Stern: "Somalia in America's South"

(By Ray D.)

What’s a depressed German Big-Government Socialist to do? Gerhard Schroeder and Joschka Fischer will soon be sent packing by voters after seven years of economic bumbling and unfulfilled promises. The Conservative CDU is set to assume the Chancellery and the lions-share of the power. The German left continues to squabble as it splits into ever more radical splinter groups. So where does the misery end…?

Stern: Socialist "Solidarity" Would Have Stemmed the Katrina Tragedy

Well, if you are like Stern magazine editor-in-chief Andreas Petzold, you can always fall back on a time-tested remedy for Socialist sadness: You can look down your nose at the United States and remind yourself how awful things must be in the land of brutal, Darwinian capitalism. You can also forget about your own nation's mass unemployment and stagnant economy by politicizing the suffering of others. And that is exactly what Petzold decided to do in his most recent front-page editorial, named “Somalia in America’s South.”

"We Show What Bush Didn't Want to See." (A full-page ad Stern is running in German newspapers to promote the magazine's current edition on Hurricane Katrina.) 

And this will surprise you: Petzold blames the lack of a large, socialized government in America for the tragic aftermath of Katrina. He also blames privatization, class differences, poverty and gun ownership for turning the American South into what he describes as another "Somalia". Of course, the mandatory George W. Bush is under lots of “pressure” line is included too. Here now is a translaton of the editorial's opening paragraphs exclusively for our readers:

"Editorial: Somalia in America's South (by Andreas Petzold)

Dear stern-readers!

Hurricane "Katrina" has also devastated the civil society of the proud US-American democracy. Seemingly paralyzed for days, Americans followed how anarchy spread unchecked in New Orleans for days on end.

As in Somalia, armed gangs in pick-ups patrolled through the streets, as a police officer reported to a CNN reporter. Americans were painfully reminded what happens when the state acts too carelessly with its (monopoly on) authority and allows every citizen virtually unrestricted ownership of weapons.

At the same time, American citizens died because the most agile military power in the world was unable to quickly supply the victims of the storm with drinking water and nourishment. The tragedy seems like a perversion of the American societal philosophy that every man must be responsible for himself. The wealthy, predominantly white, got out, the rest were stuck.

Live on every channel was to be seen how fatal it can be when the government first takes responsibility for the lives of citizens in an emergency. A slender state that places its trust in privatization instead of governmental foresight is clearly not capable of enforcing the rights of the survivors to human dignity and freedom from violence in such situations." (emphasis ours)

One has to wonder when people will grow tired of the political exploitation of the tragic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by Andreas Petzold and other media vultures. Mr. Petzold’s profound ignorance and bias on the United States is surpassed only by his slavish dedication to ideology and burning desire to see George W. Bush destroyed. When will the German people finally begin to reject these pathetic, condescending, politically slanted rants? When will something other than this tired, stupid, ugly drivel penetrate the walls of the German media's echo chamber when it comes to reporting on the United States and Bush?

Note: Gerhard Schroeder seems to be of a like mind when it comes to Katrina...

Remember that heat wave?: Here's a good question: Where was the strong, organized central state and the caring, generous European social model while this was happening? Perhaps Mr. Petzold and Chancellor Schroeder could explain that before we talk any further about the implications of Katrina...

Update: And here is yet another article from "Die Zeit" online that echoes the identical theme...a big, socialized government would have reduced the tragic impact of Katrina. This is becoming a unifying battlecry for Germany's left as they march to election defeat at home. And the paper is currently running the following image on the top left corner of its site:

Die Zeit: Brain-dead Bush-bashing propaganda as "fair, balanced and objective" journalism

Update #2: Politically Incorrect has a good post on this topic as well. Stefan points out that Stern is also running its ads for this week's edition on television with the slogan: "We Show What Bush Didn't Want to See."

(Hattip: Rolf for newspaper scan)

Update #3: EU Rota looks at the economic performance of Germany's Big Government supporters...

Update #4: Stern has a new article out on "Hero" Ray Nagin entitled, "Mayor Ray Nagin: Hero in Flooded-Out Hell Hole." How much do you want to bet Stern would have a different view of Nagin if he were a Republican and Bush ally? Stern's view of Nagin has nothing to do with reality and everything to do with political ideology.

