A few truths, for those who have ears and eyes and care to know the truth:

1.) The hurricane that hit New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama was an astonishing tragedy. The suffering and loss of life and peace of mind of the residents of those areas is acutely horrifying.

2.) George Bush did not cause the hurricane. Hurricanes have been happening for eons. George Bush did not create them or unleash this one.

3.) George Bush did not make this one worse than others. There have been far worse hurricanes than this before George Bush was born.

4.) There is no overwhelming evidence that global warming exists as a man-made phenomenon. There is no clear-cut evidence that global warming even exists. There is no clear evidence that if it does exist it makes hurricanes more powerful or makes them aim at cities with large numbers of poor people. If global warming is a real phenomenon, which it may well be, it started long before George Bush was inaugurated, and would not have been affected at all by the Kyoto treaty, considering that Kyoto does not cover the world's worst polluters -- China, India, and Brazil. In a word, George Bush had zero to do with causing this hurricane. To speculate otherwise is belief in sorcery.

5.) George Bush had nothing to do with the hurricane contingency plans for New Orleans. Those are drawn up by New Orleans and Louisiana. In any event, the plans were perfectly good: mandatory evacuation. It is in no way at all George Bush's fault that about 20 percent of New Orleans neglected to follow the plan. It is not his fault that many persons in New Orleans were too confused to realize how dangerous the hurricane would be. They were certainly warned. It's not George Bush's fault that there were sick people and old people and people without cars in New Orleans. His job description does not include making sure every adult in America has a car, is in good health, has good sense, and is mobile.

6.) George Bush did not cause gangsters to shoot at rescue helicopters taking people from rooftops, did not make gang bangers rape young girls in the Superdome, did not make looters steal hundreds of weapons, in short make New Orleans into a living hell.

7.) George Bush is the least racist President in mind and soul there has ever been and this is shown in his appointments over and over. To say otherwise is scandalously untrue.

8.) George Bush is rushing every bit of help he can to New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama as soon as he can. He is not a magician. It takes time to organize huge convoys of food and now they are starting to arrive. That they get in at all considering the lawlessness of the city is a miracle of bravery and organization.

9.) There is not the slightest evidence at all that the war in Iraq has diminished the response of the government to the emergency. To say otherwise is pure slander.

10.) If the energy the news media puts into blaming Bush for an Act of God worsened by stupendous incompetence by the New Orleans city authorities and the malevolence of the criminals of the city were directed to helping the morale of the nation, we would all be a lot better off.

11.) New Orleans is a great city with many great people. It will recover and be greater than ever. Sticking pins into an effigy of George Bush that does not resemble him in the slightest will not speed the process by one day.

12.) The entire episode is a dramatic lesson in the breathtaking callousness of government officials at the ground level. Imagine if Hillary Clinton had gotten her way and they were in charge of your health care.
 

Ben Stein

God bless all of those dear people who are suffering so much, and God bless those helping them, starting with George Bush.

Why is it that the snipers who shot at emergency rescuers trying to save people in hospitals and shelters are never mentioned except in passing, and Mr. Bush, who is turning over heaven and earth to rescue the victims of the storm, is endlessly vilified?

What church does Rev. Al Sharpton belong to that believes in passing blame and singling out people by race for opprobrium and hate?

What special abilities does the media have for deciding how much blame goes to the federal government as opposed to the city government of New Orleans for the aftereffects of Katrina?

If able-bodied people refuse to obey a mandatory evacuation order for a city, have they not assumed the risk that ill effects will happen to them?

When the city government simply ignores its own sick and hospitalized and elderly people in its evacuation order, is Mr. Bush to blame for that?

Is there any problem in the world that is not Mr. Bush's fault, or have we reverted to a belief in a sort of witchcraft where we credit a mortal man with the ability to create terrifying storms and every other kind of ill wind?

Where did the idea come from that salvation comes from hatred and criticism and mockery instead of love and co-operation?

Anonymous

      What I have a hard time understanding in all this mess is why there is no anger being vented at the Local and State government? They are the ones who have dropped the ball here not the President.

     I’ve heard a lot of talk about how Bush was on vacation when the storm hit.  Let’s lay aside the fact that due to the marvel of modern communication (A marvel that I am fully aware our congress doesn’t grasp) a President, be he Republican or Democrat, can due his job where ever he happens to be.  Let’s not figure that in. 

     I heard Harry Reid say the disaster happened because Bush was on vacation.  Has anyone stopped to consider that the President returned to DC a full day ahead of congress?  Two full days before congress could vote on the spending bill for the relief efforts.  

     So I guess the question for Mr. Reid is, did congress being on vacation hinder the relief efforts.  After all, if he’s going to pin that tail on the President it needs to be pinned on congress also.

