PROMETHEAN ANTAGONIST

…Weren’t hurricanes legislated out of existence? What about tornadoes...divorces, loss of one’s job, or hangnails?

To read some of the nonsense currently seen in the media regarding hurricane Katrina, you'd think that the government -- and Bush specifically -- failed to apprehend an offending criminal before it hit shore.

Everyone knows the state is supposed to protect us from; …everything! And we of course all know that if Bush and the U.S. Congress had voted for the Kyoto treaty, Katrina would have never happened. (Yes, I’m being – appropriately -- sarcastic).

In reality, even the most rabid anti-Bush meteorologist in search of more grant money would admit that, if the Kyoto treaty were enacted by every nation, we might -- maybe -- see less than a degree in average global temperature change…in the next hundred years or so. “Kyoto” is just another international punish wealth and success scam. Any practical benefit to come from it, let alone having a role in stopping Hurricanes, is virtually zero, but that's another story.

Why didn't Bush prevent chaos in New Orleans? -- too busy devoting his time to Halliburton and capitalist oppression, no doubt. One of the most ridiculous myths the media tried to promote initially was that, somehow, troops being in Iraq prevented adequate support in the storm’s aftermath – nice try. I’m sure the next media strategy will be to work Bush’s Supreme Court nominee into the mix somehow – “Climatologists Consider Possibility That Storm God Angry With Bush Supreme Court Nominee…And Troops Being In Iraq.” ..."Far right wing extremists have tried to defend the president by denying the existence of a storm god, but this man says..."

It’s certainly reasonable to expect the overstuffed coffers of the federal treasury to go to work during large scale catastrophes but, placing one’s hopes in the reliability of the state is bound to leave one disappointed.

I’ve heard from a reliable source, who'd been actively involved in issues regarding the levees in New Orleans, that the bureaucracy just never signed off on releasing funds for the project – since the 1960’s! Like terror attacks, such a catastrophic event has been an ongoing threat over several presidential administrations, not to mention the responsibility of numerous officials in local and state governments (who, one would hope, would have more awareness of the things that concerned their own jurisdictions).

Somehow, I really don't think that John Kerry, had he been elected, would have pondered the issue of levee upgrades in New Orleans or the possibility that a particularly powerful hurricane may strike (as they often did in past cycles)--Such things just aren't part of the president's daily job description which is why local and state governments are supposed to have their acts together when it comes to such preventative measures.

It’s possible that an asteroid could strike the earth and extinguish all life. If it happened, we could be certain that the dying words of some would involve questions as to why more attention wasn't devoted to that danger (an easy question to ask after the fact). The truth is, life presents an infinite number of risks and dangers to individuals, countries, and the world as a whole. I haven't yet figured out a way to guarantee my own safety from death, relationship upheaval, or stubbed toes, but I’m awake enough to know that I probably can’t count much on the local (or unlocal) bureaucrat to really be much help in times of need. Maybe they'll come through, maybe they won't, just don't have expectations that are too high.

Bush's response was probably what we could've expected from any president; noting the availability of federal support, appropriating emergency funds, and telling the bureaucratic channels of government to “do their thing,” augmenting the efforts of state and local governments as they request assistance. Of course some channels didn't "do their thing" quickly or effectively enough to avert the continuing tragedy (particularly at the state and local level).

Considering the wide area and extent of destruction, I think it's a miracle that government at any level has been able to get any grip at all on the calamity even this soon. Coming to the aid of hundreds of thousands of people who have instantly lost their homes and jobs (and, in many cases, family members) surely isn't an easy thing to coordinate, let alone initiate on a few days notice, though I’m sure there were numerous “plans” at all levels of government, worked out in hundreds of unread bureau pages.

As for the media's macabre excitement over looting and untended corpses, again, we're talking about an extremely wide area with hundreds of thousands of people. The more severe flaws of incompetence and negligence in restoring order are worthy of inquiry, appraisal, and punishment (the entire FEMA bureaucracy comes to mind), but are hardly things that wouldn't occur in other times or places under similar levels of catastrophe -- quite recently, there was no FEMA. Aside from more budget drain, there appears to be little difference between having such a bureau or not.

Something I call, spontaneous archetypal variation occurs naturally, everywhere. Take a large enough area and a large enough number of people, and all variations and extremes will inevitably occur. As I write this, some people around America and the world are experiencing periods of bliss and others, utter horror. While theft, violence, and chaos was occurring in some areas hit by the disaster, it wasn't occurring in others. Of course, one can guess which side became the most newsworthy.

We're now constantly hearing from the predictable news venues that most of the victims of the disaster are black, in an area where 67 percent of the population is black -- go figure. Maybe Bush should have got those school buses moving to evacuate before the storm since the mayor of New Orleans overlooked the issue (he’s black, so his motivation was more likely incompetence than racism). Also, though it may be a right-wing conspiratorial trick, the news footage that I keep seeing shows a significant number of white and black volunteers aiding white and black victims. Instead of being an example of "racism" I think it more accurately demonstrates how far the country has come in race relations in the historically short time of a few decades but, if this more optimistic view were widely accepted, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, & Co. would be out of jobs in the race mongers sect of leftist political polemic.

