President Bush does it again

I sat home last night & watched President Bush address the nation from New Orleans. My first thought was: Dammit, why does he do this?!

He persists in making plans which are both uplifting and frightening. Yes, we need to rebuilt the Gulf Coast line of cities, especially NO. Yes, we will be happy to pitch in what we must, in order to build those new, modern cities where the old ones fell. But WHERE IN ALL THAT IS HOLY will we get the money, with all the pork that Congress and the rest of us keep demanding be paid for? Will Davenport, IA, be willing to sacrifice the continued renovation of its Adler Theater so that New Orleans can build a few houses for its poor? Will Springfield stop spending on Chicago's amusements, so that Biloxi can have a modern, safe school? I sincerely doubt it.

The trouble is, this is what should happen. We make little cutbacks, so that we can repair a diseased tissue, so to speak. If every state allowed some of its pork to be trimmed away, it would take no time at all to see some new cities by the shore, and, since these are port cities, transportation and trade would open up more swiftly, and possibly more securely. That would benefit the rest of us, especially up here in the Mississippi Valley region.

Another plus to sacrificing pork for ports is, with new, modern cities to our south, we could see more work developing, and that would mean more people contributing sooner to the tax rolls... hmm... maybe even I could find a little disposable income, if that happened. Certainly, it could help the rest of my family, in both long and short runs.

Rebuilding what amounts to an entire state, geographically, is a big, scary task. I hope the Prez knows what he's getting into with his proposals. I hope the [expletive deleted]s in Congress don't turn it into another free-for-all, and screw the rest of us over. I hope the programs are better policed than the usual Federal programs. And, I hope the folks down there spend more wisely than do the jackasses they've elected. I'm not hoping for too much, am I?


On a related note, whoever was reporting for ABC last night, from one of the shelters, asked the silliest (and most predictable MSM) question of a handful of NO evacuees, and got an answer from one woman that I don't think he wanted to hear.
The question (from memory, so it may be an inexact quote): "Are you angry with the Pesident and his administration, for how long it took to get help to you?"
The answer: "No, [this first sentence I had no trouble recalling precisely. -r] no, no, no, no, no, no, LORD, no! I think the President did a FINE job. I think the city and the state government have a lot to answer for."

The public seems to have better understanding that the ones who purport to inform them.

Update: Political Teen has the video for this interview. Download & enjoy! It's more accurate and more telling of MSM bias than my memory let on...
(H/T: Lorie Byrd at PoliPundit.)