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Subject: FW: Canadian Press on Bush
This from the Canadian Press, which apparently, is a bit more objective than our own press and politicians.
George Bush, the man
David Warren…The Ottawa Citizen

Sunday, September 11, 2005

There's plenty wrong with America, since you asked. I'm tempted to say that the only difference from Canada is that they have a few things right. That would be unfair, of course -- I am often pleased to discover things we still get right.

But one of them would not be disaster preparation. If something happened up here, on the scale of Katrina, we wouldn't even have the resources to arrive late. We would be waiting for the Americans to come save us, the same way the government in Louisiana just waved and pointed at Washington, D.C. The theory being that, when you're in real trouble, that's where the adults live.

And that isn't an exaggeration. Almost everything that has worked in the recovery operation along the U.S. Gulf Coast has been military and National Guard. Within a few days, under several commands, finally consolidated under the remarkable Lt.-Gen. Russell Honore, it was once again the U.S. military efficiently cobbling together a recovery operation on a scale beyond the capacity of any other earthly institution.

We hardly have a military up here. We have elected one feckless government after another that has cut corners until there is nothing substantial left. We don't have the ability even to transport and equip our few soldiers. Should disaster strike at home, on a big scale, we become a Third World country. At which point, our national smugness is of no avail.

From Democrats and the American Left -- the U.S. equivalent to the people who run Canada -- we are still hearing that the disaster in New Orleans showed that a heartless, white Republican America had abandoned its underclass.

This is garbage. The great majority of those not evacuated lived in assisted housing and receive food stamps, prescription medicine and government support through many other programs. Many have, all their lives, expected someone to lift them to safety, without input from themselves. And the demagogic mayor they elected left, quite literally, hundreds of transit and school buses that could have driven them out of town parked in rows, to be lost in the flood.

Yes, that was insensitive. But it is also the truth; and sooner or later we must acknowledge that welfare dependency creates exactly the sort of haplessness and social degeneration we saw on display, as the floodwaters rose. Many suffered terribly, and many died, and one's heart goes out. But already the survivors are being put up in new accommodations, and their various entitlements have been directed to new locations.

The scale of private charity has also been unprecedented. There are yet no statistics, but I'll wager the most generous state in the union will prove to have been arch-Republican Texas and that, nationally, contributions in cash and kind are coming disproportionately from people who vote Republican. For the world divides into "the mouths" and "the wallets."

The Bush-bashing, both down there and up here, has so far lost touch with reality, as to raise questions about the bashers' state of mind.

Consult any authoritative source on how government works in the United States and you will learn that the U.S. federal government's legal, constitutional, and institutional responsibility for first response to Katrina, as to any natural disaster, was zero.

Notwithstanding, President Bush took the prescient step of declaring a disaster, in order to begin deploying FEMA and other federal assets, two full days in advance of the storm fall. In the little time since, he has managed to co-ordinate an immense recovery operation -- the largest in human history -- without invoking martial powers. He has been sufficiently presidential to respond, not even once, to the extraordinarily mendacious and childish blame-throwing.

One thinks of Kipling's poem If, which I learned to recite as a lad, and mention now in the full knowledge that it drives postmodern leftoids and gliberals to apoplexy -- as anything that is good, beautiful, or true:

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise .

Unlike his critics, Bush is a man, in the full sense presented by these verses. A fallible man, like all the rest, but a man

[BuffaloJack]

The link is here:
http://www.davidwarrenonline.com/index.php?artID=510

David Warren is apparently a very astute person of uncommon reasoning.
His article was a pleasure to read.
Thanks,
Jack
_________________
Swift Boats - Qui Nhon (12/69-4/70), Cat Lo (4/70-5/70), Vung Tau (5/70-12/71)

[DADESID]

Nice article, but there are even more facts concerning the "poor" federal response":

Hurricane Katrina
Christian Broadcasting Network
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Gulf is Grateful to Coast Guard Heroes
By Melissa Charbonneau
CBN News Correspondent

GULFPORT, Mississippi - When Hurricane Katrina hit coastal Mississippi, many private boaters and commercial fishermen thought they could ride out the storm in an area near Gulfport known as Back Bay.

But the storm surge overwhelmed the boaters, leaving many stranded. That is when the U.S. Coast Guard stepped in with a massive search and rescue operation.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/news/050915i.asp

Maritime Executive Newsletter
COAST GUARD ASSISTS MERCHANT MARINERS

The Coast Guard is moving quickly to restore vital services to merchant mariners in the New Orleans area.
Regional Examination Center (REC) Houston, previously reported as havening incurred a loss of communications has been restored to full operating capability.
Hurricane Katrina caused the Coast Guard's REC in New Orleans to close its doors as employees evacuated the city. This REC is the largest in the country and regularly issues 20 percent of all mariners' credentials issued nationwide.

http://www.newsletterscience.com/marex/readmore.cgi?issue_id=121&article_id=1032&l=1&s=13452

House Committee on Homeland Security - Democratic Office Thursday, September 15, 2005
Statement of House Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) on the Passage of the Coast Guard Authorization and Maritime Transportation Security Act (H.R. 889)

WASHINGTON -- The following is being issued by the House Committee on Homeland Security - Democratic Office:
"Since the tragic events of Hurricane Katrina, the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard have been on the frontlines saving lives. They have been a shining light in one of America's darkest hours. I fully support H.R. 889, the Coast Guard Authorization and Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2005. Congress must do everything it can to provide the Coast Guard with the best equipment to protect the American people."

http://www.house.gov/hsc/democrats

First Coast News
Coast Guard Restores Gulf Traffic
By Roger Weeder

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, FL -- The U.S. Coast Guard is taking on the challenge of rebuilding the Gulf of Mexico to accommodate commercial shipping that was grounded by Hurricane Katrina. The Port of New Orleans, the fourth largest in the world, is back in business. Other ports in Mobile, Biloxi, Pascagoula and Mobile are ramping up as the Coast Guard is clearing lanes for traffic.

