Barbara Bush's Texas Hospitality
As Presidents Clinton and Bush toured the Astrodome yesterday, an NPR reporter recorded an amazing comment from First Lady Barbara Bush:Almost everyone I've talked to says we're going to move to Houston. ... What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this -- this is working very well for them.
Indeed. Losing your home, possessions, and loved ones is a small price to pay for the chance to live like a zombie in a strange place with thousands of people, on constant guard to protect your children, clothes, and cot.
On Air America, Al Franken retold the infamous story of his meeting on a plane with Barbara Bush, which I've attached as an eight-minute podcast. The story's hilarious, if you don't mind a little name-calling:
I told people this story the next day. And this is people who are Republicans, there were Democrats there -- this was just a journalistic thing ... Everyone laughed at the story, but what they laughed at the most was that I thought Barbara Bush was kidding. And they went oh no, no, no, no, no, she's horrible.
Radio · Politics · Podcasts · Hurricane Katrina · 2005/09/06 · 71 COMMENTS · LinkComments
why are we commenting on old ladies, isn't there more important thing to worry about. we look like the hater that the right wingers accuse us of being
I think it is because on some basic level we know that the Bush family are patricians who look down on the rest of us from the height of their money. I think this is an essentially anti-democratic stance, but hey, that's me. If you think Barbara Bush doesn't matter and makes us look bad if we laugh at her, then you are probably right. That's why they are in power. They never laugh at us.
What the bejeebus are you talking about, Kansas? She isn't some cranky "old lady" spouting off on her front porch. I challenge you to name a woman who is more well-connected and influencial in the conservative sphere (see Kevin Phillips' book, American Dynasty). She could have you killed at the drop of a scented hanky.
Democrats will continue to lose until this rectal-cranial inversion - in which the Bushies are identified as salt of the Earth "compassionate conservatives" and Democrats as aristocratic elitists - is reversed. It ain't gonna happen if flubs like this aren't run up the flagpole at every opportunity.
Was this the reason that it took so long for the government to respond to the tragedy? Did we respond faster to 9/11 tragedy because only the elites worked in the World Trade Center? Is one American life worth more than other?
Easy on Barb, first of all she's married to the father Clinton never had and second you don't get your picture on the one dollar bill for being evil.
Seriously, she's no more wacky about poor people than Tereza Heinz Kerry or any number of other rich lefties. She's no Eleanor Roosevelt, but she has spent a considerable amount of time being helpful and public-spirited. Surely others deserve more of a spanking here.
If Theresa Heinz-Kerry ever said anything as colossally, awfully, hilariously inappropriate as Barbara Bush yesterday, I want to hear it.
I bet you thought I was joking about the "she'll have you killed" thing:
You can criticize me, but don't criticize my children and don't criticize my daughters-in-law and don't criticize my husband, or you're dead.
Speaking of that, when was the last time anyone saw Dana Carvey?
We responded more quickly to 9/11 because we had more advance notice. Oops! I wasn't supposed to say that.
Let them eat cake!
Let them eat YELLOW CAKE.
Rogers, Teresa Heinz-Kerry has some really amusing quotes you can check out. I don't know if this comment meets you standard of "colossally, awfully,hilariously inappropriate as Barbara Bush" but Teresa did say: "I think men are supposed to be boys always. They just go through different stages and if wives understand that they can love them."
I'm not sure what you're having more of a problem with, the accommodations or the quote, but you're being a little oversensitive either way. What you describe ("a strange place with thousands of people, on constant guard to protect your children, clothes, and cot") doesn't sound great, but being poor in a tough part of New Orleans has its own challenges that likely include being on constant guard to protect your children and belongings. The Astrodome's not paradise, but it compares well with the last place many of them were ("Of course, to many who lived the horror of the Superdome in New Orleans last week, this old baseball stadium feels like the Taj Mahal."), and apparently Louisiana couldn't even muster that level of comfort, so I hope you'll forgive Texas for being so heartless. We're doing the same thing all over Austin, bastards that we are.
As for Bar, she's an 80-year-old woman. She was young in the '30s, for God's sake. So she says some wacky, mildly insensitive things. You don't have relatives from that era who occasionally flirt with topics or tone that isn't exactly New Age in its progressiveness?
And finally, she may not be on record with much of interest, but I'd bet a week spent with Terayza would turn the rest of your hair white. Which would only make you more distinguished.
You're right, guys, Barbara Bush and Theresa Heinz aren't that far apart. They're both descendants of New England WASP culture. Their perspective on the hoi polloi are very similar, and you can find the same insensitivity in their remarks.
But there's something very different about Babs: Texas. As Kevin Phillips (who's a Nixon populist with an enduring hatred for the New England elite) points out, the hot sun of the Lone Star State stripped the Bushies of any remaining sense of WASPy civic duty:
"Texas civic culture," Phillips writes, "more akin to that of Mexico, Venezuela and Brazil, has accepted wealth and its benefits with minimal distraction by guilt and noblesse oblige."
