From the Washington Post, “Projects Plentiful in Louisiana”:
Before Hurricane Katrina breached a levee on the New Orleans Industrial Canal, the Army Corps of Engineers had already launched a $748 million construction project at that very location. But the project had nothing to do with flood control. The Corps was building a huge new lock for the canal, an effort to accommodate steadily increasing barge traffic.
Except that barge traffic on the canal has been steadily decreasing.
In Katrina’s wake, Louisiana politicians and other critics have complained about paltry funding for the Army Corps in general and Louisiana projects in particular. But over the five years of President Bush’s administration, Louisiana has received far more money for Corps civil works projects than any other state, about $1.9 billion; California was a distant second with less than $1.4 billion, even though its population is more than seven times as large.
Much of that Louisiana money was spent to try to keep low-lying New Orleans dry. But hundreds of millions of dollars have gone to unrelated water projects demanded by the state’s congressional delegation and approved by the Corps, often after economic analyses that turned out to be inaccurate. Despite a series of independent investigations criticizing Army Corps construction projects as wasteful pork-barrel spending, Louisiana’s representatives have kept bringing home the bacon.
[…]
Yesterday, congressional defenders of the Corps said they hoped the fallout from Hurricane Katrina would pave the way for billions of dollars of additional spending on water projects. Steve Ellis, a Corps critic with Taxpayers for Common Sense, called their push “the legislative equivalent of looting.”
Louisiana’s politicians have requested much more money for New Orleans hurricane protection than the Bush administration has proposed or Congress has provided. In the last budget bill, Louisiana’s delegation requested $27.1 million for shoring up levees around Lake Pontchartrain, the full amount the Corps had declared as its “project capability.” Bush suggested $3.9 million, and Congress agreed to spend $5.7 million.
Administration officials also dramatically scaled back a long-term project to restore Louisiana’s disappearing coastal marshes, which once provided a measure of natural hurricane protection for New Orleans. They ordered the Corps to stop work on a $14 billion plan, and devise a $2 billion plan instead.
But overall, the Bush administration’s funding requests for the key New Orleans flood-control projects for the past five years were slightly higher than the Clinton administration’s for its past five years. Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, the chief of the Corps, has said that in any event, more money would not have prevented the drowning of the city, since its levees were designed to protect against a Category 3 storm, and the levees that failed were already completed projects. Strock has also said that the marsh-restoration project would not have done much to diminish Katrina’s storm surge, which passed east of the coastal wetlands.
[my emphasis]
As more and more of this kind of information emerges, the Democratic leadership’s rash and woefully uninformed decision to pin the Katrina devastation on Bush Administration failings—from the left flanks of Pelosi, Dean, and Leahy to the Clinton / Lieberman “moderates,” along with their media proxies, PACs, and blogland sympathizers — will come to be seen as one of their biggest blunders in a long line of partisan blame-laying blunders since Bush took over the White House early in 2001.
Early attempts to paint the narrative of Katrina as a Bushco bungle have not taken (despite a vicious media push—some intentional, some purely incidental to the sensationalist bent of today’s tabloid journalism), and more and more, the legacy media is easing back and doing its homework, looking at the law, follow the decision making trail, arriving on scene to witness the unprecendented efforts of rescue crews and aid workers—all of which will lead, one hopes, to a more honest assessment of what was done well and what needs improvement.
But for now, I think it’s fair to say that first attempts to politicize this tragedy have been adequately repulsed.
For which I am grateful.
See also, Pardon My English, Macsmind, Blogs for Bush, The Left Coaster, Catallarchy, and Michelle Malkin
(h/t Tom Pechinski)
But for now, I think it’s fair to say that first attempts to politicize this tragedy have been adequately repulsed.
Make that “repulsive.”
If the WaPo keeps this stuff, it may actually accede to the mantle “Paper of Record.” But I wouldn’t bet on it.
Yeah, no bet, Fresh Air. That 75% dem-voter journalist figure won’t let that take hold.
Meanwhile, Major Garrett may swipe that Pulitzer right out of ol’ Shep’s hands.
tw: returned; keys to the gate of information will not be
Courage, Hal.
In advance.
Jeff;
Good call on the pork. Much of this is a jobs program with unintended consequences. Call it subsidized living and dieing.
