Why does it take huge, devastating disasters like Katrina to wake people up to the fact that Bush and his corrupt, cronyist administration are unfit to lead even a Boy Scout troop, much less the most powerful country on earth? Why must people inevitably forget so many of the lessons they’ve learned about the current pathetic Republican leadership by the time elections come around?

Upon further reflection, even this statement has been shown to be incorrect. Bush sat on his thumbs for days. It wasn’t until huge public criticism (the much derided ‘blame game’) shamed him into doing something vaguely resembling leadership.

If this is the case, then why did the administration submit a request to NATO asking for military equipment and other assistance?

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050909/wl_afp/usweathernato_050909160044

“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.”

No, it’s not. However, it is the responsibility of government officials at all levels that a proper emergency plan be developed. A proper emergency plan must obviously take into account those who are sick, old and of limited mobility.

“There is not the slightest evidence at all that the war in Iraq has diminished the response of the government to the emergency.”

As I noted in my blog, thousands of National Guardsmen from Mississippi and Louisiana are in Iraq right now. Perhaps even more critically, so is their equipment. Where was all the NG’s equipment for feeding and housing large numbers of people? Where was all their water purification equipment? Their electricity generators? Their transport aircraft? Those things were in the Gulf, just the wrong Gulf. 30% (in people, not even counting equipment) of the Louisiana National Guard is in Iraq right now. ‘30% less’ constitutes ‘diminished’ in my book. And I don’t think you need a math degree to know this.

“Imagine if Hillary Clinton had gotten her way and they were in charge of your health care.”

You knew that Bill and/or Hillary Clinton would be invoked in some way by the right.

“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?”

There’s plenty of blame to go around. Unfortunately, some people reflexively proffer knee jerk defenses of the president against any and every criticism, no matter how mild. The president was responsible for tying the hands of state officials by sending 30% of their National Guard and who knows how much of their equipment to fight a foreign excursion. Since the president was responsible for diminishing the capacity of state and local officials to act on their own, he had an obligation to provide help much more quickly than he did.

“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?”

What about able-bodied people without private transportation? If they did not have or were not offered the means to leave, then their decision to stay was not voluntary.

“Where did the idea come from that salvation comes from hatred and criticism and mockery instead of love and co-operation?”

Maybe from witnessing this administration for the last 4 1/2 years.