Katrina is Everyone's Fault... Except Mine

So, I'm sure that we have all had our fill of the bloviating left wing when it comes to finding someone to blame (preferably conservative and Republican) for this whole Katrina mess. I am just writing off the cuff here; I have heard and read about so many conspiracy theories about Republican machinations and supposed incompetence in Katrina's aftermath, that I don't even have the strength to look them up again. Instead, I will just address some of them from memory:

1. According to the lefties, President Bush is to blame for Katrina's unusually powerful wrath because his refusal to sign the 1997 Kyoto Protocol caused global warming to worsen, the world's waters to warm up, and what do hurricanes thrive on? Warm water. First of all, may I remind my reader(s) that the U.S. Senate voted against the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by a vote of 98-0. That means even all the Democrats voted against it. This is because the Senate realized that not only would the treaty kill our economy by forcing us to dismantle our industry, but also China and India would have been exempt from any environmental restrictions that the U.S. and Europe would have to abide by. China and India just happen to be two of the world's worst polluters. Second of all, can a person honestly believe that George W. Bush is such an omnipotent deity that he can control the weather? These lefties give W more credit than I thought possible. Luminaries such as Robert F. Kennedy's son and Mother Sheehan herself have made the claim that the hurricane's existence is the fault of George W. Bush. I would like to ask them who to blame for the great Galveston Hurricane of 1900 that killed between 6,000 and 10,000 people. I don't think GWB was alive yet, and global warming wasn't exactly a concern. Do these peoples' memories begin and end with the Bush presidency?

2. The federal government did a horrible job reacting to the hurricane's aftermath. OK, first off, bailing out the states with federal tax money is unconstitutional in the first place. Show me in the Constitution where Congress is authorized to spend money on a natural disaster in one of the sovereign states. I know it sounds like the compassionate thing to do, but it is so easy to be compassionate when you are spending other peoples' money; especially the money of people who don't live anywhere near Louisiana or Mississippi. My wife and I have contributed to the relief fund, not because we have to, but because we want to. However, I do object to the Congress passing a $50 BILLION relief bill the other day. Thank you Congress for your benevolence... with MY money!
Next, the reason the federal government took awhile to get going was because they can't just waltz into a state, even if it is for benevolent purposes. The feds have to wait for the governor of the state to invite them in. Unfortunately for Louisiana, their Governor Blanco took her damn sweet time asking for federal assistance. You don't want the federal government waltzing its troops into states uninvited, even if it is for a good purpose, because then someday, the feds will get the idea that it is OK to send them in there for sinister purposes. There is this little law called the Posse Comitatus act that prevents federal troops from being used in dealings with state citizens, whether to save them, or to hurt them, without cooperation from the state involved.

3. The military took too long to get to the flood zone. Hmm, I was in the military for 12 years; with 4 of those years on active duty in the Army, and my final 8 years in the Army National Guard. I have been deployed before when I was in Europe on active duty. That process took a couple of weeks. In the Guard, I was never deployed, but I processed soldiers who were being deployed for fires and such, and I can tell you, the process does not happen overnight. From Sacramento, our soldiers were given a 24 hour notice to show up to the unit; that's one day delay already. Then, once the soldiers all showed up, they were usually sent down to Camp Roberts on California's central coast for what is called an SRP (Soldier Readiness Processing). During the SRP, soldiers are issued any special equipment they need, they update their wills and financial paperwork, and undergo a pre-deployment physical. Once that is done, the journey to the trouble zone begins. All this can take several days. About the only units that can truly arrive at a moment's notice are first alert type units like the 82nd Airborne Division, who always have part of their Division on ready status, and can send them across the world to a hot spot in about 12-18 hours. That actually happened in August, 1990 after Saddam invaded Kuwait. The 82nd was immediately sent to Saudi Arabia to begin Operation Desert Shield. But remember, that is an active duty, high speed, federal unit composed of some motivated and tough hombres. Most of your Guard units are largely composed of a bunch of overweight househusbands, prison guards, and college students - remember folks, I can diss on them because I used to be one of them. They take a little while to get their wheels rolling.

4. Here is a good one: There is this charming little website called DemocraticUnderground.com. It is a posting board for the true believers, the Kool-Aid drinkers, the psychotic, sociopathic left wingers who would gladly throw me in a concentration camp if they had the power to do so. This is the kind of site where they joke about how great it would be if very bad things (like untimely death) happened to President Bush and the people who support him, and what not. The other day, there was a discussion thread in which they were theorizing that President Bush had the seawalls around New Orleans purposely demolished with explosives so that the (largely Democrat) city would flood, and he could swoop in and be the hero. Their proof? Well, New Orleans made it through the hurricane with little damage, and the *poof* - the next day the seawalls "inexplicably" gave way. It had to be Bush's doing. Just as an aside, there was another thread recently where a guy wrote that he was driving down the road and saw a woman and her child stuck on the side of the road with the car's hood up. The guy said he was about to pull over to help, but then he noticed that the woman's car had a "W" sticker on the bumper. So the guy kept driving. He couldn't bring himself to help out a Bush supporter. Oh, he did say that later on, he felt bad about the kid. Great.

5. The government took its time helping New Orleans because its full of bunch of black people. Uh, there was this whole other state called Mississippi that actually took the brunt of the hurricane. The coastal counties that were most ravaged by Katrina are majority WHITE counties. They are suffering just as much as New Orleans, yet it is the plight of the people of New Orleans that is leading all the headlines. Perhaps the rescuers were having problems getting into New Orleans to help the victims because roving gangs of armed thugs kept SHOOTING at the rescuers. Hmm, that might hold things up a bit. Also, you can't forget the infamous incompetence and corruption of the city of New Orleans, and the state of Louisiana for that matter. People used to think that New Orleans' corruption was almost cute and added to the charm of the Big Easy. Do you think it is cute anymore? Here is a question: Why are there over 200 school buses sitting in a flooded city parking lot? Why weren't they used to evacuate these poor masses who were "trapped" in New Orleans? The city disaster plan called for the buses being used, but they weren't. That is where the incompetence part comes in, and that is what happens when you elect a mayor more because he looks like you instead of whether or not he is the right man for the job.

I could keep going with this, but my fingers are beginning to seize up. I will have more to say about this hurricane and the way it has exposed some of the festering sores that pock our country.

Good Day to You, Sir.