In Katrina’s aftermath, adding “racism” to the concocted mix of leftist favorites (along with Iraq, gun control, global warming, and “Bush is bad”), has just been another means to milk the disaster for all its political worth. I personally don't think we can say that Sharpton or Jesse Jackson have ultimately been a lot of help -- have they ever been? Meanwhile, several news outlets made a point of telling us that the Secretary of State was in New York watching a play during the disaster (remember Condoleezza Rice isn’t a “real” black because she’s not left wing in her views, and everyone knows that black people are only allowed to share the views of a 19th century German economic philosopher). I wonder if Jesse Jackson had sex during the period of Katrina’s aftermath. That’s got to be as bad as watching a play. Then again, he’s a “black spokesman” whereas Rice is merely Secretary of State. I hope Clarence Thomas wasn't enjoying himself too much. Madeleine Albright would have surely been in a week long period of mourning and her boss, Bill Clinton would have likely told Monica to cool it for at least a week.

Most of the local governments in the region affected by Katrina are dominated by black Democrat politicians yet we are supposed to believe their negligence and lack of planning and foresight were acts of white “racism.” Don’t tell Sharpton and company, but the “racism” charge just isn’t holding a lot of weight anymore. Too many people of different races, many of them blacks from the Caribbean, have come to the U.S. with nothing and done quite well for themselves. One has to at least wonder why so many of them keep wanting to come to a place where we are told they'll be denied opportunity. If race issue peddlers like Sharpton and Jackson weren’t perennially sparking fervor over contrived issues, people might just move on with their lives, but no, they still think it’s 1850, or maybe even Jews are still building pyramids for Pharaohs (actually, both con men are a bit too anti-Semitic to consider the last fantasy).

As in my last post; a call to all "compassionate progressives" and anyone else out there. There’s still time to help, in between your complaints about Bush, racism, and global warming. Forget about how "evil" money is for a few days and send some to a greatly needed cause.


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More "Corporate Greed"

It turns out that socialism’s greatest nemesis – corporations – are contributing considerably to relief efforts related in the aftermath of Katrina. The Cynical Left will of course attribute such actions to the benefit of “tax write-offs” (if that were the case…so what?). Ultimately, they make such donations because…they can! In the socialist dream world of punitive attacks upon wealth, no such funds would ever exist in the first place. We’d have to take our chances relying on the “new [sacrificial] man” raised on phony politically correct reeducation. A country of "equally" poor people is little help to anyone. I’ll go with the rich corporations and their voluntary efforts any day.


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It Takes A Village Of Humans To Warm A Globe

There were clearly too many cars driving around 50,000 years ago. Environmental justice can now be served by rolling back global warming temperatures to the “natural” levels of the last great ice age. To fully “return to natures plan” we can even clone a few wooly mammoths and send Native Americans back to Asia (across the frozen land bridge they were thought to have migrated to the Americas across before the last great period of "global warming."). The fact that Ohio will be covered in a massive sheet of ice will have to be overlooked for the sake of a higher need -- unchanging nature.


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Neal Boortz on Katrina:

"EVACUATION PLAN"

"I have now reviewed a copy of the State of Louisiana Emergency Operations Plan. This 45-page document says that 'The Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Evacuation and Sheltering Plan is intended to provide a framework within which the parishes can coordinate their actions with State government in order to deal with a catastrophic hurricane.' "

"Here are some of the items I found in this operations plan:"

"The evacuation plan states that 'Local transportation resources should be marshaled and public transportation plans implemented as needed. Announce the location of staging areas for people who need transportation. Public transportation will concentrate on moving people from the staging areas to safety in host parishes with priority given to people with special needs.' It also says that the Governor will 'Mobilize State transportation resources to aid in the evacuation of people who have mobility and/or health problems. Deploy to support risk area parishes.' "

"It certainly looks like it was the responsibility of the State of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans to make sure that people, and that includes poor people, were evacuated. It didn't happen. So ... it's Bush's fault?"



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An excellent concise appraisal of the current nonsense of poly-spin, by Wesley Pruden of the Washington Times (Definitely not to be confused with the Washington Post):


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The Temporary Downfall

I recently saw the movie, "[Hitler -- The] Downfall." I've read a few books that covered these moments of history and I must say the movie brought the characters and events to life in a truly profound way. The actor who played the National Socialist nut case, captured every nuance of his character. It was odd, but in seeing so precise a depiction of Hitler I didn’t see the resemblance in character to George Bush so often pointed out by international socialists. I couldn't help but note, as I've done before, that the "brains" behind the Third Reich were artists, philosophers, and even a self-styled “writer/poet” (Joseph Goebbels). Carrying out their "plan" was a host of bureau boot-lickers and, of course, "the people" (that old collectivist abstraction so loved by socialists of any stripe – National or International).

The left keeps telling us that our worst enemies are those who create, market, and sell ideas, products, and services.

I personally think the real triad from hell consists of philosophers, politicians, and bureaucrats. Their "downfall" from power is, unfortunately, temporary and their rise all to recurring.


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A Promethean quote from The Promethean Observer:

“Any compromise between good and evil only hurts the good and helps the evil.”
-- Ayn Rand (John Galt’s speech in Atlas Shrugged)