If there weren’t man-made flood protection systems and federal disaster bail-out monies, nobody (well, few) would live in New Orleans, or in close proximity to the Mississippi River because it would be too risky, i.e. life threatening.
Hundreds of miles of flood and river control systems have been constructed, resulting in a highly complex, tightly-coupled, man-made system that is prone to failure, and catastrophic failure, at that–by definition. (Note: This revises my comments regarding “Normal Accident” Theory I had emailed you about.)
And people are calling for “fixes” for what Mother Nature ravages?
And the response is to build more protection systems, thereby encouraging more people and more development in harms way, when we should do the exact opposite–discouraging people from the risky behavior that no one can protect them from, i.e. since lack of evacuation was the proximate cause of the deaths, living in harms way is the problem. (This is not blaming the victim. This is blaming a government spending/pork system that induces people to live in risky locations under the guise of risk prevention, where “prevention” is not possible.)
Jeff, I’d love to agree with you, but you are assuming that the great unwashed will learn about this. My local rag is still flogging the “Bush blew it” angle.
Well, the polls look promising—sometimes common sense is enough, I guess—but what I mean is, the larger legacy media outlets are starting to gain some perspective.
The lead on NBC nightly news was pretty much “Bush blew it”.
Maybe. But it ain’t sticking, and there’s plenty of info out there now to dispute such nonsense.
At least, I hope so.
You’ve been a lonely island of sanity in a sea of lunacy through this whole ordeal Jeff…
I agree, the tide has turned in the sense that a lot of overlooked facts that undermine the original narrative are finally coming out. I also note that Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, et al suddenly seem less eager for an immediate investigation.
Assuming no evidence of serious malfeasance on FEMA’s part comes up (and it’s certainly possible, although with all the attempts to manufacture it, if there were something real there, it seems like it would have been found) I predict the next step will be a sort of equivalence argument: everybody screwed up. You see a lot of people saying that already (without any evidence that it’s true of FEMA). That too seems like an unacceptable outcome, if it’s not true.
The second thing to remember is: this is a LONG way from over. There will be virtually unlimited future opportunities for the partisans and their shills to gripe that this or that element of the recovery, evacuee care, etc is imperfect, racially motivated, slow, etc.
At some point, there will be a limit to how much money it makes sense to spend. I predict there will be calls for massive handouts to the victims, outside the limits of unemployment, welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, etc. Generous aid is certainly called for, but at some point, there will be a political clash over how much is enough (since the amount one *could* spend is basically infinite, and even that will be characterized as stingy, racist, mean-spirited, etc by the usual suspects). And that clash will likely overlap with an election season.
So even if the current shameful attempt to politicize the suffering fails, it would be naive to think that there won’t be more shameful attempts. After all, have they ever learned before?
I am hopeful, but my eyes linger over that “honest assessment” part of your post. Not a strong suit of the liberals I know, who are of the “you repeat it often enough, it becomes fact” school of thought.
I mean, cripes, they still drag out the “selected, not elected” mantra, despite all the proof that proves otherwise.
I haven’t read thru all the threads below, but, if no one’s mentioned it:
Pelosi blew a gasket today on CNN.
After some CNN interviewer chick actually had the gall to ask her real questions about the local and state response in NO/LA, our gal Nance fumed:
“ If you want to make a case for the White House, go on their payroll.”
I love her. More Pelosi on telly, Get her on 24/7!
damn, change that to “evidence” that proves otherwise.
TW; cost, as in the “cost” of drinking Moosehead before commenting.
Nancy Pelosi has a great rack.
Sorry to ruin your day, but those ain’t funbags. They’re sacks of bile.
Here’s an interesting factoid I pulled out of the comments at Mudville Gazette:
(from commenter Paul T Graham)
Just keeps getting curioser and curioser.
Jeff, prepare for the latest Zogby poll, showing Bush’s approval rating at 41%, to be touted by the usual suspects …
Thanks, ST. I was talking more about the polls assessing “blame” for the hurricane relief efforts. I expect Bush’s approval ratings to jump once the Iraqi constitution is approved.
Knock wood.
Jeff,
A what if. I’m certainly no expert on Gov’t Grants and working relationships between municipalities and the Feds. However, I think it would be SOP for FEMA to require NOLA & LA to write a comprehensive ERP, which NOLA had. It would also make sense that NOLA was required to submit a copy of said ERP to FEMA for review.
