Right-Wing Amendment Forces Katrina Victims To Find A Job Before Receiving Aid
Gulf Coast Hurricane Housing Recovery Act of 2007
This amendment is cruel, it is cold, it is calculating, and it is pandering to the schizophrenic dichotomy that has plagued this nation since they first brought Africans on these shores from Africa. And that is the issue of race and poverty. Let me tell you something, gentleman. Where were you, where was your amendment when the Twin Towers were hit and the people in New york suffered that catastrophe? There was no cry before we gave them help. “They got to go get a job.” Everybody was there and poured in help, as they should, the American way. Where was your amendment down in Florida when the hurricanes hit down there? Nobody said, “Make ‚Äö√Ñ√≤em work before we help them.”
- Rep. David Scott (D-GA)
When Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © first began trying to sell himself as a “Compassionate Conservative”, I can’t imagine this was the sort of “tough love” he had in mind. And Rep. Scott has an excellent point. Where was this sort of enforced discipline in the aftermath of 9.11? We threw millions at the families of victims, and no one, much less a (Compassionate) Conservative Republican DUMB@$$, thought it was appropriate to run an employment check on the beneficiaries.
I can’t claim to speak for Congressman DUMB@$$ Hensarling, but it’s difficult to draw any other conclusion than that this is about the color of a victim’s skin. 9.11? Mostly White, and some very wealthy victims killed in this nation’s Pearl Harbor. Hurricane Katrina? Mostly poor, “lazy”, “shiftless” African-Americans who couldn’t be bothered to evacuate ahead of the storm and now believe that government “owes” them because they’re victims.
I myself am not a big fan of the mindset of so many Louisiana refugees who ended up in the Houston area, but there are also at least as many who simply want to be able to put their lives back together…and they should have that opportunity. While government owes these folks a “hand up” and not a “hand out”, what would you call the millions that were thrown at the families of 9.11 victims?
That Hensarling’s amendment was even allowed to see the light of day is testament to the undeniable fact that “Compassionate Conservative” is the ultimate oxymoron, and that the GOP truly is a party devoid of a collective heart.
Regardless of what you might think about the victims of Hurricane Katrina vis a vis the victims of 9.11, these are American citizens we’re talking about- American citizens who cities and homes have been devastated. Almost 19 months later, and there’s still a tremendous amount of work to be done. While Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © is willing to spare no expense to prosecute and illegal and immoral war in Iraq, there just don’t seem to be the resources available to assist Americans here at home in putting their homes and cities back together. If this isn’t a shining example of the Republican compassion deficit, I don’t know what is.
Yeah, I know the argument that’s likely going to be used here:
God helps those who help themselves.
While that may be true, I can’t help but wonder if that argument was applied in the case of 9.11? I’m guessing probably not.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, introduced an amendment that would require victims of Hurricane Katrina to perform 20 hours/week of approved “work activities” to receive financial aid for housing.
The Institute for Southern Studies reports that Louisiana is “still largely an economic disaster area as a result of Katrina.” Many jobs have disappeared, and the first houses in the Lower Ninth Ward weren’t completed until late last month, amid a “sea of ruin.”
In theory, Hensarling’s amendment makes sense, and it will no doubt be a hit among rich, White Conservatives, who definitely don’t want to be subsidizing “lazy”, “shiftless” African-Americans who won’t do for themselves when government can do it for them. The problem, though, is that while many would be more than happy to work, even part-time, where are the jobs?
Let it never be said that “Compassionate Conservative” isn’t the ultimate oxymoron…and let it also never be said that Jeb Hensarling isn’t a world-class, compassion-deficient DUMB@$$.
Jeebus, how do these maroons get elected??
