done to his baby photos.It's about the firemen who had to swim out of their fire station, had their homes leveled, and are still working 20-hour days, 7 days a week.We need help here. Now. Listening to the political bashing, frankly, makes me concerned. I know Bush did wrong. I know there was a major fuck up. Now is not the time for finding of what that fuck up was.Have you spent as much time helping the people of South Mississippi and Louisiana get clothing, medicine, food and water as you have figuring out what Bush did wrong?-Josh
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PS -- Sorry about the stupid justification. I only have to care about the prettiness of line breaks at work. :)
Posted by: Kitsune- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Well, I'm always wary of the line that criticism undermines national unity, since it's always applied to anti-war arguments, and look where that brought us. And besides, the criticism isn't just partisan sniping - EVERYONE knows how badly he did.
But beyond that, there's a good argument to be made that the criticism is what actually forced Bush to start paying attention. The man didn't even end his vacation until people started howling.
Posted by: Zhubin- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Let me start by saying that what happened in the Gulf states is beyond terrible. I encourage everybody that reads this post to donate to the Red Cross, even if it is only 5, 10 or 20 dollars. http://redcross.org is the site to visit. They really need all the help they can get down there.
Now to some other points. To blame the President for the gross failures of the
Mayor and the Governor is ridiculous.
In regards to natural disasters, the LOCAL governments are responsible for first response -- in this case the President asked them to act sooner to make Federal intervention happen more quickly and the LOCALS in their arrogance refused.
President Bush declared disaster areas while the locals puttered around and wasted time so the Feds could begin pre-staging.
Our system of government does not generally allow the Fed government to move into local areas without a local request. It is one of the limits we deliberately place on the Federal government to defend freedom.
The locals are pointing fingers both because they are Democrats, and because they are afraid of legitimate accountability for their inexplicable failures of leadership before, during and after the hurricane.
No one needed to stay behind due to lack of transportation. The Mayor had fleets of school buses at his disposal and he failed to mobilize them and any "abandoned poor" are on his head, not the President's.
I agree that overall this situation could have been handled in a better and more efficient manner but before bashing the President get the facts.
/end rant
Posted by: Kev- - - - - - - - - - - - -
so I said this in my blog, but the whole kanye west thing reminds me of an SNL skit.
clicky clicky
Posted by: Ryan- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Brilliant, Ryan! 10 points to Gryffindor.
Posted by: Kitsune- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Damn you, Potter! Voldemort will have his revenge!
Posted by: zanbowser- - - - - - - - - - - - -
This "blame the locals" line is a talking point by the Bush administration that's a desperate attempt to push accountability away.
Firstly, the declaration of New Orleans as a disaster area on August 27th brought the region in control of the federal government through FEMA, and put the president in direct authority - and hence accountability - of disaster response. Secondly, blaming local governments for not responding to this issue is like a dad blaming his three-year-old son for not defending himself against a child rapist. The local governments have nowhere near the resources to respond to this type of disaster, which was spread over thousands and thousands of miles. This is what federal governments are FOR.
The statement that the locals had buses, and they didn't leave because they were too arrogant, rings particularly hollow when you can actually see the camera footage of people far too old and far too sick to be taken anywhere. The Convention Center was a desperate alternative for those without the ability to leave.
The federal government is not only directly responsible for national disasters of this scope, but this particular administration has been re-elected on the promise of having made this country safer and more able to respond quickly to attack. What happened with Katrina is a stunning refutation of what happens when you gut federal agencies, put cronies in charge of them, and have poor advisers. What happened here is the fault of an incompentent administration, and that's a fact as plainly evident as the corpses floating down the streets of NOLA.
Posted by: Zhubin- - - - - - - - - - - - -
I just want to say that I think it's despicable that you don't know who Kanye West is.
Posted by: Matt- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Zhubin: Like I said, the situation could have been handled better. There's no denying that, at least from me. I am just tired of people saying that it is the fault of one human being, President George W. Bush. That notion is ridiculous. Contrary to what you want to believe or say, both the local and state governments dropped the ball. While your usage of "a dad blaming his three-year-old son for not defending himself against a child rapist" conjures up scary imagery, let's get back to reality and recognize that the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana are not three year olds. They certainly should possess the "grown-up" skill of asking for help when realizing that a natural disaster is going to ruin their city and state. Your argument that the city and state were not capable of handling the disaster on their own may be true, but come on, if they knew that they should have reacted and asked for help from the Federal government sooner. Accountability must take place at all levels of government. You can not blame the President every time something in this country goes wrong.
I'm putting on my asbestos suit now to handle the flames I am about to receive.
Posted by: Kev- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Kev, it wasn't evident that Katrina was turning into a monster storm headed into NOLA until around Friday. The next day the federal government assumed authority for all disaster responses in the region. Read the Declaration of the State of Emergency. What would you have the local governments do? Evacuation orders were delivered, the sick and elderly were moved to where it was thought to best safest, and the locals tried to get as much food/water into the area as they could.
My child rapist analogy is just to point out that the locals simply can't do all that much. Only the federal government has the resources to respond to this disaster, and the federal government ASSUMED the responsibility to do so.
The President is responsible because FEMA and DHS are all executive agencies under his direct control. Not only did he fail to get his administration into action, but for the past three years he has engaged in a series of actions that have made FEMA unable to respond to disasters.
No one is saying that Bush is the ONLY person in the entire government at fault. But Bush is the head of the executive branch and has the ultimate responsibility over it, and he is accountable for the failures of his delegates as well as his own regarding Katrina.
Posted by: Zhubin- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Your points are all well taken. Thank you for responding in a courteous, non-flaming manner.
I'll end my comments here and once again ask that everyone donate to the Red Cross.
