People forget, and they forget quickly. That’s what those in power rely on. It’s not too far-fetched an idea to think that the kind of mind control seen in 1984 could actually occur. As long as the information that’s out there says one thing and no one objects, the few that think otherwise begin to question their own memory. But to persuade most people, it’s not even that hard. You need only a common focus for disdain and a rally cry. (Their problem, of course, is that if you don’t already hate him, then you probably won’t be joining a group that consistently proves itself irrelevant with routine calls for impeachment.) And unfortunately for this particular group, the public seems less and less willing to blame Bush for every problem America encounters. Could that be because they’ve complained that he’s been given carte blanche, then following a disaster, whine that he should have the power to sweep into a disaster area and kiss-and-make-it-better. Could you imagine the fallout if the President had forced his way into Louisiana and taken control of the relief efforts from the female Governor of the opposition party!?

I say all that to bring us to this: since people have this tendency to forget, that allows various windbags of media to manipulate people’s actions by rewriting history for them. (Apparently, the damage in New Orleans was entirely caused by Bush’s negligence over the past four years or so, and had nothing to do with local leadership funneling to other pet projects federal money that had been earmarked for the levees.) But people’s short memories also allow guests on Fox News to say ridiculous things like, “If these were white people in Florida during an election year, this kind of thing would not have happened!” (Not an exact quote, I’m still trying to find the transcript.)

Now, I don’t exactly know why this fella chose those specifics, but he happened to be 180 degrees wrong. It was only 13 years ago that such a thing happened; in fact, it happened with a Bush! Doesn’t anyone else remember hurricane Andrew? There was a whole slew of white folks in the Miami-Dade area that were stranded for 4 days waiting for FEMA to send relief only a few months before the ‘92 Presidential election.

Update: Here’s a Knight Ridder article with a scant supply of information on FEMA’s response during Andrew, though the sub-headline suggests otherwise. There’s more information from an Andrew survivor with his first-hand account here. Take note:

For ten long days, we were roped-off from the outside world by United States military forces, leaving us stranded with no food, no water, no medical supplies or shelter. Suffering from severe shell-shock, we waited and waited for rescue teams to arrive but that just never happened. None of the injured in the roped-off areas were ever rescued from the devastation. It was the worst gut-wrenching betrayal I have ever experienced.

And from the American Press:

Many of the problems FEMA is being criticized for now occurred in similar relief efforts in 1989 for Hurricane Hugo, in 1992 for Hurricane Iniki and in 1993 for Hurricane Andrew.

It’s been four years. So much has happened since that the details get lost. I suppose that’s an unavoidable phenomenon that some people simply abuse. Glenn Reynolds’ post four years ago show an amazing foresight. Who knew there would be problems with unassociated legislation being tagged on to 9/11 bills? Who knew there would be a firestorm about civil liberties? Who knew the only way to prevent terrorism is to take proactive measures against the responsible parties? Well, apparently Glenn knew.

Don’t know what will come of it, but after Neil Young performed during the “Shelter From the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast” benefit concert, Chris Rock comes right out and says what everyone’s been thinking:

George Bush hates midgets.

I finally found it. That succulent, light-orange artery clogger served up at the finest Japanese Steak Houses. Unfortunately, it’s not really Japanese. We Americans have apparently taken the idea of Japanese cuisine and said, “Yes, but what if we slather this all over it?” It’s what we do. It’s our job.

But I can’t complain. I love the stuff. That’s why I’m sharing the wealth, right here, available only online. That’s because Kroger doesn’t carry it in the oriental food isle. That’s because IT’S NOT JAPANESE! But I digress…

1 cup Mayo
2 Tbsp Ketchup
1 dash chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
several dashes of salt & pepper

Mix it all up and let it sit overnight so the mayo can really soak up all the spices. This is important. Because if you’re like me, you’ll get all antsy in your pantsy and want to use it immediately, take a lick, decide it’s not quite there, and proceed to pouring in more garlic powder. NOTE: That’s a bad idea. Believe me, it’ll be fine once you give the spices several hours to do their thing.

Crying Governors, race-baiting mayors and looting police do not a Finest Hour make. -Eject! Eject! Eject!

Seem’s like a great caption for this video. So we can forget about the mayor’s seemingly hourly tirades against the state and federal governments until he fixes the mess in his own house.

“I’m lookin’ for looters.”

It’s almost painful to watch. Finally, some celebrities step up to the plate and pledge to help out with the relief efforts, but it couldn’t be any more about them. Sean Penn took out a small boat to “assist”, but this article has a classic line:

But with the boat loaded with members of the Oscar-winner’s entourage, including his personal photographer, one bystander taunted: “How are you going to get any people in that thing?” emphasis added

Previously unknown to me, until my brother sent a link, was this Hollywood TV editor, a former bleeding-heart who had himself a conversion somewhere in the neighborhood of 8:00am on September 11, 2001.

It’s a long piece, but he pens out a lot of the frustration your average American has been feeling this last week, what with the Kanye West incident [video here] (and others like it). I mean, sure, West’s divergence from the NBC script shows a complete lack of intelligence, but it does fuel the fire for some people. And what can you do to lessen the effects of such vehement speech? Nothing. You simply can’t argue with ignorance.

[Update] Lovely quote on Kanye West’s moving speech from Soldiers’ Angel (read his piece, it’s a good one):

Did you see it? West sounded like a second grader on crack.

Perhaps it is the end of the world, but tonight I heard Lou Dobbs actually say something that made sense:

It is also important… because Reverend Jesse Jackson, the Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP have injected a straight-forward and dramatic and perhaps even truthful charge that much of the failure here is because of race. But we should put in context, it seems to me also, that the city of New Orleans is 70% black, its mayor is black, its principle power structure is black, and if there is a failure to the black Americans who live in poverty in the city of New Orleans those officials have to bear much of the responsibility.

Three cheers for the socialist!

After Katrina, Bush-haters have wasted no time in deploying droves of whiners to the blogs and airwaves, but on the flip-side, this guy is the one who knows what he’s talking about.