That's why you'll find essentially the same cluelessness in Theresa's quotes, but not the viciousness. I encourage you to keep trying.
Well, once a debutante, always a debutante - She's gotta be, like 80+ so, give the old Dame a break. Trouble is; her L'il Lord Fauntelroy is President of the US. Sure glad I don't live over there....dangerous place. Good luck to you, folks.
PS. I don't get where Theresa Heinz comes into it. Was there something about catsup?
Barbara's comments are not nearly as offensive as those by Kim Clement and other so-called "prophets" who are saying that God revealed to them that God was going to destroy New Orleans.
Kim Clement: "For I will take the curses, and the bodies will even rise and they will come forth on the water. But I will keep you, and the stench of death will only last a few days."
John Mark Pool: "The French Quarter will be wiped out in the flood. Bourbon Street will be abandoned. Alligators will be swimming where dens of iniquity once abounded." Another quote: "Then the superdome will be available to purchase for 1/10th of a cent on the dollar! This will one day be called the "Glory Dome" as a move of God will be based out of it and make it a "Healing and Restoration Center" grabbing worldwide attention. This Glory Dome will go on continually on a 24/7 basis."
I wish the media would expose these men like they did Pat Robertson recently.
Last I heard of TH-K she was lending her time and money to the relief effort for hurricane victims in the Carribean.
Well, she's not from Texas, eventually made it there in her 20s. Teresa's from South Africa, but I guess the super-enlightened environment there when she was growing up keeps her on the straight and narrow conversationally.
And what viciousness, exactly? I've listened to the quote and the unbelievably boring story by Al Franken (not wanting to be poked at by Al Franken is being "really, really horrible"? And the SS guy didn't stop him because "he doesn't like her"? Pretty silly coming from a guy who gets violent when displeased.) and I'm still at a loss as to why she's vicious. Anyone?
Barabara's comments are simply a reflection of the Bush family's mindset.
It is a pattern which has served them well; people are to be regularly objectified and villified as political or financial needs dictate.
Barabara seemed to imply the people will be so much better off because while they were poor in New Orleans, now they're in Texas! But reading between the lines, it sure sounds as if you really think they're in your Texas town for the free lunches.
How very disconnected from reality.
Another ISE - Insulated Smarmy Elitist.
This woman is the matriarch of a powerful american political dynasty with a grand history of reaping profit from creating and/or exploiting the sufferring of others, usually poor people, primarily of color.
What you are seeing is a direct route to the underlying mindset of our conservative Rhode Island cum Texas cowpoke "Culteral Elites", the Bush family values in action.
The Barbara Bush line is, in itself easy to dismiss as words of a an out of touch old lady. However, when you consider she was the former first "lady" and "mommy" of our current president, you have to be concerned.
Wonder what W learned growing up in the Bush household?
ARB
And what viciousness, exactly?
Man, I should've saw that one coming.
We're working on a number of levels here. I guess one could define the Franken thing as "viciousness" in a certain sense, kind of like Theresa's "shove it" comment.
I'm talking about something entirely different. What does it say about a person who looks at people who've endured a week of standing in their own shit and the ruins of their future and thinks their lives have somehow improved; that they're somehow using the opportunity to take advantage of Texans' generosity?
Maybe a better word would be reptilian. Cold-blooded, man. Ice water in the veins.
And what does it say about her press agents that you guys think she's some kindly, if slightly loopy, old grandmother? What she said ain't a symptom of old-age, fellas. If she thought it would advance her interests, she'd kick your ass nine ways to Sunday and suck your soul out through your eyeballs.
This should not come as a surprise... actually the Bush side of the family was never that bad. The Pierces on the other hand (Barbara's side) were notorious drinkers, practical jokers with a cruel streak, womanizers etc.
My inlaws are from Greenwich, went to school and socialized with the Pierces. Republicans. I have never heard a good word about the Pierces, and that is from rock-ribbed Republicans.
George W. Bush is supposed to take after his mother.
Did I say Greenwich? That was later... I meant Rye.
Most of the sorts things the Pierces did are not repeated in conversation. There are intimations and 'looks.' But
I can relay one example of Pierce humor dating back many years which involved climbing on a rooftop (dead drunk) and proclaiming that there would be "no lynchings today." The racial overtones were as clear then as they are today... I guess you could call it a wacky joke about killing (or more precisely not killing) black people. Apparently it was considered quite funny at the time, though in general the 'WASPS' did not care much for the Pierces.
wow, you guys really focus on the important issues, don't you? Oh, that's right, you're Democrats...
Holy crap. I think we may have found someone who could take on Babs in the snake pit:
I mean, you have people who don't heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.
Those Texas rattlers ain't got nuthin' on this dude.
Actually, Teresa Heinz Kerry is Portugese and was born in Mozambique.
I've met her and while she's a bit distant, there isn't any pretense about her. What you see is what you get.
I always had the impression that Barbara Bush is the "iron fist in velvet glove" type.
Both women are tigers when it comes to protecting their families.
