This Has Been An Absolute Bonanza For Bush. He Hit the Trifecta Again

[Solomon]

If I had the sound on my tv turned down, I'd think that America is at war with the black country of New Orleans.

I saw the media build up the CRIME CRIME VIOLENCE LOOTING MURDER RAPE BLACK MAN boogeyman to justify calling in troops on American soil.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there aren't criminals afoot, but the FOCUS is on the crime and "restore order" rather than the save lives thing. If a white person shoots a gun, it's to desperately get the attention of the rescue vehicles. If a black person does that, it's sniping at the rescue workers. I'm sick to death of hearing the "shot at" stories. So far I've not heard one policeman, fireman, paramedic or any other rescue worker was actually shot.

They are calling them "Refugees" and they are riding them around in military transports like refugees from some other country.

They are making a big show about the helicopters and all the military equipment. Dramatic pictures of helicopters lifting people one by one. NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN SAID ABOUT WHY THERE ARE NO FUCKING BOATS out there. I see people still stuck on their balconies after almost a week. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE BOATS. And please don't give me that "boats can't...." bullshit because this is water folks. Something boats and rafts are meant to work with.

And the number of troops being sent in is growing by the thousands every hour. Last I heard someway say eventually 60,000.

When they landed the "troops" they made a big show of restoring order. It's all being presented as though it's some military operation.

Mark my words. They will eventually be put in "Refugee Camps" built by Halliburton.

Now, before you flame me to death, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying the troops weren't necessary. But the media is making that the show and the focal point of it all. They're poking their chests out that they have done something. Very dehumanizing.

I do have a question that no one is asking. It keeps nagging me so I'm just going to go ahead and ask, flame be damned.

My question is, what happened to the white people who stayed behind?
Don't tell me there's not a significant poor white population in New Orleans. Why are almost all of the "refugees" African-Americans. Oh, excuse me, I forgot, the "refugees" must be black because they're the stupid, lazy, "not worth the air they breathe" poor people.

The images and the mindfuck being perpetrated on the american public is shameful. And out of the fear generated by the machine, it has firmly established the groundwork for military operations on American soil in relation to it's own "citizens."

Everybody is saying this is doom for Bush. Yeah like he's running for president again. He just got what they been drooling for for a long time.

Like he cares about a rating. Wake up and smell the coffee. Shit, it's strong enough.

And let me get something else off my chest while I'm at it. For my part, I think the victims of the huricane have acted with great dignity and patience and quite orderly given the hell they are going through. Yeah go ahead and paint everybody with the bad acts of the criminals.

Yep yep. He's a "war" president. How many times have we heard that. The whole "rescue operation has been staged to feature "military action". Sheppard Smith was hollering on Fox News yesterday that people were being held in the convention center and not allowed to leave by the military. Checkpoints had been set up.

He said there was one way out that people could walk, but that the troops wouldn't let them go. Now, I ask you. I want to know.

Why is it that the "refugees" could not be allowed to walk through the only neighborhood that leads out of that miserable place?

Please somebody answer this because I hope it's not because the surrounding population, having been stoked by the racist images broadcast continually, object to their presence. Please, I hope I'm wrong on this one.

I say to you, quite celebrating the "fall of Bush." He just got more powerful than you can ever imagine.

[Mythsaje]

1. More powerful?

Perhaps...but for how long?

[Shadder]

2. Your out of your mind

[stillcool]

3. wait for the riots...

Rodney King times the whole frigging country. There aren't enough troops to stop it. Its coming.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. We should not give them what they want

there will be protests but we must keep them peaceful. Otherwise we play right into their hands.

[stillcool]

9. i hope so....

i hope some real leaders emerge from this to organize and give voice to the rage thats surely bubbling up. i can only imagine what it must feel like to be a person of color in this nation today.

[knowbody0]

4. there are no answers to your questions

only one thing rings true: WE ARE FUCKED. just what hungry dehydrated filthy frightened people need is men with guns telling them to stay put.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

5. Right. Whatever you say.

[Glenda]

7. I don't think running a humane effort like a war is "feel-good" for people

Also, in this "war," we are seeing a lot of the footage, and know when * is screwing up.

Probably also a lot of people in the US are having Labor Day weekend, and not necessarily looking at the "photo ops" on TV. Or they saw so much destruction earlier that they can't watch.

[buff2]

8. No flaming from me! You hit the nail on the head.

The whole thing has made me sick....and ashamed of our media and the traitors running this country.

