I received a forwarded email from a Republican friend of mine - we tend to get along and see eye to eye on lots of things, but he occassionally runs off the rails. This forwarded email, which I'll reproduce in its entirety, draws a parallel between the snowstorms in Colorado and Hurricane Katrina. (I may provide helpful links in-line, but otherwise, no editing) Check this:
[UPDATE - see this diary and this debunking of the whole thing. Thanks for the comments!]
Up here, in the " Mile-Hi City ", we just recovered from a Historic event--- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.
FYI:
George Bush did not come.
FEMA did nothing.
No one howled for the government.
No one blamed the government.
No one even uttered an expletive on TV.
Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit.
Our Mayor did not blame Bush or anyone else.
Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else, either.
CNN, ABC, CBS, FOXor NBCdid not visit - or report on this category 5 snowstorm. Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.
No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House.
No one looted.
Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something.
Nobody expected the government to do anything, either.
No Larry King, No Shepard Smith, No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson.
No Shaun Penn, No Barbara Striesand, No Hollywood types to be found.
Nope, we just melted the snow for water.
Sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars.
The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a penny.
Local restaurants made food and the police and fire departments delivered it to the snowbound families.
Families took in the stranded people - total strangers.
We fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Coleman lanterns.
We put on extra layers of clothes because up here it is "Work or Die".
We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a
mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for 'sittin at home' checks.
Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early, we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.
"In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% of the world's social problems evaporate."
It does seem that way, at least to me.
I hope this gets passed on.
Maybe SOME people will get the message. The world does Not owe you a living.
I'll take this pretty much in order. I grew up in Colorado. I've been through four storms that were this severe - it's a big, hairy deal (although we never missed a day of school), but easily survivable. This is evidenced by the death toll of...zero. I live in Washington now. We have windstorms like this every year; it's part of our landscape. I and a million of my closest friends spent from 3 to 14 days without power last month after a particularly brutal one (8 days in my case).
The difference between windstorms, snowstorms and hurricane Katrina? In the first two, stores reopen. Basic amenities of life still function. No one is under 9 feet of water. With few exceptions, houses don't fall apart, and entire communities aren't destroyed. Tens of millions in costs, versus hundreds of millions. Quite the opposite with hurricane Katrina.
George Bush didn't come because Colorado didn't vote for him. But he has been asked for help.
FEMA is paying the govenrment's cost for police and fire overtime, repairs, and snow removal. This means that my federal taxes are paying for Colorado's recovery from a storm that they are always prepared for - their state taxes will not bear the burden. So it's either stupidity, ignorance or lying to say FEMA did nothing.
And wait, what's this...? Seems them tough ol' ranchers do want some FEMA aid, after all! What a surprise!
President Bush has declared two emergencies in Colorado after two blizzards beat up counties up and down Colorado’s Front Range.
The declarations came Sunday, two days after local officials expressed frustration with the delay by the federal government in recognizing the severity of the impact of the storms on ranchers in southeast Colorado, but do not include aid to those who have lost thousands of head of cattle stranded without food or water by drifting snow last week.
The federal government is yet to act on a request for low-interest loans for those ranchers.
No one howled for the government because...wait for it...they were doing their jobs (I'll get to this later)
The mayor of Denver didn't blame Bush because FEMA is helping him. Same for the Governor.
Please see inline links above to dispute the moron's claim that the major networks didn't cover this storm. Seriously, to claim nobody covered it? Please.
Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards because no one was evacuated thousands of miles away from their bank accounts, which were destroyed along with their banks. Unlike Katrina, where people were left with literally nothing but the clothes on their backs - no ID, no money, no nothing - people in Denver were snug in their homes, and their bank kept on workin'.
No one needed a FEMA Trailer because no one found themselves suffering the indignity of homelessness, as hundreds of thousands did in Louisiana and Mississippi. No one looted, again, why? Because people had access to their own money, stores, water, and homes.
As for expecting the government to do anything...I suppose people drove the snowplows themselves? I suppose avalanche control (which failed at Berthoud Pass) was handled by the hardy locals at their own cost? I suppose the fire and police and national guard that were called out to help aren't part of the government? The airlifted food for cattle came from...where? Folks' living rooms?
I will admit, no one from Hollywood seems to have jetted off to Denver to try and alleviate all the...people not suffering.
Now we get to the part about melting snow for water. Apparently, this email was written by Grizzly Adams rather than someone who lives in Denver, because this is just fucking nonsense. It's a major metropolitan area, and the water still worked. Those on ranches have wells. If you're going to spread right-wing anti-government puke, at least don't make up outright stupid things.
As for people pitching in to help each other - apparently this moron missed the constant coverage of truck drivers helping people, teenagers commandeering school buses to get people to safety, restaurants opening, millions upon millions of dollars in donations, clothes, food, shelter all being donated during Katrina. Nope, only them rootin', tootin', toughest-on-the-plains Denver ranchers help each other.
I especially like the connection between putting on layers of clothing (don't normal people learn to do this when they're 5?) and "Work or Die". HA! Yeah, Denver's got a real do-it-yourself wild west cowboy work ethic. Sweet.
As for the rest of this drivel, seriously - I'd love a follow-up email to tell me how an "affirmative action" government's "welfare program" caused New Orleans to be under water for a month. Amazing how government did nothing to save this self-sufficient, brave person in their suburban hell of snow, and no one blamed the government for their predicament, but somehow government DID cause New Orleans to flood....odd, ain't it?
I should stress; Coloradoans are, by necessity, a hardy bunch, especially those that really do live on ranches. I have no quibble with them, and know how tough it can be during storms like this (and three in a row!), and don't mean to diminish that at all. The ranchers with starving cattle have a tough haul ahead of them. But I just won't let nonsense like this gain a foothold.