Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane George - guess which is worse? (essay)

[libbygurl]

The view of a Philippine expatriate in the USA:

<snip>

...I write this in anger, an anger that has its origins in the wrong-headed war on Iraq and its irrelevance to 9/11, an anger stoked to new heights by the Bush administration’s callous and indifferent regard for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, a regard that conveys the feeling that the suffering people of New Orleans, mostly black, mostly poor, are separate from the rest of the country. And indeed, in Bush’s America, they are. His America is no country for old men or old women. His America is not for the poor, the weak, not for the worker, nor even for the middle-class. His America is not for secularists or people of color. His America is not for those who dare to think critically and imaginatively. Bush’s America is a coldhearted place, a sterile temple of privatization (not to mention deprivation) where deities have names like Halliburton and Bechtel. Such cold-heartedness is very much of a piece with the fake flyboy and his coterie of chicken hawks’ Neanderthal war that has eaten up, and continues to do so, the lives of Iraqis and Americans, wasted a huge budget surplus accumulated under the Clinton administration, and siphoned off funds from a diverse array of social and economic programs even as the Bushies endeavor to make the rich even richer. It is an America I and so many others feel increasingly foreign in.

{emphasis added}

<snip>

For full article, go to:

http://news.inq7.net/sunday/index.php?index=1&story_id=50561

[witness2]

1. Sad but So True

It seems hard to explain why more of us don't see the great difference between Bush's view of this country and the view held by most Americans, including his confused supporters.

Believe the media are part of the problem here, allowing Bush to get away with saying he is for all of us and our best interests. The media don't seem to be able to really make Bush accountable for the great difference between his words and his actions. Isn't that one of their main roles in a democracy?

[libbygurl]

2. Indeed. The media here have fallen asleep on the job....

...the only exception being the coverage of Katrina.

Honestly, the mainstream press in the Philippines is much more free in calling the Philippine administration on the carpet for all its misdeeds than the US MSM is (with regard to the blatant sins of the current US administration). I've been very disappointed with the press ever since the non-issue was made into a big issue during the Lewinsky affair.