Yeah, Right, Whatever

Mother Sheehan hasn't disappeared like we all hoped. She just posted on Mikey the Hutt's site, and... she's still a few fries short of a Happy Meal. This is just screaming to be Fisked...

It has been one month and one week since I sat in a ditch in Crawford, Tx. I can hardly believe it when I think of it myself. So much has happened in that time, and really, so little.

I got to Camp Casey III in Covington, La today, after getting up at 3am to head for the airport. Now it is 3am the next day and we are driving in a car to try and find a hotel to sleep anywhere around Jackson, Miss. I was prepared to be shocked by what I saw in Louisiana, but I guess one can never really fully prepare for such devastation and tragedy. After living in a country your entire life it is so difficult to see such callous indifference on an immense scale. When I reflect on how the mother of the imbecile who is running our country said that the people who are in the Astrodome are happy to be there, it angers me beyond comparison. The people in LA who were displaced have nice, if modest homes that are perfectly fine. I wonder why the government made them leave at great expense and uproot families who have been living in their communities for generations.

Perfectly fine? Those people who went to the Astrodome were happy to be there... they had NOTHING left in NOLA. Their homes are GONE.

After we arrived at Camp Casey III, we took the Veterans for Peace "Impeachment Tour Bus" into New Orleans after stopping at the distribution center to pick up some supplies in Covington. The stench and the destruction are unbelievable.(funny... I figured it would smell a lot like Camp Casey... I mean, well... n'er mind... -B) I saw some hurricane zones in the panhandle of Florida last year that were pretty bad but that couldn't have prepared me for this.

I saw in the paper that George Bush said the recovery in the Gulf States would be "hard work." That's what he said about sending troops to Iraq and looking at the casualty reports everyday: "It's hard work." That man has never known a day of hard work in his life. (and you know this how?- B) The people on the ground in Covington scoffed at George's little junket to Louisiana yesterday. He stayed in the French Quarter and a Ward that weren't even damaged a bit. (uh... have you actually looked at the French Quarter? It might not be destroyed, but there was plenty of damage. -B) The VFP took me to the city of Algiers on the West Bank. The part of Algiers we went to was very poor and black. The people of Algiers know what hard work is.

So, you have to be poor and black to know what hard work is, evidently. You can't have money and know what it's like to work. You can't be white... or Hispanic... or Oriental... or... or... Only poor black people have a clue what it means to work hard. Uh... gimme a break.

Algiers had no flooding. All of the damage was from winds. There are trees knocked over and shingles off of roofs. There are signs blown over and there was a dead body lying on the ground for 2 weeks before someone finally came to get it. (and never before have those things ever happened because of a hurricane. - B) Even though Algiers came through Katrina relatively unscathed, our federal government tried to force (mostly successfully) the people out of the community. Malik Rahim, a new friend of ours and resident of Algiers, told us stories of the days after the hurricane. The government declared martial law, but there was no effective police presence to enforce it. Malik said the lawlessness was rampant. People were running out of food and water and they were being forced to go to the Superdome. They didn't want to go to the Superdome, because their homes were pretty intact: they wanted to stay and have food and water brought to them.

Brought to them? No... you get up off your rear and go GET IT YOURSELF. If they wanted to stay, they should have stocked up before the storm rolled in. If they wanted to stay, they shouldn't have waited for someone to take care of them. If they wanted to stay, they should have realized that they would have to take care of themselves.

But, no. Not in today's Nanny State. Why should anyone take care of themselves when Uncle Sam will take care of everything?

A town of 76,000 people dwindled down to 3,000. The die hards were rewarded last Wednesday when the VFP rolled into town with food and water. The Camp Casey III people were the first ones to bring any relief to Algiers. The people who were supposed to look after its citizens, our government, failed them.

No, Cindy. Our government isn't supposed to look after these people... their local government is supposed to have emergency plans in place. Not the feds... the local and state government. The feds are just there for backup.

