Andrew Breitbart, who founded the right-wingnut web-hole, Breitbart.com,
died March 1, 2012, of heart failure at the relatively young age of 43.
Breitbart was a tough guy to figure out politically. In his media life,
he was associated with such leftist luminaries as Bill Maher, Arianna
Huffington and Michael Moore. Conversely, he broke ultra-wingnut
bread with the Washington Times, Fox News and political lunatic fringe wingnut
extremist 'comic', Dennis Miller.
But his final years were mostly filled with hatred of liberals. After
Ted Kennedy died, Breitbart almost immediately described the venerated
Kennedy to the Harrisburg ‘Patriot-News, as a “villain,” a “duplicitous
bastard,” a “special pile of human excrement” and a word I can’t figure
out how to censor without losing its meaning. Suffice to say, his
reaction was beyond critical and mean-spirited.
Given the successor Breitbart hole by the same name, it is,
therefore, mighty surprising to find an account of the devastating South
Carolina floods as being informative, objective and highly critical of
the state’s Republican power structure. Here are some observations from a
recent story from the site mixed in with other observations,
demonstrating how “the cabal of no” lived up to its name, even in the
most dire and deadly of circumstances.
Before getting into the meat and potatoes of the matter, you should
know that at latest count, 17 people have perished in
South Carolina in a natural disaster described as a “thousand-year
storm.” Sadly, the first victim lost her life in my county, October 1st.
Silvia Trejo Arteaga drove into an underpass and apparently misjudged
the depth of the water. As her car sank, she couldn’t escape. Most of
the victims drowned; at least a half-dozen were killed in auto accidents
related to the weather.
My informal measuring from a ‘can in the yard’ rain gauge, yielded a
total of about 8½ inches in a period of just over two days. It turns out
my readings were downright benign. State Capitol, Columbia, registered
17 inches of rain in 17 hours. That’s well beyond average monsoon
levels.
The Congaree river that divides Richland and Lexington counties is 13
feet above flood stage and at least three dams burst last Sunday,
according to the SF Gate website. A total of 13 dams have failed at last
count and numerous others were breached. Nitwit Nikki Haley, lusting
to be this election’s Sarah Palin, told the assembled media, that, hey,
only 13 dams had failed, calling that number “fortunate” considering
there were around 2,000 dams altogether. Uh, governor, there were
breaches in numerous other dams, as yet uncounted and an additional 62
are being monitored for potential failure. A total of 270
state-maintained roads and 140 bridges have been closed.
At a news conference, reporters asked Haley and other officials
repeatedly about whether state spending had fallen short on dam and
infrastructure maintenance. Her demeanor was described as “testy” as she
evaded the question by saying “I think the analysis of this can be done
after the danger of the floods passes.” Does this governor pay the
least bit of attention to the actions of her state’s legislature and
transportation, infrastructure and water-oriented departments? These
numbers have been gathered and analyzed for years. They just haven’t
been acted upon. Most area pundits have damn near got them memorized.
Continuing on the ‘Duh’ path are these words from Lindsey
Graham. He estimates damage totals as high as one billion dollars and he
wants federal aid to kick in right away. Of course he’s on record as
having voted against such aid for a horrific disaster, Hurricane Sandy.
In order to keep his flagging, no-chance, race for the Republican
pretender nomination viable, Graham patronizingly added that “the
federal lifeline must be treated with care to avoid a “pork-laden
monstrosity” like the feds aid package to the Northeast Hurricane Sandy
in 2012. The real reason for Graham’s vote? It was a
Democratic-sponsored bill and Republicans delayed its passage by 91
days. Graham was also following the lead of Cruz, who in 2013, renounced “Sandy” for its pork; and yet his state
of Texas has siphoned off more Federal Emergency Management Agency funds
than any other state since the beginning of 2009.
The Low country region of the state, located along the coast, is
still facing potentially severe weather. That will surely
add to the tragic statistics gathered to this point. All 375,000 water
customers from Columbia, were told to boil their water at least a minute
before drinking it. Statewide swift-water rescues will number well into
the hundreds, probably exceeding a thousand, before things calm down.
An Emergency Management official pointed out that a car can be swept
away in as little as a foot of water and stalled in two feet of water.
In a recent session, the state general assembly voted down a request
of $400 million (Georgia just passed a similar bill at $900 million) for
desperately needed infrastructure that had largely gone ignored for
decades. Could Haley’s promised veto of any bill that didn’t
include a reduction in the state income tax been an influence to vote
no?
Then the torrential rains started falling, the 400 million looked
like a bargain. Infrastructures began collapsing like proverbial
dominoes. Just like the Democrats predicted it would in such a
circumstance.
Republicans refused to approve the expenditures out of
fear of a Haley veto and because they didn’t want to raise taxes. Their
reasoning was especially ironic since the business community was pushing
the hardest for the upgrades and new construction. They’d figure their
way around a tax increase, later. An oil company cited the extensive
travel by their trucks on potholed highways. Yes, I realize a bill
passed this year would not have had much, if any, impact on the
flooding, but it’s still an imperative for the safety of the population.
Nobody can deny that the state was pitifully ill-prepared for Mother
Nature’s tantrum of rainfall. Time ran out before adjournment, as the
house and senate even failed to reach a compromise on respective gas tax
increase bills that were two cents apart. South Carolina roads are
basically funded by the state’s gas tax. It hasn’t been raised since
1987. My abacus calculates that’s 28 years.
About the amount of time it’ll take to clean this mess up.
