Dean: Race Played a Role in Katrina Deaths
newsmax.com ^ | Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2005 11:00 p.m. EDT
Posted on 09/07/2005 8:41:30 PM PDT by InvisibleChurch
Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2005 11:00 p.m. EDT Dean: Race Played a Role in Katrina Deaths
Race was a factor in the death toll from Hurricane Katrina, Howard Dean told members of the National Baptist Convention of America on Wednesday at the group's annual meeting.
Dean, chairman of the Democratic party, made the comments to the Baptists' Political and Social Justice Commission. The Baptist Convention, with an estimated 3.5 million members, is one of the largest black religious groups in the country. "We must ... come to terms with the ugly truth that skin color, age and economics played a deadly role in who survived and who did not," Dean said.
Dean said Americans have a moral responsibility to not ignore the devastating damage caused by Hurricane Katrina when it struck the Gulf Coast.
The former presidential candidate said the government will be judged by how it treats the old, the young and the poor.
"People are poor in different parts of the country. They are not refugees. They are Americans," he said.
Dean said that instead of considering proposed estate tax breaks, the Senate should channel the money into disaster relief.
"Shall we give that to the wealthiest people in the country, or should we rebuild New Orleans?" Dean said.
Dean also urged the government to exempt victims of Hurricane Katrina from a stricter new bankruptcy law for one year.
Ken Mehlman, Dean's counterpart at the Republican National Committee, said he hoped Dean "will match his rhetoric with his support for reforms that replace bureaucracy and entitlement with hope and opportunity."
Stephen J. Thurston, president of the Baptist Convention, said there was a lack of response and sensitivity by the government following the Gulf Coast disaster.
Semi-News: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Blames Bush for Hurricane
AZCONSERVATIVE ^ | Aug 1, 2005 | John Semmens
Posted on 09/02/2005 2:29:54 PM PDT by John Semmens
Robert Kennedy Jr., attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, blamed President’s Bush’s failure to sign the Kyoto Treaty for the damage done by Hurricane Katrina.
“The Kyoto Treaty clearly forbids hurricanes from coming ashore,” said Kennedy. “Without the protection of this vital document, the United States will continue to remain vulnerable to bad weather.”
Kennedy’s words were echoed by Juergen Trittin, Germany’s environment minister. “The increasing frequency of these storms can only be explained by America’s failure to sign the Kyoto Treaty,” said Trittin. “For this, I blame George Bush.”
Kennedy went on to demand immediate tax increases on all fuels, cessation of oil exploration, rationing of all energy supplies and the establishment of a Federal Climate Control Administration as the best way to prevent further cataclysmic storms from destroying civilization.
(Excerpt) Read more at azconservative.org ...