Katrina or Ann Coulter: Which is more damaging?
A note to the readers about disasters: I do not like to hear about them, I do like to discuss them; I do not like to see footage of them. To be honest, I don’t even like to know about them. Ignorance is bliss when it comes down to it.
With the severity of Hurricane Katrina, I cannot avoid the news and coverage of it. Politicizing the aftermath is the last thing any decent person wants to do. Wanting and needing however, are mutually exclusive in this case. I do not want to write most of what I am going to (with the exception of anything I write about Anne Coulter) but I feel that what has been said and not in the last few days deserves more than some lip service, if not a good ole fashion make out session with ASIA serenading.
Earlier today, Venezuelan President Hugo (You-Go!) Chavez offered support to our country through crude and heating oil as well as monetary funds and aid workers. That’s the same Hugo (You-Go!) Chavez whom Pat Robertson, not ten days ago, called for to be assassinated. I’ll get to that in a minute, but for now let us discuss the hurricane and its effects.
Katrina (why the fuck they name these things, I don’t know) is one of the worst things to happen to our country in decades. The hurricane itself was a mere category 4 when it hit land in Louisiana, but the flooding it brought with it was the thing of nightmares. Nightmares incidentally, that the people of New Orleans have had for years. As it’s been stated probably millions of times already, the city itself is below sea level and was kept as dry as it could be by a system of levees. These levees are the first politically polarizing issue in the Katrina’s wake. Some of those levees were not yet finished. They were not yet finished because of a lack of funding. That funding shortfall was created in President Bush’s budget when they decided that the funds should be moved to the war in Iraq. They knew full well that the levees were being shortchanged and that hurricane activity had increased in the past years, yet they still under funded the contractors who were charged with building them. Is that he knew that his budget had caused the massive flooding perhaps the reason President Bush lowered Air Force One on his trip back to Washington, D.C. (more on that in a moment) instead of inspecting the damage on the ground? Maybe it was a good thing seeing the damage from up high. That way he could see the big picture for the first time in his life.
Speaking of his flight back to D.C., what in the blue hell is he doing going to Washington D.C. instead of Baton Rouge? Or Shreveport? Criminy, I’m sure Ida, Louisiana would have been acceptable. Instead of staying remotely close to Louisiana at his cushy little ranch in Texas, he decides that he can lead better from a thousand miles away. My conspiracy theory is that he’s actually an earnest worker when he wants to be. See, he doesn’t want to work while on vacation. Texas equals vacation and Washington equals work. But he wasn’t technically on vacation in Texas this time; he was just avoiding the renovations on the West Wing of the White House. So he was working. In Texas. Which kills my conspiracy theory about him separating his work life from his private. But then they came out and said that he was cutting his month long vacation short by a few days so he could get back to work. In Washington. Which actually proves my conspiracy theory. So yeah. Moving on.
Consider the following: While George pounds out some golf, the Gulf States get pounded. His aides cut short his trip to San Diego (good riddance) and fly him to Texas, not Louisiana. Or Mississippi. From there, he watches the occasional news story about some big storm that hit Louisiana and Mississippi. Devastation abounds as 80% of New Orleans is submerged and Biloxi is totaled. That night, Bush goes to sleep. In Texas. The next morning, they fly him out to Washington D.C. They detour (yes, it was a detour, not a planned route) over the disaster area and he remarks that the damage must be “doubly as bad on the ground.” He lands in Washington D.C. and makes a speech explaining all the services that are being rendered. His aides decide to leave out the bit about cutting funding to the levee builders. He goes to bed in Washington D.C. Not Louisiana. Not Mississippi.
That’s it. That’s the passed few days for our President. That is what he did during the country’s worst natural disaster in a century. He didn’t bother to fly over to the site and inspect the damage (something almost every President would do. Incidentally, his father did the same thing when Andrew visited Miami). Instead he had them lower the plane so he could make out little ants floating down Bourbon St.