If I’m sitting at FEMA and a Cat 4/5 ‘Cane is barrelling towards NOLA, I would probably pull out the FEMA copy of my NOLA ERP and start reviewing exactly what the city is going to do. There’s probably some stuff in there about proper communications, etc. that are technical, but necessary for smooth operation.
After reviewing said ERP I would probably place a call to NOLA (Mayor or his designate) and see if there is any changes I’m not aware of and to make sure the plan was to be implemented.
It would be nice to know if that phone call was ever made and if so, who was on the other end of the line.
Just a thought.
tw:put, as in “Put some thought into it”
Nancy Pelosi is a woman?!
You’re putting me on, right?
Next you’ll be trying to tell us that Andrew Sullivan is a man…
PARTISAN SHILL! BUSH APOLOGIST!
rls—yup. At some point, documents will start showing up, hopefully after the job of cleaning up is done.
LagunaDave —
Was reading some of your comments over at Mudville. Quick question that’s been bothering me (and my wife asked it instinctively when I told her about the Red Cross being kept out by the locals): Why would the Governor want to, essentially, smoke out those in the Superdome and Convention Center? What’s the motive?
When you come up with the answer to that question, let me know. Malkin has a link to an individual horror story, if true, that makes that callous move look charitable.
According to this guy, they were turned back at gunpoint, intentionally lied to to get them to move and had their food and water taken away. Pretty sordid.
rls –
I could be wrong, but I think there is a pretty strict hierarchy:
city/county <-> state <-> feds
This makes sense, because the state is clearly responsible for (and supposed to coordinate with) its cities, and having the feds maintain liaison with 50 states PLUS a much larger number of cities and counties, sounds like something they would avoid in the early stages.
The mayor does not have sovereign authority over his city (witness Blanco recently vetoing Nagin’s forced evacuation “order”). The governor DOES have sovereign authority over the entire state, however.
I think basically if the governor and the state don’t do their job and don’t hand off to the feds, the cities and counties are pretty much screwed. As we’ve just witnessed.
Laguna Dave,
I agree with you, however someone in FEMA had to have a copy of the city ERP. I would think that they would call someone (maybe Blanco?) to insure that the plan was being followed. NOLA is a major port city with a large Corps of Engr contingent.
I just have to believe that there was a conversation between FEMA and someone in authority, either in the state or the city. I could be wrong.
rls, there are a few things in the story you link that set off some alarm bells in my head. one, they keep mentioning c-rations. nobody issued c-rations anymore. checked with rto about anything in an mre that might set off a metal detector and he said, “no, i know why you’re asking, and i’m pretty certain it’s a bogus story” fwiw.
RLS, I suspect that there were phone calls like that going between FEMA and New Orleans. Something got pushed up the levels to President Bush to get him concerned. The President doesn’t spontaneously say “Gee, I bet Gov Blanco would like me to call her.”
rls,
They’ve been discussing the story for a good portion of the day over at Samzidata.net.
The commentors have been able to corroborate a few items in the story with comments in various articles, but other portions of the story ring false as well. (ie. almost anything that has to do with the military: mre’s, a unit being shorthanded due to deployments..etc)
Interesting reading in the comments there.
Well Junkyard Blog has offered one pretty cynical answer (in response to another), which I’m not prepared to buy into.
If you ask me, right now I’m gonna say it was an awful decision by somebody in Lousiana who was trying to do the right thing under tremendous pressure, until proven otherwise. To attribute the decision to some kind of misanthropic or politically calculated motive in the absence of any clear evidence would be to sink to the level of the Sharpton’s, Jackson’s, Pelosi’s, Olberman’s, etc. And that’s about as low as you can go.
One thing that seems very odd to me though: Wouldn’t having Red Cross food/water distribution at a few places throughout the city, like the Superdome/Convention Center etc, actually help accelerate (rather than hinder) the post-Katrina exodus?
People would gravitate to such locations from around the neighboring areas when they got hungry/thirsty, and once they got there, you could feed them, triage them and then put them on a bus out, which is what you want.
On the other hand, to the extent people had to forage for food and supplies (as opposed to DVDs and plasma TVs), they would tend to disperse from the evacuation sites back into the city, which is what you don’t want.
Along the lines of Jeff’s point about the barking moonbat narrative failing to take hold see this:
http://www.sluggerotoole.com/archives/2005/09/ill_wind_may_no.php
Instapundit linked to it, so maybe folks have read it already.
