Hurricane Irene
I had a long conversation with a state trooper who was summoned down to the Virginia Beach area to help deal with the consequences of Hurricane Irene.
“You should have seen the pictures I took of the devastation in Virginia,” he said, “but then I saw those other reports and pictures coming in from other officers up and down the coast, and finally those in New York, New Jersey, and Vermont on the air. I only hope what I did helped.”
Virginia’s Republican Governor Bob McDonnell is of the same mind – we must help everyone we can.
Speaking from the flooded town of Lincoln Park, New Jersey, Republican Governor Chris Christie said, “Our people are suffering now, and they need support now.”
Hurricane Irene overran entire communities, washed away homes, cars, road ways, leaving in their place, mud, debris, lakes of water, power out for millions, two score or more people dead and others injured.
You might think getting the federal government to grant aid was a no-brainer.
But we saw an unbelievably harsh reaction from some Republican leaders.
Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor from Virginia opposes any disaster aid unless funds are cut first from other federal programs. At least he’s consistent, even if not sensible. Cantor opposed aid to his own congressional district, at the epicenter of the recent earthquake. He didn’t want money spent to help the citizens respond to the tornadoes that slammed Joplin, Missouri. Nor does he want federal aid to Virginia for Hurricane Irene.
Governor McDonnell rightly said “deficit reduction should take a back seat to disaster relief.”
Governor Christie attacked Cantor “for playing games at a time when people need government assistance most.”
Texas Republican Congressman Ron Paul said, “This idea that the world comes to an end if you don’t have somebody at the federal level taking care of you, I mean, it’s a natural problem. It’s wind. It’s a storm.” Now is the time, Paul believes, for our nation to “transition out of the dependency on the federal government.”
Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann thought this was a laughing matter; she said Irene was a sign from God that federal spending was out of control. “Washington, DC,” she said, “you’d think by now, they’d get the message: an earthquake, a hurricane. Are you listening?”
In this competition for the most careless indifference by any person to a massive natural disaster, we can’t leave out Glenn Beck, the self-anointed T-party poster boy, who said that Hurricane Irene was “a blessing from God.” Incidentally, the reason this is a “blessing,” according to Beck, is it reminds us all that we should stock pile food. Beck did not explain where you store food when a hurricane washes away your car, your house and your entire home town.
For those of you who depended upon the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to take precautions against Irene, be advised that the Republicans in Congress sought to cut funds drastically to these services, eliminating our ability to know about hurricanes five or ten days in advance.
We must thank every public leader, without regard to party or ideology, who has tried to help the victims of Irene.
As for the others, we should demand that they publicly disclose their SAT scores.
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