***UPDATED: Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005, 2:13
p.m.***
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.
5.) 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.
6.) 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.
7.) 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.
8.) 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.
9.) 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.
10.) 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.
11.) 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.
12.) 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.
****
UPDATE: Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005, 2:13 p.m.:
More Mysteries of Katrina:
Why is it that the snipers who shot at emergency rescuers trying
to save people in hospitals and shelters are never mentioned except
in passing, and Mr. Bush, who is turning over heaven and earth to
rescue the victims of the storm, is endlessly vilified?
What church does Rev. Al Sharpton belong to that believes in
passing blame and singling out people by race for opprobrium and
hate?
What special abilities does the media have for deciding how much
blame goes to the federal government as opposed to the city
government of New Orleans for the aftereffects of Katrina?
If able-bodied people refuse to obey a mandatory evacuation
order for a city, have they not assumed the risk that ill effects
will happen to them?
When the city government simply ignores its own sick and
hospitalized and elderly people in its evacuation order, is Mr.
Bush to blame for that?
Is there any problem in the world that is not Mr. Bush’s fault,
or have we reverted to a belief in a sort of witchcraft where we
credit a mortal man with the ability to create terrifying storms
and every other kind of ill wind?
Where did the idea come from that salvation comes from hatred
and criticism and mockery instead of love and co-operation?