Yo mama, Dennis. These sons of bitches and their mothers run the country and they don't give a good goddamn if some unfortunate negro dies choking on his own filth.
Here's a news flash. Unless you're in a position to become a Bush Pioneer, they don't care about you, either.
There isn't anything more important. One of these days you'll recognize that. Hopefully, you won't be sitting in the Astrodome begging for a handout when it happens.
Teresa did say: "I think men are supposed to be boys always. They just go through different stages and if wives understand that they can love them."
Yes, that was certainly terrible. Males in America -- especially white males -- are such helpless victims of poverty, discrimination and class prejudice. So it's much much worse to poke fun at them, as opposed to insulting a bunch of flood victims who've lost everything they own and are living in a sports stadium. Yes indeed.
Are there ANY conservatives who don't have their skulls wedged firmly in their own assholes?
You're right, Laurie. And Billmon. I tend to tergiversate in a feeble, futile attempt to reach consensus on a broader principle.
I'm quickly realizing the only thing what will wake certain people up is when one of Babs' progeny rams the hot poker up their rectums.
"Believe in something larger than yourself," indeed.
Billmon, I listened to Barbara's comment and will admit that it was a poor choice of words. However, I doubt she intended to insult anyone.
It wouldn't surprise me if many of these evacuees stay in Texas. It might be easier for them to settle in Houston than return to New Orleans next year after the city is drained and decontaminated.
Barbara mentions the hospitality in Houston which has been amazing. According to the Houston Chronicle, "There were so many volunteers at the Houston Food Bank today they had to tell people to go home. At least a couple hundred people showed up to start the 1 p.m. shift at the facility on the Eastex Freeway at Cavalcade they tied up traffic."
Everyone knows that living off a cot is not ideal, but the the Astrodome shelter was so much better organized than the Superdome.
Anyone who appears regularly on television or the radio will eventually say something quite idiotic... but Barbara Bush basically made a welfare joke on NPR. At the very least it showed a lack of empathy and understanding of human suffering. It was not as if she misspoke. I know she didn't mean to insult anyone, but that is not the point. Can you imagine her making a similar comment about upper-income white families forced to flee from their homes?
I do think such comments are relevant, because they point to a fundamental lack of understanding of how most Americans live. There isn't anything saintly about the poor, but I am quite uncomfortable with such people as the Bushes setting the contours of economic policy. There is a general sense that the poor are happy with scraps and that the rich deserve more because they are rich. Don't believe me? Well look at the disaster of 9-11... the wealthiest victims actually got MORE compensation than the poor. It was as if the wealthiest were somehow harder hit because they had to pay off Range Rovers rather than Hyundais. In a real culture of life, all human life is valued.
Nameless, I don't think you realize how bad it was in New Oreans for some people. Have you ever been to New Orleans or lived there? I have.
At one time the Desire Housing Project in New Orleans was considered one of the worst housing projects in the country.
Also, New Orleans was one of the bloodiest cities in the country. According to Gambit, "Over the last 10 years, more than 3,000 people have been murdered in the city."
Yeah...because Al Franken, with his distinguished background, knows so much about everything. He's an ass, and he is as poor a source of anything relevant as Rush Limbaugh.
Her comment is important because it deftly illustrates what kind of person shaped Dubya's twisted elitist world view.
I'm sure she didn't intend any harm; that's not the point. It's like when Pete Coors said blacks should be happy that their ancestors were brought to America as slaves.
She was merely saying something positive about the hospitality extended by her fellow Texans, and the understandable thankfulness of those for whom a friendly face, warm meal, dry clothes and safe place to sleep was an incredible relief considering what they had just been thru.
So she's a bit out of touch. She probably hasn't shopped for groceries in 50 years.
Comparing her remarks to some of those cited above is cynical, elitist, and truly out of touch with the spirit of giving and receiving graciously displayed by many of the people she described.
Please don't say asshole and rectum any more, if you can help it.
Thanks
Geez...an old rich white woman out of touch with the brutish and harsh realities facing her fellow citizens...imagine that? At any rate if you want the poverty article link to my blog
She IS out of touch with what what most people go through in their daily lives - and so is W. That's a big problem with the Bushites and part of the reason why they're so terrible for this country and the world.
She is right! 3 meals a day, the prospect of work (for those that know what it is), kids going to school, clean clothing and no drugs in the house! Some of those poor kids who were raised without hope are definately benefiting from this catastrophe.
Benefiting!!! We'll see how much they benefit when the fat lady sings (for those of you who don't know what that saying means; it's when the headlines no longer read "Katrina Disaster" and these people are no longer the topic of the day.
None of us have ANY idea what these victims's lives were like before Katrina. The point is, they have been taken away from their roots, their home. It's so easy to sit back and comment on how "good" they will have it in comparison to their meek lives back in New Orleans or Mississippi.
But they have been uprooted from all that they know and must start over again. And how do you know for a fact that they will have "better" lives? I'm sure you are doing so much to ensure these victims can rebuild their lives right from the comfort of your home. God help you if you were in their shoes.
