If you're gonna go after Rev. Wright, then you better go after Rev. Hagee

Sen. Barack Obama is taking a hit in the polls as the far right continues to bash him for his ties to the Rev. Wright, even though Obama has denounced his controversial remarks and taken great pains to distance himself from the minister.

Strangely, though, the same media are giving Sen John McCain a Get Out of Jail Free card in regards to the Rev. John Hagee, who he has had to distance himself from under similar circumstances.

Rev. Hagee has, among other things, repeatedly claimed that hurricane Katrina was God's wrath on the sinners of New Orleans for their support of homosexuality.


I have yet to hear an explanation for why the incompetence of the Federal government could be interpreted as God's wrath, not to mention the sheer scope of the devastation Katrina caused.


Rev. Hagee should not only have to face the citizens of New Orleans for his remarks, but he really ought to explain himself to the folks who were affected by Katrina in the communities of Beaumont, Bridge City, Nederland, Orange, Pinehurst, Port Arthur and Vidor, in Texas; Abbeville, Amelia, Avery Island, Baldwin, Barataria, Bayou Vista, Belcambre, Bell City, Bertandville, Bohemia, Boothville, Bourg, Buras, Burrwood, Calumet, Cameron, Carlisle, Centerville, Chacahoula, Chauvin, Cocodrie, Crowley, Crown Point, Creole, Dalcour, Davant, Diamond, Donner, Dulac, Eden Isle, Empire, Erath, Esther, Franklin, Gibson, Galliano, Garden City, Golden Meadow, Grand Chenier, Grand Lake, Gueydan, Hackberry, Hayes, Henry, Hickory, Holly Beach, Holmwood, Houma, Indian Bayou, Intracoastal City, Isle Jean Charles, Jean Lafitte, Jeanerette, Jennings, Jesuit, Bend, Kaplan, Lacassine, Lacombe, Lake Arthur, Lake Charles, Leeville, Louisa, Mandeville, Maurice, Meaux, Montegut, Morgan City, Morse, Myrtle Grove, Nairn, Naomi, New Iberia, Oak Grove, Patterson, Pearl River, Pecan Island, Perry, Phoenix, Point a la Hache, Point-aux-Chenes, Port Fourchon, Port Nickle, Port Sulphur, Poydras, Reggio, Saint Bernard, Slidell, Sulphur, Shell Beach, Theriot, Tidewater, Toomey, Triumph, Venice, Vinton, Welsh, and Yscloskey in Lousiana; and Bay Saint Louis, Biloxi, Diamondhead, Gulfport, Long Beach, Lyman, Moss Point, Nicholson, Ocean Springs, Pass Christian, Pearlington and Waveland in Mississippi.*

Okay, I'm mad enough now that I'm gonna have to go eat a chocolate coffee pudding. And it's all Rev. Hagee's fault.





*My apologies to any towns I inadvertently left off. I'm sure there were more.

Brownie, you did some good after all...

Who could have foreseen (besides everyone over four years old) that the thousands of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina would have been better off because those FEMA trailers couldn't be delivered? And do you suppose we'll ever find out who was responsible for purchasing those trailers that would make people sick? Not if the Republicans manage to steal the election again, that's for sure.

What's next... War is Peace?

Now that the dust is starting to settle and at least one head is rolling following the phony FEMA press conference, I'm thinking that the Bush administration probably provided an invaluable service to journalism instructors everywhere. Of course, one hopes that it will always fall under the category of what not to do.

The news item that slipped by most of the English language media that most concerns me is the report that US Border Patrol agents were at the evacuation centers in Southern California looking for people without documents.

For those of you not in California, remember that a million people at one time or another had to flee the fires --at times leaving with no more than the shirts on their backs, sometimes in the dead of night. lf you were to turn your pockets inside out at this very moment, how would you be able to prove that you were in the country legally?