Sandy A Case Study In Big Government Failure

As Amity Shlaes noted in the opening words in her fantastic book The Forgotten Man, floods change the course of history.

So do hurricanes.

Shlaes noted the effort of Herbert Hoover in the aftermath of the floods of 1927.  George Bush was excoriated for the efforts of the government in the aftermath of Hurricane Katina in New Orleans, we think unfairly.

This past week, our fellow citizens in the northeast have been hit with a hurricane for the ages in that neck of the woods. Millions of people have been effected by Hurricane Sandy, and there are areas that will never be the same.

President Obama joined New Jersey Governor Christ Christie to tour the hard hit areas, and while throwing in a few political jabs, pledged immediate and sustained help from the Federal Government. FEMA is on the ground.

These efforts have been a colossal failure. Unlike ignorant Kayne West and the progressive Democrats nationwide, we recognize that Obama is not going to go out with a shovel and is not responsible for the government failing to help those in need.

Tempers are flaring, and residents of the area are blasting the political leaders who have been eloquent in running their mouth but short on achievement levels. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, top of the list of the political elites who think government should and can run your life better than you can, got an earful.

There is a bigger issue at play here.

Government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem. Obama and Bloomberg represent the big government entitlement crowd who seek a citizenry of dependency where they gain and expand their power. But even as the balance sheet of the agencies tasked with this work expand exponentially, the failing results are sadly the same.

CNBC's Larry Kudlow visited with Amity Sclaes, who wrote and outstanding column, for ironically enough, Bloomberg, noting that distasters create bigger, not better government. Take a listen:



In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the government relaxed or temporarily suspended  environmental regulations in an effort "cut the red tape" to speed up delivery of energy sources for the folks.  These are regulations that should not exist, and by the government taking this action they confirm these regulations hamper the market system from operating at optimal efficiency.

There is a place for limited government in this regard, but the local governments, churches, citizen groups, charities and the citizens of the community are best equipped to effectively deal with these types of disasters.  The federal government can be on stand by to assist if requested.

As the cameras roll out on Staten Island today, what we see once again is the failure of big government to handle the job, even with a bloated budget and slews of technocrat administrators.

As we approach election day, the words of Ronald Reagan ring loud.  Government is not the solution to the problem, government it the problem.  Check out the Rockaways on Staten Island  and Rockaway in Queens for proof.  Unfortunately, the situation continues to worsen.  Please keep thse folks in your prayers.

Limited government and free market principles have been and remain the best path to prosperity.

Diary of a Wimpy President

Americans are watching with extreme sadness the effects of the ongoing BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately, the Obama administration is treating the spill as a political event and not the economic and environmental catastrophe that it is for America. It is immoral for our government to not treat this spill as an emergency extending every imaginable effort to plug the hole and contain the spill.

There will be time for pointing fingers, but in thinking how our President ran off at the mouth at every opportunity to berate George W. Bush during the response to Hurricane Katrina, his response to this spill as our Commander and Chief is appalling.

Reflect back to Obama running his mouth:



Amongst all the basketball games and concerts, even some of the strongest supporters of the anointed one have called his competence into question, including Peggy Noonan and James Carville.



HT/GatewayPundit

The areas of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi are already unnecessarily damaged, and Florida is next. What is immediately needed is some leadership, something that is quite obviously lacking with President Obama. Leadership is something America's Mayor knows something about, and he indicates that the response to the spill by Obama has been horrendous. Take a listen:



As the good ole boys often say heading down the backstretch; lead, follow or get out the way! Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal should have sideswiped Obama and gotten busy weeks ago on his strategy, letting the chips fall where they may. Florida Governor Charlie Crist had better urgently get to work as well. Someone needs to display some intelligent leadership immediately. Our President, who is busy engaging in sports, partying, concerts and assisting political partners while the oil just keeps gushing, is seriously lacking in leadership and given his propensity to blame everyone else for the problems, is a wimp.

Entries in many diaries, and/or blogs, will document this disgraceful behavior during a real American crisis. Think folks are pissed now, wait until the economic effect of this , along with all the other moronic economic decisions, becomes apparent in the form a double dip recession.

Fixin A Hole

Quite obviously, the Gulf Oil Spill is an alarming environmental and economic disaster that unfortunately continues daily. However, in a staggering lack of leadership, the Obama administration seems more interested in the political events of the day and finger pointing rather than engaging all options in an effort to take command and plug the devastating leak. Sean Hannity, joined by Deneen Borelli and Sandra Smith, has more:



Certainly, all Americans recognize President Obama should not be down there with a shovel and a bucket. However, the constant running at the mouth that the administration is "in charge" and has been on top of this situation "since day 1" is not true, and everyone knows it. Whoever is in charge is failing miserably.

An outspoken voice among the entire left lambasting President George W. Bush over his handling of Hurricane Katrina was Captain Pop Off himself, Barack Obama. I remember him blasting John McCain's reaction to the financial crisis as a "Katrina like response, sort of stood there", "shifting positions these last two weeks looking for photo-ops trying to figure out what to say and what to do". Seems to me Obama has pulled out that playbook, and so does Drinking With Bob:



I am a supporter of offshore drilling, and drilling everywhere possible. Drill Baby Drill! The reason we have to drill in 5000 feet of water is because left wing environmentalist have won the day and we are not permitted to drill in Alaska, Colorado or offshore areas in more shallow water.

