I find it hard to believe that Conservatives believe this shit

[Steerpike]

I received this in my e-mail today...


"Last time I looked , most of the people affected by the floods in Iowa do not live on farms. When I talk of my farming background, I'm talking about my ancestors and thousands more who arrived on the plains of Iowa 1846- 1860 with little more than their resolve, strong back, & very strong character. I know those attributes were passed to their children and grandchildren. The day of the 160 acre subsistence farm is gone. So it would be a good bet that many or most of the affected flood victims have a farm background, but no longer farm. The big factory farms along with manylocal, generational farmers who are smart enough and big enough to survive are very common through out the Midwest today My mother's father was the last farmer in our immediate branch of the family. He sold out in 1943 and moved to town. The depression saw to that. There was no money to help his six sons stay in the farming. They were all successful in other pursuits. My mother and three of her sisters were school teachers. All of them raised families and still managed to complete college. Personally, I was a depression kid who lost his father when I was 16 months old. My mother was four months pregnant then. Mom had originally trained as a legal secretary, but had to quit when I came along. She earned the money for business school by cleaning houses in Des Moines. She remarried three years later, but the years1936-39 were her personal hell. When my brother and I were in the military she returned to school and completed her bachelors. My brother used the GI Bill to earn both BS and MBA. MBA work all done while he was employed and raising a family. Any excuse to not get ahead in this country is just plain BS. Incidently, on that side of the family, I have 25 first cousins who all have been successful. There are two college professors, multiple school teachers at other levels, Navy officer, Airline pilot, businessmen and women, secret service agent, Iowa state cop, and on and on. So don't tell me college is out of reach of anyone. Of course you have to be intelligent and industrious. Are those the two ingredients missing in the average New Orleans citizen? Or is it an ingrained strain of defeatism? Insurance payoffs to flood victims seems to annoy you. Indiscriminate farm subsidies annoy me. You have a contract with an insurance company; you pay premiums, they cover your losses. As far as dealing with floods, I know quite a bit. After broadcasting had it's way with me, I became a government information officer and retired from the Army Corps of Engineers in Los Angeles where my primary PR account was the entire Los Angeles Flood control system. So, if you want to blame the Corps of Engineers for anything, just recall they do not solicit business. They build what and where they are told by who ever is in political office at the time."

[Steerpike]

1. Here is the original post

Isn’t this the truth!!
Some Food for Thought Re. Flooding in the Midwest, compare to New Orleans .

Where are all of the Hollywood celebrities holding te! lethons asking for help in restoring Iowa and helping the folks affected by the floods?

Where is all the media asking the tough questions about why the federal government hasn't solved the problem? Asking where the FEMA trucks (and trailers) are?

Why isn't the Federal Government relocating Iowa people to free hotels in Chicago, houston, Dallas etc.?

When will Spike Lee say that the Federal Government blew up the levees that failed in Des Moines ?

! Where are Sean Penn and the Dixie Chicks?

Where are all the looters stealing high-end tennis shoes and big screen television sets?

When will we hear Governor Chet Culver say that he wants to rebuild a "vanilla" Iowa , because that's the way God wants it?

Where is the hysterical 24/7 media coverage complete with reports of cannibalism?

Where are the people declaring that George Bush hates white, rural people?

How come in 2 weeks, you will never hear about the Iowa flooding ever again?

[Steerpike]

2. followed by this

Midwest flood vs New Orleans Katrina
I'm an Iowan, grew up there descended from farmers who settled the State in 1850. I and my family and Iowan friends have made the same observation. I still have family there and have arranged to be buried there. As far as the nature of the people, I know that all too well. We will, collectively, take a deep breath and get to work. We won't blame FEMA, the Republicans or George Bush. Recall now, that the State has gone on record as being solidly behind Barack Obama. We are a fair, honest, non-delusional people, highly educated, and rely on ourselves for just about everything. Prayers are accepted.
Don Martin School of R/TV, Hollywood
BS, Journalism/Speech- Broadcasting, 1956-57
U of Nebraska

And by the way, I worked full time while going to all those schools, and incurred no student loans.

[Steerpike]

3. OK now here was my reply

The price of a college degree has risen substatially since the 50's...
Low end right now...4 years at u of n is 80,000 to 100,000 dollars....that' s just tuition and housing...as to the katrina/midwest flood comparisons. ..no one has blamed FEMA for the flood itself (only a complete idiot would make that comparison), but for the incompetant response that cost countless lives...As far as i can tell...there are many people and agencies helping in relief efforts for victims of the floods in Iowa and other affected localities.. .what kind of long term financial aid from insurence companies and the feds has yet to be played out. As for the independant spirit of Iowa farmers...they have benefited from federal farm subsidies over the years to the tune of billions of dollars...is that how you define "independant" ?

[zanne]

4. Well isn't he special. nt

[Steerpike]

5. this is the line that pissed me off the most

and i don't even know anyone from NO

"Of course you have to be intelligent and industrious. Are those the two ingredients missing in the average New Orleans citizen?"

