http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=8693
By Ben Stein
Published 9/2/2005 11:59:59 PM
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.
5.) 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.
6.) 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.
7.) 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.
8.) 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.
9.) 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.
10.) 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.
11.) 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.
12.) 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.
13.) 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.
God bless all of those dear people who are suffering so much, and God
bless those helping them, starting with George Bush.
****
UPDATE: Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005, 2:13 p.m.:
More Mysteries of Katrina:
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?
Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in
Beverly Hills