Steve

More Commentary

What is it that bends and twists the soul of man in New Orleans such that he shoots at his rescuers, steals televisions while others drown, and then blames all and sundry for not helping enough? Biloxi and the rural areas of costal Louisiana and Mississippi have similar ethnic makeup and are equally hard-hit: yet they were not witness to the self-imposed parts of New Orleans’ devastation. The answer lies in the peculiar political economy of dependency in New Orleans, home to some of America’s last remaining old-style housing “projects”, home to legions of life-long welfare recipients and home to the bureaucratic and corrupt political structure which sustains itself by maintaining its “clients”– in poverty. While the American economy has boomed for two decades, New Orleans remains a city where over 100,000 people cannot afford their own car.

A sedentary life of welfare check cashing combined with the feelings of futility and depression which naturally result from the lack of a guiding purpose in life leads to poor nutrition, alcoholism, drug abuse and then chronic health problems such as hypertension, diabetes, emphysema, and heart disease. New Orleans’ public hospitals service these new clients but do not (or cannot) cure the chronically ill, creating yet another layer of dependency and the corresponding income stream for bureaucrats. The chronically ill are too weak to work, creating another reason to stay on welfare or disability. Their children are raised by a parent who is herself completely at the mercy of “the system.” To the child, the government’s power and responsibility looms larger than mom’s and the father is usually nowhere in sight.

Thus the culture of dependency continues into the next generation as does the culture of ‘being owed.” Since society “owes” them, there is no moral argument against property crimes. Once that slippery slope is reached, violent crimes follow along. The police sometime catch the criminals and they enter the criminal justice “system” becoming, in yet another way, wards of the state. These wards of the state might have benefited most from the jobs created in America’s booming economy–but they rarely take the initiative to even apply for work. When they do, they usually don’t have an understanding of what it takes to get and keep employment. Without realizing it, their cycle of dependency gives them one excuse after another to feel trapped, ‘owed”, and oppressed–while living on the dole.

In this world someone who works 9-5 and supports a family is called a “fool”. Those who sell drugs, rape, rob, and kill are seen as “getting over”. That is “getting over”–on “the man” who is “holding us all down”. This mentality is the product of the welfare state. New Orleans is one of a few cities where welfare has been taken to its full logic.

In New Orleans this culture of entitlement extends far beyond this “underclass”. New Orleans police are the lowest paid in America, as part of their job they are expected to contract out to private parties for security services. This naturally leads to all type of corruption which in turn contributes to the public not trusting or respecting the police. When Katrina hit, about 1000 of New Orleans 1500 police officers deserted their posts. This single fact, more than any other, has led to the breakdown in law and order which slowed rescue and relief efforts for two critical days on August 31 and September 1.

The culture of entitlement and dependency also extends to the political establishment of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. This leads to the mayor pointing his finger at lack of support by state and federal government as his own police dissolve underneath him. Millions of dollars have been sent to New Orleans for decades, but they were siphoned off to various corrupt activities rather than being used to reinforce levies or build up emergency services. This is a state which has never left behind the depression-era populism of Huey Long. Corruption is legion. Most office holders just haven’t been caught yet–others have been caught but got reelected anyway.

As New Orleans is physically rebuilt, this political economy of poverty must be demolished. As an example, New Orleans can look to the entrepreneurial cities such as Dallas and Houston which are taking in tens of thousands of displaced storm victims. Departing their former home to move west, many are saying they will restart their lives in these cities. After the looting and crime they don’t want anything to do with New Orleans again. The transfer of people away from poverty and corruption and towards entrepreneurship-created-opportunity is one of the few good things to come out of this disaster.

For those who do stay to rebuild, welfare reform and school choice must move to the top of Louisiana’s political agenda. A platoon of federal investigators should reinforce efforts to indict, arrest, and convict politicians and appointed officials for corruption. The city police department must be reformed from top to bottom starting with the termination of those who deserted and following with pay scales commensurate with that of other police departments. The “projects” must be demolished, as they have been in Chicago, Baltimore and many other American cities. Regulations and taxes which strangle small business development must be repealed. The private sector should lead the way in physical reconstruction.

Nothing warps human nature like the belief in “being owed” combined by the feeling, left by paltry welfare payments, that the debt “owed” is never paid. Thousands of welfare recipients are used to having everything given to them–albeit in insufficient quantity to be satisfying. Thousands have no concept of working for wages, much less building a business. These same thousands rightfully look at the police and politicians as corrupt. In this twisted existence, the idea of initiative and work does not exist. From their distorted view of the world, looting in the midst of disaster and shooting at rescue helicopters makes perfect sense. The Bible tells us that “the wages of sin is death.” In New Orleans we are witnessing the wages of socialism.

Anonymous