Win Ben Stein's intelligence

[juddling]

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.

 

Well said...

 

 

Edited September 5, 2005 by juddling

[KipWellsFan]

13.) If you actually believe all of the above listed, it is not George Bush's fault you are a dunce.

[Reddy]

13.) If you actually believe all of the above listed, it is not George Bush's fault you are a dunce.

[SnB]

13.) If you actually believe all of the above listed, it is not George Bush's fault you are a dunce.

can't it be somewhere in the middle?

[KipWellsFan]

Frankly I'm sick of hearing people say sarcastically "oh it's all George Bush's fault", no of course it's not, but he's still a massive failure.

[juddling]

gee..in this corner we have Ben Stein who has worked in politics and is generally considered a smart guy....

 

......and in this corner we have a constant Bush-bashing Canadian who decided to cyber-name himself after a ex-sox pitcher with a career record of 54-66.

 

 

hmm...i think i'll stick with the opinions of Ferris's teacher.

[juddling]

Frankly I'm sick of hearing people say sarcastically "oh it's all George Bush's fault", no of course it's not, but he's still a massive failure.

 

 

well...i think in this instance the mayor and governor got caught with their heads up their asses. and if they would have spent more time trying to help the situation instead of screaming "It's all the fed. gov't fault" thing might have been a little different.

 

 

(Note..before anyone jumps...i said a little different. i'm not saying that they could have saved the whole day, but they could have been more instrumental in the situation)

[KipWellsFan]

gee..in this corner we have Ben Stein who has worked in politics and is generally considered a smart guy....

 

......and in this corner we have a constant Bush-bashing Canadian who decided to cyber-name himself after a ex-sox pitcher with a career record of 54-66.

hmm...i think i'll stick with the opinions of Ferris's teacher.

 

I think I'd kick Ben Stein's butt in a debate.

 

Your missing a key point here though juddling. On Ben Stein's resume the word politician pops up, which often negates much intelligence one has and replaces it with the instinct to spin.

 

p.s. my username was created when he was still a white sock

[LowerCaseRepublican]

Ben Stein was a former speechwriter for the most atrocious President who has ever slimed the White House with his disdainful presence (read: Nixon)

[Balta1701]

well...i think in this instance the mayor and governor got caught with their heads up their asses. and if they would have spent more time trying to help the situation instead of screaming "It's all the fed. gov't fault"  thing might have been a little different.

(Note..before anyone jumps...i said a little different.  i'm not saying that they could have saved the whole day, but they could have been more instrumental in the situation)

The mayor and governor clearly were caught with their heads up their arses. With any luck, as soon as this is over, the voters of Louisiana, if there are any left living there next election cycle, will make them pay dearly for it. As will they make their senators pay.

 

But all things considered...from what I've looked at, the failures of the local and state governments are basically insignificant compared to the disaster that has been the federal response.

 

Here is a small list of the things Fema has helped do:

 

FEMA won't accept Amtrak's help in evacuations

 

FEMA turns away experienced firefighters

 

FEMA turns back Wal-Mart supply trucks

 

FEMA prevents Coast Guard from delivering diesel fuel

 

FEMA won't let Red Cross deliver food

 

FEMA bars morticians from entering New Orleans

 

FEMA blocks 500-boat citizen flotilla from delivering aid

 

FEMA fails to utilize Navy ship with 600-bed hospital on board

 

FEMA to Chicago: Send just one truck

 

FEMA turns away generators

 

FEMA: "First Responders Urged Not To Respond".

 

Probably the worst thing that the Mayor did was failing to order every single bus in th e city to evacuate everyone possible in the hours before the storm hit...despite the fact that there was no National Guard to help round people up nor was there a place to send the buses to...even if he'd just ordered buses to drive north it would have saved lives.

 

But the fact is this...in any disaster of this scale...state and local agencies are going to be completely overwhelmed. It always happens. Even disasters much smaller than this. That is why FEMA exists...it is their job to provide a coordinated command for all the branches of government - local, state, and federal. And it is their job to coordinate the work of the national government.

 

There were clear failures and inept actions by all around. But nothing, in my opinion, comes even close to what FEMA and the DHS have done in terms of damage.

[Cerbaho-WG]

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.

 

SCIENCE!

[juddling]

Ben Stein was a former speechwriter for the most atrocious President who has ever slimed the White House with his disdainful presence (read: Nixon)

Nixon was before my time but i'm pretty sure Ben was out of the loop!!!!

[SoxFanForever]

Ben Stein was a former speechwriter for the most atrocious President who has ever slimed the White House with his disdainful presence (read: Nixon)

How about most atrocious modern day president. I'm sure you and I could both think of some bad ones in the past.

[FlaSoxxJim]

As a polotical speechwriter Stein's job was spin. And that list is certainly a lot of spin.

 

Agreed that the ball has been dropped on several fronts, not the least of which are the local response efforts. But, from the cutting of the money for the levee reinforcement projects, to the curuious refusals of aid as listed above, to both Brown and Chertof (sp?) admitting they wre ecompletely unaware that as many as 25,000 refugees had been dropped off and essentially abandoned at the convention center, there are plenty of huge federal screw ups that people are rightly being taken to task for.

