This was sent to me by a friend, a staunch democrat. It is by a well known conservative in the US, Ben Stein. Before you bring the ire of the gods to smite me in my house -- please remeber I'm only the messenger. I thought it would be a good idea to hear from the other side:
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.
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. Please click here to subscribe.
AND WHENEVER HE OPENS HIS MOUTH HE ONLY MUMBLES OR BLABBERS LOAD OF SHIT!