Shameless? Or Just Dishonest?

October 24, 2007

As happens this time every year, the Santa Ana Winds have swept into Southern California igniting dry sagebrush and undergrowth into huge wildfires, destroying much acreage and many homes. I cannot think of a year that some fires haven’t raged across Southern California.

Some of these fires are the result of arson, some by downed power lines, some by careless acts, but they happen every single year.

That fact hasn’t stopped the Democrat party from grasping a hold of this yearly tragedy and once again, shamelessly politicizing it. If it isn’t Global Warming causing these fires, all of a sudden, it is President Bush’s policy of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan that is allowing them to rage this year.

We have Senator Harry Reid (D. Nv), “One reason that we have the fires burning in Southern California is global warming. One reason the Colorado basin is going dry is because of global warming.”

Asked for clarification by a Reporter, he denied it, saying, “No. Here's -- here's what... I didn't say the reason the fires were burning in Southern California is global warming.”

Sorry, Senator, it is on tape, clearly quoting you saying just that.

We also have Senator Barbara Boxer (D. Ca) saying, “Right now we are down 50% in terms of our National Guard equipment because they're all in Iraq, the equipment, half of the equipment. So we really will need help. I think all of our states are down in terms of equipment.”

Then we have California's lieutenant governor, John Garamendi, also a Democrat, replying to a question as to whether or not the federal government is doing enough, “Well, they're doing a lot, and we appreciate what they have done thus far. I got some doubt about the value of President Bush coming out here. How many times did he go to New York -- to New Orleans -- and still made promises, but hasn't delivered? Okay, President Bush comes out, we'll be polite, but, frankly, that's not the solution. How about sending our National Guard back from Iraq so that we have those people available here to help us?”

Next we have Governor Bill Richardson, of New Mexico, posting on the Huffington Post Blog, “I look at the natural disaster in California and feel compelled to also ask President Bush and every candidate who thinks it is okay for our troops to remain in Iraq until 2013 or longer - where is our National Guard?” He added, “When a national disaster hits, our states depend on the National Guard. Right now, President Bush is robbing Peter to pay Paul to continue his disastrous adventure in Iraq, and when tragedy hits us here at home, Americans are stuck with the bill.”

Governor, if I may, we Americans get “stuck with the bill” for whatever happens in our Country. We see it in increased taxes as parties pander to groups for votes. We see it as we voluntarily donate to just causes, like the tragic and yearly wildfires in the west.

In answer to his question, “where is our National Guard,” they are off in a foreign land fighting to keep us free and preventing another massive terrorist attack upon our soil, Governor. That’s where some of them are. The rest, plenty enough to use, remain here ready to help when called upon.

Congressman Duncan Hunter, (R. Ca), presidential candidate and Representative of San Diego County, where some of the worst fires are currently raging, appeared today on the Mark Levin radio program and addressed this issue of our National Guard. He said, “for the Democrats, every time you have a, have a natural, a natural catastrophe, they blame it on the president’s policy and Iraq or Afghanistan and that’s just crazy, because you have two and a half million Americans in uniform today and we got less than 10% of them in Iraq or Afghanistan. We’ve got lots of people here in San Diego. For example in San Diego County, where we have the worst fires, we’ve got the First Marine Division stationed at Camp Pendleton and we’ve got thousands of Marines and I know because I’ve talked to the C.O. down here who could get out and could fight fires. But when you’ve got a wall of flame coming at you with 40 mph winds, you don’t just throw a bunch of bodies up in front of it. Yet, you have to wait until you get to strategic choke points and you’re able to use your aerial assets and you’re able to cut it off. So, this is not a lack of bulldozers in the State of California. In fact, I’ll bet all of the firefighting units in California engaged right now do not have over 500 bulldozers, and I’m talking about private contractors as well as the indigenous capability of the fire, uh, California Fire Department. They don’t have over 500 bulldozers engaged in this thing in Southern California, if you look at the numbers. So the idea that if somehow the National Guard was back from Iraq, and there’s only a small number of them in Iraq right now, that somehow we wouldn’t have forest fires, is a real stretch and I think even some of the Liberals, when they walk in off of the floor after having made a statement like that and the turn to their staff, I think they have to wonder whether they are losing their credibility, Mark.”

He also brought out that the National Guard sent out all their air tanker support, even before the received a request. Also mentioned was that less than 10% of the National Guard is currently deployed and actually, other than offering back up support behind the scenes, all the National Guardsmen in the world wouldn’t be able to get in front of the fires and stop them. All we end up with is a lot of dead National Guardsman, which I am sure would also be blamed on George W. Bush.

I hate to break this to the Democrats, but wildfires fed by the Santa Ana winds have been happening long before Bush was elected in 2000. In fact, a study released in 1999 from that bastion of Liberal think, UC Berkeley stated, “Large Santa Ana wildfires have been a regular occurrence along the southern California coast for more than 560 years.”

The lamestream media has also picked up the new game plan. Brian Williams on NBC’s Nightly News recently told viewers, “This has been the driest season on record, unusually severe, that’s leading some people here to wonder: Are these fires somehow a result of climate change? The U.N. panel on global warming did warn that we would see more wildfires, so is there a real connection?”

Anne Thompson, NBC’s chief environmental affairs correspondent chimed in with, “Wildfires so unusual today may not be in the future. A new study out this week suggests the impact of climate change could be stronger and sooner than expected. And one of the predicted impacts from climate change could be more wildfires.”

Unusual? Do these people know how to read a book or Google anything? In 1849
The Oregon Siletz Fire left 800,000 acres burned. In 1853 the Oregon Yaquina Fire
Left 484,000 acres burned. In1902 the Washington/Oregon Yacolt Fire burned across more than 1,000,000 acres in Washington and Oregon, killing 38. In August 1910 the Idaho/Montana Great Fire of 1910 burned about 3 million acres and killed 86 people. In August 1933 the Oregon Tillamook Burn, so named as a series of large fires that began in 1933 and struck at six-year intervals through 1951, burning a combined total of 355,000 acres.

And so it goes, every year. In the summer of 2000, before the election of Bush, Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming combined accounted for some 7.2 million acres burned in what has been recorded s one of the most destructive fire seasons in U.S. History. I don’t recall President B.J. Clinton being blamed for that season.

I think congressman Hunter has it right, as he explained to Mark Levin. This is just the latest game plan to demonize President Bush and Republicans in general. Why our Republican leaders won’t stand up and confront this chicanery by the Democrats, I don’t know.

These latest fires will be extinguished. Homes will be rebuilt. Maybe the left will wise up and allow the forests to be thinned and the dry underbrush to be removed, removing necessary fuel for fires. As always, the resilient will recover and move forward.

But above all, we need to stand up to these shameless and dishonest Democrat party leaders and tell them, ENOUGH! This level of political discourse is as low as I have ever seen in my lifetime, and appears to be getting worse.

It is long past time for those we send to Washington D.C. to get beyond this petty partisan bickering and get back to doing the work of the country, not just left winged bloggers. If they can’t manage that, the fourth arm of government, “We The People,” must act and oust these quacks from office in the next elections.

Lew