Posted on 09/12/2005 6:00:49 AM PDT by Quilla
Fact: Katrina was a devastating storm. It left terrible damage to innocent people's lives and to property throughout the Gulf South.
Fact: There have been other storms as damaging and some far more damaging. What, then, is different about this storm? Here are a few tentative thoughts.
First, the incompetence of the local and state authorities in Louisiana and especially New Orleans was breathtaking. To issue a mandatory evacuation order without providing means of transport is almost criminally irresponsible. To take citizens to shelters where they would be beaten, robbed and raped and to provide no police protection for them was astoundingly incompetent. To allow armed gangs to shoot at rescuers was almost beyond belief.
Second, the response of the federal government is described as slow, and it was slow at first. But can anyone name a natural disaster in which more federal troops, supplies, and money have been dispatched as quickly as they have been done in this disaster? Bush's response has not been unusually bad, but amazingly powerful and swift. In other hurricanes, survivors have been left for weeks on their own. In Katrina's case, the whole affected area has been covered with money and aid and troops to restore order on a scale and with speed never seen before.
Third, the networks and newspapers have been quick to cry racism because so many of the victims were black. This is total nonsense. New Orleans is a mostly black city. Obviously, most of the victims of the storm would be black. No one has been able to point to a single instance in which black victims were mistreated because of their race by whites. In fact, just the opposite has happened. The whole story is of rescues and salvation by people of all races aimed at people of all races. In a gesture never seen before, the whole heart of the nation has taken in poor, bereft black families and sheltered them absolutely without regards to race. This is a mirror of the basic goodness of Americans and the disappearance of racism as an acceptable action basis of American life. It is also a measure of the total absence of racism in the heart of George W. Bush. The media may play this as a story of race versus race, but that is pure incendiary fantasy, and dangerous nonsense.
What is the real story of Katrina is (I suggest) not so much that nature wrought fury on land, water, people, property, and animals, not at all anything about racism, not much about federal government incompetence. The real story is that the mainstream media rioted.
They used the storm and its attendant sorrows to continue their endless attack on George W. Bush. Wildly inflated stories about the number of dead and missing, totally made up old wives' tales of racism, breathless accounts of Bush neglect that are utterly devoid of truth and of historical context -- this is what the mainstream media gave us. The use of floating corpses, of horror stories of plagues, the sad faces of refugees, the long-faced phony accusations of intentional neglect and racism -- anything is grist for the media's endless attempts to undermine the electorate's choice last November. It is sad, but true that the media will use even the most heart breaking truths -- and then add total inventions -- to try to weaken and then evict from office a man who has done nothing wrong, but has instead turned himself inside out to help the real victims.
In the meantime, George Bush does not lash out, does not attack those who falsely accuse him of the most horrible acts and neglect. Instead, he doggedly goes on helping the least among us. I don't know how he does it, but we are very lucky he does. As for truth, it eventually may be salvaged from the flooded neighborhoods of The Crescent City, but not as long as there is a lie to use to hurt an honest man trying to do the best he can, and hundreds of thousands of brave, tireless men and women who do more than point fingers and tell tales. The Katrina story is a disgrace to the people who are "reporting" it while pouring gasoline on a fire. They and their crusade against George Bush are the real stories, and they are dismal ones.
Thanks for the ping OWF...
Must read article!
I think of them more as hysteria from someone who has never before dealt with anything in the G-d awful range (i.e. a disaster).
Thanks for the ping!
I bet there were some periods of contraflow that conveniently were not filmed. I noticed a pattern in last week's video. As soon as a rescue effort was operational, the agony channels switched focus to a new threat or failure. For example, when the helicopters and buses were clearing out NO, instead of a few reports on the scope of the rescue, show producers started hyping up the threat lurking in the floodwaters.
For another example, the VA hospitals were successfully evacuated. Did we ever hear about that on TV?
Excellent point.
That was a great read.
Bears repeating that FEMA's response was actually the best ever, despite MSM propaganda to the contrary.
And folks just don't seem to understand that FEMA is NOT the first response team!!!
After Hugo they pretty much just came in and distributed checks.
I am a bit surprised that Condoleeza Rice has not stood with the President and told the press and Jesse Jackson and Algore and CNN to shut the hell up about all this racism crap.
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You forgot, for a moment, the focus of this thread - the criminal mendacity of the DNC media. Dr Rice HAS made statements and ---- [media blackout] --- you will have to check the Daily Dose thread for any reporting of them.
It is a habit of a lifetime to believe that the news media are actually giving us the news. We all have to keep reminding ourselves that they are actively in opposition to President Bush and his Admin. to the extent of suppressing important remarks of anyone supporting him.
Same in Maryland after Isabel.
Not surprising because it's mostly made up of the same people who threw the temper tantrum of all national temper tantrums back in the Sixties.
Which is why -- right now! -- our side should be publicly asking why the Dems are shy about investigating, creating grist for the Sunday shows, etc. We should be taking the PR high ground. Has anyone seen any signs of that? I thought not.
Ben Stein nailed it again ~ Bump!
Ben Stein is a Reagan-style Republican. He used to work for the old Los Angeles Herald-Examiner before it went out of business in the early 1980's. Stein wrote a regular op-ed syndicated column for that newspaper. He is a brilliant writer who was and remains solidly Reaganesque in his opinions.
After the H-E folded, Ben went on to a career in films, TV commercials, and other ventures.
Among other things, he loves dogs. I know, because he once wrote a very touching article about one of his beloved dogs who passed away. I spoke to Ben about it and offered him a puppy out of a litter one of my German Wirehaired Pointers was expecting at the time.
I doubt very sincerely that he would ever run for political office.
I wonder if she offered and he said, no. Hey are you a bay native of S.F. Bay area or New Orleans Bay Area.
I keep hearing Bay Area on the news in relation to New Orleans and think they're talking about CA then realize they're talking about NO.
Great strip ~ Bump!
Ain't that the truth....as if W had anything to do with the racial makeup of N.Orleans. The MSM is worse than lame....their dangerous.
Where do you live? I live in Winters - about 12 miles north of Vacaville, and 12 miles west of Davis (right by Lake Berryessa).
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