No Class Democrats

[gameFACE]

I grew up in a Catholic family and went to Catholic school. On occasion in the church, after a magnificent musical performance or a great speech, our congregation would break out into applause. My brother and I took our lives into our own hands if we joined.

"What's done in this building is for God, not our entertainment," our mother would say. To grow up with that kind of at ude and to see the service on C-SPAN, I was sickened.

This doesn't go to whatever label you have picked up. This was a sickening display of the state of American politics on both sides of the aisle. President Clinton was right - there is a living, breathing, dreaming, suffering woman in the casket. This wasn't a campaign rally. Historically, when ideals and symbols mean more than people, the society usually eats itself whole. This political climate is sickening.

Lots of funerals show up on C-SPAN. And CSK was a political person or had political influence. Peaceful, no doubt. But still political.

[Phenomanul]

Why blame just Clinton? Couldn't strengthening the levees have gone on under Reagan, Bush41 and every President in the last century? Isn't this the justification Conservatives use to protect Dubya?

I don't think it woud have been 'impractical' for the FEDS to spend $5 billion strengthening the levees to withstand a CAT5 when it could take $150B+ to rebuild the city. The Government at every level failed in NO, but especially the FEDS.

Right... when levee reconstruction projects were voted down by the citizens of Lousiana in 1994 and again in 2002..... You can't help them if they don't want to spend the money to help themselves....

Hindsight is the operative word no one wanted to employ.... till now.

But... look, I'm not trying to justify the administration's actions... Their response after the storm was very disorganized, and help was not evenly, and sometimes preferentially distributed. It's just that sometimes people fail to see that the government can't solve every single problem...

And so for critics to throw the Levee funding problem into Bush's face, as if it belonged only to his administration, was just absurd.

Again, do you see NYC trying to prevent a similar scenario from devasting their city??? Even doubling the costs of your economics, would 10B in preventative expenditures be worth preventing potential losses in excess of 300B? Even if the scenario were less likely, though not improbable?

[Nbadan]

It was, in fact, parts of the levees that had recently been strengthened that collapsed, versus the old earthen-damn levees which largely held. There ought to be an investigation into the contractor who did that recent levee work, but bureaucracy being what it is in Louisiana, I won't hold my breath.

[George W Bush]

There ought to be an investigation into the contractor who did that recent levee work

Leave me alone lutenant Nbadan.

[Nbadan]

the contractor

Wouldn't that be a hoot!

[mookie2001]

Why blame just Clinton? Couldn't strengthening the levees have gone on under Reagan, Bush41 and every President in the last century? Isn't this the justification Conservatives use to protect Dubya?

I don't think it woud have been 'impractical' for the FEDS to spend $5 billion strengthening the levees to withstand a CAT5 when it could take $150B+ to rebuild the city. The Government at every level failed in NO, but especially the FEDS.

no joke

[Phenomanul]

no joke

You're missing the point.

Again, I'll point to this comment on my previous post....

"You can't help them if they don't want to spend the money to help themselves"

Oh... and I almost forgot... The money that could have been used for levee maintenance was instead diverted to supporting the state's gambling venues.... Go figure.

[Nbadan]

You're missing the point.

Again, I'll point to this comment on my previous post....

"You can't help them if they don't want to spend the money to help themselves"

Oh... and I almost forgot... The money that could have been used for levee maintenance was instead diverted to supporting the state's gambling venues.... Go figure.

That's just it; they did spend some of the money to strengthen the levees - the parts that collapsed. As far as upgrading the levees, that would be up to the Army Corp of engineers, not the city.

[Phenomanul]

That's just it; they did spend some of the money to strengthen the levees - the parts that collapsed. As far as upgrading the levees, that would be up to the Army Corp of engineers, not the city.

How much...??

Also did anybody think of raising the water pumps to decks well above sea level???

Did they figure the pumps would work under water??? Bad engineering flaw that needs to be fixed.

[Yonivore]

Just shows they hate President Bush more than they loved Coretta Scott King.

Hey, it isn't anything they haven't done before. Remember when the Paul Wellstone funeral became a political rally for Walter Mondale?

[Nbadan]

Dubya shelters himself with shill media and only shows at prop PR events, usually featuring neutered troops. What else did he expect at a funeral for a prominent group that only supports W by 2%?

[George W Bush]

What else did he expect at a funeral for a prominent group that only supports W by 2%?

Hey, it's higher than 1%.
God Bless America

[Darrin]

Lots of funerals show up on C-SPAN. And CSK was a political person or had political influence. Peaceful, no doubt. But still political.

It wasn't the funeral being on C-SPAN that sickened me; it was the amount of applause for Bill Clinton when he went to the podium and tried to talk. It was making a political statment in the middle of a funeral - in God's house. That ship has sailed as far as televising this event. Just in the last two years we have seen public services for Rosa Parks and President Ronald Reagan.

It was the actions of those in the church, not the cameras, that sickened me.

[CharlieMac]

Bush should have taken the opportunity to ask for something at that funeral.

[Darrin]

Yeah, that sentence needs some work.

[Nbadan]

Did anyone see this exchange on Insannity and John Holmes?

HANNITY: Reverend Lowery, let's be honest here, the president of the United States goes to Coretta Scott King's funeral, and you knew what you were saying. I've known you a long time. You knew what you were saying and you knew you were taking a shot at the president. You're going to be honest here and acknowledge that, correct?

LOWERY: I'm always honest, and my speech was the same, whether the president were in Atlanta or Athens, Greece. It had nothing to do with the president. I was doing my job. I was carrying out my assignment. I was asked...

HANNITY: Reverend...

LOWERY: Listen.

HANNITY: All right.

LOWERY: I was asked by the family to give a civil rights and human rights tribute.

HANNITY: Well, it...

LOWERY: What did you expect me to talk about, wine and roses?

HANNITY: No, no, it was — look, I would never expect that. But it was a celebration of Coretta's life. Here's my position.

LOWERY: What was the...

HANNITY: The president — hang on. The president gave an incredibly touching speech, I thought. I thought he, rightly so, honored a great woman. I thought it was appropriate that he be there.

You know what, Reverend, there's a time and place for politics. You've been on my radio show and we've had a good give and take...

LOWERY: What you call politics, Sean...

[gtownspur]

Just a political rally at a funeral.