Katrina's POLITICAL aftermath (keep the political discussions HERE)

these people are sickening.

A few truths, for those who have ears and eyes and care to know the truth:

1.) The hurricane that hit New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama was an astonishing tragedy. The suffering and loss of life and peace of mind of the residents of those areas is acutely horrifying.

2.) George Bush did not cause the hurricane. Hurricanes have been happening for eons. George Bush did not create them or unleash this one.

3.) George Bush did not make this one worse than others. There have been far worse hurricanes than this before George Bush was born.

4.) There is no overwhelming evidence that global warming exists as a man-made phenomenon. There is no clear-cut evidence that global warming even exists. There is no clear evidence that if it does exist it makes hurricanes more powerful or makes them aim at cities with large numbers of poor people. If global warming is a real phenomenon, which it may well be, it started long before George Bush was inaugurated, and would not have been affected at all by the Kyoto treaty, considering that Kyoto does not cover the world's worst polluters -- China, India, and Brazil. In a word, George Bush had zero to do with causing this hurricane. To speculate otherwise is belief in sorcery.

5.) George Bush had nothing to do with the hurricane contingency plans for New Orleans. Those are drawn up by New Orleans and Louisiana. In any event, the plans were perfectly good: mandatory evacuation. It is in no way at all George Bush's fault that about 20 percent of New Orleans neglected to follow the plan. It is not his fault that many persons in New Orleans were too confused to realize how dangerous the hurricane would be. They were certainly warned. It's not George Bush's fault that there were sick people and old people and people without cars in New Orleans. His job description does not include making sure every adult in America has a car, is in good health, has good sense, and is mobile.

Thanks, Ben. Because that's, of course, what so many people have been arguing all along. (FUCKING CONDESCENDING IDIOT PRICK)

6.) George Bush did not cause gangsters to shoot at rescue helicopters taking people from rooftops, did not make gang bangers rape young girls in the Superdome, did not make looters steal hundreds of weapons, in short make New Orleans into a living hell.

I like how the word "did not cause" is now being reiterated as the ultimate excuse for which anything one can be held responsible.

"If you hadn't ran that red light, other vehicles wouldn't have avoided you, swerved, and accidentally hit and killed pedestrians"

"I did not cause the death of those pedestrians."

I'd love to see defense lawyers try that.

7.) George Bush is the least racist President in mind and soul there has ever been and this is shown in his appointments over and over. To say otherwise is scandalously untrue.

As opposed to good-naturedly untrue. replace the word "racist" with "classist", and say that again.

8.) George Bush is rushing every bit of help he can to New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama as soon as he can. He is not a magician. It takes time to organize huge convoys of food and now they are starting to arrive. That they get in at all considering the lawlessness of the city is a miracle of bravery and organization.

Not that the lawlessness was caused by the obscene delay in "rushing" or anything.

9.) There is not the slightest evidence at all that the war in Iraq has diminished the response of the government to the emergency. To say otherwise is pure slander.

Was Kim Jong II even this disingenuous?

10.) If the energy the news media puts into blaming Bush for an Act of God worsened by stupendous incompetence by the New Orleans city authorities and the malevolence of the criminals of the city were directed to helping the morale of the nation, we would all be a lot better off.

it's a GOOD thing that you let people starve, George. It's GOOD that we're not negative about such things, because that's not constructive.

11.) New Orleans is a great city with many great people. It will recover and be greater than ever. Sticking pins into an effigy of George Bush that does not resemble him in the slightest will not speed the process by one day.

But it will make it a lot more fun.

12.) The entire episode is a dramatic lesson in the breathtaking callousness of government officials at the ground level. Imagine if Hillary Clinton had gotten her way and they were in charge of your health care.

????

God bless all of those dear people who are suffering so much, and God bless those helping them, starting with George Bush.

You know I WAS going to finally get Ferris Bueller's Day Off on DVD, but now I won't be able to watch that scene without thrusting my fist into the tube.

Also, if you're going to start punching out TVs for that kinda reason, never watch MST3K again, y'know? (But Mike's never come across quite this cravenly in his political talks that I'm aware of, I admit.)

you remember he had a job for Nixon, right?

Xpost "Voodoo Economics"

Ben Stein had a political history, though, didn't he? (and granted, I am posting this purely out of temporary bile. But I don't want those comments he posted forgotten. He had time to think carefully about what he was going to post, and this unfortunately confirms that a sad sack he is... so sorry if I don't want to see his face anywhere in the meantime.)

Speechwriter for Nixon.

That's right! I remember thinking that the scene in FBDO seemed to be kind of poking fun at his politics.

in other news Fuckhead Chertoff is a cunt worse than Rick Santorum

"The situation is improving hour by hour, nevertheless we are not satisfied," he told a press conference in Washington.

Kanye vid hits Fox News(w/ the expected results) as early as this morning

(posted in the other thread, i think)

...The most dangerous thing to average Americans is not some mullah in Iraq, not even Osama Bin Laden, but George Bush. If he doesn't get you killed in Iraq, he'll fuck up saving your city so it turns into Escape from New Orleans. Armed junkies roaming the streets, looking for a fix, robbing and looting like Serb paramilitaries and about as sober....

captures it pretty dead on, especially with that kid commandeering the school bus to get folks the fuck out.

“But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast – black and white, rich and poor, young and old – deserve far better from their national government.

By TIMOTHY R. BROWN, Associated Press Writer
47 minutes ago

JACKSON, Miss. - President Bush's top advisers met Saturday with black leaders concerned about the administration's slow response to blacks suffering from Hurricane Katrina, while the head of the NAACP said it was not time for "finger-pointing..."

'bout fucking time. her androidlike responses were boggling my mind.

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 3 -- Tens of thousands of people spent a fifth day awaiting evacuation from this ruined city, as Bush administration officials blamed state and local authorities for what leaders at all levels have called a failure of the country's emergency management.

Ok- so I can understand that yes, state officials should have emergency plans. But for AT LEAST four days, it's been apparent that those plans fell through- due to the to sheer scale of what happened, incompetence, lack of equipement, whatever. I can not believe that rather than going out there and actually getting a good grip on the evactuation of NO and the care of all the hurricane victims, Bush & Co are laying blame. This saddens and sickens me.
(article is here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090301680.html )

even fox reporters are affected!!@

Also, I can't remember where I read it today (possibly here) but Bush declared Katrina a federal disaster last Sunday which means that it's officially been the federal government's responsibility since then.

badger, remember that this fuck was a Repub legal tool during Whitewater, and also these five words: "Swift Boat Veterans For Truth"

Hardly anyone on the Gulf Coast will believe Chertoff. It seems like political suicide to make such an absurdly false claim when the media can smell the blood in the water. The man's career should be permanently destroyed for that statement alone.

no video yet that I can find. I would definitely argue with the comments on that diary about Russert, I thought he was very sympathetic and angry but kept a calm face. Asking Barbour about the casinos--I took this as more of a line of questioning about economic stuff/insurance issues, possibly a way to 'get' Barbour on those issues. I'm predisposed to like Russert though, he's a lawyer and I admire the discipline this background brings to his questioning of guests.

funny how things work out, innit?

If this were Japan, these officials might have the decency to commit hari-kari.

Has anyone seen recent approval rating numbers?

Sadly once we foisted Bush on the rest of the world last November, it was for another 4 years. He can be impeached, but I'd highly doubt the Republicans (who control every single branch of government now) would do that.