Comments

[LouMinatti]

I've been thinking about this. One of the differences between Europe and America is that while both sides of the pond engaged in the horrific practice of slavery, America was stuck with cleaning up the mess and Europe cut and ran. For example, Haiti and most of the Caribbean. For example, Brazil. For example, Mexico. Europeans LOVED the slave trade and profited handsomely. When it became too odious, they cut and ran. Leaving us to clean up their mess.

Then there's Africa. Europe pretty much raped Africa to death over the past 150 years. When I look at a map of colonial Africa, I see a sea of European-"owned" countries. Like in the Americas, Europe cut and ran. Africa is now a basket case thanks to Europe, and all Europe can do is demand more money from America to solve the problem.

Excuse my French, but I merde on Europe's opinions when it comes to racial issues. Once Europe cleans up the messes they have made around the world, THEN they can criticize us.

[Don Miguel]

Lou,

I grew up in New Orleans and surrounding areas. I've lived in the U.S. south (including the time of segregation), northeast and west. I lived for five years in Europe and have traveled extensively in South and Central America. Outside of a few KKK types that I have had the misfortune to come in contact with, I've never run into to so many blatant racists as I did in Europe. Some try to hide it and some pretend that they aren't (like certain types of northern liberals), but when you know its manifestations, you can't miss seeing it.

And is Ray right! Petzold is profoundly ignorant and biased of the US.

[joe]

When you are a nation in decline, you have to grab at anything which can make you feel better or superior even the misfortune of others.

We will see more and more of this coming from our so called ally in the future.

[Anondson]

"As in Somalia, armed gangs in pick-ups patrolled through the streets, as a police officer reported to a CNN reporter"

Obviously the writer hasn't spoken to Kanye, Al Sharpton, Harry Connick Jr., etc, because those weren't armed gangs... those were starving scavengers just looking for food.

...

And then this next excerpt is B.S. that can only have come from the fevered brain of an ill-informed twit who doesn't know and doesn't care to since it fits his comfortable bigotry, or he knows better but also knows that his German readers don't know enough and he is content to keep this lie going.

"...allows every citizen virtually unrestricted ownership of weapons."

B and in "B", S as in "S". Total B. S. Here in Minnesota the process is far from virtually unrestricted, FBI background checks, mandatory classes, waiting periods. Severe restrictions on when the gun can be even revealed, or even in defense. Caught showing your gun off and you aren't on your property and prepare to have your license to own handguns removed. And if you are an ex-Con, forget ever getting a gun (legally). If you are a convicted child- or woman batterer, you'll never get a gun (legally). Operating on pretty outdated misconceptions... Illinois, New York City, and Washington D.C. surely aren't "unrestricted".

But OH! wait, he used the weasal word "virtually" so he gets a handwave on this afterall...

To this author the whole U.S. is a mythical Texas with regard to guns. Not that that would be a bad thing! ;)

[David J.]

Herr Petzold wrote:
"Americans were painfully reminded what happens when the state acts too carelessly with its (monopoly on) authority and allows every citizen virtually unrestricted ownership of weapons."

Gun ownership may have reduced violence in the disaster area. It would be interesting to see if a connection can be established between violence and the lack of firearms among the law-abiding citizens.

I wonder what would happen here in Germany if the police force collapsed and the unarmed citizens were at the mercy of our well-armed criminals.

[Vic]

One measure for the performance of a CEO is to look at who he/she puts in executive positions. We now know that President Bush put incompetent party hacks into leadership positions at FEMA. This is from USA Today:

"But a deeper review of the agency's history, the records of its top managers and internal memoranda reveal far deeper problems than a momentary burst of poor decisions. Over the past four years, the Bush administration has replaced competent leaders with people long on political connections but short on disaster management expertise."

FEMA Director Michael Brown spent the last ten years judging horse events, and was fired from that job for incompetence. Today the wire services report that Brown waited until hours after Katrina struck before he asked for Homeland Security to send 1,000 employees to the region and gave them two days to arrive.
link:http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/12577543.htm

President Bush on national TV last week (while thousands were dying):"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

You just can't make this stuff up.

[Scott_H]

An excellent "on topic" post at Froggy Ruminations:

http://froggyruminations.blogspot.com/2005/09/reliancedependence.html

"Everybody in this world has to rely on something or someone in order to survive. The choice that each of us makes when deciding who or what we do put our trust in is an important one. In the Gulf Coast this decision has proven to mean the difference between life and death..."

"...I just hope that after this is all said and done, the lesson learned will be that when the chips are down don’t look for Uncle Sam, look in the mirror."

Read it all.

