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More on Katrina [Ben Stein]
American Spectator ^ | September 12, 2005 | Ben Stein

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.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: benstein; katrina; katrinafacts; mediabias; neworleans; presidentbush
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To: Quilla

It is ironic that racism is supposed to be a part of the "delay" in evacuating New Orleans. Isn't it odd that the rescue workers are primarily caucasian. I am not saying this as a racist statement. There are obviously some people such as Sharpton, J Jackson, et al who get their support and their blood money from keeping the racist problem alive. No doubt there is ugly racism in this country but to see the helping hands cross the racial divide was inspiring in this situation.


41 posted on 09/12/2005 7:13:19 AM PDT by mel
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To: conservatism_IS_compassion
IMHO the right thing for Congress to do is investigate the disaster response to define the limits of the president's authority to respond, and compare that to the actual behavior of the administration. And compare the performance in Louisiana with that in Mississippi and Alabama, with the differing behaviors of the governors of those states. But part of documenting the problems in Louisiana must be to discuss the coverage of the event. The broadcast coverage which is ultimately done under government sanction. The real issue is the fact that government is giving sanction to claims of objectivity from Democratic activists.

Excellent!

From your lips to God's ears!

42 posted on 09/12/2005 7:13:24 AM PDT by wouldntbprudent ("Tell the truth. The Pajama People are watching you.")
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To: AIC
One of the main problems with the U.S. is that a large portion of the population does not know any thing about state laws and the difference between state and federal laws and which has which responsibility and that will believe anything that anyone tells them that seems plausible.

Yep.

I saw a race-monger-babe on O'Reilly one night. She actually was an editor of some magazine.

She was whining about no one helping the poor get out of NO and O'Reilly said, well, is that the federal government's responsibility? She said yes!

The other guest and Bill jumped up and down and said, no, it's the mayor's and Guv's responsibility.

RMB just sat there with a dumbfounded expression. Like she had never heard before in her life that local leaders are actually more than baby-squeezers and ribbon cutters, that they actually supposed to be LEADERS.

It was a stunning display of the ignorance even of the "educated."

43 posted on 09/12/2005 7:18:19 AM PDT by wouldntbprudent ("Tell the truth. The Pajama People are watching you.")
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To: Quilla
"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."

Almost? Given the availabilty of school buses, the arrogance of wanting only air-conditioned Greyhound buses, the failure to develop a map designating target households requiring special assistance, the failure to designate or have available shelters out of the path of the storm, the surge, and the ultimate (well known) floodway, the failure to have any plan for medical evac, the failure to exercise timely the existing power to mandate evacuation, and the death toll, I don't see how "almost" applies to the self-evident criminal responsibility here.

44 posted on 09/12/2005 7:19:01 AM PDT by atlaw
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To: absolootezer0; labard1

Ben Stein was himself a speechwriter for Nixon.

There is a photo around of a much younger Ben with long hair, sitting in the room when Nixon was resigning, Ben with tears running down his face.

I don't have the photo, but have seen it.

http://www.townhall.com/notables/stein.html


45 posted on 09/12/2005 7:21:36 AM PDT by texasbluebell
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To: Maceman

I think temper tantrum is good but the MSM had an orgy is more what I saw. An orgy of every possible vanity,,self congratulation, meanness, vindictiveness, untruthfulness, mongering both race and rumor.


46 posted on 09/12/2005 7:24:23 AM PDT by cajungirl (no)
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To: atlaw

Speaking of Death Toll, I would be curious to know what killed more people the Storm or the dismal excuses for human beings that preyed upon their fellow man.

TT


47 posted on 09/12/2005 7:25:15 AM PDT by TexasTransplant (NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSET)
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To: BIRDS

Pelosi may be asking, but the temptation of the cameras may make her request moot.

BTW we want a congressional hearing with supoena power for the pubs rather than a commmission where they can obfuscate and muddy the waters.


