Finger pointing
It's official ladies and gentlemen. The blame for Katrina and it's devestation can be laid directly at the feet of President Bush. After all, he is the reason global warming has been ignored(bad science should be) and he's obviously controls Congress so when they kept passing budgets to reduce FEMA funding he was really the one calling the shots. Another little known fact is that Katrina wasn't just a part of a decades long weather cycle as those pesky rumor-mongerers over at the NOAA would have you think. The reason Bush couldn't speak with Cindy Sheehan is cuz he was out in Air Force One doing donuts to get Katrina to spin faster and become a true Category 5 hurricane.
Anyway, while I've gone a bit above and beyond what some of the people out there have done, this is not too far off from what some people are thinking. Everything that goes wrong in the world is Bush's fault. Granted, I'm not too fond of the man or the job he's done but I deal with the real world where real people have real limits on what they can and can't do. One thing that Bush can't do is start a hurricane. Another thing Bush can't do is set the budget for the country. Another thing Bush can't do is make bad science policy(global warming). Get over it guys. Bush is not the evil that you want to make him out to be. He's just a guy like anyone else. If he were truly as evil as you profess him to be you wouldn't be around to make those comments. You'd be 'disappeared' faster than you can say "Jimmy Hoffa." If Bush truly had the budget power that you seem to think he has then he wouldn't have to go to Congress every time he wants more money for Iraq. He'd have cut the funding to Social Security and Welfare already and gotten rid of all those social programs that Republicans love to hate.
What I really think is amusing is the way these people go off on how the Dem's need to take back control of the Congress. Why? If Bush controls it all then congress is meaningless. Either Congress is essential to running of government or only the Presidency is. Make up your mind folks. You can't cry for both and expect to be taken seriously.
One last thought about all of this: For those of you who whine and complain about how the Repub's and Bush spin everything and politicize everything you have now lost any right whatsoever to claim that again. You have not only used this tragedy to rail Bush for budget cuts that he didn't design but you've also tried to tag him for his 'lack' of leadership in regards to global warming. You've taken two pet issues and tried to piggyback them on the death and destruction left by a natural disaster. You have become that which you claime to despise. How do you reconcile that with your high ideals?
posted by Mindwyrm @ 11:16 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Call it whining if you like, but the Times-Picayune has been reporting for several years that the levy (along Lake Ponchitrain) is sinking and in need of repair. Money was even allocated to begin repair, but then Iraq broke out and, well the money was no longer there.
So we have no WMD's, have created tens of thousand of new terrorists, no real democracy in Iraq and oh yeah a good, running start on a civil war there. And a weak levy that broke.
So while even I don't think Bush is capable enough to conjure a storm of Katrina's magnitude, I do think blame can be lain at the White House steps that the levy was not given priority. Katrina only provided the fodder. A neglected levy made the scope of this tragedy possible.
I don't think you can blame this White House though. Or, if you're going to, then you also have to blame Clinton, Bush I, Reagan, Carter.... until you get back into the early 60's/late 50's. Personally, I see the levee's as a local issue. If the levee's were that important then the local city/state governments should have figured out a way years ago to pay for it. I live in Tornado alley. Do I expect the feds to pay for my shelters or warning sirens? No, because the state handles that through the taxes they collect. And the levee sections that broke weren't neglected. The CoE had just marked them as completed. The problem was that the levee's were made to withstand a Cat 3 storm, which was the only strength of storm to have hit NO to date. The planners didn't see the point in protecting NO against and event that had never happened. That would be like prepping the Midwest for a string of F5 tornadoes. It's never happened so why worry about it. That's the mentality that the city, state, and CoE planners had. That's not Bush's fault. As for the money issue, considering that Blanco 'lost' $30 million that was given to LA by FEMA I don't think blaming the Iraq war for taking money away is the brightest way to go. And I'm not going to get into the WMD/terrorist argument. that's not what this post was about.
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