Now get that sick feeling out of your stomach and let’s jump into the next politically prostrating point. In his speech to the country from Washington D.C., Bush said that he was going to be loaning crude oil from the strategic reserve to the refineries. That is something I think we can all agree is a good choice. Perhaps a better one would be to have done it years ago to stabilize the skyrocketing gas prices, but that is for another post. What he said next is something I think has flown under the radar. Over the disaster zone if I may. He said that this would be a temporary solution to the problem of raising gas prices.
Basically, he’s being nice enough to give us fair warning that we’re screwed. Keep in mind that last year, the big oil companies made a net profit of seven billion dollars a month. In zeroes that comes out looking exactly like this: $7,000,000,000.00. That’s 15,031,100,341,796.84 Venezuelan Bolivares. And that’s only a month. In 2003 alone they made $53 billion. 2002 showed $21 billion and 2001, $38 billion. Just from a layman’s view, and that’s really what I am, I can draw a very simple correlation between those profits and the price of a gallon of gas. Watch:In 2001, a gallon was roughly $1.64. Profit: $38 billion.
In 2002, a gallon was roughly $1.51. Profit: $21 billion.
In 2003, a gallon was roughly $1.83. Profit: $53 billion.
In 2004, a gallon was roughly $2.12. Profit: $84 billion.
See how easy that was?
In essence, what Bush was doing in his speech was throwing us an extra crumb but reminding us that the crumbs will get smaller and smaller from now on. You think he’s not being political in the aftermath of Katrina? He’s flat out saying that his friends in oil are going to be raising prices drastically and that he won’t stop them. How could he, right?
That’s where politically point three comes in. The OPEC nations (as scummy as they are when it comes do many, many things. One of which is oil), pledged to increase barrel output by 1.5 million to help offset losses created by Katrina. Bush has gladly accepted. Another country that is rich in oil also came out today and offered support through crude and heating oil, Venezuela. Yes, the same Venezuela who has Hugo (You-Go!) Chavez as President. A President mind you, that was elected twice in elections verified by the Carter Center. A President that has been through two coups and was deposed in one only to be brought back after protests en mass from the people of Venezuela, who it can be said, know what they want. A President that has been likened to a dictator in spite of his democratically elected status (unlike some dictators that have fake elections; the Carter Center doesn’t do fake elections). A President that our President’s administration has labeled a threat to national security because of his leftist leanings, while right leaning theocracies that give us a better deal (if you can call it that) on oil are welcomed. A President, whose assassination was called for on live television by a religious extremist living in the United States. That President, Hugo (You-Go!) Chavez has offered support to our country in a time of its greatest need, yet our own has not decided whether or not to accept it.
Incidentally, Hugo (You-Go!) Chavez is more than likely going to ask for Pat Robertson’s extradition within the next few days. A request that under International Criminal Law should be honored provided they charge him with the right crime. Unfortunately, Robertson will more than likely be left alone because of the Bush administration’s decision, I kid you not, to ignore decisions and orders issued by the International Criminal Court. But as far as Pat Robertson’s little tirade about assassinating the democratically elected leader of a foreign country has started the ball rolling. It is the new issue of the Right, and they will run with it no matter what. While the State Department has come out saying that his remarks were “inappropriate” and that the U.S. “does not share his view”, most of the Bush administration is silent. That silence is all but condoning that view.
That silence also gives the okay to the hate spewing psychopaths to start in. Just today I was listening to The Radio Factor in hopes of hearing Bill’s reassuring voice, which no doubt would have been yelling at someone who lost their family to the flooding, but that was not to be. There was a guest host whose name I don’t recall, but what made the entire 56 seconds I listened worth it was Ann “I swear I didn’t have a stroke or sniff a line of blow five feet long, I just speak out of the side of my mouth…LIBERALSSHOULDDIE” Coulter’s arrogantly arrestable comment:
“I think we ought to have public discussion about which commie rats should be assassinated”
I don’t like everything about Hugo (You-Go!) Chavez, but the fact that he’s still willing to help the American public in spite of calls from (as much as it pains me; oh it pains me to admit this) influential people for his murder makes him one hell of a guy to me right now.
