Politicizing Katrina: As Loathsome as it Gets

ChronWatch ^ | 09/01/05 | Edward L. Daley

[DARCPRYNCE]

I don't think I have to point out to anyone just how horrendous the situation down in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama is today. Hurricane Katrina has proved to be the worst natural disaster to strike the United States since the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, and the effects of this unprecedented catastrophe will surely be felt in this country for many months, and perhaps years to come.

[DARCPRYNCE]

I don't think I have to point out to anyone just how horrendous the situation down in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama is today. Hurricane Katrina has proved to be the worst natural disaster to strike the United States since the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, and the effects of this unprecedented catastrophe will surely be felt in this country for many months, and perhaps years to come.

As rescue workers from all over the country converge on the gulf coast states, millions of other Americans are donating much needed aid dollars to the relief effort, and community leaders from Birmingham to Baton Rouge are working day and night to save the lives of untold numbers of flood victims.

Average citizens around our nation are doing their best to stay focussed on the task at hand, and avoid complaining about the comparatively minor inconvenience of having to pay higher gas prices in the near future.

For now, most of our citizens seem united in the task of helping the many hundreds of thousands of people directly effected by the brutal assault of Katrina. Their calm resolve, and determination to carry on in the face of such a horrible event is typical of the way Americans deal with disasters, and of that we can all be proud.

That having been said, there are, unfortunately, a few people in this country who have decided to focus on something else entirely... petty political agendas. Indeed, even before the true scope of the devastation has been fully assessed, and the bodies of the dead can be recovered and laid to rest, liberal activists are already cranking up their collective spin machine in a pathetic attempt to blame their political enemies for the disaster.

I know it's difficult for most people to believe, but it appears that the left's capacity for shameless exploitation, unsubstantiated rhetoric, and blatant hypocrisy knows absolutely no bounds.

Among the more reprehensible remarks made over the past couple of days regarding the supposed Republican-caused disaster, are the following which I read in an article published on the News Max website.

"As Hurricane Katrina dismantles Mississippi's Gulf Coast, it's worth recalling the central role that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour played in derailing the Kyoto Protocol and kiboshing President Bush's iron-clad campaign promise to regulate CO2."

That statement was attributed to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and a more loathsome one I had not previously encountered. Then again, I had yet to read his next quote, which was even more despicable than the first.

"Perhaps it was Barbour's memo [to President Bush concerning CO2 emissions] that caused Katrina, at the last moment, to spare New Orleans and save its worst flailings for the Mississippi coast."

How anyone could spew such tripe, especially at this particular time in history, is beyond my ability to conceive. It's as if the man were utterly devoid of both sound judgment and common decency. His complete lack of propriety is stunning, and the inanity of his argument has left me wondering if, perhaps, he has not suffered some sort of mental breakdown of late.

Of course, such drivel is not exclusive to American extremists. Germany's Minister of the Environment, Juergen Trittin, recently proclaimed that "The American president is closing his eyes to the economic and human costs his land and the world economy are suffering under natural catastrophes like Katrina and because of neglected environmental policies."

All I have to say about this ridiculous indictment is, with friends like this, who needs Al-Qaeda? And while I could easily rebut Herr Trittin's arguments, as well as those of Bobby Jr., and every other demented amateur global warming theorist who's decided to crawl out of the woodwork lately, I won't bother. Now is not the time for such debates. Now is the time for all good Americans to come to the aid of their fellow countrymen and women who are in desperate need of assistance.

It's too bad that some folks just can't bring themselves to set aside their political agendas for even a few days while their own country attempts to deal with the loss of, as yet, uncounted innocent lives. RFK Jr. and his ilk should be ashamed of themselves for trying to turn a national tragedy into a campaign talking point, and foreign officials like Juergen Trittin would do well to keep their big traps shut altogether. I don't see any of them offering to lend a hand with the massive undertaking before us, and until they do, they can all go straight to hell.

Edward L. Daley is the owner of the Daley Times-Post http://www.times-post.com

[MadJack]

Doesn't long term cocaine use have residual side effects, even years after "getting clean?"

[nmh]

Bump!

The left thoroughly disgusts me.

[texan75010]

The deepest pits of hell are reserved for such as these. Eternity is not long enough for them to pay for their sins.

[Gator101]

I came across the President's speech on AAR during the Randi Rhodes show yesterday. I wanted to hear it so I stayed on that station and endured all her snarky little comments.

She is just an ugly person, that is all there is to it, and I am not talking about her appearance. She has an ugly soul.

She derided everything thing he said. Listening to her you'd think that had Kerry been elected not a single person would have been inconvenienced by this tragedy.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

I know it's difficult for most people to believe, but it appears that the left's capacity for shameless exploitation, unsubstantiated rhetoric, and blatant hypocrisy knows absolutely no bounds.

I thought this point was settled after 9/11.

[Steely Tom]

The left has been setting this up for years, creating a mass of ignorant people that they can control like sheep.

