You think to yourself, Surely there’s got to be a bottom, a level even the person you think the worst of would stop at. And you would be wrong.
The ultimate in It’s-Not-My-Fault:
“I don’t think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees.”
You don’t need me to tell you that yeah, they kinda did, George. But you had “other priorities.” You had that fucking legacy you’re so fucking concerned with.
Or the director of FEMA, on who they’re trying to help:
“…to help those who are stranded, who chose not to evacuate, who chose not to leave the city…”
Who chose not to evacuate. Goddamn, there is no level to which they will not stoop? Look, all you have to do is get in your SUV and drive away. Is that so hard? Oh, I bet you just wanted to stay in the waist-high polluted water and steal stuff, didn’t you. ‘Cause you chose to stay there.
And in this time of desperate hell, happening right here in our own country, the chairman of the Republican Party—you know, the party that has all the power but apparently none of the responsibilities—brings up his greatest concern: the elimination of the estate tax. He sent out this missive today. This is not something that’s been “in the pipeline.” The Republican Party decided to hit Send on this puppy today.
There is no level beyond which they can sink.
Oh, wait. Maybe there is:
Lawmakers have to ask themselves if it’s worth sinking possibly billions of federal dollars into rebuilding New Orleans, a low-lying city which would remain a vulnerable hurricane target even after clean up, House Speaker Dennis Hastert said Wednesday.
“It doesn’t make sense to me,” said Hastert during an interview with the Daily Herald editorial board. “And it’s a question that certainly we should ask.”
Because, you know, with the tragedy still unfolding, with the resources not yet there—why didn’t you send them five days ago, George? Why? They have phones in Crawford! They have phones in San Diego!—we should just say, Fuck it. Let’s just leave the whole stinking mess there. Screw ’em; they chose to stay there.
We have a government run by sociopaths. Newsflash to those who don’t understand what’s going on: sociopaths cannot feel. They do not give a flying fuck about anything except themselves. People dying? Who cares. Now watch this drive.
Update: Slightly edited to remove usage of a Republican propaganda term in favor of its more correct label, “the estate tax.”
Diane, do you have a link to that moronic statement about rebuilding New Orleans? I want to link to that fucker and tell them what we think of their statements while we’re busy dying at an inconvenient time for them.
You know the part that creeps me out about this? The department responsible for much of the response to this is Homeland Security. Yes, the one that is supposed to protect everyone in the event of a tragedy bigger than 9/11 (you know – the one that the republicans wouldn’t shut up about in the election). Here they had, in essence, a planned attack with days of warning to get their shit together and respond and this is the result. How are they possibly going to do everything they say they’re going to do should a tragedy of similar scale happen without previous announcement in a major city? How can they get away with this?
Knowing this administration, there will likely be dozens of promotions. They can’t let this much incompetence go unrewarded.
Yeah- I’ve never been so pissed and disgusted and depressed all at the same time.
Toni: I’ve put a link to the AP article featuring Tom Delay’s unique brand of understanding and compassion into my entry.
Oh, and how could i have forgotten Condi’s all too important shoe shopping spree! Good thing we don’t even require the appearance of our government taking an interest in the worst disaster in our history.
Diane, thanks — I’ve just posted an entry. It’s pretty much a take-no-prisoners answer to the idiots.
Dennis Hastert, not Tom Delay.
Ooops. You’re right.
I can’t figure out what’s more depressing:
* a federal government that manipulates tens of millions of people into believing that they care about them
* men and women on TV with clean white shirts and nose-jobs interviewing impoverished people in shelters, and breathlessly exclaiming how “amazing” all the stories are
* that society’s Designated Acceptable Response is to throw money at aid agencies that will stop helping if they deem an operation too dangerous, organizations that can’t even manage themselves much less a large-scale tragedy
Are we in hell?
Sociopath seems to be the proper diagnosis:
I’m in China, and I told an old student of mine about my friends from New Orleans, about how they had to flee, and don’t even know if their house is standing any more. My student said, “Tell them not to worry! The goverment will just build everyone a new house, right?”
