Bush's 'compassion' for Southwest Florida: $2 mil, photo opt,. gestapo

[donsu]

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/082004Madsen/082004madsen.html

Bush's 'compassion' for Southwest Florida: $2 million, a photo op, and the federal Gestapo


Floridians, many of them elderly, recently got a taste of George W. Bush's infamous "compassion." Four days after Hurricane Charley tore through southwestern Florida with 145 mile per hour sustained winds, Bush's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was able to come up with only $2 million in emergency assistance. And in an added touch of the Bush administration's compassion, the American flag was raised at the main Punta Gorda post office in a patriotic ceremony featuring the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. The out-of-place scene was as if the damage in Florida was caused by a retaliatory attack by the remnants of Saddam Hussein's forces or a sneak Russian or Chinese missile attack on southwestern Florida.

True, unlike his father in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Dubya hastily (and facetiously) visited the devastated town of Punta Gorda two days after the hurricane, while hapless senior citizens were trying to salvage what few heirlooms and necessities they could find from the rubble of their shattered manufactured homes and apartments. A 20-minute helicopter flyover on Marine One and a quick 30-minute photo op was all Bush could render unto Florida before he hopped back on the campaign trail.

And what did the most pathetic individual to lord over a national government say to the bewildered and shocked Floridians under the gaze of his equally despicable gubernatorial brother? He said FEMA was there along with the Red Cross. Obviously, Bush does not realize that the Red Cross is not part of his administration. And FEMA was initially there with a checkbook for merely $2 million when all estimates of Charley's cost were in the $15 billion range, including the costs to those homeowners and renters who have no insurance. And why did insurers turn many of Florida's elderly down when they tried to obtain insurance? For the crime of being just too old. White House press spokesman Scott McClellan was not even willing to say how much the Bush administration would eventually spend on disaster relief in Florida. Hey Dubya, that's some gratitude for the state you stole in 2000 to win the White House!

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In places like Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, Arcadia, Haines City, and Englewood, there are too many seniors and others who lost everything who are telling anyone that will listen that they wished they had died in the hurricane than face the uncertainty of not knowing where their next meal will come from, how they will find an affordable place to live, or even where to find a nice cup of coffee or a warm shower. Other seniors, sitting in damaged mobile homes in states of total shock, speak incoherently about their condition. In addition to physical assistance, the federal government has been slow in providing mental health counselors to those who need that kind of assistance now, not later.

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And what else did Bush provide southwestern Florida? Menacing federal and local law enforcement officials threatened displaced persons with arrest if they tried to get back to their devastated homes. The Florida National Guard has been turned upside down with many of its civil affairs and disaster recovery specialists now serving in Iraq, instead of seeing to the relief of their own Florida communities. Yes, whether it's a political convention, a Bush campaign rally, an anti-war protest, or a disaster aftermath, Americans can expect a helmeted law enforcement goon slapping a riot stick or a toting a stun gun in one hand and shouting threats of arrest at "We the People."
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