Call me obsessed… since I’m just back from Japan… but I thought you might like the following haiku from IMAO:
Thousands now lie dead.
Tragedy for some, others…
Time for politics!
(ht: zen master Charles Martin)
MEANWHILE: As one who once told his therapist, “I think I put your kid through graduate school!” I think I am qualified to say that at a time like the present, it’s good to consult your shrink.
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True. Oh so true. I heard this one, not from a zen master, but from a friend of mine who enjoys writing haikus.
Intellects hide here
Kanye loses it on TV
the levee broken
You know, it’s not so much that there wasn’t plenty that went wrong with the disaster response, I’m sure there was; it’s that one doesn’t know what stories to believe anymore. Whether or not the media has done a “good job” covering the disaster; whether the responses by the various authorities were outstanding, adequate, or criminal; whether or not Sean Penn saved lives or imagined he did, we can’t know for sure because so many have been crying wolf for so long, pushing the shrill envelope higher and higher until words no longer mean what they mean and even our own eyes can’t be trusted. Who’s to blame for that? Whether the Bush administration has done enough or not, the Angry Left and the Elite Media shot all their bullets long before now and don’t have enough credibility left to call even the kettle black and have me trust them that it might be true.
Steve in Nashville,
That pretty much sums up the state of affairs, a dismal state it is too. I wanted to believe the Penn “immediately sinking” boat story, just as much as the left want to believe their rhetoric on any given story, but it’s gotten so bad that you have to spend 5.33 hours digging to see what’s really going on for each and every “news” item presented.
I only know this for a fact: When a CAT4-5 hurricane hits the gulf coast, many will die and the various governmental agencies will stumble, it’s inevitable. It is also inevitable that those same agencies will recover and pick up the ball and run with it. Why we need to have real-time blame-game crap going on the midst of it all is beyond me.
Before I retire for the night, let me leave you with this from Mediablog. Apropos of what to believe these days.
The Markup
CNN’s Brown Dowdifies
09/06 12:45 PM
An MB reader caught CNN’s Aaron Brown committing a blatant Dowdification:
Aaron Brown aired the following clip of a statement by President Bush, plucked out of context to smear the president:
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In our judgment, we view this storm as a temporary disruption that is being addressed by the government and by the private sector. We have taken immediate steps to address the issue.
BROWN: But, in truth, immediate has not come fast enough, and, fairly or not, explanations from Washington sound to many in New Orleans like excuses.
In fact, Bush was referring to the energy issue. Here is his comment in context:
And finally, we’re moving forward with a comprehensive recovery strategy. We’re working hard to restore electric power, repair transportation infrastructure, restart energy production, and of course, strategize as to how to provide housing for these folks. I met with Chairman Greenspan at lunch, as well as the economic team, to evaluate the impact of Hurricane Katrina. We particularly spent a lot of time talking about the damage done to our energy infrastructure and its effect on the availability and price of gasoline.
In our judgment, we view this storm as a temporary disruption that is being addressed by the government and by the private sector. We’ve taken immediate steps to address the issue. The Secretary of Energy is approving loans of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The EPA has provided a temporary nationwide waiver for fuel requirements so supplies of gasoline can move more easily within our country and so that we can attract more gasoline from overseas.
Dowdification of soundbites ó add that to Shafer’s list.
Roger:
It’s all the fault of the mayor. It’s all the fault of Blanco. It’s all the fault of FEMA. It’s all the fault of President Bush. The investigation will show that all made mistakes, all did some things right. And oh, by the way, this was an amazingly powerfull Hurricane that doesn’t follow a schedule and ripped the guts out of a 250 mile territory and the idea that there was not going to be deaths, destruction, suffering, and economic dislocation is the delusion of a child. This was something that changed, like the direction of the hurricane, by the hour, and the notion that there would not be confusion and , yes, mistakes(some of them big ones) is also the notion of a non reality based mind.
There should be a investigation, and I am not convicted anyone yet or giving anyone a pass. But for many the case is closed and they have already passed on to the penalty phase before the entire story has been told to them.Can anyone say that they know the ENTIRE story about the dissaster and the response. Those who have rendered their verdict base it on “people suffered, some of them for many days” What a shock! A class 5 hurricane and there was suffering! This is unacceptable! This is America! This is the thinking of a child. I have no doubt there were mistakes up and down the food chain. Some may be explainable, some may not be. For some the verdict was made the second day and all their efforts have been to validate their original knee jerk verdict. The hour by hour second guessing has been non stop from the beginning.Instead of focusing on fixing the problem the hunt for pinning the blame started almost from day one.
