a must read from Ben Stein with rebutts by yours truly....

By Ben Stein
Published 9/2/2005 11:59:59 PM
http://www.americanprowler.com/util/...sp?art_id=8693
A few truths, for those who have ears and eyes and care to know the truth:
(**My comments in bold..)

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.
**I agree.....

2.) George Bush did not cause the hurricane. Hurricanes have been happening for eons. George Bush did not create them or unleash this one.
**No body has yet to say George Caused the Hurricane...Although I hear Karl Rove had something to do with it....but he didn't NAME the hurricane, therefore, committed no crime...

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

**True. Speaking of the alien birth, someone needs to remind him he was NOT BORN IN TEXAS..this demon spawn was birthed in Connecticut..Texas was just more accepting of his drug and alcohol addiction.

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.
**George said during the campaign it "needed more study"....so how much study has been done to date...um none. A month ago he said global warming "needed more study". I know he isn't a big reader, so maybe someone could make a pop-up book for him.

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.
**Most Evacuees said they couldn't afford the gas to get out town. Plus, the hurricane wasn't their problem...try LEVEE. Maybe this is would be easier for the posterchild for NCLB......3 years in a row Bush cuts cash for Army Corp and FEMA....Bush Ignores Levee legislation and all calls by senators for help...Rain Came down from Sky (and no, it isn't Jesus crying...)...Lots of wind came too....people leave town....people survived the hurricane....people come back to city...Levee go "boom" and break...in come water ...lots of water...people couldn't leave...1 day, 2 day, 3 day 4 national guard shows up with W to hand out food water way too late....America pissed.

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.
**No, but the AK47s they were shooting were supposed to be done away with remember the assault rifle ban that was overturned????...but the NRA (aka penile implant up bush's ass)....said they were for hunting. Plus, most people said they were just trying to get their attention.

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.
**This one was so good I sent it to the NAACP....Bush has yet to meet with them...unpresidented? I think so!!!! He loves the Hispanic...though...Chimichangas!!!!!


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.
**Emergency by definition is something that is UnFORSEEN. They knew the hurricane was coming. FEMA wasn't mobilized. The Military units in the area weren't mobilized. F is for Federal, E is for Emergency, M is for Management, A is for aaaaashit!!! we screwed up again!!! They waited too long to help...that is it. Even Bill O'reilly agrees. A military presence wasn't felt in the affected areas until Bush rode in on his big white horse and rolled up his Brooks Brother's sleeves and made it look like he brought the calvary with him...I am just surprised he didn't decend from a helicoptor (remember the "mission accomplished", aircraft carrier, joke) and proclaim Victory over Katrina...Now the rebuilding can commence and soon Louisiana will have a constitutional democracy...he hates the French(law).

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.
** What what what????

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.
** Oh, no you didn't!!!! Stupendous incompetence???Warning Bush ahead of time while he was in Crawford is Stupendous Incompetence...the gov. wrote him a lenghly letter begging for help, supplies, etc. on August 29!!! Another memo he ignored... If not for the mayor of New Orleans and its city authorities and its generous people...there would be alot more dead...oh, and the CRIMINALS were let out of jail cause they couldn't contain them..all while begging for the national guard.

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.
**oh, but it is so much fun...I am sure it will again prosper...in fact, I hear that Jeff Gannon is preparing to prostitute himself out there to help rebuild the economy. There are a lot of (wonderful) gay men in New Orleans, I am sure he will DO JUST GREAT....if Karl can bear to let him go..(pout)


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.
**DAMN!!! It is a dramatic lesson of how UNPREPARED we are for dissaster, man made or mother nature....Maybe if George Bush wouldn't have cut funding, then engineers would be able to reinforce the levee system....This is an across the board failure of the Bush administration..hands down...

God bless all of those dear people who are suffering so much, and God bless those helping them, starting with George Bush.
I agree with all your words here, except for the last two... and I wil replace them with "the American People"


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.