I’m not familiar with the author, but usually the Irish Times is a festering sore of anti-Bush and anti-American propaganda, so the column was pretty surprising to me.
The Democrats seem determined to hang Bush no matter what. Nothing else matters.
The hate Bush-Cheney-Rove show has run to empty houses for five years. During that time the Democrats have neglected creating proposals and rebuilding the party at local levels. Thus they bet everything upon a major disaster for America that might throw the GOP out.
Even Friedman in the NYT has noted it is not a good campaign strategy to hope your country fails.
Now they won’t participate in the hearings about Katrina. Again they try holding their breath.
If Frist and Hastert have any sense (talk about a debate) they will just create a joint panel and appoint their members. But not convene it. When asked “why?” they should say they are waiting for the Democrats to make their appointments.
The Turing Machine writes the commentary once again.
TW: Cases. Bottled water or litigation?
Well, as depicted it is a sordid story.
On the other hand, Bradshaw and Slonsky (the two EMT’s who wrote the story) are both union bosses, and affiliated with the Socialist Worker Online (where the story was originally published).
That doesn’t mean the story is false, but there are good reasons to be skeptical about their objectivity and choice of what to embellish and what to omit.
They complain, among other things, that “some” of the buses that evacuated them weren’t air conditioned. The horror.
Then there is also this:
This sounds a little too much like Pravda for my taste. We know that the LANG unit in Iraq is the 256th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, which has been there for a full year and was scheduled to come home this month. The whole Brigade is there, so it sounds pretty fishy that a soldier would say “a large fraction of their unit” was in Iraq, since the entire brigade has been there for a year. Unless by “their unit” they mean “The entire LANG”.
But only 35% of the LANG is in Iraq, and all the governor had to do was pick up the phone and over 100,000 National Guard troops from around the country were waiting to be called in under the state-to-state compacts. The problem is she didn’t call for large-scale reinforcement until September 1.
Wait, wait, wait…there are incomplete Corp Projects that are older than I am! Do we really think that this disaster will make the OMB and the Corp shore up its current projects and then take on new ones. Serious doubt must ensue!
Wait. George Bush was responsible for the entire Katrina response as of August 27. Haven’t you read Andrew Sullivan? He says it’s so, so it must be true.
TW: Being
Cheez, now I’m hearing guys kvetching about Cheney again, as if he has some undue amount of influence in this whole process. In the alternate reality I come from, Vice Presidents cast tie-breaker votes in the Senate, attend funerals, and make stupid statements useful for politically motivated news saturation bombing. Yet in this dimension evidently they have the power to shift planets in their orbits while not exerting Rasputin-like hypnotic powers over their mindless underlings who, were they not so mindless, would be equally evil and do the same planet shifting stuff.
Who do I have to suck off to get politics added to the DSM? (Turing word: “suddenly,” as in “Some brain-damaged right wing blogroach suddenly began asking questions about the use of unsolicited oral sex as a bribe to tamper with the contents of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual).
Malkovich Malkovich?
Too right mate!
Jeff, did you ban the ‘rezident’ trolls or did the weight of evidence finally cause them to spontaneously combust?
Looks like the Bush Administration missed their best opportunity to get some real help right when they needed it most. The golden hour. And if it is true, Jeff, that you are ideally against the politicisation of Katrina, I guess because of the magnitude of the humanitarian disaster, then you should have no objection to the deployment of the 1,500 fully mobilised hurricane trained volunteer medical force. And if that be the case, then you would agree that it is logical that it has to be Bush and Bush (Admin) only that cops the blame for not accessing these medical assets.
link:
oops: link.
OK, sure there is that familiar Fidel flourish, he may be grandstanding, but he obviously was genuine in his offer. It’s also rude not to respond to his offer.
THREE CHEERS FOR LIBERALISM!
Now the Democrat Officials are stealing registered firearms from legitmate gun owners (unless they are rich and have armed security guards like Sean Penn)…
http://instapundit.com/archives/025413.php
LET’S GO LIBERALISM! So glad they can take this from a 100% fuck-up by Democrats to a 150% fuck-up.
Will they blame Bush when the number of rapes and murders adds even more corpses to their watch?
Libralism is a mental disorder.
