Fowler Apologizes For Offending, Attacks Recorder
Aug 31, 2008 Political
Don Fowler, the Democrats caught on video laughing and showing his glee that a hurricane would hit New Orleans just as Republicans were starting their convention, has apologized. Well, sort of. Fowler apologized if he offended anyone, not for being wrong and insensitive on this issue. He then went on to attack the “right wing nutcase” who recorded him:
“If this offended anybody, I personally apologize,” Fowler told ABC News. “It was a mistake, and it was a satirical statement made in jest. And one that I clearly don’t believe.”
~snip~
“One doesn’t anticipate that one’s private conversation will be surreptitiously taped by some right-wing nutcase,” said Fowler. “But that’s the nature of what we’re dealing with.” Political Radar
He is sorry if anyone was offended and it was just satire and a statement made in jest. What he really means is that he is sorry his true feelings were exposed.
The other thing he did was attack the person who exposed him. He said that one does not expect a private conversation to be recorded. Mr. Fowler, if you are on a plane or anywhere else in public, your conversations are not private. If your conversation can be heard by others it is not private. The person who heard you had every right to record what was going on. If it had not been recorded you would have denied it.
Your true feelings were exposed and Michael Moore demonstrated that your comment was not an isolated thought. Many Democrats are keeping their mouths shut but inside they are very happy that this is going on.
I wonder how this will play out should the evacuations go well and should there be minimal loss of life. What will happen if it all goes real well? The image in people’s minds will not be Katrina and the problems there but in Gustav and how well things went. The freshest image will be one of success. Will the Democrats be as happy if the American people equate success with a Republican Governor and failure with the Democrat who was in power when Katrina hit? What will the Dems do then?
If I were McCain I would start my speech by thanking people and saying that this shows what can happen when a competent Republican Governor coordinates with the federal government early on and requests assistance well in advance of the problem. Put the onus for Katrina on the Dems.
Then we would see crying instead of laughing. As it stands, Fowler and the others are happy no matter how they “apologize.”
Morons.
Plans for New Orleans
Jun 18, 2008 Political
I have a post up comparing the response of citizens in Iowa to those of New Orleans and in it I make a comparison of the cultural differences that left those in New Orleans in dire straights, pointing their fingers at the federal government and crying racism to the Iowans, who are having problems such as looting, and how they reacted to the crisis there.
I was flamed by a bunch of people who live in New Orleans and who blame the entire issue on the federal government and the Corps of Engineers who built the levees poorly and caused the whole issue. Not one of the commenters defending New Orleans could find one issue that lays some of the blame on the corrupt government pervasive in Louisiana and particularly present in New Orleans. New Orleans was not that bad. It could not have been if William Jefferson had time to take military vehicles and soldiers away from rescue mission in order to go check on his house and remove the bribe money he had in his freezer. He had time to do all that and then leave without checking on the people affected by the flood. Ray Nagin stayed in a hotel in the fetal position and Governor Blanco cried on TV. Neither of them was on the ground in NO directing things.
Things could not have been that bad since all the cops stopped what they were doing and helped the looters and then left town. Certainly things could not be too bad if the cops could leave. Let’s fault everyone else for not getting there immediately and helping out when those sworn to stay and help, left.
Of course, what happened there was a tragedy. It was caused by many things and there is plenty of blame to go around. I know it sucks but I did not do it, I did not cause it, I did not abandon anyone and I did not commit crimes after it. Even though I had nothing to do with it happening my tax dollars have been sent there to fix it (not only mine but a lot of people’s). I said at the time they needed to watch every penny like a hawk because it would be spent on non flood related items. Mary Landreau submitted a 400+ page request that had us paying for alligator farms in areas NOT affected by the storm. I guess she figured she could use the tragedy and our generosity to gussy up the place. When your major concern after such an incident is having Mardi Gras, you have priority issues.
I felt sorry for the people when this happened but to tell the truth I am tired of hearing all the whining about it from those living there. They have enough time to type on their computers perhaps they should spend it working. I know 90% of the people got out and did what is right and it might seem unfair for me to paint with a broad brush based on the 10% who did not. However, a lot of people certainly painted the government with a broad brush based on the failure of about 10% of the people. No other state affected by Katrina is getting rebuilt any faster and I don’t hear them crying. I did not hear them then.
