- May 5, 2000
- 4,008
- 0
I got this in an email and can't vouch for it's authenticity.
Make of it what you will.
Get Off His Back (Updated)
By Ben Stein
Published 9/2/2005 11:59:59 PM
***UPDATED: Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005, 2:13 p.m.***
A few truths, for those who have ears and eyes and care to know the truth:
1.) The hurricane that hit New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama was an
astonishing tragedy. The suffering and loss of life and peace of mind of the
residents of those areas is acutely horrifying.
2.) George Bush did not cause the hurricane. Hurricanes have been happening for
eons. George Bush did not create them or unleash this one.
3.) George Bush did not make this one worse than others. There have been far
worse hurricanes than this before George Bush was born.
4.) There is no overwhelming evidence that global warming exists as a man-made
phenomenon. There is no clear-cut evidence that global warming even exists.
There is no clear evidence that if it does exist it makes hurricanes more
powerful or makes them aim at cities with large numbers of poor people. If
global warming is a real phenomenon, which it ! may well be, it started long
before George Bush was inaugurated, and would not have been affected at all by
the Kyoto treaty, considering that Kyoto does not cover the world's worst
polluters -- China, India, and Brazil. In a word, George Bush had zero to do
with causing this hurricane. To speculate otherwise is belief in sorcery.
5.) George Bush had nothing to do with the hurricane contingency plans for New
Orleans. Those are drawn up by New Orleans and Louisiana. In any event, the
plans were perfectly good: mandatory evacuation. It is in no way at all George
Bush's fault that about 20 percent of New Orleans neglected to follow the plan.
It is not his fault that many persons in New Orleans were too confused to
realize how dangerous the hurricane would be. They were certainly warned. 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.
6.) George Bush did not cause gangsters to shoot at rescue helicopters taking
people from rooftops, did not make gang bangers rape young girls in the
Superdome, did not make looters steal hundreds of weapons, in short make New
Orleans into a living hell.
7.) George Bush is the least ****** President in mind and soul there has ever
been and this is shown in his appointments over and over. To say otherwise is
scandalously untrue.
8.) George Bush is rushing every bit of help he can to New Orleans and
Mississippi and Alabama as soon as he can. He is not a magician. It takes time
to organize huge convoys of food and now they are starting to arrive. That they
get in at all considering the lawlessness of the city is a miracle of bravery
and organization.
9.) There is not the slightest evidence at all that the war in Iraq has
diminished the response of the government to the emergency. To say otherwise is
pure slander.
10.) If the energy the news media puts into blaming Bush for an Act of God
worsened by stupendous incompetence by the New Orleans city authorities and the
malevolence of the criminals of the city were directed to helping the morale of
the nation, we would all be a lot better off.
11.) New Orleans is a great city with many great people. It will recover and be
greater than ever. Sticking pins into an effigy of George Bush that does not
resemble him in the slightest will not speed the process by one day.
12.) The entire episode is a dramatic lesson in the breathtaking callousness of
government officials at the ground level.
Make of it what you will.
Get Off His Back (Updated)
By Ben Stein
Published 9/2/2005 11:59:59 PM
***UPDATED: Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005, 2:13 p.m.***
A few truths, for those who have ears and eyes and care to know the truth:
1.) The hurricane that hit New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama was an
astonishing tragedy. The suffering and loss of life and peace of mind of the
residents of those areas is acutely horrifying.
2.) George Bush did not cause the hurricane. Hurricanes have been happening for
eons. George Bush did not create them or unleash this one.
3.) George Bush did not make this one worse than others. There have been far
worse hurricanes than this before George Bush was born.
4.) There is no overwhelming evidence that global warming exists as a man-made
phenomenon. There is no clear-cut evidence that global warming even exists.
There is no clear evidence that if it does exist it makes hurricanes more
powerful or makes them aim at cities with large numbers of poor people. If
global warming is a real phenomenon, which it ! may well be, it started long
before George Bush was inaugurated, and would not have been affected at all by
the Kyoto treaty, considering that Kyoto does not cover the world's worst
polluters -- China, India, and Brazil. In a word, George Bush had zero to do
with causing this hurricane. To speculate otherwise is belief in sorcery.
5.) George Bush had nothing to do with the hurricane contingency plans for New
Orleans. Those are drawn up by New Orleans and Louisiana. In any event, the
plans were perfectly good: mandatory evacuation. It is in no way at all George
Bush's fault that about 20 percent of New Orleans neglected to follow the plan.
It is not his fault that many persons in New Orleans were too confused to
realize how dangerous the hurricane would be. They were certainly warned. 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.
6.) George Bush did not cause gangsters to shoot at rescue helicopters taking
people from rooftops, did not make gang bangers rape young girls in the
Superdome, did not make looters steal hundreds of weapons, in short make New
Orleans into a living hell.
7.) George Bush is the least ****** President in mind and soul there has ever
been and this is shown in his appointments over and over. To say otherwise is
scandalously untrue.
8.) George Bush is rushing every bit of help he can to New Orleans and
Mississippi and Alabama as soon as he can. He is not a magician. It takes time
to organize huge convoys of food and now they are starting to arrive. That they
get in at all considering the lawlessness of the city is a miracle of bravery
and organization.
9.) There is not the slightest evidence at all that the war in Iraq has
diminished the response of the government to the emergency. To say otherwise is
pure slander.
10.) If the energy the news media puts into blaming Bush for an Act of God
worsened by stupendous incompetence by the New Orleans city authorities and the
malevolence of the criminals of the city were directed to helping the morale of
the nation, we would all be a lot better off.
11.) New Orleans is a great city with many great people. It will recover and be
greater than ever. Sticking pins into an effigy of George Bush that does not
resemble him in the slightest will not speed the process by one day.
12.) The entire episode is a dramatic lesson in the breathtaking callousness of
government officials at the ground level.
