The media is in a tizzy as Alberto, the first tropical storm of the season, heads toward Florida’s Gulf Coast. Perhaps they expect this disaster to be another Katrina which, they believe, will demonstrate the president’s incompetence.
Former President Clinton has even joined the chorus hyperventilating over the hurricane, using the occasion of Alberto’s approach to tell a Florida audience that “Republican environmental policies will lead to more severe storms.” That Democrat is just recycling his erstwhile Vice President’s junk science. The latest report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found “no significant trends” indicating changes “in tropical and extra-tropical storm intensity and frequency . . . over the 20th century.” Like the gay left, it seems Clinton would rather attack Republicans than deal in facts.
Indeed, it is not clear the media had a similar motive in its coverage last summer of the Katrina Disaster; “virtually all of the gripping stories from Katrina were untrue.” While the MSM focused on failures in the recovery (inevitable in any disaster, particularly one of Katrina’s magnitude hitting a major American city), they failed to report the amazing work that the National and Coast Guards had done (before the media developed their Katrina narrative) and were doing (even as the MSM kept repeating its anti-Bush mantras).
To be sure, the president and his appointees made their share of mistakes. But, if he is as incompetent as his adversaries and their MSM allies contend, how come we didn’t see a similar failure when other hurricanes, many of greater magnitude than Katrina, hit? Perhaps that’s because “when natural disasters strike, it is the primary responsibility of state and local governments — not the federal government — to respond.” And the governors of other states (and not just the Republican ones) proved themselves better prepared than Louisiana’s Democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco.
Floridians should be grateful today for two things: first, it looks like Alberto will make landfall far from the population centers of the state’s Gulf Coast and second, the president’s younger brother Jeb is the Governor of the Sunshine State. He has proven himself a master of emergency preparedness:
Bush, after handling eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 14 months in 2004 and 2005, has become the undisputed national leader in emergency management. Imagine if he had been governor of Louisiana when Katrina hit last summer. Does anyone doubt that the recovery would have gone far, far better with Bush in charge?
The younger Bush is now “regularly consulted by governors on how to handle natural disasters and emergencies.” My guess is that Louisiana’s Governor was not one of those governors who sought their Florida counterpart’s advice.
We now know that the media exaggerated the horrors after Katrina while downplaying the failures of local and state officials in order to craft a story of the president’s incompetence. There is no doubt the president (and his team) made a number of mistakes; his public relations effort was particularly ham-handed. But, his mistakes were not nearly as grave as the media’s narrative suggests.
It’s just too bad his brother wasn’t running things in New Orleans when Katrina hit. We may remember the name of that storm. But, only those who experienced the storms which hit either Florida coast during Jeb’s term remember their names. All Americans should be grateful that the younger Bush is chief executive of the state where the first tropical storm is expected to make landfall this season. Unlike Halle Berry, we may not be able to control the forces of nature, but some leaders know how to manage a response to nature’s fury.
Let’s hope other governors watch and learn.
-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com
Texas and Mississippi did very well considering what they had to contend with - Mississippi especially. Miss. deserved the hurricane however, since they have a Republican governor who disputes global warming, or so a certain Democrat contended just days after the disaster struck.
There was a speaker on C-Span some time ago who compared when Andrew hit mostly white areas of Florida (5 day response time for the Fed) and when Katrina hit mostly black Lousiana (5 day response time for the Fed) which further argues the need for people to take some responsibility for themselves.
Comment by VinceTN — June 12, 2006 @ 10:38 pm - June 12, 2006
How well prepared are businesses for climate change? How well prepared are insurers? It’s going have a massive impact on the bottom line of insurers warns Lloyds of London in a new report. Read more at :
http://www.soxfirst.com/50226711/business_and_climate_change.php
Comment by Sox First — June 12, 2006 @ 11:26 pm - June 12, 2006
\\\”The latest report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found “no significant trends” indicating changes “in tropical and extra-tropical storm intensity and frequency . . . over the 20th century.”\\\”
Why don\\\’t you inform your readers that these quotes were taken from a 2001 report. A lot has happened over the last five years. As for your referring to Al Gore\\\’s \\\”junk science\\\”, just what are YOUR academic qualifications to make that judgement. Real scientists don\\\’t agree with your arrogant dismissal: http://tinyurl.com/gke7d .[And what are you qualifications? And Al Gore\\\’s? And as a matter of fact, many real scientists do agree with my dismissal. –GPW]
If the future of our climate was so rosy as you suggest, then why are Insurance companies pulling back from the coasts http://tinyurl.com/om6fr ?
The \\\”greenhouse effect\\\” is a proven FACT. That we are increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is a proven FACT. Even a conservative should be able to put two and two together. Whether or not there is a natural component to global warming doesn\\\’t obviate the FACT that we are adding to any effect and that effect is likely to have a non-linear response to the input variables.[Wrong, it\’\’s not a proven fact but a theory which some scientists accept and others dismiss.]
Comment by Ian S — June 13, 2006 @ 1:47 am - June 13, 2006