[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8XsZwtmYik&feature=related[/youtube]
We will be looking forward to more of these greedy, self-serving back to Gods who would not cross the street the help their fellow man in trouble now looking for the handouts… They forced the City of Colorado Springs to shut off street lights, shutdown police patrols, fire the fire department because those are wasteful expenditures. Now they are begging Obama and the federal government to save their butts…
Wildfire Tests Police in Colorado Tax Movement’s Home (Bloomberg News)
So much for the lessons we were taught in our 1940-1980 growing and learning years about how we were all in this together. When we were all in this together with Ike, JFK, LBJ and even the evil RMN the USA prospered. People still made money while we were learning how to not be racist, bigoted, and still making mistakes but we were doing it together. Shared sacrifice, shared mission to help all succeed.
Now we have TeaBaggers, Blue Dogs, Corporatists, prosperity gospel evangelists all leading the march for the individual wrapped in phony Austrian, libertarian economics. An economic system designed to destroy the very fabric of America and the civilized world. We are not in a socialist, communistic fight for the soul of the American people, we are in a fight of morals between the haves, have nots and the wishing we were part of the haves (aka Poor White Folk). The poor white folk are fighting a war against the have nots. The poor white folk are using every means possible to economically hold down the long term poor or non-whites or women. Many of the leading organizations in this effort are based in Colorado Springs, CO.
Why should we care? I do feel sorry for the people of Colorado Springs up to a point. No one should suffer these fools gladly. But the home of phony Christian movements such as Focus on the Family, Ted Haggard’s super New Life Church and more is pushing the destruction of our social safety net. These super Christians, these Prosperity Gospel Christians are super hypocrites.
Look at the begging coming out of Colorado Springs right now, do a Google query. At this time, there are over 2.5 million hits of all sorts. What happen to their Libertarian self-reliance program of small government? What happened to their plan to pay no taxes, the  need to socialistically pay for fire protection as a group? Waldo Canyon is a newer development built in a formerly restricted growth area, with little extra support services. Why should there be any extra firefighting or police protection? What could possibly ever go wrong? Fire what fire? You need water? For what?
Here in South Dakota we have our own version of this movement. Have you heard of Dakota Dunes, SD the private community next to Sioux City, IA? A special interstate 29 exit takes you to the home of corporate and personal tax evaders living in a flood plain. The Army Corp never wanted anything but barge grain terminals built there. As long if there is enough money involved in the right war chests, why should we worry about floods. The dams have been holding back water since the 1950’s without breaking or bursting, so why should we worry. Build against mother nature, why should she care? Well in 2011 the libertarian, back to God, TeaBagger, Blue Dogs of Dakota Dunes got a taste of mother nature and the mighty Mo. Do you remember what they did? They asked for handouts. Just like Colorado Springs, handouts to pay for their mistakes. Oh, cry me a river of tears. Get flood insurance, don’t call me. I have flood and water insurance even though I do not live in a flood zone.  It’s a responsibility thing.
Remember the other river sob story we were hit with last year? The Fort Pierre / Pierre flooding made many headlines in 2011. 40 years ago I lived in Pierre for a while. I saw all the beautiful river frontage and asked why no one built there. The answer was simple, it was a flood zone and the Army Corp never wanted it built on. Let everyone enjoy it as a park, a people’s park. So what do the responsible Libertarians do? They build McMansions with their own boat docks in the backyard. These McMansions have the elites of Pierre government offices living there. We saw stories with pictures of a recent former governor, who now wants to a US Senator, using prison labor to protect his property. Isn’t this ripe, or does it just stink? This man and many of his neighbors, contributed to reason these inmates are incarcerated, now asking these convicted people to save the McMansions. I heard many references to thanking God, pray for us but don’t let nature take its rightful course. I personally didn’t care if the houses floated down river, they built them in a flood plan, the houses should not be there .