With the severity of Hurricane Katrina, I cannot avoid the news and coverage of it. Politicizing the aftermath is the last thing any decent person wants to do. Wanting and needing however, are mutually exclusive in this case. I do not want to write most of what I am going to (with the exception of anything I write about Anne Coulter) but I feel that what has been said and not in the last few days deserves more than some lip service, if not a good ole fashion make out session with ASIA serenading.
Earlier today, Venezuelan President Hugo (You-Go!) Chavez offered support to our country through crude and heating oil as well as monetary funds and aid workers. That’s the same Hugo (You-Go!) Chavez whom Pat Robertson, not ten days ago, called for to be assassinated. I’ll get to that in a minute, but for now let us discuss the hurricane and its effects.
Katrina (why the fuck they name these things, I don’t know) is one of the worst things to happen to our country in decades. The hurricane itself was a mere category 4 when it hit land in Louisiana, but the flooding it brought with it was the thing of nightmares. Nightmares incidentally, that the people of New Orleans have had for years. As it’s been stated probably millions of times already, the city itself is below sea level and was kept as dry as it could be by a system of levees. These levees are the first politically polarizing issue in the Katrina’s wake. Some of those levees were not yet finished. They were not yet finished because of a lack of funding. That funding shortfall was created in President Bush’s budget when they decided that the funds should be moved to the war in Iraq. They knew full well that the levees were being shortchanged and that hurricane activity had increased in the past years, yet they still under funded the contractors who were charged with building them. Is that he knew that his budget had caused the massive flooding perhaps the reason President Bush lowered Air Force One on his trip back to Washington, D.C. (more on that in a moment) instead of inspecting the damage on the ground? Maybe it was a good thing seeing the damage from up high. That way he could see the big picture for the first time in his life.
Speaking of his flight back to D.C., what in the blue hell is he doing going to Washington D.C. instead of Baton Rouge? Or Shreveport? Criminy, I’m sure Ida, Louisiana would have been acceptable. Instead of staying remotely close to Louisiana at his cushy little ranch in Texas, he decides that he can lead better from a thousand miles away. My conspiracy theory is that he’s actually an earnest worker when he wants to be. See, he doesn’t want to work while on vacation. Texas equals vacation and Washington equals work. But he wasn’t technically on vacation in Texas this time; he was just avoiding the renovations on the West Wing of the White House. So he was working. In Texas. Which kills my conspiracy theory about him separating his work life from his private. But then they came out and said that he was cutting his month long vacation short by a few days so he could get back to work. In Washington. Which actually proves my conspiracy theory. So yeah. Moving on.
Consider the following: While George pounds out some golf, the Gulf States get pounded. His aides cut short his trip to San Diego (good riddance) and fly him to Texas, not Louisiana. Or Mississippi. From there, he watches the occasional news story about some big storm that hit Louisiana and Mississippi. Devastation abounds as 80% of New Orleans is submerged and Biloxi is totaled. That night, Bush goes to sleep. In Texas. The next morning, they fly him out to Washington D.C. They detour (yes, it was a detour, not a planned route) over the disaster area and he remarks that the damage must be “doubly as bad on the ground.” He lands in Washington D.C. and makes a speech explaining all the services that are being rendered. His aides decide to leave out the bit about cutting funding to the levee builders. He goes to bed in Washington D.C. Not Louisiana. Not Mississippi.
That’s it. That’s the passed few days for our President. That is what he did during the country’s worst natural disaster in a century. He didn’t bother to fly over to the site and inspect the damage (something almost every President would do. Incidentally, his father did the same thing when Andrew visited Miami). Instead he had them lower the plane so he could make out little ants floating down Bourbon St.
