Hooray for the president, protector of wide-screen TVs!

The City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan is an important emergency blueprint. It clearly states: “Authority to issue evacuations of elements of the population is vested in the mayor.” Perhaps, I should send a copy to Michael Moore.

The emergency management plan is not vague. Thus we can read that: “The person responsible for recognition of hurricane-related preparation needs and for issuance of evacuation is the Mayor of the City of New Orleans.” Is that clear enough?

Now, I could be wrong but I thought George W. Bush was the President of the United States. He isn’t the Mayor of New Orleans. Nor is he a cross-dressing hula-hoopist for that matter. Therefore, our media sleuths should be questioning the M.A.Y.O.R!

Soon after the hurricane hit The New York Times (September 1, 2005) pontificated about George W. Bush and how he allegedly, “gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday”. Then again, the chattering classes love to besmirch Republicans. People were drowning. Meanwhile, nerdy liberals were marking speeches!

So what’s happening here? To begin with, snobbish media-ideologues dislike the president’s southern accent. The New York Times, on the other hand, has given dictators full marks for their speeches, Stalin being an old favourite. Some northerners are snobs. They’d flatter a tyrant and spit on their own president for sport.

Thanks to Channel 9’s Sunday program (September 4, 2005), Australians received a good dose of anti-Bush-propaganda too. Case in point: Helen Dalley sniffed about “arrogant Washington”. And who better to hold “arrogant Washington” accountable than Australia’s godly, virtuous and upright media ideologues? Tehran was delighted.

It would be wrong to single out Dalley as the only media-ideologue. Last week, Robert Penfold also sniffed on 60 Minutes. “I am angry because I keep going in there and I keep seeing these people there. It seems ridiculous that reporters have to be the rescue teams,” he moaned.

There are many complex reasons that prevented Bush from running straight into Hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately, Robert Penfold didn’t seem interested in any of them. To my knowledge, Federal law forbids the president sending in the National Guard until he receives orders from the states’ governors. Now there’s a great dinner conversation.

Channel 9’s self-congratulatory pro-media narrative went too far. On Sunday morning, for instance, the station announced that Penfold was rescuing people. Around lunchtime we were, yet again, reminded that Penfold was rescuing people! Even through the wee hours of the night, brainwashed viewers were reminded, for the 100th time, that Penfold was rescuing people!

So what was the biggest media scoop of the week? Well, just in case you haven’t heard, Penfold was rescuing people! Or at least he was “rescuing” white Australians.

The creative stories emanating from the Deep South are replete with examples of anti-Bush social welfare explanations. Also, media organs were painting blacks as powerless “refugees.” Yet, when African-Americans from New Orleans arrived in shelters across Mississippi, they were, to put it mildly, furious with the reporters.

Are Channel 9 journalists above reproach? Penfold also bitched about the “over-hyped soldiers” when they arrived. And when they ran late due to circumstances beyond their control, he bitched about that too. It was nauseating. I nearly threw a brick through my TV. “Shame on you,” I thought. “Hooray for the real rescuers!”