The craziness continues...for whatever reason, Jimmy Kimmel has Al Sharpton on tonight as his main guest (for the record, the reason I am watching this show for the first time since Bill Simmons wrote for him is due to the fact that Common will be on the show). Here's some excerpts on how he feels the hurricane efforts came along:

"What you don't see on television is all the seniors and kids...who are abandoned."

Really? That seems to be all anyone is showing the last few days.

"...we don't have a plan to protect us? It is frightening that we have this level of incompetence and insensitivity in Washington, D.C." [loud applause]

Well, Rev. Sharpton, you might want to read my previous post. As has been pointed out, the Mayor of New Orleans, a black Democrat, said weeks before the hurricane that people in an event like this would be "on their own." The black Democrat mayor worked with the woman Democrat governor to work out a plan, which amounted to "if you don't get out yourself, you're screwed." Again, I ask: how on earth does this go back to the Federal Government? There is a blog with an excellent timeline of events leading up to and following Katrina. You can find it here. It is (mostly) without commentary, but rather taken straight from the New Orleans Times-Picayune. It shows that, in fact, the Federal government was taking steps to be ready for this thing Thursday and Friday before the hurricane hit...while the people in charge of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana tried deciding the legality of a mandatory evacuation. Ahh, bureaucracy--I love it!

Kimmel asks him if he would be as critical if this were under Bill Clinton's presidency: "This doesn't have anything to do with democrat and republican...I was critical of Clinton, too."

Okay, maybe we'll be rational here...

"It takes three days for the President to say 'something has to be done!'" To which Kimmel replies, "hey, at least he cut his vacation by two days." To which Sharpton says "I hope we give him a long vacation as soon as possible."

...or maybe not. This is ridiculous. The White House, along with FEMA, was imploring the Governor and Mayor to let them come in and help assist, plus pull the trigger on a mandatory evacuation, BEFORE THE STORM HIT THE COAST! Yes, Bush should have been on the first flight out of Crawford when it was becoming apparent that this was becoming a category four or five hurricane. I totally agree with this statement. But to say that Bush and the White House was totally disconnected with what was going on is irresponsible and simply not true. There was an aircraft carrier waiting to deploy military doctors, airlifts, medical supplies, water, and Ready-to-eat meals as closely as they could possibly be. Thousands of troops were waiting as close to New Orleans as possible, waiting to go in and assist the New Orleans Police. FEMA began it's first wave of relief efforts less than 24 hours after the hurricane hit. On Sunday, August 28th, President Bush personally called Governor Blanco and implored her to demand a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. Before even that, Bush sent a letter authorizing a state of emergency for the State of Louisiana, freeing up federal funds and resources...this was on FRIDAY.

After Kimmel asks Sharpton as to what he thought about what Kanye West said on NBC's benefit show ("President Bush does not care about black people"), Sharpton replied "I don't think he cares about a lot of people, especially black people...due to insensitive policies...I congratulate Kanye West."

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a Kanye West freak--love just about every single thing that he has done. And part of what makes him so special is that the dude says whatever is on his mind, no matter who the audience is or what the event is. However, this statement is just mind-boggling stupid. What policies is Sharpton talking about? Seriously? I challenge any reader to come up with a single policy that the Bush Administration has implemented that somehow, even indirectly, oppresses black people. ONE. Find it. And I am not saying that smugly, either. If there is one, I want to be educated on it. I want to oppose it. Thing is, I don't think that policy is out there. Say what you will about his policies--to say that the man "doesn't care about black people" is just insane. Where is the proof behind that? Does it lie with the fact that he has appointed more minorities and women to his cabinet than Clinton did in eight years? Or any president, for that matter? The argument against that (as a black friend of mine said) is that this is just "window dressing," or "a marketing plan." Well, isn't it better to have a president that INCLUDED minorities in his marketing plan? I don't know, it just doesn't make sense to me.

I also want to make clear that this is not some crazy, right-winged rant by me (as some will think). But for a man like Sharpton to go on national television and rant and rave on things that are basically without fact or merit is not something that should be tolerated by either side of the isle. Thankfully, according to polls conducted over the last couple of days, the majority of people on both sides of the isle don't see it this way, and (for now) aren't buying into the lies. As I have said before, the ball has been dropped at some point by everyone involved with this hell. But you have to be fair and call out people that say things as fact, when they are clearly dreamed up.

Also, I would highly recommend reading the timeline I eluded to in the middle of this. As they used to say on Dragnet, "just the facts, ma'am."