Nashville Heroes

There was a lot of news breaking over the past week and yet I think Fox News got some of it wrong. A few other news divisions are now following their lead, but Fox was the first to incorrectly link the oil spill and Obama’s handling of this disaster with the way Bush’s team handled Katrina. The main point of contention was that Bush was denounced in the news for not visiting New Orleans until four days after the disaster whereas Obama didn’t show up to view the oil spill for nine days. The comparison must have struck a chord at the White House for now everyone has the same talking point in which they start any conversation about the oil spill with the phrase “day one” – as in “we were on top of this day one”. Nonetheless I think Fox used the wrong comparison.

In the midst of reporting about the oil spill, Arizona and immigration, the Times Square bomber, the stock market plunge and back again, there was another story of near epic proportions – the Nashville flooding. Now this disaster was on par with the flooding of New Orleans after Katrina. And yet the way the folks in Nashville are being treated in comparison to those in New Orleans is downright insulting.

Thirty one people have died, a vital Southern city is underwater, there is an estimated $1.5 billion in damage plus an important part of American history and our musical heritage, The Grand Ol’ Oprey was badly damaged along with millions of dollars worth of Country Music artifacts and instruments. Yet no one seems to care or even know about it. Hell, I got the above information from a BBC article as there are so few in this country reporting on it.

Gee, it took Bush four days to visit New Orleans and Obama nine days to view the oil spill yet why hasn’t any reporter accused the President of avoiding Nashville, another southern city completely underwater? Instead, nearly a week later, Janet Napolitano showed up. I still don’t quite understand why she is the spokesperson for the oil spill cleanup and now this. Regardless, the President or even the Vice President should have been in Nashville to view the damage and to maybe give a few comforting hugs to the flooded out residents.

In fact, in Obama’s acceptance speech of the Democrat ticket a few years ago he said "We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets and families slide into poverty; that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns before our eyes."

Ironic, isn’t it? Someone needs to remind him of this for he sure as hell has been sitting on his hands while Nashville has epic flooding and struggles to overcome what some say is the worst disaster for them since the damage from the Civil War.

Obama also discussed something that has been annoying me recently. In his speech he mentions homeless veterans and families in poverty. Yet during the past year I have wondered about the lack of articles about the homeless. Where are the reports about filled shelters and families living in cars? I haven’t seen any, have you? And yet we are in the midst of a major recession with 10% unemployment. Can you imagine all the sob stories we would be inundated with if a Republican was president?

Anyway, back to the Nashville flood. Since Obama and most reporters are ignoring this story you may be unaware of the efforts by Nashville residents to help themselves. Country singers, many of whom, such as Kenny Chesney, had flooded homes themselves, are reaching out to help their fellow residents. Taylor Swift personally donated $500,000 to the relief efforts and a number of concerts and fund raisers are being planned to help the city. Another $400,000 came from the owner of the Nashville Titans with more expected from the NFL and individual Titan players. But, again, little of this is being reported.

One commentator from NewsBusters, a conservative website, wrote the following about the lack of coverage “The only thing that I can figure is that maybe Nashville is doing its best to handle the problem in any way they can, and they aren't whining and crying and blaming somebody or something for what is obviously a natural disaster," the commenter writes. "And also, maybe there's not much 'news' in this for the MSM, since there doesn't appear to be an agenda that they can push.”

So Nashville shouldn’t expect much, if any help from the government, nor a visit from Obama. Outside of the south, I also doubt if money will pour in or Hollywood helps out or hundreds of do-gooders flock to Nashville to help rebuild homes, all of which happened to New Orleans. Instead, for the most part, these Southerners are on their own. Rather than act as helpless victims, these stoic heroes will quietly rebuild their city and homes. In fact, a year from now I bet that Nashville will be well on its way to being restored while New Orleans, five years after Katrina, will still be damaged and parts of the city unlivable. It simply shows that government can not do everything. And yet this is the same government that is now going to take care of all of our health’s.

Treating Flood Victims Equally

Last week all up and down the Mississippi entire towns were immersed under water as levees were breached or destroyed. Throughout the sporadic news coverage you couldn't help but noticed the unacknowledged elephant in the room. Although none of the reporters mentioned it, the public whispered among themselves what the politically correct news organizations were afraid to discuss. Of course I speak of New Orleans.

I was going to say that it was impossible to watch the horrible results of the century breaking floods without comparing it to the floods in New Orleans except that the mainstream media did just that – ignored any comparison to Katrina. The sad truth is that if someone did do the comparison they would risk being called racist because any comparison of Katrina vs. today's flood victims would not be favorable to the residents of New Orleans, who just happen to be African American. And God help the journalist who gives a nonfavorable report about blacks, even though it is true.

During the floods tens of thousands of people in the Midwest were homeless as their houses were literally washed away or engulfed to the roof tops in water. And yet there was no outrage at being jammed into relief areas, nor was there any talk of gunshots or rapes or even looting as there was with Katrina. There was some concern about FEMA but there were also a lot of discussions about simply helping out their neighbors and themselves. These displaced citizens talked about rebuilding their towns and communities whereas after Katrina it seemed as if the cry to rebuild primarily came from outsiders, actors, musicians and the like, and not from the residents. Multiple fundraising events were held for the New Orleans residents but you haven’t heard of too many celebrities coming to the aid of Iowans. Nor have you heard of these Midwesterns looking for cash handouts such as initially occurred after Katrina.

Yes, some of the difference is due to local politics, with New Orleans government being known as corrupt and inefficient. I honestly don’t know much about the local politics of the affected towns last week but I doubt if they are as scandal ridden as New Orleans and Louisiana. But the major difference is the people themselves. And that is what no one dares to mention because you would immediately be labeled as racist. Next thing you know you have to apologize to everyone, take diversity training and be reprogrammed to be politically correct in the future.

The sad thing is that the way the politically correct ran to aid New Orleans is the racist action, whereas comparing them to those in the Midwest is an act of equality. Comparing the two groups is saying that both are equal to each other regardless of color. You are granting each the same respect as the other and treating them as equals. Shouldn’t we make a judgment based on character and the actions of a person or group of people with no regard to race? And isn’t that the goal – to treat everyone equally?

On the other hand, those who pleaded and sobbed and lectured the country to assist the residents of New Orleans did a major disservice to them. Yes they needed assistance but these politically correct activists treated the New Orleans citizens as helpless victims who needed to be taken care of. That kind of “help” strips away self esteem and any initiative to help themselves. Think about it. Apparently the politically correct assume that the flood victims in Iowa and elsewhere can take care of themselves but those affected by Katrina couldn’t. How insulting and racist is that?