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**MrMacDude** · September 7th, 05:51 PM

Fear and Loathing in the US

If I could pick one word for the state of the Union right now, it would be “Fuschia”. I don’t really know what that means, but the Department of Homeland Security has a 40 billion dollar budget, and their only product is a color coded alert system. I might as well use it. It’s a good thing the Bush Administration re-appropriated money from stupid, unnecessary programs such as the Army Corps of Engineers who asked for 100 million to rebuild and strengthen the Levees in New Orleans.

They got 40 million. The money went to the 290 billion dollar highway bill, including a 200 million dollar bridge in Alaska to only be used by a few dozen people, ever. It went to Homeland Security, so they could come up with the dazzling and brilliant color-coded alert system. It went to the war in Iraq. It went into thin air due to tax cuts for the wealthy.

And just like 9/11 and the Iraq insurgency, the administration had no idea a catastrophe of this size could occur; they had no way to suspect it. Oh, except for documents like “Bin Laden determined to attack inside US” and people like General Shinseki who said that we needed 300,00 troops on the ground. Who reads memos and listens to prewar projections from lowly Generals, anyway? Not you, and that’s what the administration counts on.

The American people blew it when they believed that the War in Iraq was well managed, just that unavoidable road bumps had been hit. They blew it when they ignored the findings of the 9/11 commissions.

The president told Diane Sawyer, ” I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees.” The public has a chance not to blow it this time; to hold the administration accountable for this atrocity. The relief effort was grossly mismanaged, and most of the damage could have been avoided. Precious days were wasted before relief was approved by Bush, and

Then there is Micheal Brown, head of FEMA(Federal Emergency Management Agency). You know he is good, because he used to head an Arab horse racing association before he was fired.

Bush: ‘Brownie*’ is not doing “One heck of a job.” I know you only get 10% of the black vote, but letting the largely black Big Easy population die at the hands of an incompetent FEMA head is not the American way. Why wasn’t he instantly fired when he publicly admitted that he didn’t know 15,000 people were in the convention center? Why wasn’t he fired in January, when he gave 30 million dollars in Hurricane Francis relief to Miami, a city untouched by the hurricane?

The president told us he could make us safer from Terrorism. He told us he could win the war in Iraq, and the war on terror. He scared us so dumb that we forgot to listen to the countless warnings about things like the New Orleans levees. People didn’t think about natural disasters or the environment, things that affect everyone, because they were too scared of a terrorist attack. Terrorist attacks, though awful, could never obliterate a city the size of, oh, I don’t know, New Orleans, from the map. “I didn’t know it could happen” is not an acceptable answer this time. Everyone knew it could happen, the New Orleans Times-Picayune ran a 5-part expose on it, to name one instance. And you already know about the denied funds needed to fix the levees.

The president has a an approval rating in the low 30s right now, less than half of what it was after his reelection. Why so low now, even after the bungled war and countless other mistakes?

Maybe it is because we can’t pump water out of Lake Superior and point out its better to fight the water in Canada than in New Orleans, but I think Maureen Down said it best:

This time we can actually see the bodies.

**imagineballa991** · September 7th, 06:05 PM

imo i feel differently

**cubsfan4life021** · September 7th, 06:17 PM

And you critique me for my english..jeez that was poorly written..

**Z PYRO** · September 7th, 06:18 PM

reads like a very fallacious editorial

**osta the pimp** · September 7th, 06:20 PM

Mac I agree with you, and nicely written also.

**MrMacDude** · September 7th, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zpyro

reads like a very fallacious editorial

Care to point out a single fallacy? It's been fact checked.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cubsfan4life021

And you critique me for my english..jeez that was poorly written..

hasn't been edited yet, but where? I do need some feedback on that.

**MrMacDude** · September 7th, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by osta the pimp

Mac I agree with you, and nicely written also.

Thank you.

**bobide** · September 7th, 06:23 PM

See, w/ the levees even w/ the planned modifications it would still have been like 3ft over. Guess what happened after it jumped the levee? It took out the foundation.....i can't think of a way to stop that. The levees were ****ed, and new orleans was ****ed the second they built where they did.

Reorganize ur 2nd paragraph, it's out of time and that bothers me. The terror alert chart came before the highway planning, etc.

I can't remember my other minor complaints or comebacks for ur points.

**Z PYRO** · September 7th, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrMacDude

Fear and Loathing in the US

If I could pick one word for the state of the Union right now, it would be “Fuschia”. I don’t really know what that means, but the Department of Homeland Security has a 40 billion dollar budget, and their only product is a color coded alert system. I might as well use it. It’s a good thing the Bush Administration re-appropriated money from stupid, unnecessary programs such as the Army Corps of Engineers who asked for 100 million to rebuild and strengthen the Levees in New Orleans.

They got 40 million. The money went to the 290 billion dollar highway bill, including a 200 million dollar bridge in Alaska to only be used by a few dozen people, ever. It went to Homeland Security, so they could come up with the dazzling and brilliant color-coded alert system. It went to the war in Iraq. It went into thin air due to tax cuts for the wealthy.

And just like 9/11 and the Iraq insurgency, the administration had no idea a catastrophe of this size could occur; they had no way to suspect it. Oh, except for documents like “Bin Laden determined to attack inside US” and people like General Shinseki who said that we needed 300,00 troops on the ground. Who reads memos and listens to prewar projections from lowly Generals, anyway? Not you, and that’s what the administration counts on.

The American people blew it when they believed that the War in Iraq was well managed, just that unavoidable road bumps had been hit. They blew it when they ignored the findings of the 9/11 commissions.

