Monday, August 27, 2007

Glenn Beck Talks about Katrina Disaster and Barack Obama in New Orleans



I thought I would share these two transcripts from Glenn Beck's radio show. One is his thoughts about not rebuilding New Orleans. He wants it to either be done right or not at all. He also takes a call from Jeff, who is upset with him. A caller who is upset with Glenn. Who'da thunk? The other is about Barack Obama's visit to a New Orleans church.

Paragraph from email notification:

  • Glenn knew he was going to get flack for his proclamation on the show today in which he said "rebuild New Orleans right, or don't rebuild it at all" because liberal bloggers will have fun accusing Glenn of being a racist. Well, the fact is Glenn should be viewed as the compassionate one, because re-building New Orleans the exact same way doesn't seem to be a very safe area to send people back to. Just because Ray Nagin knocked his fist on the new levee doesn't mean it will withstand a category 5 hurricane. Even with that fundamentally sound logic behind his argument Glenn still got tons of hate mail and a call from Jeff, who has "never been so insulted" by Glenn. Read the transcript. (Insiders listen here).
Snippets from transcript:
  • GLENN: Okay. Jeff in Louisiana's very upset at me because earlier today I heard a speech given by Barack Obama where he said the churches are trying to rebuild in New Orleans and it is the local, state and federal government, they need help. For infrastructure, okay. However, we're not rebuilding it right. We're rebuilding it to a Category 3. And I'm not somebody who doesn't have any credibility on this. A year before Katrina hit, I said the biggest disaster in this country's history. Stu, I want you to -- find this audio because I want you to make sure I have this right. I said the biggest disaster waiting to happen in the United States is New Orleans. It is a bowl that will fill up with water and people will be killed. It is the ports with all the oil refineries and everything else. It will be an environmental disaster. This is a nightmare waiting to happen.
  • GLENN: Find the stuff. I made this prediction a year before. It was clear. Now, if you want to rebuild New Orleans, then rebuild it right. Spend the money one time and rebuild it right. Build it with a seawall that will take a direct hit of a category 5. New Orleans is also sinking. In the next 100 years it will sink another meter. They are talking now about rushing people into the Ninth Ward. That is the poorest of the poor. It was the worst hit because it's the lowest point in New Orleans. Rushing people back in with the same wall that you had last time. You've got experts all over the country saying, you can't move people back into this; this is a nightmare waiting to happen. It's the same story that's been happening since the 1950s, the same warnings. And yet this time this is the biggest federal disaster aid package in the history of our country. And liberals are asking for more. People are asking for more. People are saying now you can't get insurance.
  • The Government shouldn't be in this business. Stop developing in hazard-prone areas. Stop developing. And the liberals who buy into global warming should be leading this, but they're not. Stop the development. We can correct the mistake of the 1960 -- you know, 1968 with Johnson coming in and creating the Great Society and having a flood insurance program. They said at the time that's only going to cause people to move into flood zones, it's only going to cause more problems. Well, guess what. That's exactly what it did. If private companies won't take on and insure something because it's too great of a risk, neither should the federal government. What, the federal government just prints more money? Is that your understanding of how the system works? Now, because of 1968 this decision was made in '68, and because we're already there, great. I'll take the money that we want to spend on rebuilding New Orleans and rebuilding these flood zones and you could convince me to use that money to apply it to moves and help people move to a city where they're not going to be wiped out by a hurricane to where we have to rebuild everything for another $100 billion. Build it right the first time or not at all. And I believe we shouldn't rebuild it at all. Make it a port city. That's it.
  • Let's see. Let's go to Jeff now who says he has never been more insulted in his life from what I just said. Go ahead, Jeff.
  • CALLER: Mr. Beck, I am a very conservative person. I have agreed with you on almost every issue you've ever had except for this one.
  • GLENN: Okay.
  • CALLER: I would say it is the job of the federal government to clean up New Orleans because it was their fault, not because of the recovery but because they promised after Hurricane Betsy in the early Sixties that they would build a wall that would actually withstand hurricane force winds of a 3 or a 4. Now, here in New Orleans we were actually missed by the hurricane and in the nightmare scenario you were talking about actually didn't happen.

