This is my first diary. I've been lurking on dailykos for a long time. I know it's a little late to be writing about Katrina, and I'm not sure what in particular made me post about
this subject, but something about this e-mail I received today just set me off. (Warning: The following is a clever little bit of right-wing propaganda; it slurs the good people of New Orleans and will probably make your blood boil. What follows is my response.)
Some right-wing memes go out directly, on Fox News or from the Washington Times or the WSJ. Others go out quietly, and more insidiously, over talk radio or, yes, e-mail. All of them need to be confronted. I know this diary is preaching to the converted, but I felt the need to rant, with facts.
> Weather Bulletin - North Dakota
>
> Priceless
>
> THINK ABOUT THIS FOR A MOMENT
>
> North Dakota News
>
> This text is from a county emergency manager
> out in the western part of North Dakota state after
> the recent s! now storm.
>
> WEATHER BULLETIN
>
> Up here in the Northern Plains 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's [sic] did not blame Bush or anyone else.
>
> Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else either
>
> CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX or NBC did not visit - or report on this category 5 snow storm
>
> 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 Bill O'Rielly [sic], No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No Geraldo Rivera.
>
> No Shaun Penn [sic[, No Barbara Striesand, No Hollywood types to be found.
>
> And [sic]
>
> 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 the snow banks and didn't ask for a penny.
>
> Local restaurants made food, and the police and fire departments delivered it to the snow bound 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 an 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.
>
This is my response, e-mailed to my relative and everyone else on his mailing list (some of whom may already agree with me):
The original writer of this e-mail, and those who pass it on, display such catastrophic ignorance of Hurricane Katrina, natural disasters in general, and FEMA's previously clearly defined role in what are acknowledged as disasters it makes me gravely concerned for the future of this country.
I'm glad at least one recipient of this e-mail has the grace to acknowledge that this snowstorm did not destroy any homes. Let me explain why Hurricane Katrina and some snowstorm are in no way comparable.
1. First, let's look at the death toll. How many people DIED in New Orleans due to Hurricane Katrina? "The storm has killed at least 1,604 people, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane." (sources are from wikipedia, but different sources will be found if you request them. )
How many people died in this snowstorm in North Dakota? Gee... I don't know... probably not many, if any... this e-mail didn't really say much about people dying.
2. This is from the wikipedia article on Hurricane Katrina: "It is possible that Katrina was the largest hurricane of its strength to approach the United
States in recorded history; its sheer size caused devastation over 100 miles from the center." And this: "Katrina is estimated to be responsible for $75
billion (2005 US dollars) in damages, making it the costliest hurricane in U.S. history." Did the snowstorm cause $75 billion of damages? I'll bet it didn't even cause 7 million.
And, of course, there's the "we don't need no help from the federal government" line. Of course they don't. Their HOUSES are still standing. So are their ROADS and, as far as I could tell, their schools, banks, and government buildings. Let's see what happens if a snowstorm hits North Dakota that kills over 1,000 people, causes $75 billion dollars worth of
damage, and leaves 3 million people without electricity--in fact, as of Feb. 26 (six months after), 2/3rds of N.O. homes still didn't have electricity. My guess is the governor would declare a state of emergency, and FEMA would come in. Let's see how the people react if FEMA is as unprepared as it
was in the case of New Orleans.
If people are interested about why other people, like me, are extremely dissatisfied with George Bush's response, there are two basic reasons:
1) The difference in FEMA's response to Hurricane Katrina (Sept. 2005) and Hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Jean.
These hurricanes hit Florida, a swing state, in an election year.
http://www.cnn.com/...
According to CNN, five days after Charley,
* Disaster relief centers had already been set up.
* Electricity had been restored to all but 600,000
people--and that would take place in the next week;
* "The governor... announced Monday that his brother, President Bush, has waived a regulation requiring Florida to match the direct
federal assistance it receives for debris removal and emergency services, which will increase the federal government's contribution from 75 percent to 100 percent."
Pity those poor people in New Orleans were unfortunate enough to live in Louisiana in 2005 instead of Florida in 2004.
2) The difference in FEMA's response to Hurricane Katrina under Bush and Michael Brown, and FEMA's response to any natural disaster under Clinton and James Lee Witt (hint: Witt actually knew what he was doing and was widely praised as one of Clinton's best appointments ever, and the best head of FEMA ever).
Again, wikipedia: "By 1996 an Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial said that "FEMA has developed a sterling reputation for delivering disaster-relief services, a far cry from its abysmal standing before James Lee Witt took its helm in 1993. How did Witt turn FEMA around so quickly? Well, he is
the first director of the agency to have emergency-management experience. He stopped the staffing of the agency by political patronage. He removed layers of bureaucracy. Most important, he instilled in the agency a spirit of preparedness, of service to the customer, of willingness to listen to
ideas of local and state officials to make the system work better."
Witt's term of office saw approximately 348 Presidential declared disaster areas in more than 6,500 counties and in all 50 states and territories.
Witt supervised the response to the most costly flood disaster in the nation's history at that time, the most costly earthquake, and a dozen serious
hurricanes."
I mean, really. You could go back and find out if people who had their lives upended by natural disasters in the past objected to FEMA's help but you probably wouldn't be able to find many.
3) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Take a look at this article. The whole thing. "The reality, say several aides who did not wish to be quoted because it might displease the president, did
not really sink in until Thursday night. Some White House staffers were watching the evening news and thought the president needed to see the horrific reports coming out of New Orleans. Counselor Bartlett made up a DVD of the newscasts so Bush could see them in their entirety as he flew down to the Gulf Coast the next morning on Air Force One.
How this could be--how the president of the United States could have even less "situational awareness," as they say in the military, than the average American about the worst natural disaster in a century--is one of the more perplexing and troubling chapters in a story that, despite moments of heroism and acts of great generosity, ranks as a national disgrace."
Nobody blames Bush for Katrina, but we certainly do blame him for being so catastrophically out of touch his own staff members had to make a DVD of the news for him, and we blame him for appointing a completely
unqualified person to head FEMA.
4) Finally, some photos. You might ask if this snowstorm produced any photos like these.
http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/...
Snow?! For crying out loud, people, I'm from Maine. We eat snow for breakfast (occasionally).
The people of New Orleans lost their homes, their jobs, and in some cases, their relatives and lives. And you think $2,000 to help some of them get back on their feet--and become productive citizens--is too much? I pray to God you never have to suffer through losing everything you've worked for, everything you own, in a natural disaster. And I hope you'll be more
compassionate and understanding to those who do the next time there's a disaster of this scope.
I'm not even going to comment on the implicit racism in this e-mail, or the fact that I strongly doubt it was written by "a county emergency manager." But I am going to ask one rather obvious question: Didn't it occur to the writer that the reason the recovery was so much easier from the snowstorm was because the snowstorm did so much less damage than the hurricane?
If not, why not, and what does it say about his or her critical thinking skills?
You don't get to do that. You don't get to rewrite history. You don't get to suggest that some random snowstorm is equivalent to the worst hurricane in EIGHTY YEARS. 1,604 people confirmed dead. 75 BILLION dollars worth of damage. You don't get to suggest that the people of New Orleans got what they deserved because they were lazy (and black.)
I don't know if I'll change anyone's mind, but these people need to be confronted.
To the original author: You just earned yourself a large helping of bad karma. May God have mercy on your soul.