La Feminista brought to our attention that Michelle Malkin is complaining about Obama and his alleged disregard for the people of Colorado and making squishy love gestures toward firefighters and police officers (adding that their Unions need to be reformed) and the valuable, life-saving job we know they do. Our wonderful diarist was too kind because, in my humble opinion, Malkin forfeited her right to complain beginning on August 30, 2005.
Malkin couldn't spare a rat's ass of concern for the people of New Orleans when it flooded. She pretended to, natch:
**scroll down for updates, more charitable relief info, looting/prison riot status, definitive clarification about reporting on martial law, midnight update and declaration of tomorrow's Day of Prayer**
"Looting," "prison riots" and the bashing of everything Democratic and liberal dominated Malkin's reaction to the flooding of New Orleans. Let's take a quick look at Malkin's reporting of the day (all from the above link).
Finally some comments on the looting and it's not reassuring. A state police official, Col. Henry Whitehorn of the Louisiana State Police, says: "Based on what I've seen on the news, there's a lot of chaos." Oooo-kay. No condemnation of the looting. No warning to looters that they will pay consequences.
Quoting ABC News:
Inmates at a prison in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans have rioted, attempted to escape and are now holding hostages, a prison commissioner told ABC News affiliate WBRZ in Baton Rouge, La.
Orleans Parish Prison Commissioner Oliver Thomas reported the incident to WBRZ.
A deputy at Orleans Parish Prison, his wife and their four children have been taken hostage by rioting prisoners after riding out Hurricane Katrina inside the jail building, according to WBRZ.
Officials are expected to hold a press conference regarding the riots at 9 p.m. ET.
A woman interviewed by WBRZ said her son, a deputy at the prison whose family is among the hostages, told her that many of the prisoners have fashioned homemade weapons. Her son had brought his family there hoping they would be safe during the storm.
(By the way, Ms. Malkin, want to know what it was like
in one of those cells?
Well, you know, the waters rose. We were in the darkness. You know, basically we were going to drown. We stood in the water, took our wheelchairs, buckets, and tried to bang down the glass and get out. We were screaming and hollering, using cigarette lighters to illuminate the cell and gauge the depth of the water. We quickly rose to the third bunk.
And at that point, there were flashes of death. You know, I saw my body in the water bloating. I just kind of prayed at that point and asked God to really save me, to stop the water from rising. And at that point, believe it or not, the water actually stopped rising, which had covered the second bunk and was about five feet in depth, up close to my neck.
And hours after that, a few guards came back in rubber clothing and flashlights and fumbled with the keys, because the hydraulic doors were not working. They had to override that with the keys. They dropped them in the water, retrieved them hurriedly, and escorted us out of the cell. I tried to take my wheelchair. I could not take it. I was too weak to exit the cell by myself. Two other inmates helped me swim through the water.
We were evacuated upstairs to a gymnasium, which was dry, on the third floor, but it was even hotter and more steamy than the cell block had been. We had these contaminated clothing on. We spent our last night there with about a hundred men in that gym without toilet facilities. We had to use the bathroom, and ultimately we banged on the door until they threw a trash bag in and told us to urinate and defecate in that bag. Until the next morning, we stayed there.)
She downplayed the volatile situation in the Superdome, quoting the Los Angeles Times:
The fabric of civil order was frayed. The Superdome changed from an arena of sports heroics into a grim experience for about 10,000 refugees. Three hospital patients died in the dome and another death was reported by officials. One suicide was also reported, but could not be independently confirmed.
She bitched about this site:
Meanwhile, over at the Daily Kos, one diarist and some of his commenters are going absolutely insane with their Bush hatred and blaming him for wanting to kill off black residents of New Orleans.
She pretended that liberals are the group that lacks compassion:
I pray other liberal bloggers will rise above this muck and join the blogger relief effort.
She took a swipe at the ACLU:
Speaking of prayer, the governor of Louisiana has declared tomorrow a Day of Prayer ... Please join in. (Let's just hope Michael Newdow and the ACLU chill out for once.)
And in the midst of the drowning, the fear, the chaos, and the dying she allowed for the pondering of whether the black part of New Orleans ought to just be eradicated:
Does it make sense to rebuild homes and offices in a place that can be destroyed all too easily, putting thousands of lives at risk? Is that the right thing to do?
And… Is that the best use of our tax and insurance dollars? Everytime the Mississippi floods up river, there are those who say that we should stop paying to rebuild that which has been destroyed before. And, in fact, we have invested government money in moving people away from certain danger so we can stop paying to rebuild. It’s an investment in their safety.
I’m not suggesting that what’s left of New Orleans should be bulldozed and abandoned. But I will suggest that, indeed, the city may need to be reinvented. How?
Perhaps it should go with its strengths and be rebuilt as a tourist destination before all its restaurants have branches in Vegas. Perhaps it should be smaller and rather than investing in rebuilding, the money should in some cases be spent on relocation.
All in one blog post over a period of about three hours.
So, to Ms. Malkin I offer this: My bleeding heart is bipartisan. I want you and everyone else in harm's way to be safe. I will not complain that my tax dollars will help the people of Colorado put this fire out and help you rebuild, even if you do mind such things.
But by your disgraceful, mean spirited, shallow, and entirely political reaction to the disaster that was Katrina, you forfeit your right to complain now. So shut the fuck up already.
Update: luckydog's comment, offering more passion and power than my diary could.
Michelle, you didn't hear "They Are Not Coming..".
We heard that - They Are Not Coming - here in New Orleans, as BushCo watched the water rise, dithered, held back rescue efforts, and tried to set posse comitatus precedent.
No, you didn't hear that phrase, and you won't hear that phrase. 'Cause the people who are in charge now, they're not like you.
They came. And they helped you. And they will continue to help you and the people of Colorado Springs.
'Cause the people who are helping you - they're not like you.
Cheers.