PhotoDude.com

After a late night round of surfing, I have to toss out this middle of the night rhetorical question, to which I already know the answer:

Is there no human tragedy so large that it cannot be lifted, and then spun for partisan intent?

For some, no, there isn’t. There never will be anything larger than their hatred for The Others. Not even the ongoing suffering of tens of thousands of their fellow Americans, of all political stripes.

You thought I was mad about politics before? This is a real tipping point for me. Right and left, it’s all over

And it’s not just little known bloggers. Here’s Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at Huffington Post: “As Hurricane Katrina dismantles Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, it’s worth recalling the central role that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour played in derailing the Kyoto Protocol and kiboshing President Bush’s iron-clad campaign promise to regulate CO2.�

Meanwhile, a search of Huffington Post reveals no suggestion that people might want to help the victims by donating to the Red Cross or other worthy relief organizations. Nothing.

But there’s multiple posts about the failures of the Bush administration that surely brought about this very hurricane. It’s a virtual SchadenfreudeFest. They’re so busy gleefully implying that Gov. Barbour and Bush have actually caused this hurricane, they seem to have not even noticed the tens of thousands of fellow Americans suffering in the direst of conditions. They don’t even pause the bashing to call out to you to help those victims.

You know, it’s likely a lot of those victims are Democrats, too. Since that seems to make a difference. Maybe they’d feel better if they could send out relief kits packaged in red or blue, and fill the blue ones with all the good stuff.

Oh, yes, these people have a right to free speech, and I’m not suggesting otherwise. I’m saying that I’m judging their free speech. I’m judging their priorities as political voices. Those who quickly got past any horror they might have felt at this tragedy so they could get on with the partisan bashing … disgust me more than I can express. They have a right to their free speech, but I’ll be damned if I’ll ever listen to a word they have to say again. On any topic. Especially around election time.

They have removed themselves from the world I consider human. They are poisoned partisan automatons. While tens of thousands suffer, they pound their keyboards with blue/red glee. It makes me sick.

As for RFK, Jr., I would suggest he needs to refresh his memory on some of the things his father said, in far more troubled times, because he completely contradicts them:

“It will help erase the idea that politics is a second-rate profession and a dirty business.�

“What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists, is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents.�

“What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country…�

“Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom, not a guide by which to live.�

So here's my free speech: Shut Up and Give.

I applaud your message, Reid- this is indeed a time to help out those are in need of help. The number of people who lost everything are uncountable.

However, I do have one small aside- this is in no way meant to be aimed at the poor unfortunates who had no way out of town, or who were too sick or infirm to be moved. This is aimed squarely at the people too stupid to move.

I see an article on Yahoo, with the following written:

The lucky ones in the Quiet Water Beach apartment building and other vulnerable areas of Biloxi described a scene of pandemonium as they fled the rising water.

I don’t often commend the press, but this writer got the wording exactly right when he described these people as ‘lucky’. That’s precisely what they are, they aren’t smart.

When asked why they ignored evacuation orders, some said they did not think the storm would be that bad; others would not give a reason.

Didn’t think it would be that bad? To me it’s stunning that a person could live within 100 miles of the Atlantic Ocean and think a Category 5 hurricane “isn’t going to be that bad.” I keep seeing these people on the news, claiming they were surprised by this- I guess they missed the days and days of news about it, the pictures all over everything showing a storm 500 miles wide, the evacuation orders, and most of the neighbors leaving.

I lost everything. We can’t even find my car,” he said.

Um, you had a car, and you’re where? I have sympathy for folks losing homes, but I don’t see where I should be all that bothered that this fella went through a life-threatening situation that he was told to avoid and could have. Sorry your apartment is gone, buddy, but you’re an idiot.

??I think I’ll move on to North Carolina and do some work over there. I can’t take it here anymore – not after this.” ??

This is the capper on this fella- sure, move to North Carolina. Be sure to get an apartment on the Grand Banks, somewhere you can see the ocean. That way, when the next Hugo comes your way, you’ll be able to call the same reporter back and tell them you’re amazed it happened to you twice! Dude! Arizona! Utah! South Dakota! But North Carolina? That place has a target painted on the beach.

Truly a tragedy, but even sadder that much of the loss of life should be categorized under the heading of ‘Stupidity- Fatal’.

Opportunists suffer from tunnel vision. Human suffering and common sense just get in the way.

Example: where exactly do the people who are doing all of the looting in New Orleans think they are going to take this stuff? It’s like looting on the Titanic.

