bush lies, people die, everyone sighs, and we all know why.

posted by Bill Arnett @ 11:10 AM Permalink

The wildfires in Southern California have exposed again the inability of the U.S. Government to manage disasters in Democratic-leaning states, and when bush spoke about it briefly he gave the now standard, "I asked the governor if he has the resources necessary to fight …," one of the most devastating fires of this century and supplied his own response, "…and he said that they do."

Arnold may be a Republican, but he's not stupid, and I wouldn't believe that that is what he told bush if I saw him say it on camera while bearing a notarized statement witnessed by all 535 legislators of the U.S. Congress. As one news reader phrased it, this is Katrina on steroids with almost one million people being driven from their homes, what used to be some of the most valuable and naturally beautiful property in America being burnt to the ground, and the engine for the economy of California, which would be the sixth largest economy in the world if California were a separate country, will stall.

bush's lie that Arnold told him, "Oh sure, we've got everything we need…" ranks right up there with bush's now infamous lie that, "…I listen to my generals on the ground…" in Iraq and matches the lack of interest bush had for California during the electric power rip-off taking place through his buddies at Enron by stating, "Well, that's California's problem and not one the federal government should get involved with…" effectively saying that, "California's a Democratic leaning state, didn't vote for me, and I could not give a sh*t less about their problem…".

Now 1,500 members of the National Guard have been taken off guarding the Cal-Mex border to fight the fire. I'll skip asking why there were fifteen hundred NG troops amassed on the border, but why were they not made available on day one of the fire? And California is no different than any other state with its National Guard depleted in both numbers of troops and the amount, kind, and quality of equipment available to them.

To paraphrase Ross Pirot, "That giant sucking sound you hear is every penny of money the United States is borrowing everyday being sucked down into that black-hole called Iraq, leaving nothing for the use of the common good of all Americans."

bush would rather that rescue and rebuilding work from events like this be provided by NGOs such as the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, neither of which have the resources, the people, the equipment, or the money to provide the logistical support that will be required by a million evacuees who may have literally lost everything they owned and held dear. But this is obviously why people establish governments and pay taxes - to handle disasters beyond the means of states and NGOs.

God help California, for our government will be unable and unwilling to spend any little bit of American's borrowed money or precious resources for anything but servicing the Iraqi War for Oil. And Arnold is no Haley Barber with several companies to which he can direct rebuilding funds to and then pocket billions in profits, so California is even more screwed than Louisiana. (Notice how you don't hear much about problems in Mississippi and Alabama where they have Republican governors and Senators?)

"I am not fond of expecting catastrophes, but there are cracks in the Universe." Sidney Smith, American playwright.

The only thing Mr. Smith could never have foreseen is that it is the American government, led by the worst president and least compassionate person imaginable, that cracked the universe, and continues to drive the wedges needed to keep that crack expanding exponentially, until it swallows us all.

Labels: Bush, Fire, GOP, Iraq war, more Bush lies, propaganda, rant, war funding