What's Wrong with Believing in God?
Liberals preach tolerance and acceptance. That's what they like to say. Everyone and anyone in this Country, legal or illegal, should be treated the same way. Everyone should be respected for their specific beliefs, no matter what they are. Yet if you're religious and happen to be white and christian as well, you don't count. I mean, according to the Libs, even Al Queda members who are being held in American jails should have a fair trial with representation because we're in the good 'ol US of A! Forget the fact that they want us all dead. But if you believe in God, the sanctity of marriage, and have religious values, you're fanatical.
Let's just take a look at some lawsuits going on now. The Pledge of Allegiance for one. They want to take out "under God." (For those of you who don't remember the whole line, "One Nation under God...") Supposedly it's offensive and puts pressure on children in schools to believe in God. I'm not sure how that's possible, considering that the "God" in the Pledge isn't a specific god but a general one. Added to that is the fact that the Pledge has no religious intonation. It's a patriotic adage. End of story. They are also trying to get rid of "In God We Trust" on American Currency. How does that offend people? Since when does the word "God" have such a stigma attached to it?
I can answer that. The Libs, yet again, can be take the honors. The political correctness movement has turned the people of this Nation into a scared and self-conscious country of liars. You can no longer call a spade a spade, without fear of getting deemed a racist, or a sexist, or somehow biased. It makes stating the truth almost impossible. Have we become so wrapped up in pretty words that we have to sling through a verbal mudslide before finding some layer of honesty? The answer is a resounding yes! And buried underneath all the cliches and intellectually polished bullshit, we have the basic right to believe in God and not get punished for it. The basic first amendment rights.
But according to the Libs, those rights are only good for the "oppressed" peoples. There has to have been some wrongdoings against "your people" in order for those rights to be available to you. That's nonsense and completely unconstitutional and biased. Yet that's what it's come down to. The liberal left has brought the moral value of this Country to almost zero. Through all the laws they passed to try to stop discrimination, they have only succeeded in highlighting it. Putting it out there so that the human being isn't seen first, but his/her race, sexuality, religion, is. That's disgusting. It goes against everything they say they stand for, and they're all too blinded by their own agendas to see it.
The bottom line is this. Everyone should be treated and respected equally. Tolerance and acceptance don't just belong to minorities. Those characteristics are what this Country was built on. We need to remember that and to show it the proper respect.
The Red Cross Was Ready!
Fox News correspondent Major Garrett broke an explosive story last night on Brit Hume. Here, courtesy of
RadioBlogger, is the transcript of Major Garrett's interview with Hugh Hewitt on The Hugh Hewitt Show.
HH: Joined now by Major Garrett, correspondent for the Fox News Channel, as well as author of The Enduring Revolution, a best seller earlier this year. We talked about that. Major Garrett, welcome back to the Hugh Hewitt Show.
MG: Hugh, always a pleasure. Thanks for having me.
HH: You just broke a pretty big story. I was watching up on the corner television in my studio, and it's headlined that the Red Cross was blocked from delivering supplies to the Superdome, Major Garrett. Tell us what you found out.
MG: Well, the Red Cross, Hugh, had pre-positioned a literal vanguard of trucks with water, food, blankets and hygiene items. They're not really big into medical response items, but those are the three biggies that we saw people at the New Orleans Superdome, and the convention center, needing most accutely. And all of us in America, I think, reasonably asked ourselves, geez. You know, I watch hurricanes all the time. And I see correspondents standing among rubble and refugees and evacuaees. But I always either see that Red Cross or Salvation Army truck nearby. Why don't I see that?
HH: And the answer is?
MG: The answer is the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security, that is the state agency responsible for that state's homeland security, told the Red Cross explicitly, you cannot come.
HH: Now Major Garrett, on what day did they block the delivery? Do you know specifically?
MG: I am told by the Red Cross, immediately after the storm passed.
HH: Okay, so that would be on Monday afternoon.
MG: That would have been Monday or Tuesday. The exact time, the hour, I don't have. But clearly, they had an evacuee situation at the Superdome, and of course, people gravitated to the convention center on an ad hoc basis. They sort of invented that as another place to go, because they couldn't stand the conditions at the Superdome.
HH: Any doubt in the Red Cross' mind that they were ready to go, but they were blocked?
MG: No. Absolutely none. They are absolutely unequivocal on that point.
HH: And are they eager to get this story out there, because they are chagrined by the coverage that's been emanating from New Orleans?