[despairing optimist]

10. Recommended, but I'm being naughty doing so

Not that I want you flamed by posters lining up like those passengers slapping that hysterical girl in Airplane!, but since we're not Bush zombies here and we don't have bobbleheads, we can entertain at least two contradictory thoughts in our heads at one time.

Where are the white refugees? I can't say for certain, of course, but my guess is that poor white people are fewer than six degrees of separation from a ride out of town. They probably know someone with wheels, whereas the people of color left behind most likely either don't or their friends' cars were already full. New Orleans has the fewest number of cars per capita of any large US city, including to this NYer's amazement my hometown. And who has the cash to make car payments, most likely?

As for why the poor people couldn't leave while the tourists got priority escorts, I think that's a race and class issue. Tourists are New Orleans's meal ticket, and therefore its future. They also have homes and other clear destinations. The poor residents who lost everything had none of these advantages, and the authorities feared the worst because, absent any positives, they generally assume nothing but negatives and 99% of perfectly decent people were held back out of fear of what the other 1% would do if left to wander the countryside.

Handling the frail, sick, infants, and elderly is another matter that was triaged not so much by need as by class. Money talks. It's an ugly lesson to learn under any circumstances, but this week no one wanted to hear it and it's been in our faces regardless of what we want.

As for Bush coming out stronger than ever, I'm not going to flame you, but how on earth can you assert that when even Fox News and CNN are criticizing him? Have you seen Maureen Dowd's scathing column in today's New York Times? There's also a highly corrosive editorial there too. And the Washington Post has been livid. Even the Biloxi paper. People are mad as hell and the consumerist and TV-induced stupor they've been in for the past decade is finally ending. I'm not going to follow you and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, at least not yet.

[leeroysphitz]

15. As for Bush coming out stronger than ever

I think he may have been refering to the fact the the commander in chief of the U.S. Armed forces has just managed to put his military in charge of the single largest entry point for this nations oil, not to mention the area with the largest refining capability in the world. I'm not going along with the tin foil just yet but that FACT does give one pause.

(spelling)

[despairing optimist]

19. Bush has always been CiC, and the oil supply has always been

under federal control regardless of whether there is a military presence. When things are going smoothly, the military aren't necessary, but it's clear that oil is a federal issue even if the oil itself is in private, corporate hands.

If this is some indirect way of claiming a fascist takeover, I'm not buying it. The public doesn't support Bush anywhere near what would be necessary for him to assume powers beyond what the Constitution grants him. Yes, I've read the Elements of Fascism list, but the MSM isn't snapping to attention anymore and the majority of Americans aren't wild-eyed flag-wavers hailing their leader wherever he sets foot and whatever he does.

It's an emergency and, like it or not, Bush is well within his authority to order the military to secure a vital national resource. Any president in his position would do the same under the circumstances, and I wish any president but this one had.

[leeroysphitz]

21. agreed. (mostly)

I never said the CIC was somehow acting beyond the scope of this crisis. What is being done should have been done sooner actually. I was simply pointing out that, regardless of the reasons why, the president now has direct and potentially "extra-constitutional" control of the area containing a third of the nations oil resources. This is a fact-no? I'm not being chicken little claiming that the "big take over" is under way. I'm just saying that I've read about "hydraulic despotism" and having a corrupt administration comprised of former big oil exec's and CEOs having that much control fall into their laps makes me nervous. Is that unreasonable?

[despairing optimist]

23. No, not unreasonable. You have a right to be nervous,

and I have a right to be a vigilant citizen ready to raise hell if the president overreaches and asserts extra-constitutional powers. I'm going on a limb and asserting that Congress will be more of a check on Bush after Katrina and Iraq (this last one, thanks to Plame, DSM, Rove and DeLay in damage control mode). The MSM has already started to resume its adversary function, in large part anyway. There will always be apologists for power, so don't expect universal skepticism and criticism.

We've had one corrupt administration after the next, but one comprising, as you say, Big Oil people has been cause for worry from its first day in office. Up to last year, the Bush people were able to control the press and Congress effectively, but I believe their window of opportunity has nearly closed. They remain dangerous, but judging from how they've reacted to Katrina (and the tsunami too; remember the three-day delay to act, the puny aid package, and then the larger package once the public reacted negatively to the first one?), they are clearly testing the waters, so to speak, to see what they can get away with. When they sense resistance, strong resistance, they back down. Bush just admitted his first mistake this week, that he didn't react to Katrina soon enough. Why no one harped on this in the press is beyond me.

