Pat Robertson's prayers answered - New Orleans destroyed

Prior to the destruction of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, far-right extremist Pat Robertson was, you may recall, taking a beating on the editorial pages for his over-the-top remarks about taking out Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. I've read that in the past, the fundy Christian televangelist has claimed to have saved his ministry in Virginia from destruction by asking his Old testament God to change the course of on-coming hurricanes. If Robertson's claims of a direct line to the Creator are actually true, perhaps that vengeful god heard Robertson's prayers for some kind of distraction from his present troubles and set his wrath upon the "sin city" of New Orleans. It's not like Robertson hasn't ever prayed for ugly things. I've also read he had asked his 700 Club drones to pray for "an opening" in the Supreme Court, which would then be filled by some rightwing demi-god. Such openings usually come with the death of one of the justices.

In any case, the operative word here is "perhaps". I'm toying with Robertson just as he toys with his followers and the public at-large. New Orleans' pain is very real and I'd like to take the opportunity here to not only send my useless condolences down to those folks, but to also recommend that folks contact their local Red Cross office to ask what they can do to help out. I did that last night and hope to head down to The Big Easy when needed. But I referenced this tragedy as a symbol to point out the sort of heartless claptrap that so often emanates from the far-right.

If ever there was an ideological conglomeration in need of a heart transplant it's the rightwing noise machine here in the U.S. Robertson's ugly calls for assassination and death are the logical extension of rightwing talk-radio's trashing of hurricane victims for not evacuating or for continuing their shrill flat-Earth tirades against established scientists who point out man-made contributions to global climate disruption. Blaming the victim or denying the obvious are classic rightwing ploys. Praying for an ill wind? Well, that goes way back to biblical times, part of a not-so-intelligent design.