[americanbychoice]

@ VIc

I don" know whether you are a German or an ultra left American. But don't you ever research your comments before posting them? Is the need to be heard so strong that you post the most insane answers I for instance wouldn't expect from a child?
below is a short biography of the man you like to demonize along with our president. Apparently, Gov. Blanco is an angel even though she is the one who screwed up this entire mess?
I went through 3 hurricanes lasr year and FEMA was exemplary. Yhis time the locals (Blanco) srewed it up royally.

Under Secretary Brown has led Homeland Security’s response to more than 164 presidentially declared disasters and emergencies, including the 2003 Columbia Shuttle disaster and the California wildfires in 2003. In 2004, Mr. Brown led FEMA’s thousands of dedicated disaster workers during the most active hurricane season in over 100 years, as FEMA delivered aid more quickly and more efficiently than ever before.

Previously, Mr. Brown served as FEMA's Deputy Director and the agency's General Counsel. Shortly after the September 11th terrorist attacks, Mr. Brown served on the President's Consequence Management Principal's Committee, which acted as the White House's policy coordination group for the federal domestic response to the attacks. Later, the President asked him to head the Consequence Management Working Group to identify and resolve key issues regarding the federal response plan. In August 2002, President Bush appointed him to the Transition Planning Office for the new Department of Homeland Security, serving as the transition leader for the EP&R Division.

Prior to joining FEMA, Mr. Brown practiced law in Colorado and Oklahoma, where he served as a bar examiner on ethics and professional responsibility for the Oklahoma Supreme Court and as a hearing examiner for the Colorado Supreme Court. He had been appointed as a special prosecutor in police disciplinary matters. While attending law school he was appointed by the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee of the Oklahoma Legislature as the Finance Committee Staff Director, where he oversaw state fiscal issues. His background in state and local government also includes serving as an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight and as a city councilman.

Mr. Brown was also an adjunct professor of law for the Oklahoma City University.

[Vic]

Call me German or Ulta-left if you choose, but evidently, 58% of Americans agree with me, according to the CBS poll released this morning:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/08/opinion/polls/main824591.shtml

BUSH'S HANDLING OF RESPONSE TO KATRINA

Now
Approve
38%
Disapprove
58%
Don't Know
4%

[americanbychoice]

@Vic
You are truly amazing. In your quest to blame President Bush fo everything imaginable you point to polls, Is that all you can do? You don't even post all polls ( there are many), just the one where Bush looks worse.
You are just like the German news media, they report the worst and even when they are proven wrong don't distract, just stop reporting.
Here they are starting to look into the wrong doing by local and State officials. Soon the truth will come out and you will be without ammunition. However, you will be too stupid to realize your leftist pessimism.

[joe]

An excellent source CBS. They have a history of being accurate when it comes to GWB and republicans in general.

Good job Vic.

[Scott_H]

Hmmm, CBS, CBS...why does that sound familiar?

Oh, yeah! Rathergate. That's right. Objective reporting at its finest.

I'd say CBS lost any claim to credibility they may have ever had.

Next?

Wanna try the NYTimes for $200?

[Cue Bickle]

@americanbychoice

Wow, you did a heck of a job reseaching Mr Brown's bio. It's so good Mr. Brown reused it unchanged on his own FEMA homepage. Congratulations, well done.

By the way, Bush's public praise "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job" was a kiss of death. That's the standard procedure for old cronies falling from grace.

[Scott_H]

@Vic:

I found this interesting bit of polling data:

"Respondents also disagreed widely on who is to blame for the problems in the city following the hurricane -- 13 percent said Bush, 18 percent said federal agencies, 25 percent blamed state or local officials and 38 percent said no one is to blame. And 63 percent said they do not believe anyone at federal agencies responsible for handling emergencies should be fired as a result."

Hmmm, twice as many people feel state and local officials are to blame as feel Bush is at fault. Wow. That's surprising, because, you know, *everything* is Bush's fault.

Wait a minute. What's this other thing at 38%? Mother Nature? Is she some heartless Republican, too?

Of course, this poll was probably taken by some extreme right-wing neocon organization.

Let's see...

Oh, it's a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. Imagine that.

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/07/katrina.poll/index.html

[joe]

Scott H,

Would you please stop picking on Vic.

Thank you,

[James W.]

Americans were painfully reminded what happens when the state acts too carelessly with its (monopoly on) authority and allows every citizen virtually unrestricted ownership of weapons.