One last rant while I’m at it. The Black Hills fires are raging. I really like the Hills.  We have man loving them to destruction. Now we have 4 dead North Carolina airmen who were trying to save the property of Back to God Libertarians who don’t want to pay taxes to cover the funerals of these airmen.  I am sorry these airmen are now going home in caskets just for the unselfish effort to save greedy sorry hill people from themselves.
I am so tired of hearing about the phony Prosperity Christian storytelling. How is this helping us a nation?  If you are living in a dry mountainous area, have a backup plan. If you live in a flood plan, have a backup plan. If you are a Prosperity Gospel Christian, have a backup plan. If you are a Libertarian Back to God, don’t call President Obama or the Red Cross if you need help. Call your private insurance company to pay for your disaster recovery. Call your Prosperity Gospel leader and ask for the handout you need. I’m sure Focus on the Family will open its treasury for you, NOT.
Karma. Or should I say ‘God Karma’.
I love when people who have no idea what a libertarian actually is throw the term around to describe any and all conservatives, or simply anyone that doesn’t agree with them 100%.
You know there is a difference between conservatives and libertarians.
Can’t we just get Governor Rounds to pray for rain again?
Totally forgot about this post, I even laff at my own stuff;
http://www.southdacola.com/blog/2011/06/god-stop-voting-for-republicans-and-the-flooding-will-end/
To the post I say “Indeed.”
“Can’t we just get Governor Rounds to pray for rain again?”
NO, NO, NO, that would cause Dakota Dunes and Pierre to flood again 🙂
Natural disasters and forest fires are now due to greedy religious people? You dont happen to be a member of the Westboro church do ya? Your first paragraph is about how “in 1940-1980” we were “all in this together”. What rock were you under? You may want to research Selma, Chicago (DNC) Little Rock or Birmingham to see how rosy things were ‘back then’ in the good ol’ days under JFK and LBJ – and if its Karma…what was Katrina in New Orleans?
Lemming, uh, that is not what is being said. While there is plenty of snarky sarcasm in this post, I don’t think anyone is saying that. Doesn’t matter where these natural disasters came from, not the issue. Most people prepare for something ‘happening’ they did not.
Hmmm, not how I read it, hence my reference to New Orleans. To me it was a whiny diatribe on those “haves” and their “McMansions with docks in their backyards” – So what you are saying is those 2000 people that died in New Orleans should have prepared for a hurricane (cause they live in fishbowl)? I’m quite certain your ‘guest poster’ never did jack shit for this Country but whine and hold his hand out. Oh, that and revel in the misfortune of others as their “McMansions” burn to the ground…/note the snarky sarcasm
Well, I do know he paid his taxes and contributed to the ‘social’ programs of our country. These people did everything in their power not to contribute, even though they were swimming in enormous wealth.
That is what this is about. Paying your fair share of taxes and contributing to these programs, so when you need help it is there for you. If you don’t want to contribute to our democracy, fine, but don’t expect handouts.
There seems to be a basic misunderstanding and taking out of context a major point of this post. The 2000 New Orleans ‘Have Nots’ died while GWB played guitar with his ‘Haves’. With their safety net stripped from their lives, the ‘Have Nots’ were left to a Rovian game of politics. The Karl Rove and GWB put the ‘Have Nots’ last on the list behind the ‘Poor White Folks’.
Those ‘Have Nots’ owned homes and paid their taxes. They died primarily because they were the wrong color and voted the wrong way in Louisiana elections.
For those who care, I have been involved, fighting these issues for longer than most of the readers of this blog have been alive. Through this blog, I am enjoying poking with a stick, the underbelly of our prejudices.
Many of the prejudices being poked are perpetuated by the Back to God Libertarians ‘Haves’ who are now trying to get something for nothing at the expense of the rest of us.
Lemming many of the greedy turn to religion to justify their actions. It’s in the bible don’t ya know.
