Politicized Katrina - Overload!

I am sick to death of all the political maneuvering going on with the Hurricane Katrina aftermath. I have not been a political activist in the past, but I just might get busy in the future. Any politician that utters ANYTHING that is synonymous with “Bush is responsible for Hurricane Katrina”, or “global warming caused Katrina”, or “if Bush had ratified the Kyoto accord…” is going to be right, square in my crosshairs.

Freakin’ idiots.

Cindy Sheehan, the simpering mother who’s son was killed in Iraq. I feel for her loss, I honestly do, but she’s an idiot on every other account. To quote her, “George (Bush) is finished playing golf and telling his fables in San Diego , so he will be heading to Louisiana to see the devastation that his environmental policies and his killing policies have caused.”

WTF?

GW’s environmental policies and KILLING policies CAUSED Katrina and the Gulf Coast disaster? Does she realize she sounds crazy? Just how much power does this woman thing the President of the United States has, anyway? Controlling weather? She needs to SHUT UP and go away.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr is another political hack-idiot who just couldn’t wait to make political hay out of a disaster the likes of which the USA has never seen. To quote him, “As Hurricane Katrina dismantles Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, it’s worth recalling the central role that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour played in derailing the Kyoto Protocol and kiboshing (image placeholder)resident Bush’s iron-clad campaign promise to regulate CO2.”

WHAT? As Hurricane Katrina devastates the lives of millions, destroys countless homes and lives, and the nation is gearing up to help, Robert F. Kennedy Jr thinks it's appropriate to be recalling old political scores NOW?

What’s with these nutballs?

These are the same jerks that are upset because Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was shopping in New York City on Wednesday (part of a pre-planned vacation) instead of… jeez, I dunno… grieving for the hurricane victims. To quote the story, ”Yesterday, Rice went shopping at Ferragamo on Fifth Ave. According to the Web site www.Gawker.com, the 50-year-old bought "several thousand dollars' worth of shoes" at the pricey leather-goods boutique. A fellow shopper shouted, "How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!" - presumably referring to Louisiana and Mississippi.”

Uh huh. And you, fellow shopper, were doing what? What’s that? I couldn’t hear you. Did you say that you, too, were “shopping for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!”?

Thank you, now shut up and keep your idiotic, worthless opinion to yourself.

Is life everywhere supposed to stop because of the tragedy? If I go to a movie, am I somehow insensitive? Why didn’t US shoppers stop and grieve for the nearly 800 pilgrims stampeded to death in Iraq last week at a mosque? 800 (possibly 1000) people STAMPEDED to death! Good lord, if there’s reason to mourn, this is a good one.

What’s that? Oh, they weren’t American, you say? They weren’t on our TV 24-7 you say? They were on the other side of the globe, you say? Too far away?

You may have a point.

Even the Europeans, those stalwart paragons of civility and civilization to which many feel we should be more acquiescing, have jumped on the “global warming’ bandwagon. A Spiegel Magazine headlines their story, “Katrina should be a lesson to US on global warming”.

Idiots all. Idiots, every single one of them. Global warming my great big white… well… hindpart.

The FACT is that the numbers just don’t support the hypothesis that global warming is causing more or worse hurricanes. Take a look at those hard numbers on this chart from the NOAA – the numbers of hurricanes that stuck the US mainland since 1851, by decade.

The average number of hurricanes annually has not changed significantly in over 150 years. In fact, the argument can be made that it was much worse in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, LONG before any concerns over global warming or greenhouse gases. The actual number of hurricanes that impacted the US in the last 40 years has gone down, on average.

The last few decades, 1970 onward, seem to have been sedate by historical standards. But during 1941-1950, still well before any effects of global warming, there were 24 hurricanes, TWENTY –FOUR… that struck the US coast, 10 of them a category 3 (think Andrew or Hugo) or higher.

We live in a media age where every disaster is on our TV’s night after night, so naturally we think it’s worse now than ever before.

People think Vietnam was so much worse than Korea or WWII, because it was in our living rooms. Ask my dad, a WWII vet who lived and fought with the US 8th Army through the final days of German resistance in Europe, and he’ll tell you firsthand they dealt with atrocities and horrors just as bad or worse than anything soldiers faced in Vietnam.

It just wasn’t on Fox or CNN.

The media sculpts and molds our perception of reality in so many ways, and it’s horrifying to see just how many weak minded people succumb to it, and believe everything they see and hear.

Folks, the Gulf Coast and New Orleans are a genuine American tragedy, and they need help down there. Give to the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, or whoever you choose. If you can get down there and want to help out, the Red Cross is taking volunteers. But don’t sit comfortably on your butt in your nice dry house and tell me not to get on with life.

That’s the POINT folks: to get on with life. That’s what those poor souls down there in New Orleans want more than anything, to get on with life. So, if you can’t directly help, then help by “going on”. Spend your money, help keep the economy strong, keep business in neighboring states strong so they can absorb the workers and economic strain the refugees are going to be.

Above all, if you aren’t going to help and be part of the solution; if all you are going to do is carp and point blame, then SHUT THE HELL UP. No one really cares what you or I think.