This statement makes absolutely no sense. So what does this idiot want? First of all, it's already been pointed out that gun ownership is NOT unrestricted. But let's take this in the context it was written. If Americans had unrestricted rights to own weapons, it would be because of the will of the American people. If the state prohibited this right against their will, THAT would be a monopoly on authority. Or, am I somehow missing the point here?

At the same time, American citizens died because the most agile military power in the world was unable to quickly supply the victims of the storm with drinking water and nourishment.

Well, as it turns out, the Red Cross had aid ready to go to the Super Dome. However, the LA Homeland Security (not part of the federal agency) on orders from the governors office did not allow them to! That's correct. Their excuse was that it would make the stadium a magnet for more refugees.

BTW, which organization evacuated 20,000 people in one day? I do believe it was the military.

Live on every channel was to be seen how fatal it can be when the government first takes responsibility for the lives of citizens in an emergency. A slender state that places its trust in privatization instead of governmental foresight is clearly not capable of enforcing the rights of the survivors to human dignity and freedom from violence in such situations."

This gets more ridiculous as you read along! It was the government of LA that screwed everything up in the first place. What's this nuts answer to the problem? More government control I suppose.

The governor of New Mexico came out and said not to blame Bush. The blame is all the red tape.

@Vic
A CNN USA Today poll said only 13% of the people believe Bush is mostly to blame for the chaos. Considering the media onslaught over the last week and the fact that there are certain percentage of leftist whackos that would find fault in anything that Bush does, this result is well...surprising.

@americanbychoice

Wow, you did a heck of a job reseaching Mr Brown's bio. It's so good Mr. Brown reused it unchanged on his own FEMA homepage. Congratulations, well done.

@NotForSale
Actually, I think this reflects negatively on Vic. It shows that he did absolutely no research. Americanbychoice proved how easy it was.

[James W.]

Ooops. Scott H beat me to the CNN poll. That's ok. Yours is more complete.

[George M]

GENOSSEN!

Both Komrad Tritten and the Komrads at the Spiegel are wrong! Neither George Bush nor Kyoto caused the catastrophe in the Gulf. It was decadence caused by capitalism.

This catastrophe was foretold 70 years ago in Berthold Brechts’ and Kurt Weil’s socialist masterpiece: Mahogany.

For those of you that are uneducated Americans or under 30, Brecht and Weil were prolific German socialist artist in Weimar Germany. Brecht was a playwright, Weil was a composer. They became the Rogers and Hammerstein of the socialist world. There best known work was the Three Penny Opera. The play’s theme song, Mack the Knife, was recorded in English by Bobby Darren in the 50s and has become a well known jazz standard.

Mahogany was a less successful play. It depicts the citizenry of a fictional Gulf Coast town, located in Alabama. When the citizenry hear that a fierce hurricane is approaching, they hit the bars and party. Predictably, the storm hits while they are partying and takes down the whole town.

Brecht, who later founded the Staats Theater in East Berlin, allegedly wrote the play’s theme song with an English dictionary and no knowledge of English grammar. The play’s tittle song, Show me the way to the next whiskey bar, was recorded by Jim Morrison and the Doors during the early seventies. (What an honor for Komrad Morrison, he died an early age and is buried in Paris...what a fitting ending!)

Yes, our brave and wise socialist artists predicted the fall of the Gulf coast 70 years before Minister Tritten linked Hurricane Katrina with global warming. God Bless our socialist fatherland!

[George M]

Show me the way to the next whiskey bar, also known as the Alabama song:

http://www.lyricsdepot.com/the-doors/alabama-song-whiskey-bar.html

Enjoy!

[Pamela]

joe,

Please stop picking on Scott H. It's the best entertainment I've had all week. ((((Scott H))))

Don Miguel: For half a day I played hostess to a young man from the Netherlands who I had not met before. Very nice guy. He observed a hug between my neighbor, a black male, and me, a white female. Talk about nonplussed! He literally scratched his head and said "I guess race relations here have improved alot in recent years".

Very nice. And very clueless.

[Sock Puppet of Doom]

I am, pretty sure "Vic" is part of a well organized progrom of left by center groups to "get Bush." That they must get the evil BushChimpHitler has been their mantra since he WON his first presidental evection. Visit moveon.org and Kos. They as spun out of control.

"The evil right wing must be taken to the wall and shot" is their world view. This is pure BDS on Vic's part. Most of Vic's post are off topic. This is about the German presses views and anti-US philosophy not about some poster's BDS.

Ignore him and he will go away you will not change his world view.