Here is my plan for New Orleans. Bulldoze the place in. Fill it wil concrete or dirt. It would be best if they dug a ditch across the southern border and pushed all the dirt into New Orleans and let the water back fill the ditch. Fill the ditch with alligators and that will keep the ILLEGAL immigrants down. Filling in New Orleans will keep it from getting flooded again. Then, they can build a city inland where it is above sea level.
Other than that, I don’t want to hear about all their problems. I did not cause them and about now I don’t care about them.
The victim mentality…
Tags: corruption, crime, floods, katrina, new orleans, seal level, whining, william jefferson
Why No Katrina Stories From Iowa?
Jun 13, 2008 Political
There is terrible flooding in Cedar Rapids Iowa and Des Moines is under a voluntary evacuation order as rivers swell and rise to the tops of levees. Cedar Rapids is under water and 15 people have died as a result of the flooding. Of course this story has been in the news but I can’t help but wondering where all the network trailers are. I can’t help wondering where FEMA is and where are all the protesters demonstrating against perceived government inaction on this one?
Also, where are all the dead bodies floating around while hoodlums roam the streets shooting at people and looting stores?
What is it about this storm that is at least as bad, if not worse, than Katrina that has left us without stories of devastation caused by the government’s failure to swoop in and help people? Why don’t we have music stars on TV holding a telethon to raise money while they proclaim that George Bush hates white people?
Why is it that teen aged boys, members of the Boy Scouts, were able to respond immediately to render first aid to the injured and dig out those trapped in the rubble when adults in New Orleans seemed incapable of helping themselves?
Perhaps this goes back to the thoughts I had about dependence on government. Those in New Orleans have ridden the back of government programs for so long they did not know how to care for themselves. The leadership they needed from state and local politicians was non existent with the governor crying and the mayor lying in the fetal position sucking his thumb on the upper floors of a hotel. The people were ill prepared because their leadership was ill prepared.
Certainly there was blame at the federal level and things could have run more smoothly but there is no battalion of federal employees traipsing around Iowa and they seem to be surviving.
It all comes down to people taking responsibility for one’s own life and helping others in need.
My prayers are with those folks in Iowa affected by this terrible storm. Thanks goodness they had the ability to fend for themselves or the death toll could have been much higher.
Tags: cedar rapids, fema, floods, iowa, katrina, new orleans
Why Won’t Blacks Embrace the GOP?
Dec 2, 2007 Political
Frank Rich wrote a piece in the New York Times in which he showed how Barack Obama could win the nomination and stifle the GOP because they would not know how to deal with race. Mr. Rich contends that the GOP has barricaded itself and tends to ignore the black vote, not because they are racists, but because they GOP is saddled with a history that makes it uncomfortable:
But the G.O.P., by its own doing, is nonetheless saddled with a history that most recently includes “macaca†and Katrina, Mr. Bush’s appearance at Bob Jones University in 2000 and the nonexistent black population of its Congressional delegation.
~snip~
…But not even conservative leaders of this stature [Gingrich and Kemp] could persuade their party’s top 2008 presidential contenders to show up for a September debate moderated by Tavis Smiley for PBS at the historically black Morgan State University.
It’s not because those no-shows are racists; it’s because they are defensive and out of touch. With the notable exception of Mike Huckabee, most of the party’s candidates have barricaded themselves from African-Americans for so long that they don’t know how to speak to or about them. New York Times
I have to disagree with Mr. Rich on these issues because he misses the bigger picture. The GOP is not saddled bad things, it is painted with the broad brush of racism by a slavish media that sees everything GOP as bad and everything from the left as good. Macaca was an unfortunate issue blown out of proportion by a media that refused to give the same attention to the rantings of Cynthia McKinney and her people and who continually ignore the racist and anti Semite words used by the so-called black leaders for fear of alienating them. Katrina involved black people (for the most part) led by a black mayor and a white governor, both of whom happen to be Democrats. The media never took the Democrats in state leadership to task for their inability to protect their people and instead focused their attention on a massive government effort that was delayed while helicopters performed dangerous missions rescuing those the state leadership failed to evacuate. Once again, this was contrived by the media, a media that refused to look at the actual mission of FEMA or the federal government. A media that led people to believe that George Bush was a racist because he and the feds did not don red capes and fly in to save people. This is the same media that actually gave some spotlight to an idiot like Farrakhan and his assertions that the feds blew up the levee to flood black people. This is a media that ignored the corruption that caused money for levee work to be rerouted to gambling interests and it is the same media that ignores the abuse of federal money in Louisiana at this very moment. A media that will focus on contractor waste in Iraq and ignore the graft and corruption in New Orleans. Maybe the reason members of the GOP do not know how to talk about or to blacks is because nearly everything they say is distorted by the media as more evidence of racism. Perhaps Mr. Rich should look into this.