Yikes.
More Bush-isms..
Well, 'Outa the mouth of .....'
Uh, wait..What is she???
Oh, thats a right.. She is Special.
Very well said, Renee..Thank you
Uh, Hello???????
I have to wonder and ponder the mindset of anyone who can say that the folks who have SUFFERED are benefiting..
Scary, indeed...
If you Listen to the quote as recorded, you'll find where Dubya gets his inappropriate chuckle.
The road apple doesn't fall far from the horse.
My parents and family are just like the Bushes, old white racists. They lived back when blacks WERE second class citizens BY LAW. The fact that they can't change their viewpoints is, in part, a symptom of their outright ignorance and also them not wanting to see the world for what it really is, multi-colored. It sickened me to get a ride from my old man like I have the past two days --- car will hopefully be ready this afternoon --- and listen to him repeat what he hears on FOX VIEWS (it's not NEWS its their opinons). Just a dumb stupid idiot with nary an ounce of compassion for anyone at all.
I really like this part: "What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas."
Yeah, Mizz Barbara, it show is scary tuh think of all us black folk wanting to stay in your Texas!
As mentioned above by someone about John Mark Pool, myself and a friend have written an analysis of the circumstances regarding his "amazing" prophecy, which is not so amazing at all. It is our belief that he is a false prophet, and have written up the reasons why here:
www.christianforums.com
I'm hoping that this will prevent him from gaining any credibility in the church. People should be more discerning about every person who turns up saying they're a prophet.
Barbara Bush's insensitivity perfectly demonstrates why her son was so slow to act. I've been a social worker in (majority African-American) Washington, D.C. for 20+ years. While I have been in some horrendous homes, the majority of my poor clients have made the best of their environments in section 8 or public housing, decorating to their taste and keeping neat homes. For Barbara Bush the fact that poor black people lost their homes means nothing because she assumes they had nothing. By the way my social work colleagues believe there is plenty of open space to build hurricane shelters in Crawford, Texas.
I went and helped.
I heard some sacry stories.
I also heard some victims say that they wanted to stay in Texas.
btw.
Felicia,
Crawford would be a good place for a shelter, it has a good mayor (who happens to be black).
I just sit in awe at everything. Bush was in no way prepared for 9/11 and you see how late he responded to the affects of Katrina. But I do have to give him credit, he did cut his vacation short!!! And now the comment by Barbara lets you know just how they view the situation. But the sad part is that people will say that George Bush did a great under the terrible circumstances and they will some how justify what Barbara said. And next election they will vote Republican again even though that person may not be the best man for the job. And the country will keep going down hill. And to my amazement people will say that Bush did a great job as president. WHAT?
Are there any poor people posting here??? Probably not, because we are all so OUTRAGED, I mean FLOORED, by the fact that there is ever one person who thinks Mrs. Bush's statement was acceptable in ANY WAY. IT is disgusting to think that there are people in this world who are so wealthy and out of touch that they have a twisted and horribly prejudiced view of how poor people live. People living in poverty do not live in conditions anything like that of the disaster that struck New Orleans. We live a rough life, and the ghetto is not the best place to be, but it is IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM comparable to the horrendous conditions the people of NEw Orleans faced after the hurricane. I suggest that anyone (including Mrs Bush) who wants to compare should go to the nearest ghetto and look around. People are not wandering the streets in shock. They are not wailing about lost children and old people. The dead do not lie out in the sun to rot. There is running water. There is electricity. There are happy people who just happen to be poor. There are smiling children, playing games and making the best of what they have. We poor in America are not a miserable lot scraping through heaps of rubble for a scrap to eat or drinking sewage contaminated water, and giving it to our children. We work hard and we have wonderful lives despite the struggle. No, poverty is not fun and games. But comparing it to the aftermath of Katrina is so damn ignorant and HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE.
Take it from me, and if you don't want to take it from me JUST GO LOOK. Most cities have areas of poverty. I am confident you will see that I'm right.
I'm a former missisippian now living in chicago, I once knew a lady with the same mind set as mrs. bush. this lady would always try to give away spoiled or colored food to any one that was black, her thing was you're black so take this. every person of color isn't dirt poor to the point that you take bull crap like that. a lot of people in new orleans were not homeless, but had homes, apartments and such. how could they be beter of living in a dam place with thousands of other people!
Hey Folks,
I think perhaps we may be blurring the issue on this one. Those who are talking smack and those who are supporting what Bab said are looking at the total quote as one piece, and trying to deem it as offensive or inoffensive. However, it makes more sense to look at the quote as two seperate parts, one of which is perfectly innocent, and one of which is revealing.
