Hear that?
That's the sound of crickets chirping. Four days after the big snow and ice storm hit the nation's midsection, we hear no noise but the sound of our little chirping friends. No lead stories in national newscasts, no conspiracy theories, no nothing.
By this time in the aftermath of Katrina, we had every Democratic hack, every race baiting bastard on the face of the earth calling Bush every name in the book, all because of FEMA's poor response. And a poor response, it was (as was that of the state of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans). These BS artists had black people everywhere whipped into an angry frenzy, with accusations of racism and overt plots to kill blacks, in and by the White House.
But today, the media will be talking about the Super Bowl. The bigoted and racist Louis Farrakhan is nowhere to be found, probably planning his next "hate-whitey" speech. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are both absent from soundbiteland. And the current White House is probably getting ready to host a SB party for staffers.
I am not the only one to notice this. Here some others:
Fore Left (Hat Tip to AC for getting me started on this rant. If you read this blog and not his, ask yourself, why not?)
Jammie Wearing Fool
The Jawa Report
American Thinker
Ed Driscoll
The Discerning Texan
The Vocal Minority
You get the idea. Unless you are a Democratic hack or race baiter, this should irritate the hell out of you. If you want to be guided by principles, you cannot pick and choose demographics to apply them.
4 comments:
I found it interesting to note that Iraqi elections yesterday came off rather smoothly. It is interesting and yet a small step. But isn't democratisation accomplished in small steps. (since 2003) I am wondering what those who so much wished the USA to fail in Iraq are thinking now. I am wondering if they would have preferred to see bloodshed and body parts in order to prove themselves right. Hey what the hell, it's not the liberals getting blown up right.
Which brings me to the following point. The jury for me is still out on GW Bush as opposed to those who have labeled him the worst President in US history. There have been no attacks on American soil since Sept 11, 2001. Will Iraq become a Democracy or fall into chaos. In any case, that answer will now be determined by a Democratic President with a Democratic Congress.
I agree with you Rocket. History may be much kinder to GWB than most of his contemporaries have been. Let us not forget Truman, who left with a lower approval rating than Bush and yet, is now revered as one of the greatest Presidents in our history, bu Democrats and Republicans alike.
But as it applies to this story, we are seeing that inefficiency is not confined to Republicans when they are in power. FEMA's lack of a reasonable response is just as unacceptable to me in this case, as it was in Katrina's. The difference is, we don't hear the outcry because of the demographics. Naturally, the media couldn't care less.
Comparing the response to Hurricane Katrina to the ice storm in KY is ridiculous, in my opinion.
First of all, one of the issues with Katrina that hurt the federal govt. was that Michael Chertoff stated the government planners did not predict such a disaster ever could occur.
But in fact, government officials, scientists and journalists warned of such a scenario for years prior.
I'm not going to argue the semantics of whose fault it was that the levees failed, that horse has been beaten to death from both sides. However, any time there is a deliberate lack of honesty, criticism is warranted.
Next, and I believe this to be a larger factor, during Katrina, the majority of people affected were the citizens of New Orleans, Slidell, Gulfport and Biloxi, all of which are urban areas, with large concentrations of people living there.
The majority of people affected by the ice storm here in Kentucky were people in smaller towns and people living in rural farming areas. Being more spread out makes delivery of supplies and moving people to shelters far more difficult, especially when that means driving on mountain and hilly roads that are iced over.
Certainly more could have been done, as is normally the case in any situation. However, as someone who recently moved to Kentucky and lost power for 5 days, I was pretty impressed with how things were handled. By Wednesday night, we heard over the radio that extra electrical crews that were coming from Arkansas and Alabama putting them on the job less than 2 days after the storm hit. Another criticism of the Katrina response was that it took 4 days before the aid started to arrive.
Lastly, and this is where the rubber truly meets the road, 44 people died in this ice storm whereas more than 1800 people died during Katrina.
The sheer numbers of the victims was the biggest factor in Katrina seeing far more media coverage than the ice storm and not anything having to do with race. That's a straw man argument, with no factual evidence to base it upon.
So...I believe the comparison between Katrina and KY is not very valid. Different circumstances created different problems and although, I agree, much of the consternation over the govt.'s reaction to Katrina was over-blown. However, trying to claim that a lack of outrage over what happened in Kentucky is an argument that is, well...lacking.
That's just one man's opinion of course.
Anonymous,
Thanks for taking the time to respond. You certainly have the right to disagree with me.
Understanding there were many differences in logistics between Katrina and the ice storm, my point can best be summed up by the last sentence of the post:
//If you want to be guided by principles, you cannot pick and choose demographics to apply them.//
The media and Democrats used Katrina against the Bush administration ad nauseum. But the same inefficiency has been seen in this ice storm and yet, it hasn't received nearly the attention.
Yes, the numbers were much higher in Katrina. But tell the people that have been without power since last Wednesday, their outrage at the lack of attention to their problems is not warranted and not valid at this point in time.
Moreover, if we are truly to become a nation united without regard to race, creed, or religion, we must not allow race baiters to dictate the terms of the argument, nor should they define the argument. The argument is the argument and when the argument lacks merit, it should not be argued. There is enough racism for them to expose, without generating it where it doesn't exist. There are enough legitimate complaints to fight, but when we allow them use stories like Katrina as an opportunity to validate their existences, we lose the opportunity to heal racial divides.
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