Sunday, August 31, 2008

A hurricane looms

Hurricane Gustav is churning towards the Louisiana coast, with New Orleans squarely in its crosshairs: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,414101,00.html. The timing is amazing in a couple of respects; both in terms of the proximity to the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and to the upcoming Republican National Convention. President Bush has already said that he is unlikely to attend the RNC--a smart move, given the criticism FEMA took after Katrina roared ashore in 2005--and Governors Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Mark Perry of Texas have both said that they too will not attend.

It's a sad comment on our times that even natural disasters (or potential natural disasters) have become politicized, with Republicans taking one side and Democrats the other. That is why we have odious individuals like Michael Moore calling Gustav a "gift from the gods". I would ask rhetorically if the level of political discourse in our country has really sank that low, but it seems as though that answer is fairly obvious.

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