Saying that those in the Superdome are happy with Texas hospitality and that they may want to stay in Texas is entirely innocent. First of all, Texans HAVE been very gracious and kind, as keeping in line with the vast majority of Texans I have ever known (no I have never known W). Also, to want to stay in Texas would be perfectly logical, for the obvious fact that their old city has been entirely and utterly destroyed. As bad as New Orleans may or may not have been pre-flood, post-flood it has been utterly decimated. You can count on no infrastructure for months, and no job providing economy for years, maybe decades. OF COURSE many people may, and probably will, choose to try and make a new life in Texas. There is nothing ridiculous whatsoever about Bab saying this, and it seems rather ridiculous to either defame or defend this part of her statement.
What is shocking is obviously the second part of her comment, the underprivaleged part. Those who find nothing wrong with this are deceiving themselves. It means that you believe that just because these people lived in ghettos that they are more than happy to see there homes destroyed. To see all of their possessions (yes, poor people DO have possessions you ignorant twits)lost. To possibly be seperated from their loved one. To see their neighbours dead in the streets. To lose everyhting they have in the world and live in a damn sports stadium in unsanitary conditions. In this line of thinking, all of this is fine so long as they dont have to return to the GHETTO - a word so terrifying to some of you that it conjures images in your head that apparently are more terrifying than a disaster zone.
Damn.
Thats pretty racist.
Im rich AND white and even I can see that.
Damn.
Dear Dianabee
You are entirely right. Most of the comments that horrify you probably arewritten by people who possess a deadly combination of traits - material affluence and ignorance. They possibly even mean well, but their is a veil of soicalised conventional wisdom and class mythology that prevents the ability to make judgements which are either sensible or sensitive.
The thing is, as far as some people are concerned - an uninhabitable disaster zone and a ghetto are the same, in so far as they are both mythological fictions of a collective imagination. They have not lived in a ghetto, nor have they lived in a disaster zone - hence they have no ability to make a reaosnable comparision between the two.
Theyre not horrible people, just misinformed.
And possibly racist.
Actually that is pretty horrible.
Damn
I can't believe people are making excuses for Barbara Bush's racist comment. I grew up in a ghetto, we were happy, we didn't have a lot of material things, but we had enough. My parents were hard working and saw to it we had an education. Many famous Blacks grew up poor and in ghettos-Oprah for one and I wouldn't change a thing about my life. For Miss Barbara to make the statement shows how out of touch they are with reality. You can't teach it if you don't know it!!!
Every one is jumping all over Kanye for his comment, he was telling the truth about the president. The bigot don't fall far from the tree. I've yet to hear about Miss Barbara's comment on tv. News people are saying if Kanye is on a telethon they may not raise as much money..I say, if a comment prevents you from giving you weren't planning to give any way!! And that shows how racist America is!!America likes to put us all in the same bag.. The comment from Miss Barbara and the florida assn story shows racism is alive and well in this country!! Hell the rest of the Black population pays taxes and we are entitled to help as well as anyone else!!!
Can you imagine Rose Kennedy saying something like this? Barbara Bush, as a former first lady, and the wife and mother of presidents, has a responsibility to all the people of the United States, not just the ones who have benefitted her family the most. The snide comment that somehow those trumatized people who have lost everyhing are somehow better off in Texas accepting handouts to survive, is just awful. I agree with everyone who has said she is a class and racial bigot.
My mother called me from the Netherlands to ask me what on earth Mrs Barb was thinking!Unfrotunatelly people of her position are heared all over the world and only make the American people look stupid by association, while it is the Bush administration/dynasty that keeps putting their well-shoed feet in it like this.These kind of comments might be dismissed by some of you as the babblings of an old woman, but believe you me it stemms from a life long habit of privelege,ignorance and willfull ignoring of how the other half lives. I hope American's eyes will open and you all will elect a more healthy choice for president next time. Americans...don't you see ...you get what you voted for? Use your voice and make a choice that can make your country respected again in the world.The rest of the wolrd is starting to feel uncomfortable and a little sceptical about "the leader of the Free World" if not laughing at you.
Oh please, why the hell should we give that old bat a break?
She's not some sheltered delicate creature tucked away only to have a microphone unexpectedly thrust in her face.
The old biddy's doing official appearances, visitations and interviews for heavens sake. An interview guys.
If she should be protected she should've stayed in her mansion while the less "fortunate" clean her bathroom and cook her pampered meals.
And please, does anyone really buy that hogwash story the White House is pushing about the Astrodome/Superdome? Talk about a sow's ear and a silk purse, it still doesn't work!
barry bowen, what difference does it make whether or not new orleans is the bloodiest cities in the u.s? does that make its citizens less human? when mrs. bush made those comments about the underpriviledged being better off, it did not sound to me that she meant better off than in the superdome. it sounds to me (and many others) that she meant better off than their life in the ghetto. being poor in her mind means to live like animals, and i'm sure she does not mean like any of those animals she's owned. why haven't we heard commentaries on the television about her comments as we've heard about kanye's?
I want Bill Clinton back!!!!!!!!!! Thank you. That's all I had to say:)
FDR was very rich, very white, and had a very isolated childhood from the areas of poverty in this country.