If they can pull it off, they are going to try to arrange things so that the GOP gets blamed for bad weather, epidemics, forest fires, and even earthquakes.

In the third world there are literally billions of people who believe that colonialism and "the west" are behind every one of their miseries. That dynamic is in place here, although I doubt it will reach anything like critical mass.

The utilization of mass ignorance is nothing new. It's an old game being played on a wider scale today.

(steely)

[finnman69]

check this out

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1474909/posts
Americans Are Doing Their Part, Time for Bush's Oil Cronies to Do Their Part, Says DNC (Barf alert)

[rhetorica]

FYI--for those that continue to argue that the Feds were too slow to respond. Here is a quote taken from Monday's Birmingham News about the ADVANCE preparations:

Selma staging area for relief supplies CLANTON - Selma will serve as the staging area for federal disaster relief supplies for Hurricane Katrina victims in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, Gov. Bob Riley said Sunday. Supplies also are stockpiled at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, he said. "I've spoken with President Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff, both of whom have assured me they will offer any assistance we may need to recover from this devastating storm," Riley said in a statement released by the Emergency Management Agency at its Clanton headquarters. Alabama also has positioned supplies, sent National Guard troops to Mobile and Baldwin counties, and opened storm shelters. Riley said the state has 290,000 bags of ice, more than 250,000 gallons of water, 652,000 meals ready to eat and 110,000 tarps measuring 20 feet by 25 feet. State EMA Director Bruce Baughman said 14 rescue teams are on standby and 26 emergency shelters, including three for people with special medical needs, are open across the state.

Just thought y'all might like some actual evidence for those that continue to want to politicize this event. Of course had we approved the Kyoto Protocols. . .

[immadashell]

Some idiot lib reporter asked at the White House morning briefing whether there was any talk about bringing back National Guard troops from Iraq to deal with the security in NO. They will try everything and anything to get us to surrender to the terrorists.

[dmz]

every fr thread on this topic politicizes the topic. it's a tad hypocritical for us to talk about how loathsome the left is when we ourselves have ample evidence of it happening right here on this site.

{ducking}

just to be thorough, though, I link this thread for your viewing pleasure:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1474883/posts

[JoJo Gunn]

.... has left me wondering if, perhaps, he has not suffered some sort of mental breakdown of late.

Only fools don't recognize the fantastic mental illness that is the Left. Even our ancestors knew it.

root meaning of sinister

[Middle English sinistre, unfavorable, from Old French, from Latin sinister, on the left, unlucky.]

[hophead]

The ONLY thing more despicable than the looters of anything but food, water or necessary clothing and diapers, are those like RFK Jr. and the other leftists who are politicizing this tragedy.
As one democrat said in a post here somewhere, "It's no wonder we can't win anymore elections".
Look at the Hot Air HuffPo and you will see the most vile stories out there. Just remember, they will one day have to answer for their acts.

[Polyxene]

"Listening to her you'd think that had Kerry been elected not a single person would have been inconvenienced by this tragedy."

Unfortunately, even if Kerry had been elected, they still would have found some way to blame President Bush. It is never the fault of the RATs, doncha know?!

[hophead]

"FYI--for those that continue to argue that the Feds were too slow to respond. Here is a quote taken from Monday's Birmingham News about the ADVANCE preparations:"


Just another example of the leftists believing that if you repeat something long enough and over and over, it will become truth.

[BushisTheMan]

And the LEFT continue to wonder why they are losing elections.

P.S. Hey Lefties, throwing in some prayer rallys like in Crawford and vigils like at Walter Reed won't help you. It's not sincere and people know it.

[Erik Latranyi]

but it appears that the left's capacity for shameless exploitation, unsubstantiated rhetoric, and blatant hypocrisy knows absolutely no bounds.

I thought this point was settled after 9/11.

I thought it was settled after every schoolyard shooting that was blamed on honest gun owners. Or perhaps it was settled after every heatwave blamed on global warming. No, it might have been settled after every anniversary of Hiroshima where Americans are coerced into feeling guilty about ending a despotic regime.

Need I go on?

[Antoninus]

Henceforth, I consider those trying to score political points off of this disaster to be the moral equivalent of the looters.

[Erik Latranyi]

every fr thread on this topic politicizes the topic. it's a tad hypocritical for us to talk about how loathsome the left is when we ourselves have ample evidence of it happening right here on this site.

Don't you know the difference between people politicizing an issue and the politicians? Name one Republican elected official that is politicizing this! You can't. But you can find many, many examples on the left.

The difference is that our side has some decency and honor.

Think before you type.

[dmz]

sorry - don't agree with you...

The party out of power always politicizes those things that can give the party in power a black eye.

Think before you type.

