don't hide behind god

be patient, the drowning are told

Condoleezza Rice took a break today from her round of Broadway shows and a shoe-buying spree that would do Imelda Marcos proud.   Why?   To tell the hurricane victims dying hourly in their homes that their prolonged suffering is God's will, not the government's fault, and to lecture them on the virtue of patience:

Asked to say a few words from the pulpit, Rice, a preacher's daughter, said: "The Lord Jesus Christ is going to come on time." She added: "If we just wait."

Earlier at the same church service  "Rice nodded in agreement as the Rev. Malone Smith Jr. advised the congregation, "Wait for the Lord."   Rev. Smith and Secretary Rice were playing on the words of a beloved gospel hymn that says, "He may not be there when you want him but he's right on time."  They should both be ashamed of themselves.

The blame is not God's, or nature's, or fate's, or that of statistical happenstance.  Whatever your conception of a Higher Power may or may not be, the United States was given everything it needed to cope with this disaster better than it has.   God was on time:   it is Rice and her colleagues that were too late.   And when human beings are dying, it's a sin to suggest that we - or anyone - "wait."

There's a joke popular among Christians that goes like this:   

A flood came and a man had to climb onto the roof of his house.   As the waters rose a neighbor in a rowboat appeared, and told him to get in. "No," replied the man on the roof, "the Lord will save me."  Then a firefighter appeared in a speedboat. "Climb in!" shouted the firefighter. "No," replied the man on the roof, "The Lord will save me." A helicopter appeared and the pilot shouted that he would lower a rope to the man on the roof. "No," replied the man on the roof, "the Lord will save me."   Eventually the man drowned and went to heaven, where he asked God why He hadn't helped him.   "I sent a neighbor, a firefighter, and helicopter," said God.  "What more do you want?"

Here's what happened in the Gulf Coast this week:   God sent America plenty of neighbors, but in that part of America they can't afford cars or public transportation, much less boats.  And since there was no evacuation plan, the man and his neighbors were trapped.   God gave America plenty of firefighters, but between budget cuts for first responders and the number of young people being drafted and sent to Iraq, there weren't any left to help this man in his time of need.   God (and taxes) have given America many helicopters, but the ones that aren't in the Middle East weren't deployed quickly enough by the guitar-carrying President or his excuse-making underlings Chertoff and Brown.   

Somewhere, as I write, there is an American drowning while Condoleezza Rice and her boss suggest that he or she "wait."   That's not God's will, it's this Administration's.  They should not hide behind God's skirts.  And they should be ashamed of themselves for trying.

Comments

[Nominal Chtulu]

Right on, RJ.

[Mark]

What are Bush and Rice doing claiming anything relating to faith? I've got faith. Faith that the people will toss them out on their pious asses!

[Juli Dixon]

I am a Christian...I liberal Democratic Christian. These people do not reflect the values of Jesus Christ. They are what I call "pseudochristians". They say what they think the Christian voters want to hear in order to get their vote. Sorry, Condi, I'm not fooled. Christ would rebuke you just as He did the Pharisees. You guys act more like Satan than Christ.

[Xenophon]

"...and the number of young people being drafted and sent to Iraq, there weren't any left to help this man in his time of need."

Draft? What Draft? Last I checked people were still volunteering to join the military, both Active and Reserve. C'mon, if you are going to critize, at least be accurate about all of your facts.

[mondo]

They're not all "psuedochristians". Many of them are zionist christians. Check out the definition on Wikipedia...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Zionists

[Mazzy]

My my...Condoleeza Rice invoking God's name, and reading God's mind. What's the matter? She couldn't find a non-tacky way to invoke the spectre of 9/11? Things *must* be bad down at Kool-Aid central.

[fireonthemountain]

Remember, Condi is the one who said the memo entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike US" was not a warning memo but just a historical factual memo or something. She has trouble interpreting things, she did say today racism is not possible americans don't want to see americans suffer. La La Land. And she got promoted. She needs to get laid.

[Francisco]

This administration is so aberrant that the unthinkable may be true.I think jr.is mounting her.

[SteveAudio]

Re: fireonthemountain's comment that Condi needs to get laid, I can only respond:

"Ewwwww!"

[nevermind]

nobody's been drafted. is it more important to write intelligently or emotionally?