His experiences with polio as a young man opened his eyes and his heart to the less fortunate and made him the right man at the right time for this country during the depression not to mention a War, that we actually had to get into...but that's another subject for another time...
You don't have to be poor to understand the difficulty and vulnerability of the less fortunate.
You do have to be willing to open your mind and heart and talk to the less fortunate, without it just being a photo op and try to really empathize and put yourself in their position.
It is truly unfortunate when you have the top political figures in power...Bush, Cheney etc. that haven't even taken the time and probably never will... to understand the difficulties of the less fortunate.
And to all those people (which included me...until I understood the reality of how difficult it was for the poor without cars or extra spending money to get out of Dodge before the hurricane hit) that started to blame the ones that stayed, on being stubborn and stupid...you have to put yourself in their shoes to understand how easy it is to be caught in that situation with the few resources they had...
I just hope this administration that will be throwing billions and billions of dollars into this massive rebuilding process don't close their eyes and allow the Halliburton's and Wal-Mart's and bottom feeding corporate developers to get in there and price out the people that were displaced from New Orleans...this unfortunate disaster shouldn't be a bonanza opportunity for this administration to throw another no bid windfall for corporate America...but unfortunately I think this administration will sell out to those big corporations... after all that's who they are...Ex CEO,s and businessmen...
...and here they are the ones that spout off about "intelligent design" and in reality they will probably through their own actions be proving what really actually happens...through Darwin's Theory of Evolution...that only the strong (those with money and power)will survive and prosper...
...but then there's that one guy's teaching's...you know... the one that talks about the "meek shall inherit the earth"...so who knows...
As far as Barbara's comment is concerned...her own detached experiences and personal stubbornness and defensivness will probably never allow her to realize how detached that statement actually was...and detached she actually can be...but then again stranger things have happened...but then again...probably not here...
...and I think as proven in this case..."Like Mother like son..."
...it may not directly mean they are bad people...but one's that are unfortuately at this time in power and detached...
...as the saying goes..."until you walk a mile in my shoes"...and I'm afraid golf shoes won't cut it...
dude, anarchy man
BARBARA BUSH actually said of Katrina disaster victims in Houston's Astrodome: "This is working out very well for them."
BARBARA BUSH married an oleaginous oilman who profited from the oil depletion allowance and generous government policies that favored Big Oil. She lives in Houston's River Oaks subdivision and a seaside castle in Maine. Has she ever worked? Her husband, GEORGE HERBERT WALKR BUSH has manners so fine that he writes thank you notes to thank you notes. Her son GEORGE W. BUSH used eminent domain to take other peoples' land in the only successful business he ever had.
Thank you BARBARA BUSH and GEORGE W. BUSH for reminding us all what a class of criminal conmen are serving in the White House.
Cruelly stranded, starving, dehydrating hurricane victims at New Orleans' Superdome exemplify America's growing inequality and cruelty.
President Bush resembles the crooked salesman Franklin Haney in TV's "Green Acres" -- constantly selling another inferior product, touting its virtues, with his squeaking voice, a glinting eyes, hungering to be believed by somone. America stopped believing prevaricating "Shrub" Bush after the government lost the second Battle of New Orleans, abandoning and starving low-income Americans. Millions of Bush's onetime deluded "working-class Tories" have deserted him, seeing through him and his crowd of cronies.
"I see one third of a nation, ill-housed, ill-fed and ill-clad," President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed. "The only thing we have to fear is, fear itself."
Alice Cooper's hit song, "Billion Dollar Babies" is the theme of our Second Gilded Age. As Senator John Edwards said in 2004, there are "two Americas."
Class divisions haunt America. The rich get all the breaks, from longer lives to better education to better health care. Workers pay higher prices and usurious late fees. They are more likely to die young. Women and children are poorer due to discrimination. Millions are one paycheck or illness away from homelessness.
Our government's unjust stewards -- defenders of wealthy "Billion Dollar Babies" -- can't stand criticism (which they richly deserve)
There are two Americas.
America believes in protecting civil rights. Faux (false) America discriminates against Gays, women, whistleblowers African-Americans and minorities, delaying and denying remedies.
America believes in equality. Faux America excludes Gays from military service, perpetrating vicious witch hunts.
America believes in eliminating discrimination. Faux America perpetuates discrimination -- demanding to amend constitutions to ban Gay marriage, not renew the Voting Rights Act and de-fund, defang and declaw civil rights enforcement.
America helps the needy. Faux America empowers the greedy -- corporate criminals.
America believes in Social Security. Faux America demands stockbrokers profit from retirement, risking all.. Bankruptcy will soon be tougher for people, while megacorporation lawyers slyly bankrupt pensions of retired executives, pilots and miners.
America believes in energy independence. Faux America empowers Big Oil, corrupting energy policy, delaying the transition to a post-petroleum world.
America believes in competitive free enterprise. Faux America perpetrates sham markets, shared monopolies, cartels, bidrigging, pricefixing and no-bid government contracting with Halliburton and arms merchants.