Leftism = Slave Morality.
Indeed. I think a fair response would be, “Dude, we’ve seen the condition of your hospitals, and uh, no thanks.
TW: required. Reading.
*Sigh* So, not accepting the contingent from old Fidel is clearly an indictment of Bush’s handling of the situation?
Ye gods, where does one even begin to dissect the layer-upon-layer-upon-layer of fallacy contained in that concept?
You moron. Too many guns was the reason for the lawlessness of the first week.
Anyway, back to my point that FEMA, Bush’s payback to his early campaign team, has no idea; they had no establised procedures for assessing what aid they needed: [url=”http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9234045/” target=”_blank”]U.S. slow to accept foreign help
FEMA review process delays arrival of assistance[/url]
TW: gone. I’ll let you think about it
sorry ‘bout the link
TW: leave. Can I get paranoid yet?
Kathleen Blanco’s dog ate her homework.
The NYT article he links reveals that, although Bush wasn’t “freaking the fuck out”, the administration was exploring every legal avenue to get help into LA.
tw: data; the picture changes with every bit
You can’t if you take Jeff’s stance of not politicising (or in Jeff’s actual case of not being the first to politicise) the tragedy.
They did not accept the offer because they had no idea of how to utilise it. Simple incompetance
TW: defense.ive
Right. So in order to NOT politicize it, we have to take seriously the grandstanding of a tinhorn facist who IS politicizing it. Gotcha.
“You moron. Too many guns was the reason for the lawlessness of the first week.”
Those with firearms (mostly middle-class, the police and the rich movie-stars with security guards) were left alone.
The helpless (unarmed) were just sheep waiting to be slaughtered. Many were raped, beaten to death, or stabbed or had their throats slit.
So why does Waddard and the Left support the beatings and stabbing of poor black children? I am just raising questions here…
Waddard, why do you and the Democrats support the rape and stabbing of poor children of color?
I am raising issues and you keep failing to answer the questions that I am raising. Perhaps because you are racist and fascist?
You see Brown was a journo, then campaign manager for Bush and then was given FEMA to bring his text-book emergency management experience to bear.
The results speak for themselves. Head towards unacceptable and keep going and eventually witness the result speaking for themselves and clearly. You are what you eat, er, reap whatcha sow and when you give a journalist the top EM job you are just begging for a whipping. Tell me, can any American honestly put their hand on their heart now and say that they can truely trust the Bush Admin to be at all effective in the event of a major, major terrorist attack? Wasn’t there supposed to be a shake-up of this sort of thing after 9/11?
Or can you just trust him to blame the locals of whatever city gets hit? He’s good at that.
tw: serious. Get. Impeach Bush.
Waddard ignores the issues I have raised. Does Waddard not answer because Waddard is a racist and fascist? Why does Waddard and the Left support policies which directly lead rape and stabbings of children of color?
Impeach the Democrat governor and mayor. They support policies which rape and stab poor black children.
I’d love to be wrong on this, but I don’t think I am, the first, loudest response is the one remembered. If I was a conspiracy theorist I would have to say that after 9/11 the Democratic machine has been launching spin attaks against the administration for just about anything. I would say that at some point after 1996 it was written in the playbook to get their spin out faster, louder and longer than the truth. The reason I suspect this is that not only are there people out there who still think W stole the 2000 election, but there are people out there who think he stole the 2004 election, still feel that the only reason we went to war in Iraq was WMD’s, that we’ve killed well over a million innocent Iraqis and the old standby and probably the impetus for this strategy, Bill Clinton was impeached for lying about sex. (They never say to whom)
The problem is that after the first couple of days people will get tired of hearing about Katrina, they already have, I think and the story’s locked in. Bush screwed up, they got it on all of the networks for about a week, non stop and most people, even if they have internet access aren’t going to bother to dig any deeper into the story until some mainstream media powerhouse does an in-depth expose on the local response to the disaster, and I don’t mean Fox News, I mean 60 Minutes.
Later, when historians go back to the primary source material, they won’t go to the internet, they’ll pick up the old newspapers and periodicals, they’ll interview people who were alive at the time, and maybe look at some old videotape and they will come to the same conclusion. It’s all Bush’s fault.
Maybe, 20 years from now, PBS will show a Canadian documentary on the disaster that raises some controversy, but by that time ABC Family will be showing full-frontal nudity and no-one will be watching. PBS, not ABC Family.