You can't help people when all you do is look for someone to assign blame to. Their is plenty of blame to go around but it's apperent that most of the blame starts in Now Orleans then passes to the Government of Louisiana and then on to the Federal government. The Government of Louisiana still seems to be the biggest obstacle and problem in this huge and horrific disaster. In case no one noticed it sucks to be poor any where but most poor people in the US have cable TV. If I was poor I sure would rather live here than in Somilia or Germany even.

[joe]

Pamela,

OK - just for you.

But I do think it is a bit unfair for someone like Scott to pick on the handicapped. Vic surely fits this group.

SPOD,

I was wondering if someone was going to make this observation about Vic. His previous posts have all been along this same vain. I for one think he is an aspiring elite of some fashion.

[LC Mamapajamas]

@Sock: Very true. In fact, it has come out that the Mayor of New Orleans had done an evacuation plan that was to be released on DVD in a few weeks. This is a black man who has lived in New Orleans all his life, and knows the condition of the local poor. And he assumes that even if they don't own cars, they all have DVD players.

Interesting.

And I agree that the time to assign blame is LATER. Right now, things are finally getting done... thanks to our demonized military!... and the people working on the job need to work on it instead of answering stupid questions from reporters.

[Tom Penn]

Forgive me for the bandwidth I'm about to consume, but I have to get this off of my chest. The thinking throughout this piece has no relationship to reality.

"Americans were painfully reminded what happens when the state acts too carelessly with its (monopoly on) authority"

I don't know how accurate the translation is with the phrase "(monopoly on) authority", but the American government is specifically designed so that the "state" has no such monopoly. Each citizen has freedom, and therefore primary authority/responsibility for his own life. How can the "state" have a monopoly on authority AND a free citizenry? Stupid concept, isn't it?

"how fatal it can be when the government first takes responsibility for the lives of citizens in an emergency"

The American government is not responsible for my life. Ever. Responsibility for my life belongs to me, and God help the government that ever tries to take that away.

"A slender state that places its trust in privatization instead of governmental foresight is clearly not capable of enforcing the rights of the survivors to human dignity and freedom from violence in such situations"

Americans are responsible for our own "human dignity" and "freedom from violence". What government could be responsible for such things? I don't want a "big brother" nanny Nazi state.

What exactly are the socialits proposing here? A government mandate of the insertion of a GPS tag in every citizen so in the event of an "emergency" it can figure out where all the stragglers are and can therefore be charged with showing up in boats with milk and crumpets for survivors the morning after a monumental natural disaster? "Governmental foresight"? How bout "individual foresight"? Very few Americans living within their means can't afford to lay aside $50 for emergency gas or a bus ticket.

I truly marvel at the way socialist asshats think about responsiblity and authority. The "state" is not a God, and can never be one. The state told the citizenry to get the hell out of the area. I'd bet at least 85% of the people that stayed in mandatory evacuation zones did so of their own FREE choice. Of the % that truly could not afford to evacuate on their own, where were their families, friends, and neighbors? I guarandamntee you if one of my family members or friends was destitute, helpless and at risk, I would have driven down there and evacuated them my damn self or at least wired them money for a bus/plane ticket car rental, etc. Like the 15,000 elderly who died from heat exhaustion in France last summer, I blame the families, friends, neighbors, and communities. Not the French government.

Socialists like to preach the "state as God" myth, but deny the reality that roofs were blown off houses and trees were downed over roads as far north as Tennessee. The massive storm didn't hit Tennessee until a couple of days after the Gulf Coast. No one could even drive south to get to the most devastated victims the day after. The storm was still moving, and creating devastation in it's wake. Towns and cities were severly damaged from just west of Pensacola, FL through Mobile Alabama virtually to Texas. There must be some understanding of how deep and wide the damage was, and how much time it took for the storm to move through. It is so true, as this blog has pointed out, that Europeans have no comprehension of the scope. I don't even think most Americans can fathom it.

Interesting that even in leftist circles, the religion of "state as God" applies specifically and exclusively to only one man on this planet. BULLSHIT.

The real story of Katrina is that tens of thousands of ordinary Americans showed up as soon as they could to risk their lives trying to save others, and millions of Americans across this country have opened their homes, schools, and communities to welcome and support the hundreds of thousands of refugees created by this disaster.

[LC Mamapajamas]

@Lou: "I've never run into to so many blatant racists as I did in Europe. Some try to hide it and some pretend that they aren't (like certain types of northern liberals), but when you know its manifestations, you can't miss seeing it."