Oh, how naive! They actually think a rich country will take care of its people!
Yeah, the ideology of the right is the least amount of government is the best form of government, which means allowing an irresponsible federal corporate government to do what it wants, while the masses fend for themselves. Yes, of course, people will eventually come together during a tragedy. This happens all over the world all the time during all sorts of tragedies, even among the people in Iraq. But, wouldn’t it nice to have a federal government that really cares for its citizens?
Hey, dummy! They CHOSE NOT TO LEAVE!!!! They could get out of the city!!! 1,000,000 people stayed there – THEY COULD HAVE LEFT! When parents tell a kid not to go into the street, and then the kid runs in to traffic, should the kid then scream,”Why didn’t you rescue me?” Grow up and stop blaming a president, or FEMA or anyone but the fool who CHOSE TO STAY!
Rae:
On the off-chance that you’re misinformed and your posting a)wasn’t a joke and b)wasn’t a simple troll, let’s try this thought experiment: from wherever you live, right now, you have 24 hours to take your entire family and whatever possessions you can carry and go, let’s say, 100 miles north.
You may not use any money, because you don’t have any.
You may not use your car, because you don’t have one.
None of your friends have cars either. They and their families have to do the same thing you do.
You may not use any public transportation, because that’s all stopped running. Also: you don’t have any money.
You may not hitchhike, because for one thing you have your family, and for another thing no one is stopping.
How far do you get?
People are blaming Bush for this out partisan spite.
Proof: What is the ideal thing that the federal government should have done in this this situation? They should have had buses right after the hurricane hit waiting for people to evacuate them. They should have had food and water and ice waiting for people after they were evacuated. They should have had ready made shelters prepared for people to stay in. But how could the federal government respond this quickly. The most obvious answer is that they should have had food, water and ice already inside the state of Lousiana so they didn’t have to bring it in. The buses should already have been in New Orleans before the hurricane hit so they didn’t have to be brought in. The refugee shelters should have been built in advance of the hurricane. BUT IF YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE EVERYTHING DONE INSIDE THE STATE BEFOREHAND THEN SHOULDN’T IT BE THE STATES GOVERNMENT THAT DOES IT IN THE FIRST PLACE, NOT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT? Obviously the answer is yes. It is remarkably stupid to expect a quick response if you are bringing stuff into the state from all over the country. The best thing is have everything prepared in advance and housed in state. This is what state governments are supposed to do. Not whine and expect the federal government to bail their asses out when they have made absolutely no preparation for a disaster that is most properly their primary responsibilty. The federal government is only supposed to provide assistence. It is not supposed to coordinate relief efforts, do emergency planning or provide an immediate response. These are things best done locally. Clinton was smart enough to realize this and that why under Clinton emergency planning was primarily a local issue not a federal one. It seems like liberals have become to blinded by partisan spite to see the obvious.
Gosh, I’m so impressed by someone posting with a pseudonym.
Since 9/11, the primary responsibility for disaster planning and coordination of efforts lies with FEMA, which is under the Department of Homeland Security. And no, you don’t have to take my word for it — take theirs.
“Clinton was smart enough to realize this, and that’s why under Clinton, emergency planning was primarily a local issue, not a federal one.”
So you’re saying that Clinton had it right, and Bush **CHANGED IT** for the worse by making it a federal issue? Then are you not criticizing Bush by saying just that?
And by extension, the people you’re saying are angry “out of spite” are justified in being angry because of the poor choice Bush made in changing this.
I often wonder if logic is even taught in schools any more.
750 + people died in the Chicago heat wave in one week under Clinton’s first administration. Where was the Federal response then? New Orleans/Louisiana has corrupt politicians that let its own people down.
5 years.
Bush has been President for FIVE years.
Not Clinton. Not anybody else. Bush.
Deal with the fact that this concerns BUSH. Not anybody else. Sorry, you don’t get to blame ANYBODY ELSE for the failings of “Trust me, I’m the Security Guy” Boy.