48 posted on 09/12/2005 7:25:55 AM PDT by cajungirl (no)
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To: Quilla

I'm turning my channel I just can't watch the crap that they're putting out as news.


49 posted on 09/12/2005 7:33:19 AM PDT by tiki
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To: Quilla
"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."

Can anyone with firsthand experience corroborate this? I have no idea how the federal response to Katrina compares with the response to previous major hurricanes.
50 posted on 09/12/2005 7:35:56 AM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: cajungirl

I was playing upon Peter Jennings' comment that the Republican electoral blowout of 1994 was a case of the American people having a "temper tantrum."


51 posted on 09/12/2005 7:41:28 AM PDT by Maceman (Pro Se Defendant from Hell)
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To: Steve_Seattle

Here's a blast from the past about Hurricane Floyd. It took FEMA a month to get moving on flood relief. Note that James Lee Witt has been hired as a chief advisor to Governor Blank-O.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/9/7/134914.shtml


52 posted on 09/12/2005 7:43:39 AM PDT by silverleaf (Fasten your seat belts- it's going to be a BUMPY ride.)
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To: Baynative

In Section 1 of the governor's order, she is authorizing use of school buses for evacuation AFTER the passage of the hurricane.


53 posted on 09/12/2005 7:43:46 AM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: silverleaf

Thanks. Interesting link.


54 posted on 09/12/2005 7:47:13 AM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: Quilla
"I must have lying eyes."

Well, my "lying eyes" saw the same thing...outbound bumper to bumper and inbound vacant-no traffic at all.

55 posted on 09/12/2005 7:48:03 AM PDT by two23
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To: cajungirl
I think temper tantrum is good but the MSM had an orgy is more what I saw. An orgy of every possible vanity,,self congratulation, meanness, vindictiveness, untruthfulness, mongering both race and rumor.

I agree. I've been monitoring my blood pressure since being diagnosed with Type II diabetes, and after two days of watching CNN's and MSNBC's hurricance coverage, my blood pressure jumped from an average of 131/79 to 158/98. I had to turn off the TV because it was literally hazardous to my health.
56 posted on 09/12/2005 7:51:17 AM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: Quilla
"Second, the response of the federal government is described as slow,...."

Compared to what, I mean, just where was this bar set? Was there some comparable disaster -assumably effecting rich white folk- that the feds arrived on scene quicker?

57 posted on 09/12/2005 7:54:52 AM PDT by moehoward
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To: Steve_Seattle
Hi Steve,

While my experience goes back about 25 years, I can corroborate it. I am a resident of Fairhope, AL (just east of Mobile, AL) and I experienced Hurricane Frederick in 1979. We were without water and power for three weeks in the wake of this storm, and the only thing we EVER saw that even remotely resembled a federal government presence were the National Guardsmen who patrolled enforcing the curfew. Only once did I see free water and/or ice delivered, and it was handled by some of this same guard unit. Other people were gouging on ice, water, anything they could. Ice: $10/bag. Bottled Water (not as widely available then): $15-20/gallon. MREs: nonexistent (Never saw those until Ivan.) Funny though, I don't remember gas prices going through the roof, but that's another rant.

Times may have changed, and the government's response has markedly improved. After Ivan (2005), the water, ice and MREs arrived on about the 4th day. And some idiots in NOLA and elsewhere complain that the feds didn't act until Tuesday, the day after the storm and the day the levees broke. By my calculations, that's 50% faster than the Ivan response.
58 posted on 09/12/2005 7:55:14 AM PDT by the lone haranguer (Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia)
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To: Quilla
To issue a mandatory evacuation order without providing means of transport is almost criminally irresponsible.

Perhaps they didn't have the manpower or money to carry out their own evacuation plans.

But, the reality is that they didn't have the leadership to carry out the plans, especially at the mayor and governor levels.
59 posted on 09/12/2005 7:55:40 AM PDT by adorno
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To: Quilla
"Outta the park!"

Big Ben's been on fire lately.

60 posted on 09/12/2005 7:57:52 AM PDT by Senator Goldwater
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