MG: I think they are. I mean, and look. Every agency that is in the private sector, Salvation Army, Red Cross, Feed The Children, all the ones we typically see are aggrieved by all the crap that's being thrown around about the response to this hurricane, because they work hand and glove with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. When FEMA is tarred and feathered, the Red Cross and the Salvation Army are tarred and feathered, because they work on a cooperative basis. They feel they are being sullied by this reaction.
HH: Of course they are. Now Major Garrett, what about the Louisiana governor's office of Homeland Security. Have they responded to this charge by the Red Cross, which is a blockbuster charge?
MG: I have not been able to reach them yet. But, what they have said consistently is, and what they told the Red Cross, we don't want you to come in there, because we have evacuees that we want to get out. And if you come in, they're more likely to stay. So I want your listeners to follow me here. At the very moment that Ray Nagin, the Mayor of New Orleans was screaming where's the food, where's the water, it was over the overpass, and state officials were saying you can't come in.
HH: How long would it have taken to deliver those supplies, Major Garrett, into the Superdome and possibly the convention center?
MG: That is a more difficult question to answer than you might think. There were areas, obviously, as you approached the Superdome, that were difficult to get to, because of the flood waters. And as the Red Cross explained it to me, look. We don't have amphibious vehicles. We have trucks and ambulance type vehicles. In some cases, after the flood waters rose as high as they did, we would have needed, at minimal, the Louisiana National Guard to bring us in, or maybe something bigger and badder, from the Marines or Army-type vehicle. They're not sure about that. But remember, Hugh, we were transfixed, I know I was. I'm sure you were and your listeners were, by my colleague, Shep Smith, and others on that overpass.
HH: Right.
MG: ...saying, wait a minute. We drove here. It didn't take us anything to drive here.
HH: Right.
MG: Why can't people just come here?
HH: I also have to conclude from what you're telling me, Major Garrett, is that had they been allowed to deliver when they wanted to deliver, which is at least a little bit prior to the levee, or at least prior to the waters rising, the supplies would have been pre-positioned, and the relief...you know, the people in the Superdome, and possibly at the convention center, I want to come back to that, would have been spared the worst of their misery.
MG: They would have been spared the lack of food, water and hygiene. I don't think there's any doubt that they would not have been spared the indignity of having nor workable bathrooms in short order.
HH: Now Major Garrett, let's turn to the convention center, because this will be, in the aftermath...did the Red Cross have ready to go into the convention center the supplies that we're talking about as well?
MG: Sure. They could have gone to any location, provided that the water wasn't too high, and they got some assistance.
HH: Now, were they utterly dependent upon the Louisiana state officials to okay them?
MG: Yes.
HH: Because you know, they do work with FEMA. But is it your understanding that FEMA and the Red Cross and the other relief agencies must get tht state's okay to act?
MG: As the Red Cross told me, they said look. We are not state actors. We are not the Army. We are a private organziation. We work in cooperation with both FEMA and the state officials. But the state told us A) it's not safe, because the water is dangerous. And we're now learning how toxic the water is. B) there's a security situation, because they didn't have a handle on the violence on the ground. And C) and I think this is most importantly, they wanted to evacuate out. They didn't want people to stay.
HH: Now off the record, will the Red Cross tell you what they think of Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin?
MG: No.
HH: Will they tell you what they think about FEMA director Brown?
MG: No.
HH: Will they tell you any...will they give any advice of how to make sure this doesn't happen again?
MG: Well, there is something, Hugh, that I think we have to be honest with ourselves about. New Orleans is a situation, because of its geography, utterly unique in America. We don't build cities in bowls, except there. This complicated the Red Cross efforts, and the FEMA efforts, from the start. In the mid-90's, the Red Cross opened a shelter in South Carolina that was eventually flooded. And there was a big controversy about that. After that, the Red Cross made a policy decision that it would never shelter, or seek to shelter, any evacuee from any hurricane, anywhere where flooding was likely to occur. High ground is where they were going to be, and where they were going to go. Well, that basically rules out all of New Orleans.
HH: Sure. Does the Red Cross, though, assist in evacuation, Major Garrett?
MG: Not under the state plan in Louisiana. And not very many other places, either, because again, the Red Cross is a responding private charity. It is not an evacuation charity. It does not assume, as you can well imagine, Hugh, the inevitable liability that would come with being in charge of evacuating.
HH: How senior are your sources at the Red Cross, Major Garrett?
MG: They're right next to Marty Evans, the president.
HH: So you have no doubt in your mind that they have...