I agree with this comment, too. Here in Tallahassee (Florida), mixed race couples are getting to be a downright common sight, and no one even notes their presence. The most racist people I've ever met were Russians.

I suspect one of the things Europeans don't understand is that even while the old Jim Crow laws were in effect, MOST Southerners did NOT care about race... we were as afraid of the KKK as any minority. I've lived all over the US, and Southerners are the people I've met who are, in fact, the most relaxed in the company of blacks.

[jane m]

I think that the French have a big socialist government and yet they stood by helplessly while 10,000 elderly died of heat exhaustion in the summer of 2003. The heat wave occurred during the French August holiday while the majority of French medical personelle were out of the country enjoying the beach or whatever. So if you have a big socialist government to be sure you will never suffer a national disaster unless it unluckily occurs during August.

[Querdenker]

It's not about big or small government.
It's about efficient government.

[Vic]

Reading assignment for today:

Time Magazine on FEMA Director Michael Brown's phoney resume - including his unaccredited law school.

Washington Post lead article on Bush gutted FEMA of all competent managers.

Oh, and check out the latest polls of Zogby, Gallup, Pew etc.

[Joe N.]

Vic - he oversaw a huge number of disaster relief operations, and the cleanup of the aftermath of 9-11.

Was THAT a failure? Move on to your next rhetorical hobby horse, Vic. I'm sure you think you have a world to save.

[Pamela]

jane m
>>and yet they stood by helplessly

See, that's just it. They were NOT helpless. They were heartless. Tell me how tough it is to get your fat ass off the beach in Monaco back to Paris when you hear reports your own grandmother is in the middle of a heatwave and no one is helping? And as I recall, that crook Chirac didn't even interrrupt his vacation - in the cool, comfortable climes of Canada, I believe.

No, they weren't helpless.

Tom Penn, that's an excellent post. But you see, personal responsibility leads to individualism which leads to entrepenurial adventures which leads to capitalism which leads to inequality. Or something like that. I think I have a headache.

[Jabba the Tutt]

@Vic: "...58% of Americans agree with me, according to the CBS poll released this morning:..."

Garbage in, garbage out. The American Media sees this as their (latest) big chance to GET Bush. The American Mainstream Media is just as biased, just as corrupt and just as misleading as the German media. And if the CBS poll is correct, it just shows how damaging the MSM can be with their misleading crap. But I see how happy you are Vic about the success of the lies. Which says alot about YOU Vic.

[joe]

Pamela,

You know this is going to turn into a huge plus for GWB. It will shape his second term just as 9 11 did his first term.

In the next month, the airwaves are going to be filled with positive stories about what the federal government is doing, what local governments are doing all over the nation to rebuild the coast.

This will be a huge boost to the feelings Americans have about themselves. It will be something very positive.

This will displace those like Vic who have nothing at all to offer. They just piss and moan about how bad things. So Vic and his crowd will wake up and wonder how did this happen to us again. It is simple they are nothing more than moonbats. They would all make excellent members of any German political party except the FDP.

[moonfarer]

Oh my Lord, It is hard to know where to start to refute the nasty glee of Germany's "Lumpenpress" when it does not even try to hide its white-hot hatred for our free country with some kind of rationalizing our President's "guilt".

As a born East Prussian, I was proud to be a German since I or my family had never taken part in crimes of the Third Reich. Moreover, I have defended my Fatherland in America against the unjust concept of "collective guilt" for all Germans at any public or social opportunity.

However, as the years wore on, I realized that the years since the war mainly served Germans to get back to the good life of prewar years. In their favor, it must also be mentioned that they served in many humanitarian and charitable causes and that they were, at first, a trusted ally of the U.S.

But as time marched on further, Germany turned its back on the 12 Million Expellees from Germany's East. Their plight for a return to their homeland was answered with "you are guilty of war crimes and have thus lost all rights to claim what is a natural right of any poeple on earth." The problem with this statement was and still is, that it is absolutely untrue and has no international judicial underpinning to substantiate such an outrageous claim.

The next thing I expected was that the increased leftwing German mood would turn against the U.S.
I should not have to wait long. When the U.S tried to balance the installment of medium distance rockets by the Soviets with some of their own in Europe, all hell broke lose in Germany.

This already unreasonable stance against the U.S. increased to a new crescendo when the U.S decided to remove the nastiest dictator in the Middle East from Iraq. Never mind that the lack of weapons of mass destruction had been explained as an intelligence failure by all western nations a thousand times. European newsmedia continued to ride this dead horse to blame our President of lying.