As for blacks and the GOP; why would any black person want to be in the GOP? It is not because the GOP is a bunch of racists or that it treats black people differently. No, these folks do not want to be in the GOP because of the way they are treated by other blacks who have been the recipients of Democratic hand outs for so long that they do not understand self reliance. The dependent blacks will refer to those blacks in the GOP as “Uncle Toms” or sell outs to their race. The GOP welcomes them with open arms, it is the Democratic party and particularly the blacks in the Democratic party that cause them problems.
As for looking at the absence in the Congressional Delegation, let’s do that. First of all about 90% of blacks vote Democratic. There is no secret there and that is why the GOP skipped the debate at Morgan State. Morgan State is a black college and it is located in one of the most liberal states in the union. No debating in the world would help with the people there and any gains made would be negligible. Also, when blacks run for office as members of the GOP they are castigated by other blacks who believe that they must remain Democrats and vote for Democrats or they will be ushered back to a plantation to pick cotton.
Michael Steele ran for the US Senate in Maryland against an old white guy who was a Congressman for years and years. His name is Ben Cardin and he is a Democrat. Steele, a charismatic man who happens to be black and conservative, was shunned by the black voters of this state in favor of an old white guy. So Mr. Rich should explain why it is that blacks (mostly Democrat) shun other blacks in favor of old white guys. The reason that the GOP does not have any blacks in the Congressional Delegation is not because we do not try, it is because blacks overwhelmingly support Democrats and because there are very few blacks who are Republicans so it makes it even more difficult to find a person to run for office. After what Steele went through, why would anyone want to?
No Mr. Rich, the GOP is not out of touch with the black voters in this country. The GOP is well aware of them and is also well aware that the Democrats have convinced them, through years of welfare and other social programs, that the Dems are the party for them and they owe that allegiance. The blacks quickly forget that they are IGNORED right after the election. Then, leading up to elections a bunch of feel good legislation is passed so politicians can say they are the party of minorities. The Democrats buy the votes and then ignore the blacks all over again.
One only needs to ask, how much progress have blacks made in the last 50 years, a time when Democrats have held office as the majority more than Republicans ever have and a time period of huge amounts of money spent on social programs, the same kinds of programs that caused people in New Orleans to be unable to take care of themselves. The highest crime rates is in the black community. Black on black crime (particularly murder) is at an all time high and if it continues there will not be enough young black males to continue the race. The teen pregnancy rate in the black community is very high and the rate of households where there is only one parent is well over 50%. The inner cities, where blacks tend to live, are crime ridden with high unemployment and high incarceration rates.
GOP racism is not the cause of these things. This is because of a breakdown of the black community and disintegration of the black family unit. This is because social programs ostensibly designed to help the black community actually keep them downtrodden and subservient to the Democratic Party. If Obama wants to wake up and find more blacks in college than jail he needs to abandon the idea that social programs will cure the ills of society. Only by looking at the root cause can a solution be devised.
Regardless of that process, it is safe to say that it was not the programs of the GOP that caused the breakdown of the black community. It is also safe to say that until the cycle of dependence is broken the black community will continue to be enslaved to the Democratic party and their plight will be the same. Rich and others can blame the GOP but looking at it as a whole, those minorities who have chosen to be more conservative and joined the Republican party have done well. Colin Powell, Condi Rice, and Clarence Thomas are all blacks who have done well as conservatives (though Powell is the least of the bunch) and they did so based upon their merits, not because of a program.
