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September 20, 2005

The disgusting MSM

I got back from the gym a few days ago, and what had been on the TV made me want to throw up. All the bodies in Louisiana and Mississippi are not even found yet from hurricane Katrina and ABC news has decided to combine the always lucrative reality TV and disaster movie genres. They had a show on ABC Primetime basically showing all kinds of even worse potential disasters - hurricanes, earthquakes, pandemics, nuclear blasts in NYC... And guess what? We are not prepared for a single one of them! They trotted out expert after expert over how the federal government hasn't done this, or hasn't done that.

Well, guess what? This is America, land of opportunity and freedom (i.e. the freedom from governmental tyrrany). We all also have many individual rights; however, with the more rights comes the responsibility to exercise them properly. The federal government is not our nanny. They are not here to bail us out of every jam we get into, they are there to help us when we really need it. And some people really need it right now, and they are getting it. A couple people needed help so badly that they took their $2000 FEMA debit cards and bought $800 Louis Vitton bags with them. I could use that kind of help. Do you realize the federal government is allocating $200 billion for disaster relief? With that money, they could give $400,000 to each family left homeless by the hurricane. Ridiculous, especially when you consider all the lawsuits that will undoubtedly be piled on top of that. Welcome to America in the 21st century.

I can't believe all the carping by the pundits over how "late" relief was and how people are dieing because FEMA didnt get there in time. What???? How about all the billions of dollars spent over decades on research into technologies such as doppler radar, and the engineering required to fly a plane into the middle of a hurricane and measure its strength and direction. The people of New Orleans knew this thing was comming and yet many still decided to stay. For decades, experts have been talking about how the levees of New Orleans could barely hold back the storm surge of a category 2 storm and that since a huge portion of the city is below sea level, a larger storm would be a catastrophe. The federal government, in all their wisdom, rejected a project in the 70s (not headed by the HalliBusHitlerCo!!!) that would have strengthened the levees and provided some protection against just this sort of storm surge. I bet the cost wasn't even close to $200 billion, adjusted for inflation or not. People died because they didn't leave their homes before the storm. They were warned. They knew what would most likely happen. Darwin award anyone?

"Oh but some were so poor they didn't have cars and couldn't get away." Last I looked, Amtrack (fedrally subsidized I might add) and Greyhound weren't very expensive. Neither is a 2 or 3 night stay at a Motel 6 to wait for the storm to pass. What also thrives in the area? Churches. If someone doesnt have a car or phone and still really wants to get out and needs help, why not go to your local chruch. If they can't help you directly, and even if you're not a Christian, I guarantee the pastor has some pull in local government and can help you get out.

My rant continued a little, but it started to get off topic. Instead, I will link to this great post at Shots Across the Bow, the 1st weblog to ever link to me. Rich pretty much said everything I wanted to, but I didnt have the time. Here's a snippet:

The problems are solved and now we can all rest securely in the knowledge that, if another disaster hits New Orleans, the response will be swift, sure, and effective, all because Mike Brown, head of FEMA, has resigned. In one swift move, we know longer have to worry about things like:

Mayor Ray "Potty Mouth" Nagin failing to follow his own evacuation plan by utilizing city and school busses to transport folks out of the city.

Governor Kathleen "CryBaby" Blanco failing to call out the National Guard and refusing assistence from other State Guard units, and the Red Cross.

Thugs breaking into gun stores, stealing every weapon they could get their hands on, then using them to shoot at helicopters bringing in aid, contractors trying to restore power, and anybody that seemed to be trying to help.

Cops walking off the job, turning in their badges, or worse, joining in with the looters, making sure they got their share of the spoils.

The local government refusing to allow food and water to be staged at the Superdome because they didn't want people there anyway.

The local government failing to call for an evacuation until about 20 hours before the storm hit.

The local government failing in fact to follow virtually any part of its emergency response plan

No, we don't have to worry about any of that anymore because Mike Brown has resigned. Forget about the fact that he had no input into any of these colossal blunders. Forget about the fact that FEMA is not designed as a primary response agency. Forget about the fact that this was the biggest natural disaster ever to occur in the US, totally decimating the infrastructure which a national response would require. Forget all of these facts, because we as a nation are not interested in facts anymore; we want somebody to blame and Mike Brown is taking the fall.

Read it all.

Posted by TJ at September 20, 2005 07:10 PM

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