First of all, many people cannot buy flood insurance if they don’t live in an area covered by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Currently there are 34 communities within South Dakota which do not participate, so it isn’t always as easy as blaming individual homeowners for not buying flood insurance.
http://www.fema.gov/cis/SD.html
GP: “They died primarily because they were the wrong color and voted the wrong way in Louisiana elections.”
That is just nonsense. They died because people (of numerous colors and political affiliations) gambled on the levy system. They died because many of them didn’t follow the advice suggesting they should evacuate. They died because of massive flooding caused by a natural event (or if you are God fearing… you could say they died as a direct result of God’s wrath). They died because most of them were very poor and didn’t have means or options to get the hell out. They died because – and I know this is unpopular – they were ignorant as to the power of a hurricane. They died because they grew up with a culture that didn’t afford them the option to take swimming lessons, so even if they found themselves needing to swim to a roofline or across the street they were unable to. They died because they put their faith in a diety or in a government that they felt would protect them. They died because they didn’t plan ahead. They died because sometimes shit happens that even the best prepared aren’t prepared for.
They didn’t die because they failed to support the right political party or because they were too far from center on a color chart.
If you want to blame a certain political party or administration for their failures after the Hurricane or their response to it, by all means – but those lives were primarily lost due to the event rather than the (lack of) response to it. Nobody will argue the response was sufficient, but that likely has more to do with government ineptitude than it does with politics. There are plenty of other reasons to dislike that administration, but even a cynic like me can’t believe the deaths in NOLA were due to race or political support.
Craig,
You apparently do not read much history of the Katrina disaster and how Karl Rove was pulling strings while running around with GWB. Rove and his friends had the buses pulled from service so the citizens who had no cars (living in a city does not require a car) had no way to leave the city. No mass transportation was available for them to use, either to leave or return. Rove prior to disaster published plans on how to change the political makeup of Louisiana if given the opportunity. Why do you suppose we had NOLA residents in South Dakota after Katrina. Get them out of LA and their ability to vote is gone.
There was also a political / governmental battle running between GWB and the LA governor over the use of the LA National Guard. GWB and Rumsfeld tried to federalize the National Guard for Iraq and Afghanistan use. They did not send in help unless the governor relinquished her state power over how to use the Guard.
Craig you are nitpicking over the flood insurance program. Some communities cannot get flood insurance because their communities are not properly placed and the community will not work to correct the problems. Other reasons flood insurance is not available is the communities lack of need for it, instead the homeowner could purchase water damage riders of varying types.
The point of this post is the failure of the libertarians to accept any other point of view or take any kind of responsibility for their place in society. All real libertarians believe in is property rights and their right to abuse the commons.
Craig and I are not far off in most of your comment about the poor in this situation. A major storm hit the Midwest and Eastern states this past Friday. It devastated the area. I have lived there and still have family there. There is no where to go in a disaster or a method to get out of the way if government fails.
We in the USA rely on each other and the government to work. The government is us and if it fails we are nothing more than the failures we created. So if we are to believe in the phony Libertarian / Back to God / Prosperity Gospel movements we fail. Look into the makeup of each of these movements and the other wannabes. You will find all of them based on varying degrees of greed and racism.
If you build in a flood plain, build it on pontoons. If you build in a forest, build it underground. If you build in an earthquake zone, sell tickets. Insurance doesn’t help. You’re not fully covered, premiums are high, and you have to sue for claims. No matter where you live, be sure you have a Plan B.
Pathloss is correct, have a Plan B. I am tired of hearing the sob stories based on stupidity and no planning.
“Rove and his friends had the buses pulled from service so the citizens who had no cars (living in a city does not require a car) had no way to leave the city.”
I sincerely hope l3wis doesn’t allow this site to slowly turn into a collective of conspiracy theorists, because between some of the nonsense in this topic along with Pathloss’s statement about the police running a prostitution ring in Sioux Falls… well let’s just say tinfoil appears to be in high demand.
It is interesting how commenters decide to change the subject or the one of a subject when they run out of ideas. It does not take long to read the facts surrounding the Rove / GWB actions during and following the Katrina disaster.