...One thing that truly troubled me about my visit to Louisiana was the level of the military presence there. I imagined before that if the military had to be used in a CONUS (Continental US) operations that they would be there to help the citizens: Clothe them, feed them, shelter them, and protect them. But what I saw was a city that is occupied. I saw soldiers walking around in patrols of 7 with their weapons slung on their backs. I wanted to ask one of them what it would take for one of them to shoot me. Sand bags were removed from private property to make machine gun nests.

Machine gun nests? Yes, the soldiers carry weapons. Guess what? Their job is to KILL PEOPLE AND BREAK THINGS. Your son, Casey, had a job- to kill people and break things. Carrying their weapons is part of that job. That they are doing a "humanitarian" mission is the exception, not the rule. (Yes, there are units in the military who have purely humanitarian roles... medics... search and rescue...) They are in NOLA, carrying their weapons (making their "machine gun nests"... would you know what one looks like, Cindy?) because a group of NOLA residents decided that it would be fun to crawl into complete and total anarchy. They were sent in to get rid of the bad guys that are giving NOLA a bad (well, worse) name.

The vast majority of people who were looting in New Orleans were doing so to feed their families or to get resources to get their families out of there.

So... what is the best way to serve plasma televisions? Grilled? Or baked with a white wine sauce? I don't remember anyone complaining about people looting the grocery stores or the convenient stores. No one even complained when folks "borrowed" vehicles to get out of Dodge. It's when the high-end electronics and the clothes and the appliances began growing legs and wandering off that people became concerned. When the pharmacies were robbed of every imaginable medication (OTC and prescription), I seriously doubt that anyone thought those nice young gents were merely picking up Aunt Hazel's blood pressure meds. (Wonder what one could get for a bottle of Oxycontin in NOLA these days... or maybe some good meth mixed from all of those cold meds.) I mean, really... does the average family of five need 87 pairs of Nikes, 6 big screen tvs, 17 bottles of narcotic pain pills, and 8 toasters during a flood?

If I had a store with an inventory of insured belongings, and a tragedy happened, I would fling my doors open and tell everyone to take what they need: it is only stuff.

Dang... you knew she'd have to say something almost intelligent. I agree, IF I had a grocery store. Best Buy? Don't hold your breath.

When our fellow citizens are told to "shoot to kill" other fellow citizens because they want to stay alive, that is military and governmental fascism gone out of control.

No, what you have when citizens are told to "shoot to kill" other fellow citizens, you have an example of lawlessness and the only way to combat it. What do you think police officers are faced with each and every day? This is just a common inner city war between the cops and the thugs being played out on a larger stage for the world to see.

What I saw today in Algiers lifted up my spirits, but what I also saw today in Algiers frightened me terribly.

The people who are running the clinic in Algiers gave me a list of desperately needed supplies:

Blood pressure medication---properly packaged.
Allergy medication---properly packaged
Vitamin B
Pens, paper, sharpies, index cards
Glucometers and test strips
Full O2 tanks
Power strips and extension cords
Non-DEET insect repellent
Mini bottles of Hand Sanitizer
A copy machine is urgently needed
People: Call: 512-297-1049

Send supplies to:
Fed Ex or UPS
Veterans for Peace Ch 116
C/O 645 Kimbro Dr.
Baton Rouge, La. 70808

Mark them: For the Medical Clinic in Algiers

The children in Algiers have also been out of school. Malik would like to open a school and they need school supplies and teachers.

I have no problem with sending supplies to these people who are trying to get things done in an area where their local and state government failed them. I do have a problem with the VFP being involved, but I'm willing to go along with it anyway. As for the phone number listed for volunteers... it's an Austin number... go figure...

