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.
I wonder why the Democrat Mayor and Governor's presence within their state has been so minimal? They are the first line of defense, not the President.
I was amazed last night to see Geraldo interview the Police Superintendent of New Orleans at the Superdome. The Top Cop was doing nothing but demanding outside help. As the Top Cop, why wasn't he organizing able bodied men within the structure to start assisting those in need and scouring nearby hotels and such for food and water? Why wasn't he using remaining Police at his disposal to counter the thugs?
Why didn't the Mayor comandeer all the available School buses that sit idle in the Bus Barn to evacuate those in need?
Why didn't the governor deploy National Guard troops at her disposal right away?
But, the most troubling question to me, why does the Astrodome in Houston have so many able-bodied men laying around while there are elderly and women with small children still sitting in the Superdome? Why aren't all these able-bodied men lounging in Houston back in New Orleans starting a clean up effort?
It's easy to bash Bush, but he is the furtherest removed from the tragedy and no one complains about the lack of coordination or efforts from the closest people there, the Mayor, Governor and Police, Democrats!
Karl Rove. It's another super secret trick.
Wonderful piece, Ben Stein's editorials are always great, but this is one of his best ever.
Great commentary on Katrina by Ben Stein.
I've been away for most of this week, so excuse me if this question has been answered in other threads, but where is the Homeland Security Disaster response? It's been almost 4 years since 9/11 -- every major US city should have a plan in place to evacuate the city in the event of a terrorist attack or disaster. Not only were federal resources unavailable immediately after the event (for which I might add, that unlike terrorist attacks, authorities had at least a day to prepare), but it appears that there was no Homeland Security plan in place at all and no coordination between DHS and state agencies. Ben Stein is right to say that the hurricane is not George Bush's fault and the government of LA is responsible for evacuation. But it's clear that four years after 9/11, we are woefully unprepared for mass casualty events in our cities.
No, they're just about as purely evil as a human being can get. They want to see the Islamonazis hoisting his daughters' heads up in front of a camera for the media to eagerly broadcast all over the world. Just like they want to see (though they cannot admit it) poor black people on the Gulf Coast die by the tens of thousands.
The reason they want these things is because they want to hurt him in the worst way imaginable. This is just how deep and insane their hatred has become. His daughters, and all of those people whose lives were ravaged by Katrina, are merely tools in their twisted minds to use to get at him and hurt him. If they had a chance they would torture him to death over a period of many days and force us all to watch it. And then once he died and they finished dragging his corpse through the streets for the howling mobs to kick and beat on, they'd start coming after everyone of us who ever supported him to give us the exact same treatment.
Ben Stein is one of America's treasures. He gets it. Precise and to the point. Mr. Stein, keep typing! You are needed right now.
Family connections did not get Teddy Kennedy the presidency, did it?
Thanks Ben Stein....hope they're listening.
ping
ping
Is Big Al part of the Homeland Security Plan?
Can you send me to the thread that answers my question?
Laura Bush?
Seriously --- Ted Kennedy! No? Algore? Ben Stein? Who?
Excellent, excellent, excellent.
Ben Stein at his best - clear concise, well-ordered.
Marvelous.
I even like his shoes. They politely say, "Screw you all - I know what I'm about, and I'm gonna do what makes sense."
Love him.
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