America believes in education for all. Faux America practices "affirmative action" for the wealthy -- alumni "legacy" descendants (like George W. Bush) are admitted to prestige schools in preference to working families' children.
America believes in developing all Americans to their fullest potential. Faux America "outsources" jobs overseas, paying pennies an hour.
America believes in democracy. Faux America falsifies elections -- not counting all Americans' votes. No court protected anywhere some 20,000 Jacksonville African-Americans whose votes were stolen and not counted during the 2000 Presidential election. George W. Bush became President as a result.
America believes in protecting our environment. Faux America perverts the word "development" -- tree-killing, asphalt paving, sprawl, global warming, exploiting public lands -- what Robert Kennedy called "willful, heedless destruction of natural beauty and pleasures."
America believes in understanding. Faux America exploits prejudice to attract voters, asserting "values."
America believes in deliberating and knowing all of the facts before making decisions. Faux America rushes to judgment in war and peace, demanding to abolish the Senate filibuster and abolish jury trials with phony "alternative dispute resolution" and cramdown arbitration schemes.
America believes in learning. Faux America propagandizes.
America believes we are all "created equal." Faux America inflicts inequality. It demands to repeal the estate tax, allowing billionaires to pass on wealth to idle descendants, perpetuating inequality.
America believes in the decency and dignity of humankind. Divider-not-uniter faux America appeals to group hatred.
America believes in honest government. Faux America hires lobbyists and establishes "astroturf" front-groups, stealth advocates for dirty air and water, ditch-digger wages and other corporate agendas.
America believes in fair discussion. Faux America screams that people are radical if they yearn for the values of Jefferson, Adams and Paine.
America believes in open debate. Faux America uses epithets like "feminazis," using Gays as a codeword to defeat competent, compassionate candidates.
America believes in just wages and salaries. Faux America pays corpulent CEOS ever-increasingly inflated salaries --- fighting against raising the $5.15/hour federal minimum wage 72% of Floridians voted for a $6.15/hour state minimum wage (11/20004), rejecting employer TV propaganda-agitation commercials.
America believes in employee rights to organize and form unions. Faux America believes in spending billions of dollars annually on anti-union "consultants' to figure out who to fire, who to frighten and how to keep workplaces "union-free." Once the National Labor Relations Board protected workers; it recently voted to allow employers to ban employees from "fraternizing" outside the workplace with either each other or contractor employees, invading employee privacy (and threatening rights to engage in concerted protected activity and form unions).
America believes in a fair wage for a day's work. Faux America enforces a decline in real wages at a time when the number of billionaires, fancy cars and second homes is increasing.
America believes in corporate accountability. Faux America changes the subject by talking about what people do in the bedroom.
America believes in freedom of speech. Faux America reckons that freedom is obsolete for people who disagree with those whom FDR called "malefactors of great wealth."
America believes in freedom of the press. Faux America supposes that freedom of the press belongs only to those who own a news media cartel (like FOX's Rupert Murdoch)(see OUTFOXED).
America believes in freedom of assembly. Faux America is assembling dossiers on their opponents and blacklisting whistleblowers, union activists, even people who file workers compensation claims.
America respects diversity. Faux America worships "rich white guy" assumptions, not unlike those made by disastrous disaster planners, who assumed New Orleanians all owned cars and could flee with cash and credit cards. Faux America assumes all Americans "must have car" (in words of a Washington Blade personal ad).
America believes in freedom of religion (or irreligion). Faux America is pushing government funding of religious organizations, official prayers and theocracy.
America believes in the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures in your person, home, papers and effects. Faux America is abusing "homeland security" to check out what books you're reading, while chilling free speech rights to criticize government. Incredibly, U.S. Representative John Dingell (D-Michigan) was at least twice required to strip to his underwear by Homeland Security personnel at airports. In his honor, I no longer wear underwear on airplanes. If anyone wants me to strip to board a plane, they can kiss my Gay Democratic butt (I will give them ten minutes to gather a crowd).
America believes in respecting personal privacy. Faux America is now requiring schools to disclose the names, Social Security numbers, E-mail addresses, phone numbers and grades of all of their students to the military, the better to obtain cannon fodder for Iraq. Parents/guardians should "just say no" by "opting out."
America believes in rights to handgun ownership. Faux America tried to confiscate handguns of homeowners remaining in New Orleans, by local police chief fiat.
America believes in right to seek remedies in courts. Faux America preaches cramdown arbitration and other court deform (a/k/a "court reform") efforts to deny you people their day in court.
Real American values resemble a rainbow. Faux America's prejudices resemble a KKK white sheet, a cloak worn by wrongheaded allied theocrats and corporate oligarchs.
America treasures life. Faux America executes the innocent and denies lifesaving health care, performing the "wallet biopsy" before taking your pulse in the emergency room. Civilized countries have national health insurance (Germany since 1870s). Do mossbacks think "life" ends at birth (as Barney Frank once asked)?.
America treasures liberty. Faux America worships megacorporations uber alles.
America treasures the pursuit of happiness. Faux America treasures concentrated wealth and power.
