The Lowest Common Denominator

Regarding the two hurricanes over the Gulf coast recently, whatever I didn't see directly or experience pesonally I could only imagine. I was forced to rely on the eyes and ears of others to fill in the blanks for me. This simple truth, as I think about it, extends to all of my life experiences; to all of yours as well.

I live between Austin and Houston, and am intimately familiar with the reality on the ground of the evacuation that unfolded through my town and within my commute to and from work in advance of Rita. Since I don't live on the coast, I don't know what it was actually like for them to go through their evacuation experience(s) because I WASN'T THERE. I wasn't in New Orleans...wasn't in Mississippi...wasn't in Alabama for Katrina either.

Sadly, my only means of getting information was and continues to be the media.

This story from the LA Times [thanks to Drudge] tells us that our media may not be doing so well (I know, I'm shocked too), and it got me thinking.

I was fortunate enough to have my thinking interrupted this morning over coffee when I read Leon's "Victory at All Costs" post (excellent job by the way, Leon). He is right of course, and this one sentence from Leon sums up the point I want to make here:

"There is a certain segement of the American population - a segment that sadly determines most elections, that is impressed by victory and successful action, no matter what that action might be."

Leon's apt description can be superimposed over the whole of the American media. While it is popular for the right to cry foul over CBS or CNN, it is just as right for the left to cry foul over Rush or Hannity. It's the game we're in. The crux of the problem is with the beast itself; the nature of the media is to fill in our blanks, and they have done so in a manner that is ruining our basic intelligence. Long lost in our society is good old common sense; it has been replaced with images and sounds and pretty lights and fancy bells and whistles.

I assert here that the media (through our spongy little mush minds) is waging a "War on Intelligence". Vietnam, Watergate, Read My Lips, Monica, Bush Lied; all intended to tear down something or someone rather than just filling in our blanks. The list is shamefully much longer than this, but you get the point. We are losing the war on intelligence, and we have allowed the media to do our thinking for us. Why would anyone be surprised that the national dialog has become beteen us and media outlets instead of between us and our representatives?

The behavior of the media has set the national agenda; has created the list of talking points from our political heroes; has set the standard of acceptable and unacceptable behavior for them. When Senator Landrieu threatened to punch the President because of how poorly he responded to Katrina, the media helped us believe she was justified because they had already told us he had done poorly . Nothing followed in the media to indicate she had been charged with threatening the President of the US (a felony).

I could go on. There's Rather-gate. There's the mourning mom who has become a parody. There's plenty to pick at. If we don't want another Vietnam...if we want our soldiers to finish the job and come home AFTER success, if we want to make our politicians really do what WE want instead of making sure they don't do what the media DOESN'T want, I suggest we address the lowest(pun expressly intended) common denominator; the media.

The victory Leon is describing is going to come at the cost of making the media accountable. It's going to come by we, the consumer, making them accountable. It's going to come when we not only realize what we've done to ourselves, but when we realize we are the only ones that can undo it. Since we can't amend the 1st amendment, how bout we start pulling broadcast licenses for all the media junk that is shrill and untrue? How about we let the private sector, through the advertising business, drop all outlets who engage in the shrill agenda reporting they currently engage in? How about we make them require paid subscriptions (or place them ONLY on pay per view) when they lie or embellish or in any way knowingly mislead? Worth a moment of thought, anyway.

Rita: The day BEFORE

I was thinking about waiting until after Rita struck to begin what I'm sure will be an endless stream of comparisons between her and Katrina. I decided not to wait after seeing this post on Michelle Malkin's blog this morning.

As I enter this, I am awaiting Rita's arrival. I live in the latest storm tracker forecast's direct path...just east-south east of Austin, TX. I have been inundated with all Rita, all the time on tv, the radio, in the printed media. I have seen (and joined) the masses at the local Wal-Marts around the Capitol City. I have bought the gas, stocked the shelves, drawn and stored the extra water. I am as prepared and apprised as I can possibly be. I ask myself this; what the hell was it like in New Orleans before Katrina? Could it REALLY be that George Bush (who hasn't come to Texas as far as I know, unless it was to check his flashlight and battery supply at the ranch) is already at fault if anyone dies or doesn't evacuate the affected area?

My Governor, my Mayor(s), and my community radio stations have gone out of their way to communicate, lead, plan, and organize. School buses are already OUT of the forecasted areas, and were loaded with local citizens who couldn't get out on their own.

I accept that Katrina is fresh enough that Texas was able to immediately apply the lessons learned, but I don't see any federal troops here. I don't see any military helicopters. AND, I don't see ANY lootings, shootings, or rapes going on with the folks who opted not to evacuate. Why is that, I wonder? We shall see, I suppose, in the immediate aftermath. For now, I am living first hand everything right about disaster planning, while a few short weeks ago I witnessed everything wrong in New Orleans. From my vantage point, all around me I see continued proof that this is a state matter, and Louisiana failed its people while Texas has not.

Goodbye, Bill

Since this is a personal place of mine as well as my political rant clubhouse, I digress for a sentence or two in honor of a personal loss.

Bill was my sister in-law's recently estranged boyfriend. He was a good man; a good and loving father. He was dutiful and diligent to his children and all but sold his soul to provide for and support them, in spite of the evil relationships that endured between himself and his ex-wives.