I have a testimony from a Doctor that came to Louisiana to help that I will post tomorrow. The failure in every level of our government is criminal negligence. Tens of thousands of families in our country have been devastated because of the incompetence and callousness of our so-called leadership. America is stepping up to the plate to help Americans. America stepped up to the plate to hold George accountable for the abomination in Iraq. One thing George has taught us is that we are self-sufficient and we have a country that is worth fighting for and we are not going away.

Yes, there were problems at every level. If you're going to blame FEMA, then you also have to blame the governor and mayor. Are you willing to cast blame on your Democrat friends, Cindy? If you're intellectually honest, you will... but I won't hold my breath...

And, you're right... Americans are helping Americans... not because of Bush's failure (I'd love to know how Mike Brown's incompetence is Bush's fault, but I digress), but because it's what we do. It's who we are. We are self-sufficient and our country is worth fighting for (uh... Cindy... didn't you recently say that it's NOT worth fighting for? ). Bush didn't teach us that. We've known that from the very beginning.

I was told that Pat Boone was on a conservative radio talk show in San Francisco (yes they do exist) with Melanie Morgan (who has a vendetta against me) and he told the listeners that after we "stole the supplies" from the Red Cross, we gave them to the "enemies of America who are like the people who want to fly airplanes into our buildings." Boone says that we were giving them to enemies of America, because we were distributing the supplies from a Mosque. First of all, accusing me of stealing is slander, I think, and second of all: we were helping Americans. Just because their government abandoned them, we shouldn't feed them and give them medicine and supplies? I thought Pat Boone was supposed to be a Christian man? Thirdly, isn't Freedom of Religion one of our Constitutional guarantees?

Geez... I don't even know where to begin. I'm sure Ms. Morgan has a vendetta against you, just like every other Zionist neo-con... I mean... we're all evil and want you dead or something, right? And... well... you said that you picked up those supplies from a "distribution center"... who else has distribution centers there besides FEMA, the Salvation Army and the Red Cross? Whether or not you stole them or offered to transport them is another story... I don't know...

Reality check, Cindy... we are at war with militant Islamists, and those fanatics are being financed, in part, by mosques in this country. I'm sure Mr. Boone is not opposed to getting food and medical supplies to people who need them. This has nothing to do with freedom of religion.

It is a Christ-like principal to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and shelter the homeless. That's what is happening in Algiers and other places in Louisiana…but by the people of America, not the so-called "Christians" in charge. If George Bush truly listened to God and read the words of the Christ, Iraq and the devastation in New Orleans would have never happened.

Yup, feeding the poor, clothing the naked, and sheltering the homeless is very Christ-like. And it's happening all over the country. By a whole lot of Christians and people of all different faiths.

Would you please explain to me how President Bush reading the Bible would have stopped the hurricane from hitting the Gulf Coast or flooding NOLA. How could the President's Bible study have prevented Saddam Hussein from being a murderous tyrant who supported terrorism? NOLA flooding because levees failed. Levees that should have been made stronger with funds sent to the state by Washington. Funds that ended up lining the pockets of corrupt politicians in NOLA and Baton Rouge. Iraq was liberated from tyranny because it was the right thing to do.

I don't care if a human being is black, brown, white, yellow or pink. I don't care if a human being is Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, or pagan. I don't care what flag a person salutes: if a human being is hungry, then it is up to another human being to feed him/her. George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power. The only way America will become more secure is if we have a new administration that cares about Americans even if they don't fall into the top two percent of the wealthiest.

Once again, she starts saying something almost intelligent, and then corrects herself. Yes... it is our responsibility to help others. And, the President has accepted responsibility for the mistakes of his administration (as opposed to other Presidents I can think of in the recent past).

But... but... "occupied New Orleans"???? The woman has completely lost it. Not recently, but... this is just more proof.

I just wonder. Does she think that a Kerry administration (I shudder to even write that) would have been more caring about Americans who don't fall into the top two percent of the wealthiest. I mean... the Ketchup Queen is one of those top two percent... and many of their supporters are part of that particular two percent... just sayin'...