Read the rest of the conversation, here.

From email notification about Barack:


  • Katrina Week kicked off with a bang, Senator Barack Obama speaking in a New Orleans church over the weekend. He was talking about how the government needs to help churches (because they are doing the right work) with aid so they can continue to rebuild New Orleans. Glenn wondered why a liberal politician who is advocating government funding for churches (because they are doing the right work) would be opposed to George W. Bush's 'faith based' initiatives. After all, that is exactly what they were designed to do. Instead of seeing the obvious hypocrisy, the media will of course anoint Obama as the next savior of the Big Easy. Read the transcript. (Insiders listen here).

Snippets from transcript:

  • GLENN: All right. So he's (Obama) speaking about Katrina and how bad things are still in New Orleans from the pulpit. Listen to what he says.
  • OBAMA: The church is doing everything that it can. The church is trying to build that foundation on the rock, but they need a little helping hand from the state government and the city government and from the federal government.
  • GLENN: Stop just a second. Stop just a second. Let me see if I got this right. Requeue it back here to where we were, Dan. Let's see. Stu, see if I have this right here. The church is trying to build the foundation on the rock. Translate that for me in case you don't speak -- in case somebody doesn't speak Bible. Who else built something on the rock?
Glenn and Stu get into a smartallic conversation trying to figure out who that "guy" (Jesus) was.

  • GLENN: The rock is the word of God. The rock is Jesus Christ. The rock is something that never moves. So the church is trying to rebuild on a rock, on -- I'm sorry. Did he say the rock? Play it again.
  • OBAMA: Unless some help is given, the church is doing everything that it can.GLENN: Back up. Back up. Back it up.
  • STU: We missed the rock.
  • GLENN: We missed the rock. And he's a good actor, too. Maybe that's what they're referring to.
  • OBAMA: Unless some relief is provided, unless some help is given. The church is doing everything that it can. The church is trying to build that foundation on the rock.
  • GLENN: On the rock, on the rock, okay, got it. So the church is trying to build the foundation on the rock. Clearly a religious and scriptural message, right?
  • STU: Definitely.
  • GLENN: But?
  • OBAMA: But they need a little helping hand from the state government and the city government and from the federal government.
  • GLENN: Hold it just a second. Isn't this an initiative that Bush tried to start, that the churches know best how the help. So let's take money from the federal government and give it to the churches and the churches can help. Wasn't that -- who was against that, Stu? What was that initiative called? I'm trying to remember now, and who was it that was against it? There was somebody against it.
  • STU: There was.

More smartmouth comments from Glenn and Stu-

  • GLENN: That's incredible. That's incredible and now this is a great liberal idea. The church is doing the best they can but they can't do it without some help. They need the help from the federal government, the local government, and the state government.
  • STU: You have to understand, Glenn, sometimes God is like, I just can't do all this; I need a senator to step in.
  • GLENN: If I could just get the mayor of the town on my side, I, the omnipotent one, would be complete.
  • STU: Did you know that there is a congressman, Glenn, from Nazareth --
  • GLENN: Yes.
  • STU: -- who really assisted in that whole resurrection thing. It's fantastic.
  • GLENN: Fantastic. He was the -- I believe he was a city councilman that was in charge of tombs at the time and he was actually, he was in charge of rock removal because Jesus was in the tomb going, oh, jeez, how do I move the rock. Here I am, I've risen from the dead but now I'm trapped because there's a big rock. And pretty soon Jesus heard (rumbling) and the rock moved off to the side. And Jesus was standing there in awe and somebody peered in. He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, Jesus, are you in here? Yes. Yeah, I'm Vinnie from Local 149, your city councilman sent it down to move the rock. Oh, thank goodness for that city councilman.
  • Does that make any sense! So the first point on Barack Obama's speech is who wants a politician, left or right, up or down, giving you a speech on a Sunday? Is that why you go to church? It ain't for me. I mean, unless I'm a Universalist Unitarian where you get your, you know, your sermon from an atheist and then they send you out for, I don't know, a Cub Scout meeting or something

Read the rest of the transcript, here.

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