Ben Stein on Katrina Bush-bashing : Lone Star Times

Ben Stein on Katrina Bush-bashing

by Bill Roberts · 09/06/2005 9:29 pm

A few truths, for those who have ears and eyes and care to know the truth

Thus begins the inimitable Ben Stein in his latest column on the political and blame-fixing aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Below is a taste:

5.) George Bush had nothing to do with the hurricane contingency plans for New Orleans. Those are drawn up by New Orleans and Louisiana. In any event, the plans were perfectly good: mandatory evacuation. It is in no way at all George Bush’s fault that about 20 percent of New Orleans neglected to follow the plan. It is not his fault that many persons in New Orleans were too confused to realize how dangerous the hurricane would be. They were certainly warned. It’s not George Bush’s fault that there were sick people and old people and people without cars in New Orleans. His job description does not include making sure every adult in America has a car, is in good health, has good sense, and is mobile.

6.) George Bush did not cause gangsters to shoot at rescue helicopters taking people from rooftops, did not make gang bangers rape young girls in the Superdome, did not make looters steal hundreds of weapons, in short make New Orleans into a living hell.

7.) George Bush is the least racist President in mind and soul there has ever been and this is shown in his appointments over and over. To say otherwise is scandalously untrue.

8.) George Bush is rushing every bit of help he can to New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama as soon as he can. He is not a magician. It takes time to organize huge convoys of food and now they are starting to arrive. That they get in at all considering the lawlessness of the city is a miracle of bravery and organization.

9.) There is not the slightest evidence at all that the war in Iraq has diminished the response of the government to the emergency. To say otherwise is pure slander.

Mr. Stein ends with this:

Is there any problem in the world that is not Mr. Bush’s fault, or have we reverted to a belief in a sort of witchcraft where we credit a mortal man with the ability to create terrifying storms and every other kind of ill wind?

Where did the idea come from that salvation comes from hatred and criticism and mockery instead of love and co-operation?

Well said, Ben.

[Tip o' the hat to Jared at The Thinklings]

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Comments

7 Responses to “Ben Stein on Katrina Bush-bashing”

Mike Martin on September 6th, 2005 at 9:43 pm

Man, I don’t want to win Ben Stein’s money. He deserves to keep it all for that one.
davewolfgang on September 6th, 2005 at 10:08 pm

It’s hard to believe he can put up with the Hollywood types, or rather, that they can put up with him after this article.
gmland on September 6th, 2005 at 10:29 pm

I have been so mad - reading all the left wing lunacy - that I have not been able to put my thoughts together succinctly enough to decribe how I feel. Ben Stein read my mind and put it in print. Beautiful!
jjb on September 7th, 2005 at 9:23 am

Where is the personal responsibility? Year after year the folks here along the gulf coast are told when hurricane season starts, how many named stors are predicted, and what to do to be prepared http://www.wcti12.com/hurricane_checklist.htm . It’s not like these storms are something new. Those who choose to ignore warnings will suffer the conquences of the choices they have made. Those unable to help themselves should be helped, of course. I seriously doubt that 100,000 people fit that category. This only proves how effective the liberal left has been at dumbing down segments of our society by making them incresingly dependent on the government to the point that they have forgotten how to take care of themselves.
Jean on September 7th, 2005 at 10:16 am

Very well put.
I very upset that our money ie: federal funds are spending so much to do all this now.
They would not approve or spend 20Billion to fix the levees, and now we are going spend est.
150billion to fix the mess!
I am also a bit upset with the pass that most people, media and talking heads give the public responsibility! Like jjb said, where is the personal responsibility?
The comments like well you know N.O. people are just different, that’s the way they have always been about these things. Having a party the night before instead of leaving, well isn’t that REDICULOUS! Now WE are supposed to pay for it.
I am not talking disabled people. Poor or not, alot of poor people found a way out, most didn’t care to. Even the honorable Nagin, said well it’s an attitude of New Orleans, Well let the Attitude pay for it then.
zippy on September 8th, 2005 at 10:14 pm

I don’t think Mr. Stein is so on target here as the rest of you do. I just read this post over here, and now I’m not so sure.

http://www.rowanreview.com/Members/paula/good_old_ben_stein
Mike Martin on September 9th, 2005 at 2:16 pm

zippy,

I must admit that this is a well put together argument. It hasn’t changed my mind, particularly the point made about global warming, but it is at least well thought out.

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Ben Says 4.) There is no overwhelming evidence that global warming exists as a man-made phenomenon. There is no clear-cut evidence that global warming even exists.
Ack! Wrong! Completely wrong! Unsupportably wrong. This is not a truism. Good move though; never present an unconvincing (or totally unsupported, as this one is) argument without using some truisms first.
Let’s hope that those earlier truisms have worked on the reader, because this statement is wrong on so many levels. There is no longer a single competent scientist with academic credentials now arguing that “there is no clear-cut evidence that global warming even exists.” Not one. If so, find that fool and bring him out.

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OK here’s a repected scientist who doesn’t think that global warming is a problem:

Part 2: John Christy, University of Alabama Climatologist

Last fall, the Senate debated a bill that would have created regulations to combat global warming. Sen. James Inhofe [R-OK] led the opposition, and went so far as to call global warming a hoax. He based that statement, in part, on the work of John Christy, a professor and director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Christy is a respected climatologist, but he’s also a maverick who argues that global warming isn’t a problem worth worrying about. His major contribution has been to analyze millions of measurements from weather satellites, looking for a global temperature trend. He’s found almost no sign of global warming in the satellite data, and is confident that forecasts of warming up to 10 degrees in the next century are wrong.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1893089&sourceCode=gaw

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There are valid points to be made on both sides of the issue, but remember, the burden of proof is always on the person presenting the hypothesis.