Posted by: Kev- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Courteous? Yes, lying in a completely partisan way that seems to be remotely related to parsable sentences is courteous. But it's still lying. The fact of the matter is FEMA can't and never could do, and it would be unconstitutional for it to do, what Zhubin and any other partisan hacks wish it would do, which of course is to do the jobs of the failed governor of LA and mayor of NO. FEMA has 2500 employees. They have rules for how things ought to be done. They all require state and local elected officials to cooperate to put them into effect.
The public transportation system of NO had hundreds of buses left doing nothing. The school systems it turns out had many more than that. All told, enough to take anyone who wanted to leave but couldn't afford it out of the city to safer ground. The mayor had to be asked in a phone call by Bush to get his dead ass off the ground and evacuate the people, and he didn't do it. After the canal walls, and NOT the levees, broke (the levees worked as designed, though the water was taller than their height in places for a while. They are intact as they were before the storm to this day - just another fact the media-partisan left haven't gotten around to admitting), it took several more hours for NO to fill with water. Bush flew over the area in a helicopter the same damn day that happened, Tuesday August 30. Now all the kneepad crowd claims he didn't "care" and visited several days later. Well, sorry, but facts sometimes get out around the storm of lies. Just like the FEMA budget was increased under Bush his first year and grew every year since. But again, as with a federal rather than central system, it requires competence at more local levels. Instead of nervous breakdowns and whining racial bullshit by a mayor who's never had any executive responsibility in his little life, as is obviously true about the governor.
It took LA governor Blanco[ut] until Thursday, Sept. 1, to allow the National Guard to move in. She still kept the Red Cross out of the Superdome and convention center because she didn't want people collecting there.
Keep blaming anyone but the responsible ones. That is a characteristic of all those people who won't grow up but instead choose leftism over reality.
At 90000 square miles of damage, this is larger than anything any group anywhere, or any combination of groups could respond to in a short time. But compare how things moved beyond any short-term food/shelter needs in other states to how they went in LA, and the truth becomes quite plain.
While I've got lots of complaints about Bush, for being a wimp against the party of crime and allowing their conspiring media pals to get away with things they could never get away with against someone good at politics, this hurricane is not one of them, nor is the response. That you can find craven Republicans that seem to agree with the party of the child-molesting traitor whose infiltration and takeover of the Democratic Party remains as it was 5 years ago is hardly surprising, nor does it mean anything other than that they shouldn't be in positions of power. We saw that in late 1998 when one of those pols, Trent Lott, said, "You're not going to dumb this shit in my lap!" about the power-abusing, self-abusing 53-year-old criminal's fake trial about to be held in the Senate.
All that matters in the end is the facts, and they don't support the craven critics.
Posted by: Monty Burns- - - - - - - - - - - - -
s/dumb/dump
Posted by: Monty Burns- - - - - - - - - - - - -
OK, I haven't been to this site in 8 months because I was without a computer, but I'm staying with a friend who has one. I also know that, generally speaking, this is a pro-Bush site. So...sorry, but I'm gonna leave my comment, then just leave, because I feel strongly enough about this that I want it written down, and monty's last post seems like a spot that could use some balancing.
I lost my home to Katrina, I don't have a job, and my car is damaged - well, I still have my car, but part of my roof is still lodged in the hood, so it's not very driveable. I don't blame Bush for "causing the hurricane", unlike all those other radical liberals who are publicly laying the blame for the weather at the feet of Bush - you can't read a Katrina story without one of those weather-manipulation conspiracy theories in the paper, can you? No, I blame Bush for many other things he's done and not done. Let's start with FEMA: used to be one of the FEW gov't organizations that actually accomplished their job - that is, until Bush & Co. folded it into that powerhouse of progress, the Dept. of Homeland Security. If it hadn't been for the massive efforts by the churches (and I'm an athiest) and the military (those that were left, anyway), the people in my town would have starved or dehydrated before FEMA got anywhere NEAR us. So, blame FEMA, right? Not when Bush is the one responsible for putting the president of the National Arabian Horse Association in charge of the country's emergency and disaster organization. Exactly what was his qualifications for the job, other than having been a close friend of one of Bush's campaign flunkies? Then there's Bush's total lack of empathy with the victims (or the American people in general, but that's another point). What normal person in a position of power like, oh, say, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, wouldn't feel the need to immediately show concern (hell, even FAKE concern) by showing their face and pressing flesh at a time when people who have lost everything need to feel like their gov't hasn't forgotten them and is going to help them? Clinton, Reagan, even Bush Sr. were compassionate and/or smart enough to show up and console people, not stay on their vacation only leaving it to go the opposite direction for a speech in San Diego (feel free to bring up random secluded examples of these other presidents, particularly Clinton, staying on vacation during this or that tragedy - they still won't equal George W's record). Let's talk about blame. Everyone has blame to share, on federal, state, and local levels, but the largest portion should and does lay with Bush. You can point to specific things that New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin and LA governor Blanko forgot to or neglected to do during their handling of the WORST HURRICANE TO HIT THE UNITED STATES (which the Bush Administration did its damnedest to do, before Bush's limp-dick "apology"), but it was Bush who cut funding for the New Orleans levee program.
Damn. I have a LOT more I want to say, but I just don't have the stomach for anymore of it, and I hate to just delete all of this. So I'll just give up by stating this: George W. Bush should be arrested for treason against the United States of America for the steady and complete undermining of our government that his policies and appointments have caused. Thanks to George W. Bush, our form of democratic government is already irreparably eroded, and it probably won't return anytime soon (no matter who wins the next election). And if you're pissed as hell at me for insulting the guy you like so much, then you've become one of the blind followers that will always keep him out of trouble, no matter what crimes he perpetrates on our country, and you are lost.
God save our country (and remember, I'm an athiest)!
Posted by: MethRattle- - - - - - - - - - - - -