...that Ted Rall is a thoroughly contemptible, detestable person. That's the definition I got when I typed the word I was thinking into dictionary.com.
It's a classic liberal rant about how the U.S. government should care for, feed, educate, house, provide medicine, retirement benefits, etc. to everyone who inhabits the United States.
Does he really think that private charities are for suckers? That the Red Cross is less efficient and effective at helping the displaced than FEMA, Gov. Blanco and her state resources, of Mayor Ray Nagin and the public work force of New Orleans? Of course he does! But he argues that because of those nasty republicans, the govt is under funded, under staffed and in some cases, literally, underwater.
Bottom line for the lefties in the Ted Rall Club: If it's not paid for with tax dollars and executed by a bumbling bureacracy, it's not done right.
Thanks for another classic, Ted. You can think of all the great things that happen with your federal, state and local taxes. And maybe you can feel a little guilt when you claim more than one tax deduction - "Am I doing enough to help??? The government can do so much with what comes out of my paycheck!"
I can think about the wonderful things that charities do with great people, great resources, and the generosity of people who actually care. And we aren't suckers.
The guy is thoroughly warped. If anything the government response just illustrates how HORRENDOUS the government is at social welfare and how excellent private individuals, churches, charities, and businesses are in providing said social welfare when called upon to do so.
And let's face it, even if government could feed, clothe, and medicate efficiently all the hurricane victims, it cannot provide them the love and support and emotional network that churches and private individuals have offered by the opening of homes. A government shelter is not a home, and little children and the elderly especially are better served by being taken in by a family putting up homeless hurricane evacuees than them bunking in a shelter.
Ironic: the one part of the federal government that Rall loathes -- the military -- was the most effective instrument in getting large-scale relief to where it was needed.