The latest escapades of the right's media to exonerate Bush from negligence and death regarding Katrina is Bill Bennett's theory on "Intelligent Design."
That was preceded by the only poll that ever out lies any other poll and that is the CNN/Gallup/USA Today poll that has Bush taking enormous strides back to being near and dear every American post Rita. That is a crock if I ever heard one, as they only 'intelligently designed' the poll to elevate the prez's ratings hoping every other poll would follow.
It will be a real eye opener to find the American people conveniently forgetting about the disaster and exorbitant death of Katrina only to give Bush a better job rating while the Texas coast lay in devastation. It would reveal the true labiality of this country with feeble and fickle thinking regarding the ludicrous idea of 'forgiveness' because a Boy Scout President "did better this time."
He did?
He listened to a weather service that emptied an area from Northern Mexico to the Florida Keys sparing no expense in an unpredictable storm from hell by the name of "Rita" that was 'designed' for him to redeem himself. You'll excuse me but if the USA had credible scientists at it's top posts at The National Hurricane Center the oil industry would not be the first and only concern of this Oil Barron President.
With Katrina nearly a month in the nation's timeline, the right's media is taking on the issue of Image Reform, damned the expense, to bring 'The Party' back to 'Favorite Son' status. In order to do that rarely are there Democrats by large numbers making appearances on news segments out numbering the pandering Republicans who have yet to learn the vocabulary associated with Global Warming.
Of interest is the recent 'witch hunt' image building of Mayor Nagin which is being designed to 'take the fault' from Bush's incompetence minimally manifested in the resignation of "The Horsy Set's" Michael Brown. It would have been refreshing to hear "Brownie" come forward with an apology for his negligence and mismanagement rather than expounding a love fest with Louisiana and Mississippi. The biggest challenge to the pandering Governor Haley Barbour is to win over the pastorate so the casinos can be built on dry land returning lost income to his state while driving the devil back to New Orleans rather than his self-righteous parishes while covertly burying the dead.
Seeking scandal and undercutting of authority through Evangelical Christian ridicule, the latest campaign against Ray Nagin surrounds the allegations of the New Orleans Police Department. It's always had problems but none more than the stark reality the rest of the city experiences today which lay devastated and rotting with deadly mold, mildew and yeast that are quickly becoming more of a health problem than decaying carcasses.
How anyone can stand in ridicule of a city authority that keeps dodging storm after flooding storm while FEMA and the USA Coast Guard search and rescue a month later still finds it impossible to bring all those alive out of attics and off rooftops to safety while dead human beings become bloated in the hot sun. If, a month later some of the news teams are still finding bloated bodies on islands of dry debris or land; they were not dead a month ago. Okay? More testament to the fact on this Sunday in October 2005 while Bush is basking in unintelligently designed higher approval ratings people are still dying unattended in the parishes of The Gulf Coast while $100 million of FEMA ice is stored in refrigerator trailers of semi's across the country still waiting for directions to the 'drop off' destination.
The New Orleans police department is no different than any other big city police in that corruption finds it's way into the chaotic back streets of authority which seems to supplement their income over what officers are compensated in a world designed by Bush to send every 'paid' employee of every company and government job below the poverty level.
The latest in New York City would the escapades of Eppolito and Caracappa. The corruption in NYC spans decades and while there is a lot of good that can come out of an internal audit of the New Orleans Police Department in relation to Kartina perhaps what is more in the hopes of former Police Chief Richard Pennington is a revival of a pseudo 1971 Knapp Commission whereby Frank Serpico broke the blue wall of silence to clean up the streets of the city they loved. If there lies within the Police Authority of New Orleans, as with other major cities, the opportunity to purge itself of corruption then let this be the time with adequate funding to bring the city to prominence in crime fighting to enhance it's attraction again as a world class city.
What is troubling is the covert vigilante film making of right wing news journalists that would seek to exploit episodes of looting while finding Fido shot dead post storm now that people are returning to their neighborhoods. As with most rooted out scandals that lead to artificial bolstering of intelligent design by Rove for more favorable Bush ratings these are based minimally in truth so much as sensationalism which The Right thrives on serving no one's best interest. Film footage does not lie and neither should 'the truth telling' surrounding it.
It would seem to me Mayor Ray Nagin has been completely transparent and apolitical in his post storm appearances in New Orleans which vastly out number that of Bush. He could conveniently hide away from the public if deep seated corruption exists but instead is braving the New Orleans' spirit of adventure returning parts of the city to people returning to the hard work of reclaiming their lives, a return of a tax base as well as hope to a beleaguered city still suffering from water drenched streets in the fear of still an active storm season.
What is lacking from the attempt of the right to divert blame to "Nigan Land" from Bush are citizens and their organized groups of independent authority or "Political Action Committees" if you will that attend to such vital details of city dwelling to bring not only spotty incidents during Katrina but also a history of validated problems that might extract real fact finding fixing complaints that might actually serve New Orleans and not the Repuglican Party. That is vastly different than the current commission Ray Nagin has created to direct questions of Police Misconduct due to Katrina. The Right is seeking scandal that leads to Ray Nagin's supposedly deeply hid responsibility in the disproportionate deaths of Katrina in New Orleans. This somehow will not only purge Bush of "Bad Boy" status but also the Repuglican Party of Racism.
What this witch hunt does not reveal is the disproportionate deaths reflected in the other affected Gulf States as well. Normally these storms, as demonstrated with the underestimated "Andrew," take lives that number maximally around 50 per storm but "Katrina" has minimally twenty times that many.
If we are to avoid the tragedy of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast again we need to deal with the fact the USA has profound issues of segregation and stereotyping that leads to devastating poverty and generations of hopelessness.
Where issues also need attention is the return to nurturing of the biotic world of this country which by the way were the first statements regarding the 'cause' of the tragedy that beset this mayor August 30th, when he was given a candid moment. I remind everyone of the post Katrina Mayor Ray Nagin and our compassion for him as a nation. Why is it we can't seem to leave it there and support this city back to not only rebuilding but world acclaim.
BROWN: Mayor, this is what we call in my business a hanging curve question. Is there anything else you want to say, you want people to understand about the situation? Anything I should have asked I didn't ask?
NAGIN: The only thing I would point out is everyone knows New Orleans is one of the great unique cultural cities in the world and we are basically left unprotected right now because of coastal erosion.
Our coast has eroded to the point where it really threatens this wonderful city that everybody loves and we need some help and we need some help from the federal government.
We have lost our marshland and for every acre of marshland, it would allow a tidal surge from a hurricane to be dissipated one foot.
And the big problem we have with this hurricane was there was nothing to subside the tidal surge. So coastal erosion is a big challenge going forward.
BROWN: Mayor, our thoughts and prayers are with you tonight. Thank you for your time.
NAGIN: Really appreciate that and I hope the nation continues to pray for us. We will rebuild. It's going to take a while for us to do it.
BROWN: Sir, thank you very much.
NAGIN: Thank you.
BROWN: Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans. One of the things we like about the mayor is he doesn't mess around. He gave a very clear, I thought stark in some cases, description of where they are. Thirty-seven hundred National Guard troops heading to the city but they're not their yet and for those of you who came in at the top of the hour if you missed it, we asked him if you wished they were there tonight and he said, yes he does.
