Katrina Follow-Up: Outrageous!

Reader Teresa wondered in my last post if what we're witnessing down on the Gulf coast didn't somehow betoken the End Times -- didn't have "eschatonical" implications. (How's that for a word? Just made it up. Like it.)

[I believe the technical term is, "eschatological" -- Ed.]

I have no idea whether recent events are or are not eschatological, but I do know that it's still "business as usual" for the moonbats, a$$hats, grief pimps, and treason mongers on the American Left. It took them about a day to absorb what they were seeing on the Glass Teat and come to an inevitable conclusion: "It was all Bush's fault!"

I'll give you just a sample that touches on the main themes all of them do (gee, it's almost as if they were issued talking points....) by letting our gnostic, self-appointed Masters of Information at the NYT speak for the entire Left:

Waiting for a Leader

George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end.

Sacrifices may be necessary to make sure that all these things happen in an orderly, efficient way. But this administration has never been one to counsel sacrifice. And nothing about the president's demeanor yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis.

It would be some comfort to think that, as Mr. Bush cheerily announced, America "will be a stronger place" for enduring this crisis. Complacency will no longer suffice, especially if experts are right in warning that global warming may increase the intensity of future hurricanes. But since this administration won't acknowledge that global warming exists, the chances of leadership seem minimal.

Here are most of the basic arguments: "Chimpo was flip because he is asleep at the helm and likes to see black kids die while oil companies rake in the profits anyway; we (The Responsible Establishment) must counsel Sacrifice because BaboonBoy only gets excited about his illegal war against Iraq's starving children [which, you'll remember, was fought to bring us cheap oil] and he didn't send his daughters to die in Afghanistan; doesn't GhengizLemur know that it's the Federal Government's job to fix any problem that Democratic local and state governments have ignored for decades?; and, oh by the way, the hurricane was all HitlerMaqaque's fault anyway, since he invented the Global Warming that will lead to The Day After Tomorrow (it's near, folks!)."

Think my characterization is too harsh? Try this Kos Kidz item on for size (I will not render its charming title; see that for yourself):

Why doesn't somebody do something and why didn't somebody do something more before this event occurred. [? -- Ed.]

Yes it is Bush's fault. He's on vacation again. And he put National Guard troops who could have saved American lives in Iraq so they could run around senselessly and be blown up. That war is over and has been over.

That Awesome Auzzie, Arthur Chrenkoff, gives us the definitive rundown of the Left's reaction. Of all of the outrageous moral offenses from the Left in the last few days, this is perhaps the worst. Way to be.

In the face of the catastrophe that's taking place in NO and on the Gulf coast, this sniping is a disgrace. It is of a kind with the Left's criticism of the Iraqi campaign, of course, so no one should be surprised. I fear it gives us another taste of what life will be like after a major attack on the US: Most on the Left will be too busy pointing fingers and/or crying into their beer about not being in power to render much real help.

We need to pull together, not further apart, to solve the problems this region is facing in the wake of Katrina.



When all is said and done and the lessons are finally tallied, there will be plenty of blame to go around and it will be shared pretty equally by all echelons of government and by both parties. (For one thing, I suspect that the President needs to fire Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff. He defended the Feds' response by saying dismissively to the press that supplies had been placed at several locations and that "people just had to go get them." How are they supposed to do that, jackass? I am also curious as to why the 300-odd helicopters aboard TF-Katrina's amphib carriers weren't sent ahead over land. They're desperately needed right now and their home ships have just sailed from Norfolk with the aircraft aboard. I have a feeling some heat will come the Army Corps of Engineers' way, as well it should. I've had some personal dealings with the Corps and let's suffice it to say that the UN's Oil for Food program was run better and more honestly. Finally, comments like Speaker Hastert's aren't helpful. On the other hand, comments like President Clinton's are.)

Meanwhile, desperate crowds and the criminal element that stayed behind have turned New Orleans into a Mogadishu. I gather that conditions inside the Superdome were like something out of Lord of the Flies. Someone -- I don't care who -- needs to take charge now before conditions in NO deteriorate into Darfur or Rwanda.

Those of us who can do little other than watch should GIVE! Fellow bloggers should join NZ Bear's Katrina Relief Weekend, which started yesterday and has already raised a cool quarter million bucks.

Monk

Update 2 Sep 1713Z: Looks like help is on the way, despite the MSM's frenzied efforts to make the situation worse. (Fox just reported, for instance, that the National Guardsmen who are convoying into NO right now were brought back from Iraq to respond (!) Gee, it sure would be nice if the MSM would follow this one basic rule: "If you don't know what you're talking about, SHUT. THE. F*&^*&. UP!" Looks like half of one of the units deploying today did return from Iraq a short while ago. They got a lot of urban combat experinece in IZ; it may prove useful.) The President is right that the reaction is "unacceptable" and heads should roll because of this. We can sort that all out later, however.

This looks like good news too, and some appropriate commentary:

Harry Connick Jr. seems to be going wherever he's allowed--including the Louisiana Superdome. He was on the Today Show a little bit ago. Knowing what the media is saying, he said he went in prepared to be mugged and shot at. Instead people just looked at him in desperation, hoping, presumably, he might be some sign of hope--maybe water or a shower or a way out. Later in the program, Kerry Sanders did a segment from an airport being used as a make-shift hospital for some worst-cases. He slept there, Couric reportd, and two people near him were dead by the time he woke up. CNN had in the early hours, a reporter on the rooftop of a NO police station, where cops were guarding, because the precinct kept getting shot at.

People are going to die and be angry and hungry and "freak out" as Connick Jr. put it in a disaster like this. I'm pretty sure it's a sign of a healthy society that so many of us have no patience in the face of this and want to use what we have to help--write a check is what most can do. And pray. I'm still hoping some of the mess of this will be sorted out as more troops get on the ground, as together private organizations are better able to coordinate on the ground--wherever the ground may be. But, wow, will there be some hearings, especially if the intensity of the tragedy doesn't seem to ease up in the coming days. There will be no patience, nationally, for much more of this. To whatever extent it's fair, the blame games will only intensify as time goes on.

Amen. As I watch CNN and Fox right now, it looks like "technicals" are roaming the steets: vehicles filled with young men armed with automatic weapons are shooting at police and firefighters. Once troops are established in the city, the reaction against these criminals needs to be swift and disciplined, but absolutely merciless.

Monk