What a shock! A class 5 hurricane and there was suffering! This is unacceptable! This is America! This is the thinking of a child.
Word.
The big politiucal divide in the US isn’t between Republicans and Democrats. It’s between the grownups and the goddamned children.
…and the critical and the criticized. Those who aren’t in power trying to one-up those who aren’t in power by calling them out…favoring rhetoric over action.
It’s like the haiku says: finger-pointing politics thrive when there are the most people suffering. It’s all well-meaning, but don’t underestimate the distractions – gas prices, FEMA, the Iraqi National Guard – they’ll get you every time. I know I’m guilty of pointing my finger, just like one of those “goddamned children.”
Not particularly on topic here, but I just recently finished spending a couple hours trapped in traffic and listening to our wonderful MSM.
Here are just two examples of the wonderous brain power I got to hear:
A reporter inside the Superdome, paraphrashing VERY closely to actual words, “I reported on a mass grave near Abu-Graib (sp?). The scene here at the Superdome trumps that many times over. The stench is sickening. There were at least ten dead bodies in here. I can’t imagine how they could ever repair this place. They’ll surely have to tear it down.”
An anchor interviewing some guy who owned a now obliterated marina somewhere near Gulport, “Tell me. Do you think people should rebuild here or move their residences and businesses somewhere inland?”
This whole incident demonstrates the vapidity of the mainstream media–and regretably, the American left (the Dowds and Krugmans). Simply stated this was an act of God. A huge storm that overwhelmed a city not built to withstand such a force. It devastated 90 thousand square miles.
And the media focus on the Bush administration. Mistakes enough starting with the local officials, who are, in accordance with emergency management, first and foremost responsible. Regretably the media has not focused on the bravery of the hospital staffs in New Orleans who stayed with their patients; or the unnamed heros who rose to the occasion and cleared roads so relief convoys could arrive.
And I think the recent poll suggests the American people are much smarter than the MSM–on 13 percent blame the president irrespective of the drum beat of blame. How can any group be so out of touch with the people they purport to serve? Roger: I cannot wait until PJ media becomes fully operational.
This was a tragedy of immense proportions and like all such events it brings out the best and the worst in people. As an emergency manager for a local health district, my take on it is that there were mistakes, but for the most part, when the fatalities are finally assessed, it will be found that we did a remarkable job in saving lives.
RogerA,
While I agree that when honest folk finally get a chance to have a look at the big picture the scope and quality of the overall effort to save and rebuild lives will be recognized as remarkably good.
Unfortunately there is a large segment of our society that seems to hold fast to the notion that since somebody suffered, somebody must be made to suffer. Gosh how I wish they’d grow up.
Just curious… I’ve been playing a lot of what-ifs lately. I’ve heard a lot of estimates and speculation about whether or not New Orleans can or should be saved. Given that some people believe it shouldn’t be re-populated at all or that it will take 80 days or more just to pump it out and lord know how long to make it liveable and functioning again, let me put a “what if” out here.
What if 180 days, a mere six months, from now, New Orleans is pumped out and cleaned up enough to be, say, 50% functional (whatever that means). And by Fat Tuesday, 2006, New Orleans is taking on crowds of tourists and something like 70% recovered. Does anyone suppose that anyone will credit the Bush Administration with doing a good, or even less than disastrous job, or will we hear nothing but carping about how the job could have been done quicker, better, etc.
BTW, does anyone know the status of the areas hit by the Christmas tsunami? Anyone have a clue how much has been rebuilt or abandoned? I make that nine months now – any progress toward restoring those devastated areas? Is it my inability to remain informed or has the MSM long since lost interest in that particular batch of pain and suffering?
I would guess it’s the latter…lost interest that will probably never be found. After all, what’s so sensational about reconstruction? It’s long, hard work, hardly newsworthy. Unless there’s a scandal somewhere…
You’re the first person I’ve heard evoke that disaster in a way that wasn’t coining the term “America’s Tsunami,” ie. “Madrid’s/London’s 9/11.”