Let Them Eat Cake

You can be on the right side of history or the wrong side of history. Or you can, when a disaster of the magnitude of the Haitian earthquake occurs, shut up, and text "Haiti" to 90999 on your cell phone.

Rush Limbaugh pretends to be a populist, a man of the people. Pat Robertson pretends to be a man of God. Both are nouveau aristocrats.

Limbaugh claims President Obama is using the relief effort to gain points ("burnish their, shall we say, credibility") with the African American community. "It's made to order for him." With the exception of Michael Steele and Armstrong Williams, didn't the African American community vote for Obama?

He suggests that because Obama has directed people to the White House's web site, maybe your money might not be going to Haiti, and your name might end up on a mailing list. So on the one hand, Obama is sending masses of military might to actually help Haiti, but on the other hand, he is secretly squirreling away donations from kind and distressed Americans (somehow - not clear how, as the money goes to the Red Cross) for - ?

Limbaugh's most obscene, astonishing comment is "Besides, we've already donated to Haiti. It's called the U.S. income tax." Limbaugh talks disparagingly about the liberal elite, but this is where he betrays himself as the true nouveau aristocrat - rich elitist, jingoistic, cruel. Give him powder and a wig. Tumbrils, anyone?

As for Pat Robertson, he claims the Haitians made a deal with the Devil, (who said OK) to get out from "under the heel of the French", "uh you know Napoleon the third and whatever". He goes on to say "the Haitians revolted and got themselves free." Hello. If the Haitians revolted and got themselves free, then ipso facto - and I'm going by what Robertson says - then they did not need the Devil. Apart from the idiocy of this, it is ignorant (see Juan Cole's piece in Informed Comment), but all of a piece with his disgusting perversion of religion.

Robertson blamed September 11 on the United States: "because God Almighty is lifting His protection from us", and among other things, because the Supreme Court had insulted God. As for Katrina, it was a good thing for John Roberts who was coming up for confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court. It might intimidate Democratic senators into not asking questions about abortion and other conservative issues.

A nouveau aristocrat, Robertson has had no problem in the past aligning himself with human rights violators Charles Taylor of Liberia or Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire. Gold and diamonds shimmered in the shadows.

Stay tuned for Limbaugh's next inevitable aristocratic swill. Because there is only one airstrip at Haiti's airport, because the roads in many places are almost impassable, and because civil authority has virtually collapsed, Limbaugh will attack the Obama administration's
aggressive, and so far well coordinated response as incompetent, ineffective and a rip off of your good will.

God only knows what Robertson will say.

Red Cross: Not ready for nature’s potential

At a congressional briefing, Red Cross Disaster Services Senior Vice President Joe Becker said that, in the event of the worst potential disaster, the Red Cross would not be fully prepared. He said that the Red Cross is completely prepared to handle the kind of disasters experts have predicted, even one that is worse than hurricane Katrina. He said that the Red Cross is currently dealing with at least 15 crises all over the country. He said the Red Cross has the potential to deliver up to four thousand volunteers per day depending on the severity of the disaster and the need for intervention.

Becker said that the hurricane season lasts from June to November and there is a 70 percent chance that at least a category three hurricane will hit the east coast sometime this year. He said that currently the Red Cross has the ability to serve one million meals per day for as many days as is necessary. Becker said that the red cross has over 49,000 buildings it can use as shelters during a disaster, and these buildings can hold up to 5.3 million people.

One of the major problems, Becker said, was a failing IT system used during hurricane Katrina. He said that the new IT system currently in place can hold up to ten million cases and there only 2.3 million in the database at this time. He also said that only eight to ten percent of Americans have taken the necessary precautions against severe weather.