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/news-article.aspx?storyid=44363

Reuters
Oil spills along Miss. River contained-Coast Guard
16 Sep 2005 20:53:15 GMT
By Frank McGurty

BATON ROUGE, La., Sept 16 (Reuters) - All the oil spilled in six major Louisiana incidents after Hurricane Katrina has been contained and almost none of it flowed directly into the Mississippi River, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Friday.

A total of 160,000 barrels of oil leaked from tanks and pipelines at the six principal sites damaged by the Aug. 29 hurricane, including Murphy Oil <MUR.N> Co.'s Mereux, Louisiana, refinery. Of that, teams have recovered some 50,000 barrels, each of which equals 42 gallons.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N16492170.htm

WebMemo #846 Published by the Heritage Foundation
Coast Guard's Finest Hour Ignored by Congress
by James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., and Alane Kochems
September 16, 2005

In recent weeks, Americans have witnessed some of the most disturbing and tragic television in our history. Hurricane Katrina's wake left a collage of images-loss, grieving, suffering, and devastation. There were, however, also portraits of heroism and hope-such as U.S. Coast Guard helicopters and ships rescuing victims of the storm and the floods that followed in its aftermath. So far, the men and women of the Coast Guard have saved over 33,000 people endangered by Katrina, demonstrating as they have again and again since 9/11 the importance of the many security and safety missions they perform in the service of the nation. Congress should recognize their contributions by fully funding the Coast Guard's modernization budget.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/HomelandDefense/wm846.cfm

The Baton Rouge Advocate
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Thanks to Coast Guard for saving lives

With all the "thank you's" going out, nobody seems to know about those brave men and women who are always there whenever we have trouble on the coast. You know, the U.S. Coast Guard.

When the electricity came on Sept. 1 at our home in Denham Springs, the first thing we did was turn on the air conditioner.

Then we re-hooked up our TV to see what we had only been hearing about on the radio.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/091705/opi_view003.shtml

The Chicago Sun-Times
Friday, September 16, 2005
Bureaucratic bungles cost lives
BY ANDREW GREELEY

During the first couple of days after Hurricane Katrina, only one federal agency seemed to be engaged actively in saving lives, an agency for which the saving of life is a matter of daily routine -- the Coast Guard. Among its ancestors were the Revenue Cutter Service and the Life Saving Service, the latter of which was by its very name dedicated to saving lives. In its long and honorable history, the Coast Guard has done many things, but few more dramatic and more important than saving lives.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/greeley/cst-edt-greel16.html

The Mobile Register
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Nearly three weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, tales of rescue, loss and valor are still pouring in

Mobile Coast Guard helicopter crews rescue survivors from rooftops
By CASANDRA ANDREWS
Staff Reporter

When U.S. Coast Guard helicopter pilot Chris Chase flew over New Orleans two days after Hurricane Katrina stormed ashore he had a tough choice to make -- who to save first.

In the area where he and his crew began search and rescue missions, there were literally hundreds of beams of light coming from every direction in the night sky as residents motioned frantically with flashlights.

http://www.al.com/living/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/living/112704414785410.xml&coll=3

WBAY TV
Sep 19, 2005
Sturgeon Bay
Local Coast Guard Crew Helps New Orleans Rescues, Recovery
By Sarah Thomsen

Death toll numbers after the flood from Hurricane Katrina are a lot lower than expected thanks to the work of the U.S. Coast Guard, including three members of the Sturgeon Bay unit, who are right in the middle of all of it.

Since they left two weeks ago, they've been sharing stories with their coworkers in Sturgeon Bay and sending home pictures of their rescues. The pictures tell it all: Petty officers Jason Rahn, sitting in the driver's seat, and Brian Levenson, standing next to him in a blue uniform, speed through New Orleans looking for survivors.

http://www.wbay.com/global/story.asp?s=3867147&ClientType=Printable



CBS News
Katrina Makes Coast Guard Heroes
WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2005

Katrina's gales had barely stopped howling when the cavalry arrived. Not the kind on white horses - but in orange choppers.
While the Federal Emergency Management Agency and local officials exchanged blame for a sluggish response, there were heroes at work, reports CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr. One of those heroes is Coast Guard pilot Dan Taylor. In four days his chopper crew saved 50 people.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/19/eveningnews/main859663.shtml


The Advocate.com; Baton Rouge, La.
Reader pays tribute to U.S. Coast Guard

Before finger-pointing and blaming get so loud that it drowns out anything positive, I think it's important to look at what went right after Hurricane Katrina and give credit where credit is due.

Just like the terrible images of 9-11, we will never be able to forget the haunting rescue scenes being played over and over as the U.S. Coast Guard lifted person after person to safety from rooftops in New Orleans.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/092105/opi_view003.shtml

Daily Press, VA
September 21, 2005
Whitley's goes nuts over Coast Guard

GLOUCESTER -- Those daring Coast Guardsmen whom the world saw suspended from helicopters, swinging over New Orleans rooftops and rescuing residents trapped by flooding after Hurricane Katrina have received a surprise thank-you from Gloucester.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-89596bf0sep21,0,2693656.story?coll=dp-briefs


***

Seems to me, if the President deserves any opprobrium for things that went wrong, common decency would require that he get credit for the things that went right.

[Anker-Klanker]

Interesting, isn't it, how "Stuck-on-Stupid" MSM can't see any of these Coast Guardmen?

[Me#1You#10]

Great commentary POWs...and encouraging to read that there's some sanity left up north...thanks for posting.