Now, finally the true nature of German criticism becomes apparent in all its ugliness. Not only in quotes of the German media of only political opposition forces in America but they openly wish for many Americans to die in this natural disaster at New Orleans.

This might be counted as only a small individual protest. However, after all of my above experiences with Germany, I will no longer call myself a German-American but a Prussian-American instead.

Moonfarer
USA

[Pamela]

joe
>>You know this is going to turn into a huge plus for GWB

joe. I love you. I adore you. I think you're absolutely brilliant.

And you're also out of your mind. I'm working with the agriculture industry here in the States trying to get help to farmers in damaged areas and let me tell you - somebody at FEMA needs to be taken out and shot. They've held all the fuel they can get their hands on and crops that need to be harvested asap might rot in the fields because farmers in some states will be out of fuel in about 5 days. Don't get me started. People have no clue how just this one damaged sector of the economy is going to ripple through their wallets. It is going to be enormous. And they are going to be really pissed.

What will protect - not enhance, but protect - Bush - is the vile nature of his enemies. And vile they are.

No. The good that will come of this is the renewed faith in our ability as individual Americans to effect change for the good. And to demand the gov't responsible to us (not FOR us) be effective and honest.

Moonfarer, awhile back there was another poster with the exact same experiences. Peter Haaes was his name, I believe. Boca Raton. You should look him up.

[Pamela]

And guess what - here we go - Michael Brown, the head of FEMA has just been removed from all duties involved with Katrina relief.

[americanbychoice]

@ Moonfarer
I feel the same way you do. Born and raised in germany, lived there as European manager for my company off and on for 16 years.
Instead of calling myself a hyphenated american I am rather proud of my screen name which is an extension of how I feel.
Pamela I live in florida, Have live in Tallahassee before as well. :)

[Pamela]

Thad Allen, Vice Admiral of the Coast Guard will be replacing Brown.

[joe]

Pamela,

Ok - let's wait and see. I am not sure what you are watching but I am starting to see more images of hope, of rebuilding, of people getting on with their lives. This is pushing out the who to blame as the burning question of the day. Of course, M$M, the left - is that redundant? will want to keep up the drumbeat they have gotten started but after awhile people will just tune them out. They already are starting too.

This is such a rerun of 9 11 that it is almost scary.

As to your comment about government, I agree with that. I surely agree with that if I were a citizen of NO or LA less so as being in GA. I have never considered the feds to be the first responders to anything other than an attack on our nation.

I personally look forward to a full and complete investigation of who failed to do what. When the final report is written it will lay bare the Left and their allies. This hopefully will be finished just in time for the next presidental election cycle. M$M will not be able to ignore the facts even as they try to spin them to protect the left.

As for the fuel, I think you will see this sorted out in time. Remember right now the effort is on trying to get a full picture of what needs to be done for the entire region and the impact it is having on the nation as a whole.

BTW the exective agent for DOD to work with FEMA as of late last night was going to be the AF. That is a bit of a surprise as most would have thought it would be Army as they have the most assests on the ground.

As for the head of FEMA being removed, I think that is the right answer. I think it is the right answer because this is not the only thing that is going to be happening over the next 12 months. He has an agency to run. He does not need to be doing hands on management stuff. Just as you do not see Rummy being the commander on the ground in Iraq.

What is a bit surprising is I would have thought it might be an Army 3 star, like the Chief of Engeering (DCSENG) from the Army staff to head this effort.

[joe]

Pamela,

OT

Here is a question for you. Read where a recent study about German attitudes show that more than 50% fear the future.

Of the people in the area effected by the hurricane, do you think that many people fear the future?

[Pamela]

joe
>>Of the people in the area effected by the hurricane, do you think that many people fear the future?

If your family is intact, no. But if you can't find your child or parent, etc., then the future is an abyss.

Niko

Two words. Huey Long.

[T_R]

Since we're on the subject of the Stern, has Medienkritik pointed this one out yet? It's from Stern online's special series on America's rise to become a superpower.

http://www.stern.de/politik/ausland/index.html?id=501298&nv=sb

The title of the series is:

Die Geschichte der USA

Noch nie hat eine Nation den Globus so dominiert wie die USA. Und dem Volk ist der Rest der Menschheit egal.

Great, huh?