It is far time for our President to show some leadership on this economic and environmental disaster. This is not the fault of Bush, and Obama is not helping by flying across the country to do campaign events for Barbara Boxer (D) in California, shooting hoops, watching the NBA finals or attending a the concert of a guy who has experience in Fixin A Hole, Paul McCartney. In fact, Obama has been plugging up some holes. Unfortunately for America, these holes are found on the golf course, not in The Gulf of Mexico.

Maybe us Americans are in fact fortunate in one regard. It is clear to anyone paying attention that our Commander in Chief is not getting the job done, is lacking in leadership qualities and is promoting disingenuous rhetoric (propaganda) at a minimum, attributes not becoming a President of our once great nation.

Casting the Blame

While there is nowhere close to the media howl in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, there are rumblings that the Obama administration has been a failure in addressing the most unfortunate oil rig explosion and resulting spill of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Among those asking questions, and rightfully so, are The New York Times, Rush Limbaugh, and even left wing moonbat Bill Maher. On FOX News, the lovely Megyn Kelly discusses the issue with Juan Williams and Brad Blakeman. Take a listen:


To recap, President Bush was excoriated for his administrations response to Hurricane Katrina, unfairly as I saw it. The National Weather Service had it nailed, and the Emergency Alert System kicked in. New Orleans residents were told to evacuate, even by Bush himself in a pre-landing announcement. Most who stayed weathered the hurricane itself, but the devastation that came after the levee broke was severe. When the levee breaks, you got no where to go. Bush and the FEDS were held back by state and local governments (recall NO Mayor Ray Nagin), who were totally inept.

When the oil rig platform explosion happened, it seemed the situation would be handled. However, as shown in this National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration video, officials were worried about extensive oil leakage as reported by theblogprof.com. It has been reported that the congress was by law supposed to have fire booms and failed to do so, in yet another example of governmental ineptitude. If true about the fire booms, someone in government is criminally negligent.

Obviously, in retrospect, both the Bush administration and the Obama administration would handled some things differently. In my view, the big difference is the arrogance of Obama, who was among the many mouthing off at the actions of Bush but feeding us the load of crap over the weekend that his administration was on this "day 1", which if it were not so serious, would be laughable. And, I cannot help but think this may be another emergency the Obama administration wants to take advantage of, what with cap and trade on the horizon.

A big difference is the media coverage, as there are very few questioning Obama on this. From Sheppard Smith to Kayne West, Bush was getting an absolute earful. Obama?

Meanwhile, Obama's Katrina is taking place and he out is telling jokes, attacking Wall Street, calling out Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck at U Michigan and firing distasteful jokes about the Jonas Brothers while yucking it up at the National Correspondents dinner. But don't worry, it is British Petroleum's job to clean it up and Obama has his foot on the neck of BP (BP:NYSE).

Wow! Even though we have an environmental disaster and substantial forthcoming economic damage, I feel much better.

Advantage Bush. Again!

HT Gateway Pundit, Doug Ross and The Blog Prof.

Hottie Toddy Everybody!

The euphoria associated with Ole Miss emerging under first year coach Houston Nutt has FOX's Sudio B host Sheppard Smith quite looped from the Kool-Aid he has no doubt been drinking. He defensively proclaimed there was no media bias in the election of Barack Obama! Looped? Call it shit canned!



Several newspapers have since stated the bias they had toward Obama, and MSNBC was the NYC Obama headquarters. NBC is loaded with pro Obama folks, led on CNBC by John Harwood, who was simply disgusting in his nightly "equitable assessment" during appearances on Kudlow & Company, and the ridiculous tandem of Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews on MSNBC.

I suspect Smith is showing his bias. I recall Smith, along with Geraldo Rivera, was strongly critical of the Bush administration for the handling of Hurricane Katrina. This of course the natural disaster where Bush told folks living in a city 8 feet under sea level with the storm of all ages bearing down to leave, they did not, and paid the cnsequences of their actions, much to the dismay of Smith and Rivera.

Shepp has come a long way from covering the car wrecks down here in Orlando for WCPX-CBS-6, but he is obviously full of himself if he remotely suspects his profession is not biased in it's political coverage. Obama supporter, idiot or liar? Hottie Toddy Everybody!

Hurricane Warning

Certainly, our prayers are with the fine people of the Louisiana as they prepare for the arrival of what appears to be a very dangerous Hurricane Gustav.

As we prepare for Gustav and in the aftermath of the debacle of Hurricane Katrina, the air needs to be cleared.

None of these events are the fault of George W. Bush. The audacity of morons who hung out in a city below sea level during a hurricane of the ages to look past their idiotic decision making and the failure of the state and local governments to place blame on Bush and the FEDS is ridiculous. What part of get out did they not understand? And if you stayed, you are responsible for your own actions. Notice we did not have the same issues in Mississippi, which was also devastated.

After Hurricane Charley ran right through downtown Orlando, we all fired up the chain saws and went to work. No one was waiting for Dick Cheney to come by with some Gatorade.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is borderline incompetent, but he was easily re-elected. My crack staff could not verify if he is hanging out on the 20th floor of the chocolate city Holiday Inn again. These residents re-elected him, so it is what it is. He already has called Gustav "The storm of the century". You know from experience that the buses are a no go, so your prompt response to evacuation warnings are quite important.

Good luck to all of you and shoot the looters. By the way, LSU looked good yesterday! GEAUX TIGERS!