I’m pretty depressed about this. I guess I’ll pull out my Katrina and the Waves and go walking on sunshine.
TW; addition, as in this plus that means I’m going to hell.
You were there, were you? You got to a computer pretty quick. Do you have proof to back your assertions, or does it fit with your party line. They havent even begun counting the bodies and already you have the statistics.
By the way, the movie stars et al wouldn’t need guns if no one had guns. That’s my point. Hey we get big hurricanes in Australia. And when they hit major cities and flatten them, just like in NO we don’t get anybody shooting anyone. ‘Cos we leave our guns on the farms and it’s the Aussie way to focus on fixing the problem rather than hoping to shore up insecurities by packing iron.
BTW – I’m not left. If that is who your beef is with then you have the wrong guy here.
Waddard has not addressed the issue of why he/she hates black poor children. He has no proof that legal gunowners shot anyone, and has chosen to ignore mulitiple reports of people being stabbed, rape or having their throats slit (i.e. not shot), as well as reports of suburbanites defending their property and lives with firearms.
Clearly the Left supports the rape and murder of poor black children. I am just raising questions to why Waddard supports rape and murder…of childeren…who are poor and black…is it because he/she is racist and fascist? Waddard has no answers.
The Left can’t be trusted with power. They are racist and fascist.
Liberalism (i.e. socialism) is a mental distorder.
Leftism = Slavery
By the way, the movie stars et al wouldn’t need guns if no one had guns. That’s my point. Hey we get big hurricanes in Australia. And when they hit major cities and flatten them, just like in NO we don’t get anybody shooting anyone. ‘Cos we leave our guns on the farms and it’s the Aussie way to focus on fixing the problem rather than hoping to shore up insecurities by packing iron.
Yeah, Australia really has a grip on violent crime. That may play, Wadard, with those who don’t follow Australian media, or have access to outlets like Fairfax, but we’re not all ignorant Seppos here.
But tell me, Wadard, no cobblers, please, how do you go about “fixing the problem” if persons not inclined to follow the law in the first place (including, *gasp* laws mandating gun control) are firing upon said “fixers”? If roving bands, some of them apparently led by NOPD officers gone rogue, are preying on all and sundry?
” I’m not left”
You are racist and fascist…clearly you are… since you didn’t answer the questions I raised. So therefor you are a Leftist, because they are racist and fascist.
Look, I’m just trying to create a national and international discussion on how insane, racist and fascsit the Left is because they support the rape and stabbing of poor black kids and how they can’t be trusted with power. Why are you tring to surpress my right to make such a discussion? Are you in favor of censorship?
Why is Waddard and the Left in favor of censorship? Who made you the speach police?
Because that is your assertion and not worthy of my effort defending.
The burden of proof is on you my friend … you made the assertion.
I just know what I know, and that is guns is not the answer. I am none of those things you have called me which, by the way, does nothing to advance your case but rather diminishes your stature and would seem to be a waste of emotional energy on your part.
That’s Speech-Police to you, mate. Get it right!
Wadard/Jekyll:
You moron. Too many guns was the reason for the lawlessness of the first week.
Wadard/Hyde:
Do you have proof to back your assertions, or does it fit with your party line.
I say let them continue their conversation alone. Especially since they refuse to address the questions raised about their hatred of black poor children.
The situation in NOLA compelled me to go out and buy a gun, Waddard.
You are welcome to your opinion reagrding firearms, but as the situation in NOLA attests, your opinions will mean precisely nothing if and when the fecal matter hits the flooded streets.
BTW – I’m not left.
And People’s Weekly World is an alt-weekly with the usual assortment of personals from lesbians, swingers and the transgendered. Got it.
So why is that you hate poor black children?
Don’t have guns in the first place? Just an idea.
But too late now, so I recommend not being part of the problem and trying the novel and brave idea of surviving on your wits, without weapons. Good luck.
Waddard:
WHY ARE YOU SO AFRAID OF THE DIALOGUE?!
WHY WON’T YOU ANSWER THE SIMPLE QUESTIONS?!?
Racist bastard.
Or is that People’s World Weekly?
Or World People’s Weekly Shopper?
I get all the communofascist rags confused.