The key is to keep the pressure on all branches of government and on the MSM. Jump at the slightest hint of abuse of power on Bush's part and indifference on Congress's or the MSM's part. These guys have hearts of stone, brains of mud, blood of ice, and feet of clay. They'll fall. They're not as invincible as you think they are.

[BenDavid]

11. I disagee!

More powerful? Excuse me but in the first instance when america was looking for leadership at least the ass wipe showed up in New York 4 days later, but Americans at that time were able to over look his responses because we all were too shocked by what had happened.the surprise or to have a play on words, the shock and awe of the planes into the WTC.......Not this time. Americans saw first hand how this man handled this situation because most if not all were concerned about this storm when it entered the Gulf of Mexico and we all saw what was being reported on Saturday and Sunday. This was going to be a category 5 hurrican heading dead on for N.O....We all watched. We all knew there was going to be destruction....There was no excuse for his lack of leadership in this instance...He was too busy speaking on Tuesday and getting a guitar, and then on Wednesday he was licking his finger from getting a cake along with that ass mc cain......that is the story that we all should be telling and asking...where was george? and tell anyone and everyone that will read, listen, what he was doing as Americans suffered....and he will not get any bump in the polls. Hell it would not surprise me that he fell a few more points.... Yes, I disagree with you on this one....

[bpilgrim]

12. "great dignity and patience" - that has really come through for me, too

i think that is the one fly in their ointment... they figured if they were lied to often enough and left with no food or water that when armed forces showed up they'd be rioting, but they figured wrong, we all know what they say about the best laid plans.

but i am still very concerned what our armed forces will do next considering who got the helm. :scared:

nice post :toast:

BTW: don't know if you seen this yet but i have a katrina media archive of the past week...
http://news.globalfreepress.com/gallery/index.php?cat=19

we need to make sure we are well informed about what is really going on in NO.

peace

[titoresque]

13. you've got a perspective I hadnt

given a lot of thought to. You may be right......I really can't imagine that this machine doesnt know what it is doing. Besides I thought from the get go that this was a FEMA/Military excercise on us the bystanders and those in the immediate area. It was a huge virtual war game.
I think its too easy to dismiss George the drooling idiot because he's so pathetic, and then there are so many others who reduce their efforts to thinking it's Rove and Cheney...but this thing is mucvh bigger than that.....and many more powerful people involved than Dick,Bush and Rove...many more!!!

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. They made a mistake of broadcasting this. Americans are seeing

just what a miserable failure Pinhead ** is! I don't think he is more powerful now, not at all.

[mzmolly]

16. "BLACK MAN boogeyman"

you are absolutely right. They essentially used racism (restoring order) to justify not sending help. Reporters at the Convention Center said in spite of people waiting 4 days people there were very patient. Further, it took ONE DAY after Bush's photo op for troops to move in. It could have/should have been done 3-4 days sooner period. They did NOTHTING for days - there is no excuse.

[Karenina]

17. People all over the world

have a "personal" connexion to NOLA, one of the most vibrant multi-culti cities on the planet. *dauphin is already persona non grata in these parts. We just wait for you Amis to WAKE UP, smell the stench and flush this turd and his enablers down the toilet.

[dchill]

18. Sorry, you're just wrong.

But I can understand why this scares you. Bush has just ended his power. Republicans will jump ship over this, because they can't afford to appear racist, and because they're painfully aware of the Plame indictments coming down in a few weeks.

[Solomon]

20. Republicans!!!??? Are you serious? Not even any gutless democrats

are saying anything. They are too scared of being accused of politicizing it.

People can be mad at Bush all they want. It has no effect on his power.

He can change a damn color code, and get you all jumping through hoops. Let's be real here. He has worked the art of governing through fear to new heights.

All he's got to do is say boo, and you guys will authorize anything. Especially, especially, when that old race wound is used.
Nothing succeeds as well as that kind of fear mongering.

[dchill]

24. I have never "jumped through his hoops"...

and he has never fooled me. When I saw that he would run in '99, I knew that he would "pick a fight" with Saddam - with the help of the PNAC.

"You guys"; "that old race wound" ??? And who are you? Are you accusing me of racism? His racism will be part of his undoing. I don't know who you are or where you are from, but I don't think you know those things about me, either.

Bush is just about finished; and I AM finished.

[Solomon]

22. Im kicking it myself cause I'm still mad.