[SteveAudio]

BTW, here's the version of the joke as told by Karl "Father Cavanaugh" Malden on the West Wing, (best show on TV) , season 1, episode 14, "Take This Sabbath Day":

You know, you remind me of the man that lived by the river. He heard a radio report that the river was going to rush up and flood the town. And that all the residents should evacuate their homes. But the man said, “I’m religious. I pray. God loves me. God will save me.” The waters rose up. A guy in a row boat came along and he shouted, “Hey, hey you! You in there. The town is flooding. Let me take you to safety.” But the man shouted back, “I’m religious. I pray. God loves me. God will save me.” A helicopter was hovering overhead. And a guy with a megaphone shouted, “Hey you, you down there. The town is flooding. Let me drop this ladder and I’ll take you to safety.” But the man shouted back that he was religious, that he prayed, that God loved him and that God will take him to safety. Well... the man drowned. And standing at the gates of St. Peter, he demanded an audience with God. “Lord,” he said, “I’m a religious man, I pray. I thought you loved me. Why did this happen?” God said, “I sent you a radio report, a helicopter, and a guy in a rowboat. What the hell are you doing here?”

[capnmike]

WHAT A CROCK OF CODSWALLOP! This is the kind of thinking that gets the entire human race in trouble...the belief in some mysterious supernatural being that is going to come in and save the day, but somehow never does. WHY? BECAUSE THIS BEING DOES NOT EXIST! Stop wasting time and energy on fairytales, get up off your scabby knees, throw out that (bible, koran, scroll, whatever), grow up and get to work!

[capnmike]

WHAT A CROCK OF CODSWALLOP! This is the kind of thinking that gets the entire human race in trouble...the belief in some mysterious supernatural being that is going to come in and save the day, but somehow never does. WHY? BECAUSE THIS BEING DOES NOT EXIST! Stop wasting time and energy on fairytales, get up off your scabby knees, throw out that (bible, koran, scroll, whatever), grow up and get to work!

[Eli Stephens]

AND there are a dozen or more people still dying EVERY DAY from lack of sufficient medicial care, and Rice has still not acted on, or even mentioned in public, Cuba's offer to send 1100 doctors who could be on site in less than a day. This is CRIMINAL behavior and, in a just world, would be prosecuted as accessory to murder.

[doncom]

I had wondered why the right wing christains were responding to this disaster with a deafening silence, when a friend told me that these oh so "moral" folks felt that NOLA got what it deserved because it was a city of sin.(She got this from her right wing christain mother, who got it from her church.)

So, it would seem that when it comes to life, these people only care about braindead white women and fetuses. Black and poor folks, old folks, sick and disabled folks, and babies should just drop dead.

[melior]

The delusion of 'trusting in god' can be a comfort to some when there's nothing else to be done. In this case, it's worse than a hindrance, it's a brain infection that interferes with action.

To paraphrase John Lennon, God is a concept by which we avoid taking responsibility for our inaction.

[gfm975]

When the majority of National Guardsmen signed up, do you think they were intentionally signing up for the Iraq war? Did they volunteer to go off to Iraq to serve? Did they VOLUNTEER to have their tours extended three (3) times. Hell, some are likely to be ordered to stay for FOUR (4) tours of combat duty.

YES, there is a back door "draft". And you neo cons know it.. so stop trying to hide behind the VOLUNTEER army. BUSH went AWOL and never even completed his active duty in Alabama and now, many are being asked by him to do what HE never dreamed of having to do..... Chicken Hawks are such proud birds.

[Sirkowski]

God helps them that help themselves.
Ben Franklin, funny guy!

[Sally Strope]

I've been thinking a great deal about the Antichrists in our midst (up and down this administration's food chain).

[Texan]

"Here on earth, God's work must truly be our own." -John F. Kennedy, inaugural address

[Neo Con Hater]

Got religion?

[ShadownStar]

The "joke" you retold is alot like the story of the Preist nad hte Drowning Jew. The preist wouldn't save him unless he converted. finally, when the drowning man couldn't tread anylonger he converted, where upon teh priest walked away, having "saved" him...

CONdi is a hypocrite.

[Karen Lea Siegel]

Amen, amen. You're absolutely right, they should be ashamed.

[Scott Rose]

I know why Jesus didn't make it down to New Orleans to save people. He met up with my friend David, and because David is so hot in bed, Jesus couldn't tear himself away.

[maricruz]

never hide behind God