Mean Men
Suspicion raises its head again towards the Bush Administration. This time there's speculation that arrests and subsequent questioning made of Blackwater (now the unpronounceable "Xe") contractors in 2007 were deliberately bungled as a favor to management. The former operatives, accused of killing innocents in a crowded Iraqi marketplace had all US charges against them dropped. We don't know how the seventeen people at the scene died, but I guess mass suicide isn't being ruled out. I guess the Iraqis won't be asking us back for another round of liberation again soon, thanks to former A.G. Alberto ("I forgot") Gonzales and his crew.
It's hard for me to imagine that anyone, especially those with any kind of Christian background, could have no sympathy for the people of Haiti. Sure, it's, and has been, the poorest nation in the hemisphere. Their government is ineffective even in normal circumstances. They don't, on the whole, look, talk, or even think like "us".
Even so, you can't think they arranged for their own earthquake with its accompanying 50,000 or so dead just so they could make OUR lives less pleasant.
Or can you? That is pretty much exactly the way Rush Limbaugh feels about the situation. Not quoting directly, he feels that cries of help that might penetrate the luxury of his South Florida complex (It's way too big to be simply called a "mansion") should be ignored, and that President Obama's determination to offer aid says more about the next election plans than his "compassion", whatever that is.
And Rush isn't alone. Pat Robertson said on his TV show that the Haitians brought all this on themselves by making a deal with the devil (That's right.) about 200 years ago, and that Beelzebub is still collecting by bringing all variety of disaster on their descendants. Robertson hasn't produced a copy of the treaty, if that's what you'd call it. Too bad. Old Scratch's signature alone would be worth some serious cash as a collectible. The devil is almost as big as Elvis.
The thing is, both Limbaugh and Robertson have lots of people who follow them, at least casually. These two are so rich they bring respectability to meanness. They don't talk to non-sycophants, diplomats or governmental officials any more. Why should they? There's a message to get out, and it (the message) is MUCH more important than the truth. If you're making calls to collect relief funds, skip over those two mean men.
It's hard for me to imagine that anyone, especially those with any kind of Christian background, could have no sympathy for the people of Haiti. Sure, it's, and has been, the poorest nation in the hemisphere. Their government is ineffective even in normal circumstances. They don't, on the whole, look, talk, or even think like "us".
Even so, you can't think they arranged for their own earthquake with its accompanying 50,000 or so dead just so they could make OUR lives less pleasant.
Or can you? That is pretty much exactly the way Rush Limbaugh feels about the situation. Not quoting directly, he feels that cries of help that might penetrate the luxury of his South Florida complex (It's way too big to be simply called a "mansion") should be ignored, and that President Obama's determination to offer aid says more about the next election plans than his "compassion", whatever that is.
And Rush isn't alone. Pat Robertson said on his TV show that the Haitians brought all this on themselves by making a deal with the devil (That's right.) about 200 years ago, and that Beelzebub is still collecting by bringing all variety of disaster on their descendants. Robertson hasn't produced a copy of the treaty, if that's what you'd call it. Too bad. Old Scratch's signature alone would be worth some serious cash as a collectible. The devil is almost as big as Elvis.
The thing is, both Limbaugh and Robertson have lots of people who follow them, at least casually. These two are so rich they bring respectability to meanness. They don't talk to non-sycophants, diplomats or governmental officials any more. Why should they? There's a message to get out, and it (the message) is MUCH more important than the truth. If you're making calls to collect relief funds, skip over those two mean men.
posted by Mark at 10:03 PM
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