HumidCity

Why do all you lefty radical types hate President Bush so much? Follow the links for documentation.

Well, first of all because he spent the day talking immigration with Chertohoff (White House) and eating birthday cake with McCain (White House again)after the National Hurricane Center’s Director told him of the magnitude of the disaster in New Orleans (AP).

Who needs to even bring up the obscenity that is the Iraq situation when we have the devastated remnants of our homes as illustration. Governor Blanco requested aid, Bush didn’t bother (Newsweek). He was too busy talking Medicaire (White House).

It goes on and on. I guess to many people it does not matter becase it did not happen to anyone but those “deadbeats from New Orleans.” To others it has just faded from memory along with all the other soundbites. Well let me tell you, it does not fade out for us. We live with it every day, trying to put lives together in the face of the three worst impediments known to modern man: the local, state, and federal governments. The unholy trinity of Bush, Blanco and Nagin have done their best to finish us off with their dual pronged plan of incompetence and corruption, but we are still here.

Why do I say that he should never be allowed within our city limits again? Go read a nice, well documented timeline of the times around the Federal Flood, some excellent work by ThinkProgress. This isn’t imagination, its Politicians Gone Wild. How dare anyone tell me not be angry at the total abandonment of the social contract by those in power.

Lets just put it simply: the man is a criminal and I do NOT welcome him in my city. I am far from alone in this. Take your stink of corruption (Enron anyone?) and dereliction of duty (Gitmo, perhaps?) and leave us alone. You have done enough. FYYFF!

I have been trying to come up with words to express my feelings about the Chimp In Chief and his notable non-mention of New Orleans during the State of the Union Address the other night. I cannot. It is horrific that the home of veterans like my father, who spent two years in a Viet Namese prison camp, and my grandfather, who served during WWII, is found not worthy of mention.

Of course it was government (in)actions that led us to this sorry state of affairs. We have been told for decades that the levees would protect us. The Federal levees. The ones that were built in a knowingly substandard fashion by a Federal organization, the Army Corps of Engineers. People ask why we live below sea level. The best answer I have heard was someone comparing the levees to a passenger plane. We trust that it is safe because we have been told so by people whose job is to know and certify such things. If the Corps made a plane the wings would fall off shortly after takeoff, the parachutes and oxygen masks would not work, and the surviving family would be barred from legal recourse.

Yeah, no surprise we did not get a mention. Now many have weighed in on the subject, but I think the best take on it so far is this little gem from the HUffington Post. Enjoy.

The Blog | Robert J. Elisberg: It’s Official: New Orleans Declared No Longer Part of the U.S. | The Huffington Post
Oh, sure, when he gave his State of the Union Address a mere five months later, he only devoted 85 words to the disaster. But that’s 47 more than Captain Kirk devoted to “Space, the final frontier…” And that was about exploring new worlds and new civilizations. So, 85 words for a mere hurricane is pretty darn good.

Plus, it’s 85 more words than he devoted to New Orleans on Tuesday night, in his next State of the Union Address.

Yes, that’s right. The number of words devoted to the city of New Orleans that had been wiped off the map only 17 months earlier was zippo. The same number of words as calories in Diet Coke. Seven fewer words than “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Two fewer words than what the President was telling the city to do to itself.

Now, in fairness, it’s possible that the President and his Administration gentlefolk looked around but simply weren’t able to find the words anywhere, most likely because they’re hidden in the same place as Iraq’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction, which they can’t find either. (Although he still was able to come up with 16 words for that.)

On the other hand, Mr. Bush was able to come up with 166 words for the person who sold a $200 million movie company to the Walt Disney Company. Not only is that 166 more words than he found for the entire city of New Orleans that was wiped off the map - it’s twice as many as he used the year before, only five months after he had showed up on his shining light beams to proclaim his heartfelt support for the just-devastated city. The President quoted the woman, a noble soul named Julie Aigner-Clark, who has subsequently devoted effort to child protection and said, “I believe that children have the right to live in a world that is safe.” What Mr. Bush himself wanted to add was, “So keep them out of New Orleans.”

EDIT: Another extremely important read, this one speaks to the attitude of many of our “fellow Americans,” about New Orleans. Just as thrilling as the Hour of the Chimp.