AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT LOOK AT THE TRAGEDY OF KATRINA-- THE TANCREDO PERSPECTIVE

Most people would agree that the Bush Regime has botched the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina-- and botched it horribly. Even extreme right-wing loon, Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO), the KKK candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, remarked that "this whole fiasco has been a perfect storm of corruption and incompetence at all levels.” Unfortunately, Tancredo departs from the rest of the human race just after that.

According to today's Hill Tancredo is demanding that all spending on reviving New Orleans and the Gulf Coast be stopped once and for all. He said it's “'time the taxpayer gravy train left the New Orleans station' and urged an end to the federal aid to the region that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina two years ago. 'The amount of money that has been wasted on these so-called "recovery" efforts has been mind-boggling... Enough is enough.'"

One wonders if the good and decent citizens in the Denver suburbs will ever get that notion in their collective heads.

And don't think Tancredo is completely alone in his thinking about adandoning New Orleans. Many on the extreme fringes of the right, the kooks and loons who don't believe in the power of government to play a positive role in civilized society, all just over it (though, to be honest, I don't remeber this particular segment of the population ever beeing into it). Where most Americans see our neighbors and countrymen in need of help, they see moochers rejoicing in their own wrecked lives at the opportunity to live, albeit miserably and hopelessly, at the expense of others. This is, after all, the face of contemporary Republicanism: Larry Craig meets Grove Norquest:

Nobody is owed a living for the rest of his life because he had a bad break two years ago. Yet, we still have people affected by Katrina who have FEMA paying their rent. How sad and pathetic is it that these shiftless people are still leaching off their fellow citizens? Since when is being in the path of a hurricane supposed to give you a permanent "Get Out of Work Free" card?