Friends, Allies, Predators, Clean-up and the Little People

Well, you knew it was coming...I guess I just didn't imagine that it would come before all the victims were rescued or recovered.

Of course, the U.S. has been given the blame for causing Hurricane Katrina and therefore, we deserve what we've gotten.

Germany has weighed in here. Posters at the Democratic Underground website are convinced it's Bush's fault, by word, deed, thought or pure evilness...and apparently, the media is ignoring it...hmmmmm. The usual suspects at the Huffington Post and other uber-lib publications are jumping on the sandbags to make political hay out of a human event. Most insensitive commentary: hard to decide, might be RFK Jr. Best response: Greg Gutfeld. A quick glance at the international e-papers shows British, Japanese, Australian, etc. reports scant or no news of Katrina. These are our allies, right? And, because I know you're wondering, the Islamic Republic News Agency reports Iran has sent their condolences. By the way, that's the only condolence from an international governing body I have been able to find in a Google search so far.

I'm just getting more and more angry about this.

• I'm upset about those using this natural disaster into a political event (cuts in FEMA funds, cuts directly to Louisiana's funding, not enough National Guard troops because of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, ad nauseum).
• I'm ticked off that with an event of this magnitude, there are so many people wondering why it isn't cleaned up and back to normal already.
• I'm frustrated that President Bush doesn't address the nation and show leadership about this. While I support President Bush and voted for him, but I do not understand his stance on this issue.
• I'm angry that gasoline prices are rising so quickly, and none of our government officials seem to care to do anything about it. What is the federal and state tax on gasoline? What kind of relief would it provide if it was (temporarily) suspended? Where are the oil & gas and public utility companies cutting back their record profits a bit to offer some relief?
• I'm fed up with profits and share-holders trumping fairness to us "little people".
• I'm incensed that the tree-huggers that block construction of nuclear power facilities, more refineries and additional U.S. oil drilling projects are putting the oil prices directly on the back of President Bush, Halliburton, et. al.
• I'm fed up with the hands in my pocket every day looking for more money for this and that (see the pork in the newest transportation bill, here and here)
  
  [...But hundreds of millions of dollars will be channeled to programs that critics say have nothing to do with improving congestion or efficiency: $2.3 million for the beautification of the Ronald Reagan Freeway in California; $6 million for graffiti elimination in New York; nearly $4 million on the National Packard Museum in Warren, Ohio, and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich.; $2.4 million on a Red River National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center in Louisiana; and $1.2 million to install lighting and steps and to equip an interpretative facility at the Blue Ridge Music Center, to name a few.]

And then these are the same folks telling me I should be saving for my retirement, buying more to keep the economy going, give to my church, give to charities, give to political campaigns, not care that already taxed income with be taxed again if I do have any money left over when I die....

Who are these people? When was the last time they lived in the same world I inhabit?

Peggy Noonan wrote about "these people" recently. I think it's on target. Who are these people? Why do we keep putting them into office? I'm not talking about an eight-year limited president. I'm talking about the 20, 30, 40 year Senators. The men (and it is mostly men) who vote themselves a pay raise in the wee hours of the morning.

Under current law, members of the House and Senate will receive an automatic pay raise of approximately $4,000 in 2005 unless Congress takes action. An annual increase in congressional salaries was made automatic by Congress in 1989.

The men who won't read our emails or take our calls until a year before re-election. The men who think of us as the "little people".

I have thought for some time that it will take another American Revolution for things to change. It will take a collective effort of 'middle' Americans. The right and the left need not apply. I don't know that we have the stomach for it. But I fear that nothing short of revolution will do it.

I am tired of being treated as a little person. I am tired of being surrounded by animals who care nothing about human decency, only what's new, hip and trendy. I'm tired of power-hungry elected officials and greedy corporate officials looking for a way to get theirs, at the expense of others.

Who are these people? The ones who expect me to embrace a vulgar hip-hop culture as mainstream? Who are these people to want me to view a natural disaster as a catchy slogan for getting President Bush impeached? Who are these people who are emptying my pockets to fill their own? Who are these people who want me to view men who are flying planes into buildings and trying to kill me as misunderstood freedom fighters? Who are these people who think nothing is worth fighting for? Who are these people?

The Gulf Coast isn't the only thing that needs to be cleaned up.

Katrina & Our Friends

I would like to quote some of the heart-warming condolences from our international friends on the devastation brought by Hurricane Katrina to the U.S. gulf coast.

Here they are:


And here are the generous offers of aid and support from those friends:


That's it. That's all. That's typical. I've Googled, and I can't find anything. Nothing. Zero. Zilch.

I wonder why we are expected to give and give and give to "international disasters" (either through our government's commitments [via the taxpayers] or through private donations) but should the U.S. experience a disaster, and those same people who are johnny-on-the-spot with their hands out when someone else needs something can't be found when we're hurting.

And these are the same people who complain that the U.S. is a cowboy, not part of the international community and are unilateral in their approach to things.

Well, we've always relied on ourselves. We've had to be unilateral because there isn't anyone behind or beside us in our times of trouble.

So as we attempt to heal our countrymen, I will be looking for benefit concerts being held in London, Paris, Moscow and Rome. I'll keep my eye on the newspapers for the "forgiveness of debt" that we extend to those who owe us. I'll wait for that donation of oil from Saudi Arabia, Canada and Kuwait. And wait and wait and wait.