An editorial in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (page A2, thank you very much) by Ruth Ann Daley which suggests that George W. Bush is being unfairly beaten up about Katrina by us heathen meanies in his midst.
I just sent off the following letter to the Post-Gazette.
I don't think they'll run it, but at least I feel a bit better.
Here's the link to her editorial if you're up for having your head explode:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05255/569783.stm
So, if I read Ms. Daley's 9/12 editorial correctly (the vitriol directed at Bush
is unfair), she's suggesting that there are two types of people in the world:
1) God-fearing people such as George W. Bush and 2) the rest of us. Ms. Daley
seems to suggest that the reason George W. Bush is taking such a pounding over
his handling of Hurricane Katrina is because us heathens just don't understand
what morality and godliness look like.
Every person who brags about their tip-top moral compass always seems to have
countless people standing behind them looking for something to eat. Why is
that?
And why is it that the people who are chastised for not being Godly enough are
the same ones in the trenches helping the poor in our midst?
A good friend of mine -- let's just call him Jesus -- taught me that there are
indeed two types of people in the world. The first type are the people who
know things go wrong, but that it is their moral duty to do whatever they can to
always help others, especially the least, the last, and the lost who live among
them. These people know that every day they fall short of the glory of God, but
they keep trying to do better. They usually spend their time being chastised
for not being "holy" enough. Let's call this group "people who get it."
The second group of people, "people who don't get it," are the ones who are
often blessed with material wealth, and like to think that they've received it
because of some great good that they've done. In an effort to prove how holy
they are, these people are usually so busy throwing their bibles and their God
words around that they step right over the poor people who are laying, often
literally, right under their feet.
Here's the funny thing: the people who brag about how Godly they are, who
chastise others for their holy shortcomings, and who step over the poor, are the
same people for whom Jesus reserved his harshest words.
Ms. Daley needs to stop defending a president who obviously doesn't get it, as
he has spent the past five years turning a blind eye to the poor of our nation.
Ms. Daley may want to consider directing her attention instead to the victims of
Hurricane Katrina and the growing numbers of the Bushville poor who live in our
midst, because it's clear that our nation's leader isn't about to.