[EstimatedProphet]

17. The actual ingredients that were missing from New Orleans:

White skin and money. That alone is enough to explain the Bush administration reaction.

[Steerpike]

19. Seems so....

Of course I had heard that it is being used to aquire real estate to redevelop. Someone will make a lot of money off the deaths and despair of Black population of NO...

[DS1]

12. Where are all the looters stealing high-end tennis shoes and big screen television sets?

Where were they during Katrina? Obviously it's all about Katrina.


Some people should have their heads smashed through their monitors.

[Bragi]

6. Thsi is classic conservative "issue framing"

Read George Lakoff's book. I'm reading it now. He explains how conservatives have framed debate in the last 20 years, and what progressives need to do to "reframe" debate so it reflects our values.

Buy it here. You won't be disappointed.

http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Think-Elephant-Debate-Progressives/dp/1931498717/ref=tag_stp_st_edpp_ttl

- B

[Steerpike]

8. Sounds like a great book.

I put it in my basket and will order it soon.

thanks!

[Brewman_Jax]

7. There always has to be an enemy, someone to blame

"Those people" are the reason for every wrong with this country at any and all levels. Conservatives always have to have an enemy, and "the enemy" can't have any positive or redeeming qualities. Without someone to blame, conservatives would have to take personal responsibility when something goes wrong. Conservatives taking responsibility...like that's gonna happen. :silly:

[Orsino]

9. Typical right-wing blame the victim ploy.

Any excuse not to care is a good one.

[Lyric]

10. How many people died in Iowa/Illinois? And how many in New Orleans?

I rest my case.

[Steerpike]

13. ABOUT 1800 RECORDED DEATHS IN KATRINA!!!!!

About 2000 or more missing?

[Lyric]

14. Exactly. So when idiots start whining about how

Hollywood isn't having enough "telethons" to support the people of Iowa/Illinois, it pisses me off. Sure, I feel horrible for the midwesterners who've lost their homes. It's a terrible thing, and nobody deserves that. But somewhere between 1800 and 3000 people DIED in Katrina's flooding. The "looters" were largely people who were either looking for food/necessities, or people who were looking for items to TRADE for food/necessities. Sure, it doesn't look very good when you're caught on camera looting a television, but if the guy two roofs down is willing to trade some of his food for that television, I don't blame anyone for taking it.

LIFE is the most important thing, and the loss of it is that most horrific injury. Property can be replaced and restored. Life cannot. THAT is part of what made Katrina so much worse than the flooding in Iowa/Illinois. The people in the midwest, by and large, are not sitting on their roofs, starving and injured, day after day, watching hundreds of dead friends and neighbors float by in the reeking water, while the government ignores them.

To even COMPARE the amount of suffering is insane. It isn't even close.

[skygazer]

11. And I had to walk 3 miles to school through hip-deep snow

Uphill, both ways.

Well, I would say (after wading through this - why don't the authors of these things ever use breaks?) that a litany of one person's experience is a pretty lousy way to argue any point. Not that I'm sure what the point is.

[Steerpike]

15. Lest we forget...

"Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States.<3> It was the sixth-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the third-strongest hurricane on record that made landfall in the United States. Katrina formed on August 23 during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and caused devastation along much of the north-central Gulf Coast. The most severe loss of life and property damage occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana, which flooded as the levee system catastrophically failed, in many cases hours after the storm had moved inland.<4> The hurricane caused severe destruction across the entire Mississippi coast and into Alabama, as far as 100 miles (160 km) from the storm's center. In the 2005 Atlantic season, Katrina was the eleventh tropical storm, fifth hurricane, third major hurricane, and second Category 5 hurricane."

[bullwinkle428]

16. He brings up the GI Bill in his original post - he needs to be

asked why he and all of his wingnut buddies were fighting tooth and nail against bringing this back for Iraq/Afghanistan veterans, while the House and Senate Democrats were trying to push it through! :mad:

[EstimatedProphet]

18. Here, this will refute his argument instantly:

If the Bush administration's response to Katrina was the right thing to do, as you apparently believe, then why - after 3 years! - areyou still trying to justify it?

[Steerpike]

20. I just posted this regarding his "ancestors" in Iowa

"Of course my view is that the "settlers" were murderous thieves who forced the natives off their land. Must be nice! Free land...as long as you can take it by force...
And of course comparing the tragic flooding in the Iowa "flood plains" to Katrina is stupid...lest we forget...(of course as a good liberal I support all government aid to the good people of Iowa )"

I then posted Katrina Stats...

he's gonna love this...especially the part about his "murderous" ancestors!

[Dogtown]

21. Your correspondent is a racist and a liar

His "story" is the sort of fantasy these "rugged individualists" love to rock themselves to sleep with. It has all the believability of the reading primers they supplied to elementary schools in the 50s; you know, the one's where the Dad wears a coat, tie and fedora whilst driving the nucular family to the secluded pasture on Sunday afternoon (after Church, o/c) for a picnic.

Those books never discussed trespassing, Dad's *actual* Sunday afternoon pulling a double at the factory or Mom's diet pill habit.


Born on 3rd and swears he hit a triple...