Those minorities on the left who are successful owe that success to race hustling and class warfare. They maintain power by telling everyone about the racists in the world and claiming victim status. They also make money by keeping those they are supposed to represent down rather than helping them achieve something.
Mr. Rich, there are many problems in this country with race and the image of the GOP might be a problem but it is not one that will ever be erased as long as the black community refuses to remove the shackles placed on them by the left and embrace the idea that they can achieve without being attached to the government teat.
I would think that being taken granted for so long would embolden the black community to
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The Virtuous Republic, Rosemary’s Thoughts, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Adam’s Blog, Right Truth, The World According to Carl, Stuck On Stupid, Global American Discourse, The Pink Flamingo, CORSARI D’ITALIA, Dumb Ox Daily News, Conservative Cat, The Uncooperative Radio Show! Special Weekend!, Right Voices, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
Tags: anti semite, barack obama, black mayor, conservative leaders, cynthia mckinney, Democrats, gop, Hillary, katrina, morgan state university, racists, Republicans
Response to Wildfires by Military not Hampered by Deployments
Oct 30, 2007 Link Fest, Military
It did not take long for people to blame George Bush for the wildfires in California because of his [past] opposition to global warming and because of a general hatred of the man. People compare the response to the wildfires with the response to Katrina and there are those who believe that the wealthier Californians made out better than the poor folk in New Orleans. The fact is, all response starts at the local level and then rapidly involves state resources. The local responders put their plans into effect quickly in California and the state rapidly became involved. The National Guard responded proactively by moving planes equipped to fight fires closer to the action by placing them on training missions until they were requested and the official request could be initiated.
The state asked for help early and it got that help. Unlike the leaders of New Orleans and Louisiana, the leaders of California acted responsibly and did not wait for the federal government to swoop in to help. Had Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco acted as quickly and decisively there might have been a better outcome in New Orleans. I heard someone state, on one of the news shows, that the response of the military (especially the National Guard) was hampered because of the deployments of our reserves to the war on terror. The truth is, a very small portion of California’s National Guard members are actually deployed and those deployments did not hamper the efforts in fighting the wildfires. In fact, the military was in place and had to wait to assist because the system had to play catch up with other entities necessary for the military to assist.
In fact, the Defense Department was so aggressive in responding to the dozens of wildfires that scorched nearly 500,000 acres this week that military pilots and crews were in place and set to fly a full day before they were finally allowed to do so, McHale explained.
~snip~
Some 2,500 National Guard soldiers were deployed to help fight the fires, McHale said, as were 350 active duty and civilian Defense Department employees. An additional 17,000 National Guard troops were on standby for activation to the fire lines should they be needed, he said.
“The military response to the wildfires in California was not inhibited in any way, to any degree, by deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan,†McHale said. “The capabilities that we needed in Southern California were fully available from our domestic inventory of resources, and those capabilities were made available as fast as was humanly possible.†[DOD News]
Proper leadership is necessary in response to any disaster and the leaders in California demonstrated how it should be done. While I certainly realize that the disasters in New Orleans and California were two completely different entities, I also have heard and read the complaints by people who compared the two events. There is this feeling that California fared better because of its demographics and that is simply not true. There are many ILLEGAL immigrants in the Southern part of California (who hope to find jobs rebuilding the place) so the poverty vs well off does not completely wash, though there were many more rich people affected in California than New Orleans. Additionally, wildfires progress differently than floods and are a different beast to tame all together but since people brought it up…
The overarching theme is that proper leadership in the time of disaster is key to providing the best possible outcome and California outclassed Louisiana in that arena. California leaders gave firm evacuation orders and people obeyed. New Orleans gave half hearted orders and did not enforce them and certain parts of the population did not take them seriously. People died because the leadership of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana failed the people who they were elected to protect.
Let us hope that Bobby Jindal can change the culture of corruption and welfare entitlement that is pervasive in Louisiana, particularly in New Orleans, and get that once great state back on its feet.
BTW, contrary to what people think, arsonists and not global warming, were to blame for the wildfires.
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Tags: californians, fight fires, katrina, Link Fest, mayor nagin, national guard soldiers, new orleans, war on terror, wildfires in california