As for me, when I think of what our
\ngovernment could have done for the Katrina-affected areas of this country, and
\nthe thousands of dead and wounded Americans in Iraq, my mind turns to Hamlet. \"Foul
\ndeeds will rise, Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.\" <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nThis week marks the one year anniversary of Katrina's landfall at New
\nOrleans.\u00a0 One of my friends and his
\nfamily, along with thousands of others, lost everything they had when the levees
\nbroke.\u00a0 A year ago the President flew over
\nNew Orleans on his way to Crawford and looked out the window of Air Force One
\nand saw the damage that was done to these lives.\u00a0 Nevertheless, he refused to cut his 5-week
\nvacation short until a staffer showed him a DVD of the news coverage.\u00a0 Only then did he take action, visiting the
\nscene and telling the head of FEMA that he was \"doin' a heck of a job.\" \u00a0Bush just could not face the truth that his
\ngovernment's inept action had made things worse. This week, Bush again visited
\nNew Orleans and he still can not face the truth.\u00a0 When asked if Americans had sacrificed
\nenough, he said that \"Americans are sacrificing-we pay a lot of taxes.\"\u00a0 He gave lip-service to rebuilding the area,
\nbut offered no new money.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nMaureen Dowd, commenting on the Katrina anniversary and the U.S. war in
\nIraq, offered an interesting observation about the President's summer reading.
\nNoting that Bush has recently read Hamlet, she wrote, \" What could be more
\nfitting?\u00a0 A prince who dithers instead of
\nacting and then acts precipitously at the wrong moment, not paying attention
\nwhen someone vulnerable drowns.\"\u00a0 As
\nShakespeare wrote, \"the plays the thing in which we catch the conscience
\nof the king.\"\u00a0 Bush must know that
\nhe has made terrific blunders, but unlike Hamlet, who was basically honest
\nabout his failings, Bush refuses to look them square in the eye.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nThis lack of truthfulness is a pattern with the Bush
\nadministration.\u00a0 One need only think of
\nColin Powell's visit to the UN, the fact that the Abu Ghraib atrocities were
\nkept under wraps for months before the story broke, or the administration's
\ninsistence that things are going well in Iraq to see that they not only try to
\nspin the story, but they actually lie about it.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
Maybe instead of
\nreading Hamlet,\u00a0 the President should
\nread some liberal theology.\u00a0 How about
\nsome Moltmann or at least some Neibuhr, Mr. President?\u00a0 Perhaps these thinkers could teach you about
\nthe suffering God, the need for social justice, or the power of truth telling?\u00a0 As for me, when I think of what our
\ngovernment could have done for the Katrina-affected areas of this country, and
\nthe thousands of dead and wounded Americans in Iraq, my mind turns to Hamlet. \"Foul
\ndeeds will rise, Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.\"
\nHamlet, 1. 2<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As for me, when I think of what our government could have done for the Katrina-affected areas of this country, and the thousands of dead and wounded Americans in Iraq, my mind turns to Hamlet. “Foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c17-featured-writers"],"yoast_head":"\n