 

As Presedint, Bush is going to be taken to task for such things regardless of how personally involved in any of the decisions. And I think he's made plenty bad decisions of his own in the last week that will not help his anemic poll numbers at all. Not immediately cutting his vacation to get back to DC before or immediately after landfall was certainly one. underplaying the degree of catastrophy involved and never missing a chance to pimp the GWoT even as hell is eruptimg around him was bad form. Taking more than a day longer to get back to DC to tend to relief oversight and signing off on emergency Congressional legislation for Katrina relief than he did when the issue was Terri Schiavo certainly doesn't look good either.

 

Stein's also quite incorrect in his climate change comments, but I think that's tangential at the moment. Three landmark papers were just simultaneously published in Science last week that pretty much destroy the tenuous 'surface temps are changing but atmeospheric temps are not' mantra that the climate change naysayers have been repeating the last few years. Even Roy Spencer, the principal investigator whose MSU and AMSU troposphere temperature data set analyses have been the best scientific support for the naysayers has come out and stated that his conclusions were incorrect. Long story short, there was a drift in the recording times off of the NOAA polar sattelites that carry Spencer's sensors such that temperature readings that were supposed to be taken in teh early afternoon were actually being taken at night, but Spencer didn't know about the issue. And surprise surprise, in his original conclusions he didn't see any warming of the upper atmoshere, and may even have seen some cooling.

 

In related news, my weather guy said it was going to be a hundred degrees out but hes full of s*** because I just went out and it's not even 80. Does it matter that it is 9 o'clock in teh evening? I'd say, yeah it does.

 

Of course, "smart" people like Ben Stein are going to keep chanting the mantra, despite the facts.

[EvilMonkey]

So let's see. On the right, we have "The locals screwed the pooch and because they folded under the immense pressure of the situation by not minimizing the damage in the first place, they are to blame". On the left, we have " Yeah, the locals screwed up, but it's all Georgie's fault, since FEMA dropped the ball big time AFTER the fact." It seems to me that both of these are true, and are not mutually exclusive.

 

 

If the local people would have done thier parts to any degree of competency, the damage to human lives would have been cut dramatically, lessening the things that FEMA had to take care of. I am not saying that FEMA would have done much better had the locals done their jobs, but there sure would be alot more people alive if the governor, mayor and NO director of Emergency Services did their jobs. All the Bush bashers on here are quick to criticize the FEMA director for getting his job from a 'buddie', and then screwing it up. And rightly so. However, the same goes for the NO Director of Emergency Services, who was personally apponited by the Mayor, and screwed up.

[Rex Kickass]

Not for nothing, but because the Governor of LA declared a state of Emergency BEFORE the hurricane, and the President recognized it - FEMA was to take charge when that happened.

 

I really don't know what that means or what that changes in the responsibility of things... but both sides deserve blame. That I can say.

[G&T]

So let's see.  On the right, we have "The locals screwed the pooch and because they folded under the immense pressure of the situation by not minimizing the damage in the first place, they are to blame".  On the left, we have " Yeah, the locals screwed up, but it's all Georgie's fault, since FEMA dropped the ball big time AFTER the fact."  It seems to me that both of these are true, and are not mutually exclusive.

If the local people would have done thier parts to any degree of competency, the damage to human lives would have been cut dramatically, lessening the things that FEMA had to take care of.  I am not saying that FEMA would have done much better had the locals done their jobs, but there sure would be alot more people alive if the governor, mayor and NO director of Emergency Services did their jobs.  All the Bush bashers on here are quick to criticize the FEMA director for getting his job from a 'buddie', and then screwing it up.  And rightly so.    However, the same goes for the NO Director of Emergency Services, who was personally apponited by the Mayor, and screwed up.

 

 

I think you've nailed it well. People forget why FEMA turned away all those supplies and food, they weren't told by the governor that they were needed. The mayor admitted to calling FEMA the day after the storm. What good does that do? The city was under water by then and it was almost impossible to get in. Furthermore, it was the mayor who put all those people in the Superdome and didn't get enough food and water.

The mayor ran for election on a platform of people helping themselves and said that the city should not require government assistance. Didn't work out well here.

I know that many people will complain that FEMA could see what was going on because of TV. Well that's not the way it works. FEMA needs to be ok'd by the governor in order to do anything.

Bush has NOTHING to do with this. There's a reason why the country runs as a federalist state. There are duties that the president can't do when he has so much else to handle. Therefore, the states handle emergency situations like this and if they need help, then there is a Federal Emergency Management Agency to aid them. They, however, were not called in until after the storm and by then it was too late.

People on the left disregard the duties that are given to the state because they expect federal help for everything. That just isn't the way it works. My hope is that everyone learns the lesson that nature is not to be taken lightly.

 

By the way, for anyone who is interested in the other side of global warming read Michael Crighton's book State of Fear. Since I'm not a scientist I'm not going to bother getting into issue but I liked the book.

[Texsox]

Hello, I am running for President of the US.