[Don Miguel]

Let me add a couple of things to what Niko wrote:

The sentence "And unless you are wealthy enough to live in the perpetual party of the Vieux Carre, New Orleans is not a nice place to live" is not quite right. There are some nice areas of NO (inhabited by both blacks and whites), but those residents have one thing in common: they have a gun in their home because they can't depend on or trust the police.

New Orleans always was, is and probably always will be corrupt; patronage is the order of the day. Whether the political power structure is white or black, incompetence goes hand-in-hand with the corruption. NO Police Superintendent Eddie Compass, locally known as “dumb as a stump,” is such a fine example of the NO Police Department, that he and his security team had to “hightail it” out of the Superdome when recognized by some of the local thugs. Now that’s a glowing report on the competence of your police force!

And, since Pamela mentioned the infamous Huey Long, I might as well add that the state of Louisiana has a distinguished and thriving reputation in the fine arts of corruption. Only New Jersey has any possibility of claiming the throne of the most corrupt state in the union.

All of this adds up to a populace that, if able, evacuates and, if not, cries for federal government help. Because help ain’t going to come from the local government except in the form of a bag of cash or a job due to political or familial connections.

[disillusioned_german]

I'll keep it short (and I'm just guessing here but it's an educated guess) - if a disaster like Hurricane Katrina happened here in Germany and hundreds of thousands of people became homeless I don't believe Germans would be remotely as caring as Americans are. I have access to Fox News and if you watch all these people taking the time to care for those who had to evacuate New Orleans I can sense hope and that warms my heart. Germans are extremely ego-centric and that's not a good thing - there's not much to be proud of in this country, on the contrary. I'm ashamed to be German (again)

[Vic]

Pew Poll:"Bush's overall job approval rating has slipped to 40% and his disapproval rating has climbed to 52%, among the highest for his presidency. Uncharacteristically, the president's ratings have slipped the most among his core constituents Republicans and conservatives."

Heh: Most memorable quote from the last week:"Brownie, you're doin' a heck of a job." Where is he now?

[disillusioned_german]

No matter what you're saying, Vic (and I wouldn't exempt President Bush from criticism either) - most German journalists (and a large number of Germans) are socialist scum.

[disillusioned_german]

And as far as the Pew Poll is concerned: http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/112626775958799308/#184482

[joe]

For a much more accurate poll on what people think about the job performance of POTUS I might suggest the Rasmussen Report. Their poll released today shows an approval rating to be at 46%.

For those who might not be familiar with this report it is usually the best polling service available. It called the election correctly not only at the National level but also at the state levels during the last election cycle.

Of course, I for one am not sure just what the significance of any poll number might actually be to a second term President unlike say a chancellor or prime minister who is seeking reelection.

The left in the US might view this as some current opportunity or some possible future opportunity to gain or influence political power but at the end of the day it does come down to a question of who do you trust. There is no one on the democrat side that has a national presence that Americans trust more than the current POTUS.

For the Germans, I am even more confused as to why this would be of interest to them given they have their own current election to consider.

I guess for those like Vic it is just a year too late. Must really suck to have such bad timing in life. But then again Pew had Kerry beating Bush by 5 points as late as mid summer 2004.

[Bella]

Sometimes we loose sight of the truly funny.

Next to this so-called "editorial" Stern explains that it must raise the price of its magazine. Why, because they can't find enough companies to advertise in their illustrious magazine. I wonder why?

What is Petzold's main goal: Good Journalism or maybe just selling his so-called magazine. Does he believe that he can improve the bottom line with that which is a garanteed seller in Germany. Bash Bush. Bash America and feeling sorry for those poor mislead citizens who voted for Bush (twice).

Preiserhöung: Mit der heutigen Ausgabe erhöht sich der Preis des stern auf 2,80 Euro. Die schwache Anzeigenkonjunktur, Papierpreiserhöhungen und allgemeine Kostensteigerungen machen auch vor dem stern nicht Halt. Um die Qualität der Bilder und Texte aufrechtzuerhalten, müssen wir Sie - nach vier Jahren Preisstabilität - um 30 Cent mehr bitten. Im Abonnement kostet der stern 2,60 Euro.

[amiexpat]

@Niko..
I am with you..
the only poll I cared about took place last November..
and the Shrub won it..
luckily the Shrub doesnt treat the office as a 'how do you like me now' place like Mr Clinton did..

[LC Mamapajamas]

For the record, "Pew" is the best-named polling company in the US ;)

Their questions are always loaded to slant to the left. Including Mississippi into the question of how well the performance was shows this. The performance in Mississippi was exemplary.