Get Off His Back - It wasn't his fault...

I received this in an email today :

Special Report
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 racist 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. Imagine if
Hillary Clinton had gotten her way and they were in charge of your health
care. God bless all of those dear people who are suffering so much, and
God bless those helping them, starting with George Bush.

UPDATE: Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005, 2:13 p.m.:
More Mysteries of Katrina:
Why is it that the snipers who shot at emergency rescuers trying
to save people in hospitals and shelters are never mentioned except in
passing, and Mr. Bush, who is turning over heaven and earth to rescue the
victims of the storm, is endlessly vilified?

What church does Rev. Al Sharpton belong to that believes in
passing blame and singling out people by race for opprobrium and hate?

What special abilities does the media have for deciding how much
blame goes to the federal government as opposed to the city government of
New Orleans for the aftereffects of Katrina?

If able-bodied people refuse to obey a mandatory evacuation order
for a city, have they not assumed the risk that ill effects will happen
to them?

When the city government simply ignores its own sick and
hospitalized and elderly people in its evacuation order, is Mr. Bush to blame for
that?

Is there any problem in the world that is not Mr. Bush's fault, or
have we reverted to a belief in a sort of witchcraft where we credit a
mortal man with the ability to create terrifying storms and every other kind
of ill wind?

Where did the idea come from that salvation comes from hatred and
criticism and mockery instead of love and co-operation?

> >> Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in
Beverly Hills and Malibu. He also writes "Ben Stein's Diary" in every issue
of The American Spectator.


www.spectator.org...
more good stuff here...

Least racist? Even less racist then the first black president Bill Clinton?

1) He cut a quarter billion from Levee/pump/dam projects
2) He is in power, everything that happens when he is in power is his fault, it is part of being the boss
3) He is "busy" being a ranch hand when he should be planning something called "Save New Orleans" But I guess getting that guitar was more important
4) He says "No one thought it would happen!" Then the 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 reports, the 5 piece article in the local newspaper, CNN, MSNBC, everyone but Fox/GOP News point out that everyone but Bush saw it would happen.
5) WTH is wrong with people? FEMA is a Federal Government thing, Bush is the leader of the Federal Government, so when FEMA screws up, he screws up.

Originally posted by Jestaman
Least racist? Even less racist then the first black president Bill Clinton?

1) He cut a quarter billion from Levee/pump/dam projects
2) He is in power, everything that happens when he is in power is his fault, it is part of being the boss
3) He is "busy" being a ranch hand when he should be planning something called "Save New Orleans" But I guess getting that guitar was more important
4) He says "No one thought it would happen!" Then the 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 reports, the 5 piece article in the local newspaper, CNN, MSNBC, everyone but Fox/GOP News point out that everyone but Bush saw it would happen.
5) WTH is wrong with people? FEMA is a Federal Government thing, Bush is the leader of the Federal Government, so when FEMA screws up, he screws up.

If Bill Clinton is black that makes me albino.

In reference to the quote:
1) That is a quarter billion dollars that wasn't there to stolen or misused.
A former mayor of New Orleans is being investigated for the
misuse of levee funds and there is evidence that other funds were
mismanaged on the Local and State level.

2) So with this logic he gets to take credit for any good things that happen
while he is in charge?

3) How do you get a guitar for being a ranch hand? It is not his job to
save New Orleans. That is the Local and State government's job.

4) If everyone but Bush saw the articles that you refer to then why didn't
they (the Local and State governments) do something?

5) I still have not seen any evidence that FEMA "screwed up). I have seen
evidence that shows that FEMA was set up.

Poor King George III.
I do understand why everybody picks on him.

Could it be he's too busy trying to be the leader of the free world, rather than the leader of the American people, the office to which he was elected?

Could it be he is too busy crying national security in international affairs to notice that national security involves the security of the nation itself?

Oops! Sorry. New Orleans, even with all the people, the oil supply, and the economy wasn't a real national security issue. The welfare, health and safety of one city is not a national security issue. The economy is not a national security issue.

Poor King George III. I am sorely woeful.

Can someone please explain why he's being called King George III?

Sure, I get the "King" part.

And the "George" part (presumably).

But...the third?



(tell me it's not a reference to our own nutty KGIII of England...please, tell me that's not it...)



[edit on 8-9-2005 by Tinkleflower]

Tinkle,

This is the third George....George Washington, George Sr., and Dubya.

The reference King George III is also indicative of the Declaration of Independence which was written detailing the accountability of King George III of England.

Thus King George III.......


Hope this helps.

Originally posted by garyo1954

Correct me if I'm wrong, but mind over stupidity works for me. If I'm stupid, you shouldn't mind.

I don't mind.

Ah, thank you.

Always comforting to see inapt references

Originally posted by elevatedone
I received this in an email today :

You need help in setting up a spam filter? It's easy and I'd be happy to walk you through.

Originally posted by elevatedone
A few truths, for those who have ears and eyes and care to know
the truth:

Truth is relative, and my own personal truth is different from his truth.
That doesn't make me an idiot. So there's one strike for mr.stein.

2.) George Bush did not cause the hurricane. Hurricanes have been
happening for eons. George Bush did not create them or unleash this
one.

This is deflecting and distorting the issue at hand. And that is the federal response, to which bush even proclaimed it was not acceptable.
The story has since been distorted.

Two strikes for mr.stein.

3.) George Bush did not make this one worse than others. There
have been far worse hurricanes than this before George Bush was born.

Again nobody has been arguing about bush making this hurricane.

This is silly and part of the plan to try and create child like issues with those people who disagree. OBVIOUSLY he didn't create a hurricane,
quit making things up STEIN!

3 strikes for stein.

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.