 

I cannot do anything. The government is too big and too spread out for me to actually have any effect in an emergency. The courts through activist judges, are making the laws now anyways, so I will not be able to do anything in that area. If I do try and do somethings and it turns out wrong, it's the liberal media or a vast right wing conspiracy out to get me.

 

What I will do is give y'all a tax break so down the road someone else will pay those taxes plus the interest on the money we borrow from countries that hate us.

 

Vote for me.

 

BTW, I cannot picture Reagan doing nothing for a couple days, and I can't see Clinton not rushing to the area, holding some babies, and proclaiming he "feels our pain". Bush blew a chance to take his approval rating through the roof. I truly believed this would have been his finest hour. Looking tough in the cameras towards the lawlessness, and looking compassionate to the victims, and rallying the volunteers and workers. This played right into his strength.

[FlaSoxxJim]

BTW, I cannot picture Reagan doing nothing for a couple days, and I can't see Clinton not rushing to the area, holding some babies, and proclaiming he "feels our pain". Bush blew a chance to take his approval rating through the roof. I truly believed this would have been his finest hour. Looking tough in the cameras towards the lawlessness, and looking compassionate to the victims, and rallying the volunteers and workers. This played right into his strength.

 

Instead, he jokes about how huge Trent Lott's new Gulf Coast house is going to be and how he's looking forward to sitting on his big porch when it's finished. :headshake

 

Hope nobody's still hholding their breath waiting for the 'bullhorn moment' this time around.

[Texsox]

Instead, he jokes about how huge Trent Lott's new Gulf Coast house is going to be and how he's looking forward to sitting on his big porch when it's finished.  :headshake

 

Hope nobody's still hholding their breath waiting for the 'bullhorn moment' this time around.

 

I hope this isn't second term, I don't give a rip, setting in. And I don't find it that objectionable telling jokes at a time like this. It's how I cope in similar situations. Too bad he couldn't preface it with and speak in green.

[Kid Gleason]

Ben Stein was a former speechwriter for the most atrocious President who has ever slimed the White House with his disdainful presence (read: Nixon)

 

That's really odd that you would have a strong hatred for Nixon.

 

How old were you while he was in office?

[Texsox]

I was alive during Watergate, fell in love with journalism during that era, and with time to reflect, have come to the conclusion that Nixon was a far better President than given credit for. His handling of Watergate destroyed what would have been considered a better than average to very good tenure.

 

JMO.

[Kid Gleason]

I was alive during Watergate, fell in love with journalism during that era, and with time to reflect, have come to the conclusion that Nixon was a far better President than given credit for. His handling of Watergate destroyed what would have been considered a better than average to very good tenure.

 

JMO.

 

That's kind of why I asked about the age. Many people loved Nixon and found him to be a very good president until the Watergate thing exploded.

 

I loved the writings of Hunter Thompson, but so much of my love for him were for the humor in it all. My buddy Curt was/is a Hunter devotee and was also an extreme Nixon hater. Even threw a party when Nixon passed away. I never understood how he could hate Nixon with so much intensity when he was a baby while Nixon was in office. I also never understood how somebody could follow Hunter's ideals and beliefs. The man was a raging lunatic. If the world were to follow Hunter's ways, and everybody were to model their existence after him, Anarchy would be the only way of the world. Now, maybe he did the ol' "my life isn't for everybody" BS cop-out, I don't know, but considering the fact that the Thompson fans I know of all carried some of his traits (drinking, mass drug use, guns, blowing s*** up), I would say he rubbed off on them regardless of what he was saying about his abuse. Kind of like the jocks in high school that were into the Grateful Dead as an excuse to get high.

 

Sorry for a bit off-topic wander there, but we are still talking about political spinners.

[FlaSoxxJim]

I hope this isn't second term, I don't give a rip, setting in. And I don't find it that objectionable telling jokes at a time like this. It's how I cope in similar situations. Too bad he couldn't preface it with and speak in green. 

It's not the attempt at levity - sorely needed - that's the problem for me. It's how badly it blows up in his face when his true stripes show. This crisis has completely boiled down to the haves and the have nots, those that had the means to get out, and those that didn't, those whose lives are absolutely going to be rebuilt and those whose neighborhoods are at this very moment being reconsidered and are unlikely to even be rebuilt in the New World Order New Orleans.

 

The NYT editorial's comparison this weekend to the Titanic hits home. The first class passengers largely made it into lifeboats and had a hell of a story to tell, while the have nots in steerage did most of the dying.

 

So, knowing that it's come down to the haves and the have nots, and knowing that this is the story that the media is going to continue to run with, the Lott bit should have been seriously scrutinized, better prefaced, or abandoned altogether. I doubt that was his speechwriters, it was more likely him improvising on the spot. And it could have been used very effectively IF the all-in-this-together message was the one that came out of the comments. Instead, the message that came out was, 'don't worry about Trent, he's one of the Haves and even though his house was destroyed he'll have a bigger and better house in no time (I'm sure much quicker than the rest of you).'

[FlaSoxxJim]

I also never understood how somebody could follow Hunter's ideals and beliefs.

 

 

Kid and Apu are throwing down after school, I can feel it.