Meanwhile, as Reid alluded to, Greenies see this tragedy as an opportunity to trumpet the evils of global warming.

Some actually see this as an opportunity to get elected or re-elected. Before the last presidential election, pundits were in a tizzy describing how the hurricanes that year would actually help Bush win Florida.

The “pundits” need to keep their eye on the ball. Right now the Red Cross needs cash. There will plenty of time for this other stuff later.

It is indeed a difficult line to take. How do you react to the “looter� who is “stealing� a loaf of bread and some bottled water for their wife and kids? Well, a lot differently than you’d react to those I’ve watched in the media stealing half racks of designer clothes and floating garbage cans full of beer down the street.

This has become a ‘teachable moment’ for me this week. During a lecture about weather-related drill procedures (tornado, etc.), some of my middle-school students mentioned the hurricane story and the pictures of the looting seen on the evening news. When I asked whether they thought this was a good or bad thing, most of them called it bad, but a couple mentioned the food and water needs of stranded people. This led directly into “Then why are they stealing plasma screen TVs?” (asked by a student, not me, BTW) which progressed into a discussion about the utter stupidity of people who are taking things that they will be unable to dispose of or use (not to mention that most of the items will be useless after spending time in the water anyway).

Maybe I am not allowed to teach ‘morals’, but I certainly can work on common sense and basic values training.

Todd: This is aimed squarely at the people too stupid to move.

Unfortunately, hurricane lore is filled with examples of people who gathered for a hurricane party … and it was their last. And there’s also those who’ve been through some storms, and are certain they can ride out this one. I saw an interview with a guy in Biloxi who said that’s just what he thought, and he’d never do it again.

Like you, I really feel for those in poor neighborhoods of New Orleans, who had no transportation, and no disposable income to get a ticket out. A lot of the people I see being evacuated from houses are older and/or appear in bad health. Plus, the mandatory evacuation order didn’t come until Sunday morning, and by Sinday night they were saying “if you haven’t gotten out by now, stay home.” There was no public option given to them other than “go to the Superdome.” I fear many of those people who weren’t rescued on Monday died trapped in their attics last night when the water rose another ten feet in hours.

But while you poke at the guy who wants to move to North Carolina (ya think Asheville would be safe?), the reality is that my parents are about 175 miles inland, and they got hit with hurricane strength winds on Monday. And if you look at the number of people who live within 150 miles of the Atlantic or Gulf Coast, I’d bet you’re talking about somewhere between 40 and 50% of the population of this country. Who do we blame for that?

I guess the Mother Of All Blame goes to those folks in 1718 who decided to build a settlement between a massive lake and the greatest river on the continent, on land that has done nothing but sink ever since. And, as is human nature, nowhere along the way did anyone say, “hey, rather than build up more levees, should we think about abandoning this spot?” We humans don’t work that way.

edudude: Greenies see this tragedy as an opportunity to trumpet the evils of global warming

While it’s true that the chart indicates they should be mad at FDR and Truman, I want to be explicit, it’s not just the left extreme, it’s the right extreme, too. How’s this for explicit: Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city

Lady Niniane: This has become a ‘teachable moment’ for me this week

Well, there’s got to be some good out of this.

“I want to be explicit, it’s not just the left extreme, it’s the right extreme, too.”

Exactly. What is enlightening is that their (right and left) rhetoric sounds even more absurd when applied to a tragedy of this magnitude. And it is comforting to watch some politicians lay down the sword and work on solutions.

Regarding 40% of the population living where they might get hurricane force winds- yes, that’s true, but the real point is that the total devastation was right up close to the water, and in a city that has been in a state of denial regarding hurricanes for some 30 years. There isn’t a spot in the country that isn’t liable to have some natural disaster, be it tornados (avoid the midwest), lightning (central Florida is the top spot in the world for it), earthquakes (California is bad, but Memphis is a ticking time bomb), or even volcanos (Mt. St. Helens, anyone?) The irony was that a man saying he can’t handle hurricanes moving to yet another hurricane capital.

I can’t say I’m without blame when it comes to building in dangerous areas- I own a house on a narrow barrier island – St. George . I took damage from Hurricane Dennis, but I’m totally unwilling to make FEMA foot the bill for my swimming pool pump.

I stand now in a state of real frustration- I see images of folks needing help desperately, yet there’s just no good way to help, other than to send a check into a black hole and hope it turns into something good for someone who really needs it. I’d take my boat to rescue folks if I thought I wasn’t in the way. These are agonizing days- I hate watching it, and knowing I can’t speed up the relief.