Now get that sick feeling out of your stomach and let’s jump into the next politically prostrating point. In his speech to the country from Washington D.C., Bush said that he was going to be loaning crude oil from the strategic reserve to the refineries. That is something I think we can all agree is a good choice. Perhaps a better one would be to have done it years ago to stabilize the skyrocketing gas prices, but that is for another post. What he said next is something I think has flown under the radar. Over the disaster zone if I may. He said that this would be a temporary solution to the problem of raising gas prices.
Basically, he’s being nice enough to give us fair warning that we’re screwed. Keep in mind that last year, the big oil companies made a net profit of seven billion dollars a month. In zeroes that comes out looking exactly like this: $7,000,000,000.00. That’s 15,031,100,341,796.84 Venezuelan Bolivares. And that’s only a month. In 2003 alone they made $53 billion. 2002 showed $21 billion and 2001, $38 billion. Just from a layman’s view, and that’s really what I am, I can draw a very simple correlation between those profits and the price of a gallon of gas. Watch:In 2001, a gallon was roughly $1.64. Profit: $38 billion.
In 2002, a gallon was roughly $1.51. Profit: $21 billion.
In 2003, a gallon was roughly $1.83. Profit: $53 billion.
In 2004, a gallon was roughly $2.12. Profit: $84 billion.
See how easy that was?
In essence, what Bush was doing in his speech was throwing us an extra crumb but reminding us that the crumbs will get smaller and smaller from now on. You think he’s not being political in the aftermath of Katrina? He’s flat out saying that his friends in oil are going to be raising prices drastically and that he won’t stop them. How could he, right?
That’s where politically point three comes in. The OPEC nations (as scummy as they are when it comes do many, many things. One of which is oil), pledged to increase barrel output by 1.5 million to help offset losses created by Katrina. Bush has gladly accepted. Another country that is rich in oil also came out today and offered support through crude and heating oil, Venezuela. Yes, the same Venezuela who has Hugo (You-Go!) Chavez as President. A President mind you, that was elected twice in elections verified by the Carter Center. A President that has been through two coups and was deposed in one only to be brought back after protests en mass from the people of Venezuela, who it can be said, know what they want. A President that has been likened to a dictator in spite of his democratically elected status (unlike some dictators that have fake elections; the Carter Center doesn’t do fake elections). A President that our President’s administration has labeled a threat to national security because of his leftist leanings, while right leaning theocracies that give us a better deal (if you can call it that) on oil are welcomed. A President, whose assassination was called for on live television by a religious extremist living in the United States. That President, Hugo (You-Go!) Chavez has offered support to our country in a time of its greatest need, yet our own has not decided whether or not to accept it.
Incidentally, Hugo (You-Go!) Chavez is more than likely going to ask for Pat Robertson’s extradition within the next few days. A request that under International Criminal Law should be honored provided they charge him with the right crime. Unfortunately, Robertson will more than likely be left alone because of the Bush administration’s decision, I kid you not, to ignore decisions and orders issued by the International Criminal Court. But as far as Pat Robertson’s little tirade about assassinating the democratically elected leader of a foreign country has started the ball rolling. It is the new issue of the Right, and they will run with it no matter what. While the State Department has come out saying that his remarks were “inappropriate” and that the U.S. “does not share his view”, most of the Bush administration is silent. That silence is all but condoning that view.
That silence also gives the okay to the hate spewing psychopaths to start in. Just today I was listening to The Radio Factor in hopes of hearing Bill’s reassuring voice, which no doubt would have been yelling at someone who lost their family to the flooding, but that was not to be. There was a guest host whose name I don’t recall, but what made the entire 56 seconds I listened worth it was Ann “I swear I didn’t have a stroke or sniff a line of blow five feet long, I just speak out of the side of my mouth…LIBERALSSHOULDDIE” Coulter’s arrogantly arrestable comment:
“I think we ought to have public discussion about which commie rats should be assassinated”
I don’t like everything about Hugo (You-Go!) Chavez, but the fact that he’s still willing to help the American public in spite of calls from (as much as it pains me; oh it pains me to admit this) influential people for his murder makes him one hell of a guy to me right now.
We are all so very sorry...
1 Comments:
you fucking shemale is more damaging
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