- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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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- If Bush had an iota of intelligence, he would divert
some of the billions of dollars in payments to Dick Cheney's crooked corporate
contrivance, Halliburton, to immediately purchase low-cost prescription
drugs in Canada and transport them to the elderly in Florida. Because when
all is said and done, it will be a choice between spending fixed income
money to make repairs to homes and on expensive prescription drugs that
will be the agonizing decision for Florida's seniors. The situation is
especially dire for those seniors who urgently need kidney dialysis and
oxygen. But Bush has more compassion for rebuilding Iraq's oil infrastructure
than for those Americans who sacrificed in three wars who need help now.
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- Immediately after Bush's photo-op in devastated southwestern
Florida, the White House began spinning disinformation that federal aid
to the region was pouring in. Once again, there was a difference between
what the White House spinmeisters were gushing forth and what was happening
on the ground.
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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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- If the Bush regime were as interested in providing as
much money for technology in accurately predicting the paths of hurricanes
as it does for peering into the private lives of Americans citizens, perhaps
some of Florida's newest homeless citizens could have been warned in time
to escape Charley's destructive path and take with them some of their most
valued photographs, papers, and heirlooms.
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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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- FEMA was originally established to deal with natural
disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, forest fires, blizzards,
and tornados. However, as with everything else in our country these days,
FEMA is now just another Gestapo-like organization whose primary mandate
is anti-terrorism. For example, it was FEMA that confiscated "unauthorized
cameras" from journalists and others in southern Manhattan in the
days after 9-11. Not straying from its anti-terrorism song sheet, FEMA
officials quickly began to refer to Punta Gorda as "Ground Zero."
And Governor Jeb Bush added his own words of wisdom about the Florida relief
effort using more militaristic Bushspeak: "It's going to be awesomeóshock
and aweñthat's our goal."
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- Some shock and awe, some relief effort.
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- Before leaving Floridians, Bush said, "A lot of
people's lives are turned upside down." Yes, Mr. Bush, since your
disastrous "selection" by the Supreme Court, many people's lives
have been turned upside downófrom active duty and National Guardsmen
fighting an insane war in Iraq, to the Iraqi people, and to Americans of
all walks of life whose nationality and religion make them suspect in the
eyes of the state. It is clear that the "compassion of Bush"
does not amount to more than disjointed sound bites like telling Floridians
that "help is on the way," before flying off in the comforts
of Air Force One. Nice rip-off from John Kerry, who told Americans at the
Boston Democratic Convention that "help is on the way" after
he is elected in November. Kerry's help will benefit us allóFloridians
recovering from the disaster of Charley and every American recovering from
the disaster of Bush.
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- - Wayne Madsen is a Washington, D.C.-based investigative
journalist and columnist. He served in the National Security Agency during
the Reagan administration and was responsible for disaster recovery and
contingency planning and training while assigned to the U.S. Naval Telecommunications
Command. He is the author of the forthcoming book, "Jaded Tasks: Big
Oil, Black Ops, and Brass Plates."
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