Well, that’s all the proof that I need. I’m going to sell, wait, no DESTROY my guns. Then I’m going to put a large sign on my front lawn advertising the fact that I’ve proudly disarmed myself. Displaying my trust in the universal humanity of man in this manner is certain to dissuade any potential criminals in my vicinity and cause renounce their lives of lawlessness.
tw: basic; as in, reasoning
OK, I’ll translate: “Don’t use scary guns which make loud ‘boom’ noises that make me soil myself. Just lie back and enjoy it! It can be fun to watch thugs steal your stuff and gang rape your kids! If you get yourself in the proper frame of mind! That’s how I plan to ‘survive on my wits’!”
Good luck, indeed.
Retard.
cause them to renounce
tw: too; and I even used preview, too. Need more coffee.
Don’t have guns in the first place? Just an idea.
Will we soon spot you zooming through the skies into a counter-rotational orbit to turn back the clock to the halcyon days before the invention of the musket? Hey, doublebonus points: that would also take care of the Katrina problem. Oh wait, that would create a problem for you, wouldn’t it….?
Reading it does not make me left. What a silly idea. I read everything – so therefore I am an everything and left is an inadequate description.
I see that Wadard/Jekyll has declined to answer Wadard/Hyde. Ol’ Wadard/Jekyll’s been caught out now…
No, you’re “left” because you consistently espouse political and cultural views that are informed by a left-wing mentality and thought process.
It’s not that difficult to understand.
Why is it that only Leftists get all bent out of shape when they are accurately labeled? Why run from the designation? What’s so wrong about being “left wing”, huh? It’s just a convenient shorthand that helps everyone understand where you’re coming from.
“I read everything – so therefore I am an everything and left is an inadequate description.”
Do you therefore believe everything or ingest all information without putting it into context? Because you certainly seem willing to not only read that source but regurgitate it to support what you think it an “argument”. Great, then, I’ve got some reading suggestions for you:
Hear’s some talking points for you.
Try these as well.
Since you’re so open to all ideas, try this as well.
Until I see ideas from sources like these incorporated into your *ahem* arguments, you’ve painted yourself as an intellectual ankle-biting chigger. And one with multiple personalities, as well. You might want to get help for that, mate.
You are the one stuck in past. Australia has strict gun control and we do relatively fine. I understand that attitudes and cultures are different so you can’t apply the Ausssie experience to the us – other than is tis possible for a government to say, “no more, hande ‘em in”. But on the other hand I come from a gun culture that is even fiercer than in America so I know what I am saying when I say you are better off without a weapon, ie your odds of survival are better if you trust your wits, instincts and better judgement. This only works if you have confidence in yourself – and a good martial art can help you out there. You see, that is what the gun is overcoming – your fear and insecurity.
I read everything – so therefore I am an everything…
All at once?
This…. this is a break-through!
AUSTRALIANS ARE OMNIPRESENT!
Forget the Church of Bob – we’ve got the Temple of Quantum-Reality-Defying Wadard!
Go fuck yourself you rude prick, I am discerning in my choices and if I thought you could be at all interesting I would engage with you. But you have loser emblasoned in neon across your forehead and I’m not touching you with a stick.
tw: europe. Hey, THEY tried to help.
I’m up for a chat with anyone intelligent though.
With, apparently, Bruce Lee-level martial artistry to boot!
Wadard, I hate to break it to you, but in the real world that the rest of us have to live in, a firearm, provided its owner has actual training and competence, is a wee bit more reliable in defending against multiple attackers than the “trust your wits” policy combined with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon theatrics.
I know it always works on television, but in real life, what you’re advocating falls rather flat. Even no less an authority than Bruce Lee himself frequently emphasized the difference between messy reality and the stylized perfection of the dojo.
I want to wish Waddard, Kung-Fu Master that he apparently is, the very best of luck with his theory of self-defense.
I’m quite sure that this is exactly what the victims of violent crime and looting in NOLA are wishing they had more of: self-confidence. The kind that comes from frequent visits to the neighborhood dojo for martial arts training. You know, mastering ju-jitsu and stuff that teaches you to kick a revolver clean outta the hands of the thug that’s holding you and your family at gunpoint. Then you can use your “wits” and “better judgment” to reason said thug into renouncing his evil ways!
Jeebus.
You couldn’t pick the sarcasm there RS?
tw: program. get with it!
Whoa! Somebody really doesn’t want to try reading The National Review!