The prostitution story is interesting. I don’t know all of the deets, but I do know a very popular radio DJ here in town started complaining about it and didn’t stop until the police took action. Like I said, I don’t know all of the deets, but PL isn’t too far off.
The Rove bus story is true. In fact, it has been backed up in many articles written about Katrina. Not sure if it was political payback to NOLA residents, but it DID happen.
l3wis, I’m not doubting the SFPD looked the other way to a lot of prostitution occurring in the area. I was told by an officer I know that they knew that kind of thing went on, but it was generally a victimless crime so they ignore it. One of the stings they performed last year cost thousands upon thousands of dollars in salaries, equipment, hotel room rentals, administration, overtime etc, etc… and they ended up with a handful of arrests which brought in a few hundred dollars in fines.
The reality is they have bigger fish to fry, and the only time they bother with these stings is when there is a perception that they have been lax or when someone (like a radio personality) makes a stink about what they found on Craigslist or Backpage. The exception to the rule is when they hear about sex trafficking or underage prostitution – they will investigate that sort of thing as soon as it is discovered.
We can go even farther off topic and discuss SFPD’s wasting of resources and their goose chases elsewhere, but in terms of prostitution it is one of those things that aside from the Bible thumping Puritans among us… most people don’t really care about.
The issue I have with Pathloss’s statement is he is suggesting the SFPD run their own prostitution ring on the side and the only reason they arrest anyone is due to competition. Give me a break. Surely it isn’t too much to ask him to provide some evidence or support for that statement because right now it makes him look guanopsychotic (aka batshit crazy).
Dan makes a lot of wild claims about the city and city employees, but all too often there is no evidence to support them. I know he was put through the ringer by the city and he has every right to be upset, but inventing stories and repeating conspiracy theories started by others is just silly.
And no – I will not for a second believe that Karl Rove or GWB or anyone else in that administration pulled busses from service in order to strand people in NOLA merely because of their race or their political preferences. Again this is an example where I’ll need a (reputable) source because none of what I have ever read has made such a wild suggestion, although I admit I shy away from websites and sources that are well known to be biased and on the fringe so perhaps I missed some random far left conspiracy theory out there somewhere.
We all know they had problems with bus availability, and we’ve all seen the pictures of the flooded area full of school busses, and we all know FEMA drastically over-promised and under-delivered but I’m not accepting that a White House Chief of Staff and political strategist has the power or foresight to plan such a disgusting act.
People can make some pretty wild claims and that is what often makes the blog/forum model so much more interesting than print media that comes out once a day and with one perspective, but without any evidence or facts tied to accusations they have a dramatic impact upon credibility and it really makes it difficult to give any credence to certain individuals.
There may never be enough proof for some people to believe their heels may have caused someone else’s pain. I believe you could read BBC reporter Greg Palast articles on line. Just about as straight arrow reporting you can find.
L3wis, thanks for posting this. It’s long been a similar thought of mine – the come uppance for the in-your-face self-righteous. Perhaps it would have also been prophetic justice had the proselytizing and raping air farce academy was tinged – but we taxpayers would have to bail that out, too.
Trust me Craig, prostitution is NOT a victimless crime. Many women are forced into it. That’s kinda how this DJ came about bringing notice to it, he was helping a girl who escaped from it. I’m not saying the PD were running their own ring, but like you admitted, they may have turned their backs a few times.
As for Rove, this ‘creature’ has pulled many worse things then the bus fiasco, I can’t believe you would defend this slimeball. He is the definition of corruption and sociopath. Like Testor points out, many fine articles about Rove and his horseplay.