[crowman]

Here's a thought on how all of this might play out through the end of the year.....The MSM has stopped carping about Iraq....They have leeched onto Katrina....This de-focus on Iraq will allow them to ratify their NEW CONSTITUTION in October in a calmer climate....By November the Iraqis will be starting a fine new chapter in changing their history and building their future....AND the GULF COAST by then will be far along on the re-building process, and the MSM will abandon it and start hunting for a new victim, which sadly for the LEFT won't be IRAQ....Some of them may already see this scenario of the next few months and dread its realization....The rest of us will take heart.....Here's wishing all of us and early Merry Christmas....

[pepperhead]

Your right Randi Rhodes has a truly ugly soul. Blaming the President is stupid in any natural disaster. I didn't question anything X42 or congress did during disasters of the past. The congress and our President will do what needs to be done. Trying to politicize this at a national level is discussing.

[Steely Tom]

...This de-focus on Iraq will allow them to ratify their NEW CONSTITUTION in October in a calmer climate...

Good thinking, crowman.

It has occured to me that all this hubbub in NO is creating a great opportunity for our military to knock the living CRAP out of someone somewhere, like Iraq or Afghanistan, with hardly anyone noticing.

Every disruption contains an opportunity, somewhere.

(steely)

[dukeman]

Take a look at this.

[ArrogantBustard]

The left has been setting this up for years, creating a mass of ignorant people that they can control like sheep.

---

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

By Rudyard Kipling

---

AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will bum,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return.

---

[hershey]

The left leaning early AM talk show host, Scott Allen Miller, WRKO in Boston, took off on Bush this morning for not 'being there' sooner, 'boots on the ground', handing out bottles of water or MRE's. What did he want? The President standing on rooftops in the middle of Katrina, 100 mph winds, handing out water while roaming gangs of thugs took potshots at him with AK47's?

The Left doesn't have a clue. It's all about image. Like Clintons magic bible that got bigger every Sunday. Substance doesn't matter, especially if a Dem's involved. Good intentions mean everything, accomplishment is de trop. So the fair Mayor of NO was on tv all weekend. You couldn't escape her. Nobody complained that she didnt' hand out water on rooftops. Nobody complained that she couldn't organize the city better and reach people who needed rescueing. Not a peep.

The Left expect the feds to do it all 24/7 -- a logical extension of the welfare, nanny govt. mindset. So the clowns on MSNBC complained that Bush wasn't there, hadn't acted sooner. Blah, blah, blah. The left will use this to woo blacks back into the fold, and it's already started. Bushis a racist. He couldn't be bothered because folks in NO were poor and black.

[jmc813]

She is just an ugly person, that is all there is to it, and I am not talking about her appearance.

Oh, don't worry. She's ass-ugly physically too.

[holden]

You're showing that the world in which you're right is the world that has no ethics.

I presume you followed you're own advice, to the extent of your abilities.

HF

[Erik Latranyi]

The party out of power always politicizes those things that can give the party in power a black eye.

That's not completely true. Republicans did not criticize Clinton's handling of hurricanes through the 90's.

[katana]

sound judgment and common decency

These are two things which have never been associated in any way with the name "Kennedy".

[Democratshavenobrains]

Surpise! This is what lefties do. Why can't Republicans plan for it?

[<1/1,000,000th%]

You win. ;)

[crowman]

I can imagine zarqawi and hamas and cnn sitting around scratching themselves in frustration at their current inability to drive the news......

[dmz]

I don't typically associate ethics and political parties. I admit that's a bias of mine. And it extends to both sides of the spectrum.

[norton]

I'm asking this on more than one posting, have not seen anything in the media (and I'm getting sick of FOX):

Please, someone (try to) make me smart here:

I think that the states have to invite federal agencies in to assist, and that Posse Comitatus (SP?) denies use of federal troops to police the civil population.
So when did LA ask for federal help? When did Mississippi and Alabama ask? What took place in LA to allow US military police to enter the city?
And,
Wasn't there an issue early on in which Louisanna does not have a provision for martial law so, in fact, the ground was not clear for at least some time???

[Dionysius]

The left will never be persuaded away; we are not equipped to counter their lies, deception and dishonor with mere words. They own the MSM and public education. Like leftists everywhere, they must be driven out. Perhaps we need someone like Hillary to achieve power so that the revolution to save our nation may begin. It could be coming to this.

[norton]

The only down side to your thoughts is that Katrina will also sweep the Able Danger hearings into the back pages.
Of course, that's here they'd have been in any event.

[rhetorica]

It is my understanding that the Natonal Guard is activated by the Governors of the respectative states. I don't think Bush could order NG troops to LA, Miss, or AL until asked to by the Governors of those states. In going back and reading stories from Sunday and Monday's New Orleans and Baton Rough newspapers, I didn't see an evidence that Governor Blanco activated the Guard in her state.

[norton]

that's the point I'm trying to make

[crowman]

Maybe Able Danger will spark up because the shreekers who say that Iraq caused Katrina make the mid-east central again.......The MSM will just have to multi-task......