Until recently, Bill was strong, faithful, and responsible to himself and the loved ones that surrounded him. Bill lost his way. He faltered, and ultimately fell to his own shattered soul's hand. We loved you Bill. I will miss you. I'm sorry none of us could pull you back from the fog.

In memoriam: Bill; 19 September 2005; day after b'day 45.

Yabbut: Katrina remembered

An old friend taught me the word "YABBUT" many years ago, and defined it as follows:

"The Human's innate desire to always be right"

In the wake of the "storm of the century", I have been repeatedly reminded of this phrase; tirelessly overwhelmed with its implications in this time of human suffering and national (read political) crisis.

At the outset here, let me give my own condolences and sorrow for the loss of life and property in the gulf coast. I can't begin to appreciate what the citizens have had to endure and continue to endure. I can say with certainty that, given it's southern location, the sense of community and brother and sister helping brother and sister has been immense, and consistent with our traditions of pulling together in the greatest times of need. If you, as a non-southerner are offended by that...too bad. Having lived many years in the north, I can factually say the sense of community differs dramatically beween these two regions of the country, so get over it.

The theme of this post is intended to deal with everything BUT the specific issues on the ground for people in the region. I was very unfortunate to be locked up in a hotel room in the first days after the storm, with CNN as the only news outlet available, and if you hate Bush this was a media coup d'etat. If you happen to like Bush, this was worse than a root canal without novocaine. I witnessed a media outlet take control of driving the national conversation...complete with ONLY the "it's Bush's fault" voices getting airtime. It was disgusting, but expected from the media...with one exception...

When the media's Bush-bashing creates policy we have a problem. Whatever your opinion, whoever you support, whenever you politicize a horrific event, we can all agree to one truth; we have and are entitled to our own perspective(s). Given that fundamental truth, consider the result of the last few weeks of events. Just about everyone knows there was a hurricane and just about everyone knows there were many lives lost and many places damaged or destroyed. The media has steered the focus to New Orleans...they will quickly point out that Alabama and Mississippi were affected and will just as quickly do the Yabbut thing...yabbut, look at new Orleans! Look at what Bush DIDN'T do! Look at how many people died to prove he is incompetent! Watch us and only us for all the gory details!

I quote from a decreasingly influential document in our country; the US Constitution:

Article 10 of the Amendments to the Constitution states this:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

CNN isn't bringing this up; it doesn't sell ad space. The Washington Post, NY Times, LA Times, etc aren't bringing this up; it doesn't increase readership. No one, anywhere, has played out for the viewing or listening or reading audience what WOULD have happened if Bush had tried to PREVENT this catastrophe; he would be or (according to the Constitution) should have been arrested, tried, and impeached!

I will bite the bullet and play this out for my reading audience(however small it may be). Imagine this scenario:

Bush sees the weather report, sees the storm intensifying, sees it bearing down on New Orleans. He calls out the National Guard, and INVADES New Orleans, physically removing her citizens against their will from their homes and places of employment. All "prisoners" are forced into evacuation shelters such as the Superdome, Astrodome, or where ever else they would be placed. Wait. These places are in other states...oh no! Bush's storm troopers will have to invade these other states and seize control of them in order to execute his order to remove and displace the citizens. Now, realistically NO ONE would have accepted this from this or any other President...but you Bush haters would say...

Yabbut...he coulda done more, he shoulda done more...it's his fault...he's a racist...etc, blah blah blah

Another scenario for you:

Bush sees the weather report, sees the storm intensifying, sees it bearing down on New Orleans. He calls the Mayor and suggests he evacuate (oh wait...he did that).
The mayor says he is working on that (oh wait, he did tell the President that). He calls the Governor and asks what the Feds can do to help (oh wait...he did that). The Governor says everything is under control...but she'll get back to him as things unfold (oh wait, she said that).

And the storm hits, and people don't leave, and they aren't forced to leave by the people whom the Constitution assigned responsibility to for protecting its citizens. And people died unnecessarily, and media outlets have projected blame where it can not legally be placed, and the media consuming public gets on the "it's Bush's fault" bandwagon like the good sheep they are, and we will take money we don't have to pay for everything out of pure guilt and political opportunism...and another hurricane will hit somewhere else, and more people will suffer, and we will continue to rise to the moment of hysteria, like the good sheep we are. And we will elect new politicians, and enable their "in the name of getting or keeping power" self-importance addictions, and we will continue to forget the most fundamental of points; the Constitution.

We wanted to be a collection of states, each with our own basic independence and freedom to live as we chose within our states' borders and come together as one nation for the fundamental COLLECTIVE needs we would ALL share...

Read the Preamble gain:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The state of Lousiana and all its layers of government are SOLELY to blame. The Governor to the Mayor, and the Legislature for spending money on everything BUT the levee system. They are assigned all these responsibilities by the Constitution of the US AND their own state...they failed, people died, property destroyed...end of story.

I am ashamed of the media. I am ashamed of opportunistic politicians. I am ashamed of the President I strongly support that he would forfeit his political soul to quiet the screaming masses who are dancing to the media's yabbut claims that he should have done something before the storm(even though he couldn't have done anything legally) so he must now spend money to pay for everything after the storm(that isn't his money to give). Insurance companies, private donations, all manner of volunteerism; not the big government that can't get out of its own way. Check back in 6 months, and I'll review for you all the media potshots about what else is done wrong; wrong Czar; wrong Contractors; wrong epa law relaxations; wrong areas for minority businesses; and on and on. Stay tuned.