John, I don’t have a problem with helping out my fellow man, but when you thumb your nose at me, and think you are better, and that is why you don’t have to pay taxes, I have trouble having a compassionate heart for you. I say give them Federal Aid, then send them a bill for every last f’ing penny. They would have wished they would have just paid taxes.
l3wis, you missed the part where I said “the exception to the rule is when they hear about sex trafficking or underage prostitution”. If they learn about someone being forced into the profession, or if there are pimps out there running a bunch of girls they will take action – but the vast majority of prostitution or “pay for play” action in our area stems from independent adult women advertising on Backpage and offering “full service” out of a motel room as they pass through town. There was one massage place in town that was offering a ‘rub and tug’ a few years back and they were shut down shortly after it was reported.
My original point is, if someone is going to make wild accusations about city-sponsored prostitution rings, they better have some evidence. It is hard to take things seriously when someone can just invent an accusation and nobody challenges them on it.
As to Rove, I’m not a fan. I will even agree with your label of “slimeball”, but I’ve yet to see any evidence that he had anything to do with pulling buses in order to essentially kill people. Even after asking for a source nobody has provided one that supports the theory that they pulled out buses merely because the people in that area were black or that they didn’t vote Republican. This is another example of people making claims (wild claims) that they cannot support.
Rove has done a lot of shady things in his day, but supporting genocide? Come on – to allow those accusations to go unchecked is one example of why blogs like this aren’t going to replace true investigative journalism anytime soon. No offense DL – I love what you do here, but when conspiracy theorists start taking over the general public quickly tunes out.
Craig says…
…when conspiracy theorists start taking over the general public quickly tunes out.
I agree.
Historians are often considered conspiracy theorists because there job is to put the event facts of the past in the proper order with annotations. Even after all the facts are in we fight them because our beliefs get shaken and we are then put in the position of forming new boundaries to reality.
Karl Rove is one of the political players of the past 40 years who has had no qualms using a person’s strife or pain to his advantage.
Here is one of many;
http://www.salon.com/2008/06/06/rove_katrina/
l3wis, simply typing “Rove Buses New Orleans” into Google and sending the first link doesn’t quite work. I’ve already read that story and it says nothing about Rove (or Bush for that matter) pulling buses so people would die.
If you actually bother to read it, the core message of that article is about how the Bush administration was looking to shift the blame for the failures in NOLA to anyone not affiliated with the administration.
There are accusations that FEMA promised buses that never arrived, but aside from the accusations, there is zero evidence these buses ever existed outside of someone’s mind, and the article doesn’t even suggest that someone cancelled these buses or diverted them. The reality is they never existed.
Don’t get me wrong, I fully understand the Bush administration botched the job in NOLA. That isn’t even in dispute as far as I’m concerned. They screwed up, they dropped the ball, they weren’t paying attention, and when they finally realized what was going on, they tried to blame everyone else other than themselves for their failures.
Rove had a hand in the blame game no doubt, and he should accept responsibility just like the rest of them, but the man never directed buses away from NOLA due to the color of someone’s skin or due to how they voted in the last election. Nothing in this article even makes such a claim, thus I don’t see the relevance.
Are you starting to see why it is difficult to take these conspiracy theories seriously when the very people making the claims are unable to support them with evidence?
Craig, apparently you are one of the supporters / deniers who will never open your mind to what happened. Do some (even minimal) research and the connections open up. Deep congressional or independent hearings never happened due to the power structure of this country. I am such a believer in this country and am always appalled by the abusers of the system for their personal / professional gain.
Read the Rove story of system abuses.
Sorry Testor, but I’m not a Rove supporter. I have an open mind but I am only open to fact and not fiction. I find it interesting people will make claims about government sponsored genocide, but when pressed for evidence they come up empty handed and start with the deflection.
That tells us there isn’t anything to it and people are letting their hatred for a political party or admin to cloud their judgement.
“I find it interesting people will make claims about government sponsored genocide”
That just it, the government didn’t sponsor anything, in fact they chose to do NOTHING!
This past week an article was published discussing Democrats Anne Indie’s willingness to not confront issues and people. GOP are ready to pounce in lockstep for their people and causes. Dems and Indies will give the benefit of doubt rather than see all the bad MSN can do against fellow man.
Damn phone: MSN = man