The president told Diane Sawyer, ” I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees.” The public has a chance not to blow it this time; to hold the administration accountable for this atrocity. The relief effort was grossly mismanaged, and most of the damage could have been avoided. Precious days were wasted before relief was approved by Bush, and

Then there is Micheal Brown, head of FEMA(Federal Emergency Management Agency). You know he is good, because he used to head an Arab horse racing association before he was fired.

Bush: ‘Brownie*’ is not doing “One heck of a job.” I know you only get 10% of the black vote, but letting the largely black Big Easy population die at the hands of an incompetent FEMA head is not the American way. Why wasn’t he instantly fired when he publicly admitted that he didn’t know 15,000 people were in the convention center? Why wasn’t he fired in January, when he gave 30 million dollars in Hurricane Francis relief to Miami, a city untouched by the hurricane?

The president told us he could make us safer from Terrorism. He told us he could win the war in Iraq, and the war on terror. He scared us so dumb that we forgot to listen to the countless warnings about things like the New Orleans levees. People didn’t think about natural disasters or the environment, things that affect everyone, because they were too scared of a terrorist attack. Terrorist attacks, though awful, could never obliterate a city the size of, oh, I don’t know, New Orleans, from the map. “I didn’t know it could happen” is not an acceptable answer this time. Everyone knew it could happen, the New Orleans Times-Picayune ran a 5-part expose on it, to name one instance. And you already know about the denied funds needed to fix the levees.

The president has a an approval rating in the low 30s right now, less than half of what it was after his reelection. Why so low now, even after the bungled war and countless other mistakes?

Maybe it is because we can’t pump water out of Lake Superior and point out its better to fight the water in Canada than in New Orleans, but I think Maureen Down said it best:

This time we can actually see the bodies.

fallacious statements in bold

Alpha · September 7th, 06:33 PM

You used a few too many big words for my simple mind to understand.. But if your bashing the bush administration for not giving money to new orleans...

1. Why should I, a Masachusetts resident, pay for a levee 1000 miles away for people who have all knowledge that they live under sea level, in a bowl, just waiting for it to flood.

2. Checks and balances. You can not blame everythign on the president. This government is not a dictatorship. Checks and balances make sur eno one branch gets more power then another. Bush can not simply say "lets give them 4 million" and its done.

Please see Ben's guide to the US government for more info.

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/6-8/governm...president.html

**Zeruel** · September 7th, 06:33 PM

Hate to break it to you, but there was a program called Able Danger back in the Clinton Administration. They KNEW about Osama, but becuase of the way the Clinton administration had it set up, the FBI and CIA were'nt able to communicate. Therefore they couldnt get the information to the people who could stop it.

Im not 100% positive on the exact wording, but that is the general jist.

Just thought you should know.

Alpha · September 7th, 06:35 PM

You know what? All people and situations aside: IT ****ING HAPPENED.

Instead of spending billions of dollars so we can try to point blame at someone, why dont we just work at the task at hand?

We;ve already crossed that bridge, it crumbled, and we cant go back.

Unless the government wants to send $10 so they can go back in time before thye die, its not going to change.

Of course we all love to make fun of president bush and attack him. Why? Everyones doing it. Its so easy to join teh masses.

**Brockocoli** · September 7th, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean Hannity

It's sickening how people want to politicize this

Mac Dude

You my friend, need to take a government class and learn how the government works.
Alpha said it when he said "checks and balances". Did you see the mayor of the city or the Governer of the STATE do **** for the problem. NO! of course not. Did you know that america was based off of a principal of STATES'S ****ING RIGHTS. Yeah the federal government needs some involvement, but you can't expect them to be everywhere. Ok, so mabye the recovery was a day or 2 late, so ****ing what. Its called the united STATES of america for a reason. The states have a budget, the counties have a budget, the cities have a budget...but no, we would rather blame the president. Why? Because we need a scapegoat, and he is "cool" to blame.

Did you see kanye west at his little tv thingy. "Bush hates black people." I'm sorry but that is just ****ing ignorant. It's crap like this that makes me go crazy with hatred for the whole damn pinko liberal commies in america. You said it at the wrong ****ing time kanye. the wrong ****ing time.

also, you just covered pretty much the entire liberal democratic agenda in one post. I'll comment further on other points as they arise.

oh, and bush's approval ratings are low 40's.

Alpha · September 7th, 07:13 PM

Bravo.

**Brockocoli** · September 7th, 07:16 PM

one last thought:

bush hates blacks so much! He must just LOATHE condoleeza rice and colin powell...

**VC8228** · September 7th, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrMacDude

Fear and Loathing in the US -An Op-ed for my school paper- *CONSERVATIVES STAY AWAY*

**Jinjiro** · September 7th, 07:36 PM

I agree with Alpha.

Bush may have cut money from Louisianna, but he doesn't decide what it is spent on. You forget that.

In fact, you know what the money was spent on? Mardis Gras fountains, rennovating a municipal building, and other such frivolous things. You know what the levees got rated as far as priority goes? Level 5, meaning they were very low on the list of things to give funds to.

You know what Mr. Bush and the Federal government would have done if Louisianna had spent money on the levees? They would have given them more money to help with it. But because Mardis Gras fountains were higher on the list for the LOCAL government, the Federal government didn't add any more money.

Really, none of the blame rests on Bush. The local government is who you should be blaming.

-Jinjiro

**Uncle_T** · September 7th, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brockocoli

also, you just covered pretty much the entire liberal democratic agenda in one p