They had FOUR days to prepare for Katrina and still screwed the pooch. Deal with it.
Let’s face it: if the Chicago thing had happened under Bush’s watch? You’d be finding excuses for it.
Coward.
5 years? no, more like 30 years that people knew that a major hurricane would eventually find its way up New Orleans’s ass and destroy the levees(that were built specifically to withstand nothing over a theoretical category 3 hurricane storm surge). Every year hurricane season comes around and when eveyone in South Louisiana says just how vulnerable the city is, no one seems to act on it. I can’t place blame but responsiblity for the city’s safety lies with the city first, state second and lastly the federal governement. As for those who think that all the people in New Orleans couldn’t get out because they were too poor, a little advice; never corner a desperate being(man or animal) because no matter how little, weak, unprepared and easy to control it may look there is ALWAYS somthing that it can do to fight back. These are not poeple who are “unable” to do what is necessary, they are unWILLING to do what is necessary to prepare and be ready for a threat that they have lived with for years.
Whose responsibility is it to maintain and shore up the levees?
Whose responsibility is it to direct a large area disaster?
Ok
I work for the Us dept of Justice.
The state is responcible for preparing for disasters, the city is also responcible for preparation.New orleans has known for decades that their levee systems needed to be upgraded.the last major hurricane hit in the 1960’s So….lets see, they have had over 40 years to correct this problem .Gambling casinos were brought in to pay for these type things for the state.Louisiana makes billions of dollars each year on their casinos.Why is this massive ammount of money not paying for proper levee systems.The United States govt. should not be responcible for paying for this. Fema should only assist in the cleanup, not fund it.Now you have all these lazy people Still living in hotels at the governments expense, and not even trying to get ajob, because 90% of them poverty pimping welfare collecting bums who could work, but Won’t. What kind of evil state government has massive casio funds, and wont even use this resource to save its people.I think the governer of Louisiana should be locked up for knowingly killing its people in a disaster that could have been prevented with proper corrections to the problem.Everyone knows that Louisiana is a corrupt state and always has been.Just look at their former governor Edwin Edwards who is currently serving in federal prison.
and…what kind of person lives in a city just awaiting disaster for decades, and makes no preparation of what to do in case of a disaster.In florida, their low income people always manage to get out before the hurricane.Most of the comments on this site are misinformed people with below average IQ’s.
I guess this is typical of a loisiana resident though.My own state of texas was good enough to take these people in, now we cant get rid of them.Most of them are cause
ing problems everywhere they go.We want them to leave, but…they do not want to leave, because they can collect more welfare money from texas than they can collect in louisiana or arkansas.
This is what the people are like that came from new orleans, or at least about 95% of them.
Louisiana should hang its head in shame, and the whole governing body of louisiana should have to stand trial for their shameful acts of doing nothing to prepare for the inevitable.They should throw all casinos out of louisiana since the government is stealing the money for themselves.
Loisiana ,you should hang your head in shame.
Um.
I hate to tell you this, but exactly NO ONE who reads this screed would believe you work for the Department of Justice.
The fact that you probably don’t understand why it’s so obvious says volumes.
The same goes for the rest of your thoughtless, bigoted, vile post.
It is very easy to blame the federal government for what the state of louisiana should have fixed decades ago.If you would go back and take the time to read your constitutuion, you will see that each state is responcible for fixing its own problems.The federal government was never designed to assume responcibility for fixing state problems. This is at state and local level.
Also the former administration , eight years of the democrats , did absolutely nothing to correct new orleans ethier.
where were the busses that should have taken these people out of new orleans hint….state level
where were the statewide louisiana state national guard…hint..state level.
and….we know where all of the police dept were…..Yes, they all ran….
a total breakdown in state planning, if you want to blame someone, blame the governer of louisiana, blame sen. mary landriu, state level government is scared to death that they will have to accept the blame that is so rightfully theirs. I have seen so many documentaries through the years on what would happen to new orleans if even a small storm hit. And……shamefully, the state chose to ignore…and pocket the massive gains of its casinos.
its time for the brainless to learn the facts