MG: Oh, none. None. And I want to give credit to Bill O'Reilly, because he had Marty Evans on the O'Reilly Factor last night. And this is the first time Marty Evans said it. She said it on the O'Reilly Factor last night in a very sort of brief intro to her longer comments about dealing with the housing and other needs of the evacuees now. She said look. We were ready. We couldn't go in. They wouldn't let us in, and the interview continued. I developed it more fully today.
HH: And the 'they' are the Louisiana state officials?
MG: Right.
HH: Now any in the 'they'...is the New Orleans' mayor's staff involved as well? Or the New Orleans police department?
MG: Not that I'm aware of, because the decision was made and communicated to the Red Cross by the state department of Homeland Security and the state National Guard. Both of which report to the governor.
HH: Do they have any paper records of this communication?
MG: I did not ask that. It's a good question. I'll follow up with them.
HH: I sure would love to know that. And if you get it, send it to me. We'll put it up on the blog. Major Garrett, great story. Please keep us posted. Look forward to talking to you a lot in the next couple of weeks on this story. Thanks for breaking away from the Fox News Channel this afternoon.
End of interview
Now maybe we can get Gov. Blanco to explain exactly why the Red Cross wasn't allowed to help. It seems the biggest failures in the aftermath of Katrina came from the goverment of New Orleans itself.
Just Another Excuse to Bash Bush
Hurricane Katrina swept over New Orleans with 145 mph winds, torrential rain, and, if you looked carefully, a malestrom of leftie excuses to bash Bush. What? You mean you didn't see anything but the devastation the hurricane wrought on the people of N.O.? You didn't see anything but a horrific natural disaster?! Well, you should be ashamed then, you weren't looking close enough. Or, I should say, you weren't looking through the left's eyes.
Helping the people who lost everything comes second to seeing how fast and obnoxious they can lay blame. Mayor Nagin, instead of trying to take control and help the situation, sat back and blamed everyone else for his glaringly apparent failures as a Mayor. He's no Rudy Guliani. Hell, he shouldn't even be allowed in the same room as Rudy. And his colleague Gov. Blanco, didn't do a hell of a lot more. Actually, Bush had to call her to appeal for mandatory evacuations for the low lying city. And if you don't believe me, she's quoted as saying so in an AP article on August 28th, a day before the storm hit the coast.
And now we have to here from Maureen Dowd. Her
Op-Ed column today in the New York Times is a rant about the shortcomings of the Bush administration. Not once does she suggest how she would have done it differently, and of course, she uses Katrina as her launch pad for attacking Bush about Iraq. How about we stick to the point here. Here's how she starts her column:
It took a while, but the president finally figured out a response to the destruction of New Orleans.
Later this week (no point rushing things) W. is dispatching Dick Cheney to the rancid lake that was a romantic city. The vice president has at long last lumbered back from a Wyoming vacation, and, reportedly, from shopping for a $2.9 million waterfront estate in St. Michael's, a retreat in the Chesapeake Bay where Rummy has a weekend home, where "Wedding Crashers" was filmed and where rich lobbyists hunt.
Maybe Mr. Cheney is going down to New Orleans to hunt looters. Or to make sure that Halliburton's lucrative contract to rebuild the city is watertight. Or maybe, since former Senator John Breaux of Louisiana described the shattered parish as "Baghdad under water," the vice president plans to take his pal Ahmad Chalabi along for a consultation on destroying minority rights.Maybe Cheney should go down to New Orleans to hunt looters...
Maureen, if she's being fair, should have mentioned Hillary's nearly $1 million expansion on her palace in D.C. so she can get ready to fundraise for the 2006 senatorial run and the 2008 presidential run, but she doesn't. How dare Hillary, spending money on superficial, materialistic things during a time like this!
But really, COME ON! How much more ridiculous can it get? There's no need nor purpose to bring up the house Cheney may or may not be buying or Hillary's expansion. They have nothing to do with anything. Except, of course, any reason to bash Bush.
She goes on to reprimand the administration for saying that everything was under control, but never criticizes New Orlean's own Mayor or Governor for being completely incompetent. Yes, the feds could have handled the situation better, but Nagin and Blanco did nothing to help themselves. Maybe people need to be reminded that 9/11 was primarily handled by local and state agencies in the first couple of days afterward.
It would be nice if, at some point in time, a situation could arise and the first thing the left does is try to help, instead of slinging blame. Hurricane Katrina was a NATURAL disaster. Let's just try to help those poor people who lost their world.
