Posted on 09/03/2005 10:16:01 AM PDT by smoothsailing
Get Off His Back
By Ben Stein
Published 9/2/2005 11:59:59 PM
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.
6.) 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.
7.) 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.
8.) 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.
9.) 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.
10.) 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.
11.) 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.
12.) 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.
13.) 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.
......................................
Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He also writes "Ben Stein's Diary" in every issue of The American Spectator.
Preach it brother, preach it. Tell it like it is!
very nice article by Ben Stein
Wish #11 could be shouted from rooftops all over and everywhere!
"I want to get comments on this quote before I reveal it's source."
I keep coming back to FR to see who on earth is responsible for this garbage....Please out with it so I can get some work done! My husband is unhappy that I didn't go to the gun range with him as I hadn't had a chance to check in here and didn't want to leave until I get the name of this slug! P L E A S E!
I'll be happy to post something for you.Give me as much information as you can.If you know the website or some source I can track,that would be helpful.
Fregards...:)
Another clear, compassionate message from Ben. Thanks, FMC, for the ping. You remembered I'm a Ben Stein admirer...
That idiot mayor is a he not a she. Which channel are you watching?
Well. You must be a pretty fast walker. If you live in a wheelchair and have no car this is tough to do. If you have no car and cannot walk damn fast it is hard to out walk a hurricane moving at 13 miles and hour. The problem was the folks who could not evacuate themselves were indeed part of the NO evacuation plan. They were supposed to be bussed out. The incompetent mayor (Nagin)ignored the plan. The poor always will suffer disproportionately in these situations and the Liberal Wingnuts that insist on welfare programs that train people to exist in squaller and at the lowest level of society because they can do so with little or no effort are largely responsible for setting the stage for something like this to happen. BUT. That is a known element of the equation. Has been since FDR. Nothing new here. It's a problem that cannot be fixed once you see the hurricane cross the horizon. The likely result is predetermined .... unless someone understands and acts forcefully and quickly with precision. It is not a humane or rational reaction to say, well it's their own fault..After all it really isn't...It's is our collective fault for allowing this system to grow and enslave more and more. The walk out of New York on 9/11 was a damn sight shorter walk to safety than walking away from a 250 mile wide hurricane wind of 100 miles and hour. To suggest that was an alternative for anyone is preposterous. The situations are not comparable in any way. In this situation rant at the idiot mayor not the folks in trouble.
Correct. The people in NO had advance warning of two days. Believe me, I'm not letting the Mayor or Governor off the hook but you have to admit the attitudes of some of the NO residents that "The Government will save me" did them no good at the last minute.
Heirs question levee board's efforts
By Amanda Furness
May 21, 2001
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:cuvo6ETx5KQJ:www.louisianaweekly.com/cgi-bin/weekly/news/articlegate.pl%3F20010521f+levee+board+casino&hl=en
If there were a plan to bus people out, where were they to be bussed to and for what sort of emergency were the plans concocted? To plan an evecuation, there ought be a destination for the evecuees and the plan ought be flexible regarding where to based on what kind of emergency. The incompetence of Democrap rule in LA was once again proven yet the people will continue to vote the incompetent into office so long as the dole continues, even if sporadic.
True but you can't blame them for the attitude. The collective "We" has supported that view for the last 45 years. Maybe now we have crystal clear evidence why that fails and we can (should) insist on changes to eliminate the welfare trap. Still the fact is two days warning is not sufficient to allow people of ANY means to evacuate if they have no car and cannot find adequate transportation. If for example NYC had had two days warning of a nuclear attack after all major arteries had been sealed and major modes of mass transit made unavailable, you would find thousands of people stranded in the Big Apple and it would not have been their fault.
Great post! Ben Stein is right and I particularly like #13. :)
Bump!
And another monday evening bump for a must read!
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