Wadard, or was NO’s problem too few guns? Because it is important to raise these questions, ya know. And I wanted to do you a favor and make sure you have all angles on the Katrina crisis. Because you read everything. Everything. And it’s real important for our betters to critically examine all information sources on an issue of such vital importance before drawing any conclusions. Or uncritically, depending on the source.
STFU Assholes!
You couldn’t pick the sarcasm there RS?
tw: program. get with it!
Actually, it was a sarcastic comment on a certain less-than-felicitous turn of phrase, but good on you, mate, nonetheless, if you haven’t cottoned to that yet.
It’s very simple, and it works. If they know you’ve got a weapon, they will come and rob you for the weapon. That’s just the way it is in these places … no NRA ideology will alter this. Now do you get it, having a weapon ALSO makes you a target? Plus it is potentially one more weapon that can end up in the crim’s hands.
And yea, actually, I managed to survive growing up in the world’s most dangerous city, and i maintain it is because I mostly did not carry a weapon.
Go fuck yourself you rude prick, I am discerning in my choices and if I thought you could be at all interesting I would engage with you. But you have loser emblasoned in neon across your forehead and I’m not touching you with a stick.
Translation: “Yoicks, caught at my own game. And by a lowly plebe, to boot.”
And we certainly can’t tolerate rudeness here.
Or profanity.
‘Cause you’re discerning in your choices, after all.
Hey, different strokes man. It’s no skin off of my back if you want to walk around with only the protection that your super self-confidence from years of intense martial arts training can provide.
Just stay away from my guns and no one gets hurt.
It’s got to do with having confidence in yourself to make the right choices, not moves.
Ahh, but statistics say YOU are more likely to get hurt, mate
tw: use. use? don’t use? use? don’t use?
“Australia has strict gun control”
The fact that Australia chose slaver versus citizien ship is irrelevent to the fact you hate poor black children.
Why don’t you answer the question to why Waddard is racist and supports censorship? STOP THE HATE!!!
Not personally a member of NRA, Wadard, and for that matter not a stranger to living in a violent subculture either – I grew up in the red-clay hills of Northeast Mississippi during the period when Buford Pusser (anyone remember him?) was making frequent forays across the state line and reality was depressingly close to what one sees in the first of the Walking Tall films.
Not exactly a safe place, Wad, but here’s the deal. In that neck of the woods, even now, one thing that is extremely rare is the crime of home invasion or burglary, particularly during daylight hours. Mind you, don’t take my word for it, check the FBI stats for Mississippi.
How can this be? The Magnolia State certainly has its share of meth monsters and other members of the addicted community, as well as an ample sampling of the rest of the usual suspects who so often commit violent crime.
One potential answer might be, because so many of those hill-country folks, who would find your idea of “dangerous” amusingly naive compared to their everyday reality, own and know how to use firearms. From the time they are small they learn to respect and handle a weapon that can put food on the table and, if need be, defend against a threat, whether it be a rabid animal or a homicidally-inclined fellow human.
Yours is an attractive fantasy, Wadard, but it doesn’t match up with the reality in which the rest of us have to live. Nor am I willing to cede my options for confronting that harsh and unpleasant reality in an appropriate manner simply because you and others like you are convinced that “guns are bad…mmmmmkay?”
“Ahh, but statistics say YOU are more likely to get hurt, mate!”
Nope. This is simply a lie. Please cite a statistic and I will show you how it is as empty as your racist head.
Waddard is a rather lame troll. He doesn’t even try to hide his racism or pro-censorhip fascism.
It’s got to do with having confidence in yourself to make the right choices, not moves.
Don’t you get it, Fred? You shouldn’t ever live, or have ever lived, in New Orleans. Or Washington, DC. Or Los Angelos. Or Gary. Or Bridgeport. Keep to a college campus, preferably Ivy League or Seven Sisters. Or a gated community in Boca Rotan or Palm Beach. Them thar’s some right choices. If you’ve got a six figure income, that is. For you
blackplebes, ehhhh, not so much…I grew up in Jo’burg, mate. Unless you are a gun dealer I am sure I would have seen more weaponry during my school years they you would have in your life.
I guess my upbringing trumps yours
G’day! You might be a kung-fu expert, but you are still racist and fascist.
Anyway, I don’t want to talk guns anymore.
tw: for. What for?