America believes in private property rights. Faux America abuses eminent domain to take homes for "economic development" and corporate schemes.
America believes in safe workplaces. Faux America kills and maims workers.
America treasures individual rights. Faux America has demanded that women in toxic factories be sterilized or be fired (courts and administrative agency appointees upholding those demands, rejecting an OSHA fine).
With kindest regards,
Ed Slavin
St. Augustine
To Karen,
I want Bill Clinton back too. dBill Clinton may have had a very low moral attitude about him but left office with our country in better shape than in the last 40 years. I do not remember Hillary ever making a racial remarks about anyone. Barbara and son George are very much alike very rude, unthinking people who care only about themselves.
Katrina directly affected my immidiate family. My fathers house was obliterated. He is now living with my younger sister.
My elder sister's house was flooded and the roof damaged. My niece now lives in Georgia and my great-nephew is living here in California with my elder brother's family.
I cannot imagine what they went through to return only to find their real and personal property gone, damaged and never to be restored or repaired.
I sincerely hope none of you on this list ever has to go through this or experience your family going through this. I am now attempting to convince my elder sister to leave permanently.
I have a suggestion....only a suggestion.....never live in a black or poor community. If you do, you will experience racism like you have never seen in any crisis.
There is nothing so revealing as an emergency....any emergency. Somehow the truth seems to always come to bear when things are strained.
Katrina revealed a very sad side of America. It also revealed the press, television, radio and 99.9% of all other forms of communication are under the control of the Bushes/Republicans.
And to think, The Rupublicans are moments away to signing the Patriot Act permanently into law....trumping our very own Constitution, giving the government the right to accuse anyone of being a "threat to society". This is the scourge we are facing.
I grieve for America... my home that I love so much....so much
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I have been watching Barbara Bush and her vapid and horrifying statements regarding the victims of Katrina through Spkie Lee's production and I have wondered why the press didn't jump all over it. Could this "blessed spirit of reason" statement have been suppressed by her little boy, who is even more vapid than she?
ask yourself, if anyone you ran into said this would you excuse it?
no.
if any liberal said would you jump on it?
yes.
this is not some silly old woman and this is not the only time she has said such things. she's a cruel, soul-less vindictive piece of trash who thinks money makes her better and knew exactly how heartless she sounded. she knew it would hurt people to hear her say that, that's why she said it. then she uses that old-woman crap to hide behind.
and all of you fall for it
It doesn't matter how much power the Bush family has, how old Barbara is, that comment was very unacceptable. I am a native of Texas and a Republican, and I believe that comment was very unjustified.
Michael Moore"an anti-war activist and filmmaker"believes that Bush's egregious delay in rescuing stranded residents of New Orleans was rooted in racial discrimination. "It's black people who are dying, so Bush doesn't care" (Interview by David Smith. Statement by Dr. Calvin Butts (Pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City and president of the Council of Churches of the City of New York). (2005, September 4). It's black people who are dying, so Bush doesn't care.' guardian.co.uk/. Retrieved October 16, 2008, from www.guardian.co.uk).
"A large part of our self-esteem derives from our [racial background],' Monteith said. To the extent we can feel better about our [racial background] relative to other [racial backgrounds], we can feel good about ourselves. It's likely a built-in mechanism'" (Shankar Vedantam. (2005, December 10). Psychiatry Ponders Whether Extreme Bias Can Be an Illness. Washington Post. Retrieved October 16, 2008, from www.washingtonpost.com).
"I don't think racism is a mental illness, and that's because 100 percent of people are racist,'" said Paul J. Fink, a former president of the American Psychiatric Association (Shankar Vedantam. (2005, December 10). Psychiatry Ponders Whether Extreme Bias Can Be an Illness. Washington Post. Retrieved October 16, 2008, from www.washingtonpost.com).
An individual's dispositions relative to people of other racial backgrounds, however racist, may be nobody else's business and do not in and of themselves constitute moral offenses or blameworthy actions or blameworthy omissions of action where every person is a racist to whatever extent. Dr. Paul J. Fink indicates"above"that "100 percent of people are racist." Maybe one cannot be blameworthy relative to racist dispositions that secretly and merely exist in one's heart and mind. However, a moral offense or a blameworthy act or a blameworthy omission of action has been committed or effectuated when one acts upon a racist disposition in a way that disadvantages and/or harms one or more individuals. Accordingly, President Bush may not have committed any offenses in secretly hating black people in his heart and mind. This hateful and racist disposition of Bush may be nobody else's business. However, Bush committed or effectuated moral offenses or blameworthy acts or blameworthy omissions of action when Bush acted upon his hatred of black people in so delaying rescue efforts relative to stranded residents of New Orleans. Kanye West"an American rapper, record producer, and singer"said on NATIONAL TV: "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
Bush's racial prejudice against black people pursuant to Hurricane Katrina resulted in the deaths of so many black people. Those dead black people are never coming back. They are gone forever. Look what Bush has done.
Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993
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