I Am John's Stomach Pains.

On The Precipice of Mediocrity, Teetering

Thursday, September 01, 2005

No Man's Land  

For comic book fans - or hell, maybe it's just me - the horror caused by Katrina going down in the south brings up memories of the Batman crossover No Man's land, in which an earthquake destroys Gotham City, and instead of sending in help, the government declares the area a disaster zone, destroys all the bridges in and out, leaving the occupants of the city to fend for themselves. Don't be surprised if President Vacation continues his aloofishness and totally disregard for the crisis and just washes his hands of the whole thing.

I've held off on discussing Katrina mostly because I was freaking out enough with my family down in The Keys. The feeling one gets when you flip over to CNN and see one of the biggest storms ever hovering over your loved ones is indescribable. Thankfully, I was able to get ahold of them fairly quickly, and they were fine... well, at least in regards to the storm, but that's a whole other topic that we won't get into (suffice to say my freaking out did not pass once the storm did).

I was completely flabbergasted as the storm grew in intensity as it approached the mainland... I'm in insurance, specifically with a catastrophe background, so I know how much of a target Orleans and the neighboring counties are... but the crazy thing? The true "hurricane season" wasn't supposed to start until September 1st, anyway! For as bad as it has gotten done there, it wasn't the worst case scenario... and we've got a few more weeks ahead of us that could get even worse.

I don't know... I could begin ranting about the horrendous leadership Bush has shown in the past 5 days in regards to the situation, but the truth is, I'm just tired. If you can look at a man who waits 3 days while on vacation, to only then give one of the worst speeches in his career, and then see leadership, I honestly think you're lost. And no, this isn't politicizing a tragedy for the sake of politicizing it... this is acknowledging the fact that President Incompetent is just that.

posted by Holz | 10:01 AM | Rant & Rave, Bitches! (6)

6 Comments:

And while he was doing all that, he STILL found time to practice guitar.

Wow.

I never realised he was so talented at multitasking. (Here Dubya, have a pretzel as a reward)

Now I don't feel the least bit put out by the fact that he was listening to stories about goats when the shit was going down. Obviously, he was multitasking then too...

By Blogger Manchild, at 9/01/2005 2:50 PM  


Hey Johnny!
http://www.illwillpress.com/kat.html

Jackiw showed thisa to me and I asked jer to forward to you - it is great - sad but true - hysterical but true - and may I add funny as hell - you know me - humor just cant be sick enough - Love Ya Mom

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9/01/2005 8:34 PM  


" what more did you want?"

You know what I wanted? I wanted a disaster recovery plan that wouldn't leave Americansdying in the streets, huddled and hungry, and only getting sicker.

Four years after 9/11. Four. Fucking. Years. And with 2 days advance warning of an impending disaster, the president, Dear Leader, along with Cheney and Rice stay on vacation and laugh it up.

You have ot realize that the anger of him staying on vacation for 3 more days after the fact is just one tiny bit of the sheer rage we have over this government's actions.

We were supposed to be ready for this. 9/11 Changed Everything, right? Then why in the world is this getting worse and worse by the hour, instead of getting better?

By Blogger Holz, at 9/02/2005 10:04 AM  


I heard some comments last night, from people in my field. They reckon Bush and his cronies are similar to a modern day Marie Antoinette. "Let them eat cake" brought forward to the 21st century. "Let them drink beer"

One person actually said that the dead in New Orleans are a sacrifice. It was necessary for them to die, for the American public to be woken up out of its slumber.

Personally, though I'm gladdened to see that EVEN FOX is ripping into the administration for this one, I think the Republican capacity for denial and self-delusion will prevent any real change from happening.

By Blogger Manchild, at 9/03/2005 2:15 AM  


"People toss the word "vacationing" around..."

Considering how much time Dubya has spent on vacation during his reign...cough...term his "vacationing" is more than a valid topic of discussion to "toss around". One commentator, Bill Mahr I think it was, stated that Bush's latest respite is exceeded in length by only one other President in history. That's for a single vacation span. Total amount of time spent on vacation by Bush is also pushing at the record books.

"what more did you want?"

A President who leads. A President who, as soon as was aware of the extent of the problem, was on Marine One and on his way to Louisiana as soon was reasonably safe and sorting out the clusterfuck of authorities and agencies and making sure the existing disaster relief system worked the way it was supposed to and help got where it was needed when it was needed. Harry Truman used to have a sign on his desk in the Oval Office that read "The Buck Stops Here". Do you think there will be anything within spitting distance of that kind of accountability when it comes to the fuck-ups with the Gulf-State rescue and relief efforts? No Fucking Way. Did anyone here hear Mayor Nagin's vitriolic interview CNN has been recasting? I applaude the man for saying what needed to be said in the way it needed to be said. Supposedly there have been scenarios developed by various think tanks and research groups about the effects of a hurricane hitting New Orleans and yet... As of an hour ago, four days after the hurricane hit, there are still people trapped in houses, people dying while surrounded by others, the very worse of that society roaming the streets, it's all a fucking mess and not getting better fast enough. And who are we supposed to look to if not our elected leaders? I think this whole situation is revealing something very unpleasant and dishonorable about the "American Way of Life" and the whole thing makes me sick.

"And people who say, "He wouldn't leave his vacation..." are being dumb."

And I think (notice the subjective qualifier?) people who think G.W. Bush is a good person much less compentent President are fucking morons. But that, of course, is just my opinion.

"(Here Dubya, have a pretzel as a reward)"

Careful MC. Our government has no sense of humor when it comes to threats to his excellency and offering any member of the Bush family a pretzel is considered a hostile act. In answer to your query from a previous feedback: I'm doing well. Check my LJ if you want to know more.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9/03/2005 4:14 AM  


Directed to K Man..

From his ranch, he failed to get on the TV before Katrina hit and say "Get the hell out of the way of this one. It's bigger than my ego, the edema around Dick's Heart, and Halliburton's off-shore bank accounts."

He formed a cabinet level task force to deal with the problem on Thursday or Friday. Great. Monday would have been too late.

The single most troubling thing about Katrina is that it is effectively a test of this administrations ability to handle a dirty bomb attack. I'm not impressed.

I'm livid, tired, arranging a fundraiser in my town, wishing I could spare some more cash, but not impressed.

By Blogger amnachaidh, at 9/03/2005 9:07 PM  


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Who Am I?
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