This is ridiculous... Who does he think he is? He actually has such an elitist attitude if he thinks there are people out there that believe this hurricane was aimed at poor people... He's making this up to back up his point of speculative facts!

STRIKE 4 STEIN.

PS: There is evidence of ice caps melting and the pacific seas rising, call it what you want but people have given this earthly events a name; GLOBAL WARMING, it's a scientific fact that emissions linger for years up in the atmosphere. the EPA even has a few webpage's about it STEIN!

yosemite.epa.gov...



Several emissions scenarios have been developed based on differing projections of these underlying factors. For example, by 2100, in the absence of emissions control policies, carbon dioxide concentrations are projected to be 30-150% higher than today’s levels
EPA site on GLOBAL WARMING



5 strikes for stein

If global warming is a real phenomenon, which it may well be, it
started long before George Bush was inaugurated, and would not have beenaffected 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.

Point in fact: George Bush is in the position to make responsible decisions. Even if he didn't sign the Kyoto accord, it's his duty to have incentives for people who make the conscious decision to change their ways so that they can help out in their own way when it comes to this problem.

But no, this will not happen as bush has his hand in the oil glazed cookie jar.
To take a look at what Bush has failed to responsibly act on I suggest you get the full scoop of facts before making stuff up stein.
www.bushgreenwatch.org...
Where's the accountability towards those corporations that continue to dump their toxic waste into the lakes? Not even caring about lowering the number of how much toxic waste one can dump into the water.
If this was you or I and we got caught, we'd get fined.
And again it's obvious that Bush had nothing to do with creating the hurricane...

I'm even insulted that he would speak to an adult public as if we were curious little children wondering who created the hurricane...
He's the dumbass for thinking that.
stike 6 stein!


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 noway at all George Bush's fault that about 20 percent of New Orleans neglected to follow the plan.

Then he shouldn't of said that the planning wasn't satisfactory but then retract and play slap ass with Brown's rear and tell him (a federal director) that he did an outstanding job.

Obviously Bush knew he was in the hot seat about the hurricane response and shot his mouth off too soon because he too knew it was bs.
I'm sorry but why is there a federal agency created for emergency response if it's not their responsibility to respond in emergencies?
Bush appointed Brown for something other then his backround.
Because of this inadaquate decision, a finger is on him too.
Yes is the state and mayor's job, but for god sake stop protecting this president, he too should be held accountable for a decision that cost many people their lives by not responding to this disaster fast enough. As well as the govenor and mayor. Don't be wiping your ass with just them stein, your man is just as at fault.

strike 7

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.

Yes they were warned, how many trumped up weather warnings do you
hear about everytime a hurricane or storm is on it's way?
There is such a thing as de sensitization, and those people who chose not to evacuate didn't take it seriously enough. And for those that did but wanted to stay put did so because they didn't have anywhere else to go, didn't know where they were to go. Many people waited it out, including the reporter's that stayed down there while the hurricane was going on.

You see those dummies standing on the streets getting blown around telling us how strong the winds are.

This is what I mean by being de sensitized. You watch this on the news and think oh my goodness this guy is a retard, but it can't be as bad as he's making it out to be, he's still standing there, the wind didn't sweep him off his feet, the camera man still has his camera. They're doing the same old thing when it comes to storms...

It's like the boy who cried wolf. The wolf finally came but alot of people didn't believe it.

strike 8

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.

I'm not even going to dignify this with a response it's so assinine.



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.

Before the looting began people were waiting for food and water to arrive, these necessities didn't come for 5 days, what would you do?!

After 5 days of not eating or drinking and probably not sleeping very much, you become primal, all logic goes out the window, your scared, your hungry, your in SHOCK.
Obviously not THINKING clearly the way you or I, or those people in those helicopter's were.

Rape is no excuse and killing people is not excuse, from my understanding witnesses said these were very young men, there were gangster's in that dome and these are the guys who are already live outside the law.
It is really unfair to mesh these groups into one.

It's Bush's fault, it's the govenor's fault, and it's the mayor's fault, et all, it's a long list, not just Bush, but he is included for reason's I stated above.

Why Stein can't see this doesn't surprise me as he has his partisan sunglasses on.

strike 9

7.) George Bush is the least racist 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.

2 points here. One being about his mother's tasteless comment about poor. How could this women even make it out of that? Aren't we all human, didn't these people regardless of if they were poor deserved better treatment then what they got?! This woman has a couple of sons, and to have a mother that would say something like that and not speak out against this, tells me that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

2nd point is about appointing these people. Just because you see Rice and Powell in his cabinet, and perhaps gonzales one day doesn't not mean that he didn't consciously think about bringing these colored people into his cabinet to make him not look racist. Businesses do it all the time so people and activist groups don't hassle them.
It's also plausible Bush appointed these people to escape the criticism of being a racist if he just had all white people in his cabinet.

Racist and sexist. I'm sure he wanted to cover both sides when he made that decision. Not only does he have a black person in his cabinet, but a black chick at that. He frikkin killed two birds with one stone.

Stein is dismissing this possibility, a very real and plausible possibility.
But again he's got those shades on, tunnel vision would make it hard to see the other sides of things.

strike 10 .Call them names, call them stupid for not believing in your truths, thats fine, you too are just showing your ignorance and partisanship on this issue. Not to mention many of your points about what you thought other people think were purely made up by your own head.


I hear the Bush family is opening their home for adoption. Stein would make the perfect love child.

An excellent informative post TrueLies.

I, however, will not be making one.

Though I will respond to the actor Ben Stein's chain letter in the form I do to all the cast from Ferris Bueller's Day Off when they tell me what a hard working man this president is...analogous photoshop.

George Bush's Month Off

PS - Rooney eats it.