My parents had to wait in line while Bush dined with firefighters

My parents had to wait in line for 3 and half hours while Bush dined with firefighters this morning.

As some of you may know my parents lost their 100% of their avocado grove and barn in the Witch fire. This grove was their retirement, my father had planted these trees 5 years ago and built a house with his own hands so that they would have a retirement since my father had been self employed for most of his life and couldn't rely on a traditional pension plan.

Since Sunday after they were able to bring their pets to me for safe keeping, good friends of theirs that lived close to them have opened their home to them and another evacuated couple. They have waited patiently everyday to find out when they could return.
This morning they got word that a small community park was open for them to sign papers and start the process of filling out claims.
They spent an hour trying to get to this park which is about 7 miles from where they are currently staying.

My father is not the most patient man in the world but I can't blame him in the least bit for "losing it" this morning. It seems that Bush came to that community park/fire fighter staging area for his usual grand photo op with the peasants. People waited outside in hot sun while Bush dined with the firefighters inside. My father ended up leaving because after 3 and half hours as he was no closer in line than when he and Mom showed up in the first thing that morning. My Mom said he was yelling in the park, "Tell that asshole to just fly over next time and just send a check" She finally got him in the car.

Many people waiting with them were shouting similar phrases. A man with livestock was standing in the sun with my Dad and Mom yelling that he needed to get in to feed and care for his herd. This man commented, "We all have well water we know not to drink the water, and we wait while that jerk has lunch in there, this is ridiculous!"
People were mad that once again it was all about George. The other comments heard by this righteously peeved crowd were along the lines of "Just do us all a favor and don't bother showing up"

To add insult to injury, because of the traffic nightmare Dad had to wait in bumper to bumper to get back to their friend's house as they moved King George safely out of the area and away from the disgruntled people that look upon his visit as more of curse.

Dad is not real happy right now. Hopefully, they will be able to return by the weekend. Since he is on a different water service then the Rancho Bernardo area he is unable to return until they repair/turn it on. He doesn't expect to have electricity and unfortunately his portable generator was destroyed in the fire. They are thankful for their house and the firefighters that have fought tirelessly. I don't know if he has the strength to start over but he has his kids and friends who will stand with him no matter what. :)

about anyone but himself.

Had I been in that line, I would have been yelling right along with your dad.

Hell, I would probably be en route to Gitmo.

:evilgrin:

A press release/conference that explained president so and so will meet with firefighters AFTER the poor exhausted stranded folks are no longer exhausted and stranded. Just so very thoughtless to do this to people who have had such a wretched week. Gotta have the photo opp, the average person be damned.

I am so sorry your folks have been through this.

Some day when your dad calms down you can ask him what he thinks of these >

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2136350&mesg_id=2136350

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2136156&mesg_id=2136156

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2135755&mesg_id=2135755

you would be a braver person than I to present those to my dear old Dad ;)

GOOD TIME!!! He really looks like he's enjoying himself.

Dontcha wanna have a beer with the guy?

less folks will follow the traditional voting pattern of the area

Hope all is well with your dad...

And my prayers are out to you... and the rest of the folks...

Thankfully I am at the coast and had to house sis for a night, and their place is still up

about your sis as well.

This story makes me see red! I'm so sorry for all of those people who had to wait. So sorry about your parents' loss.

Seems to me to be a news story all by itself.

nationally... are you fucking kidding me?

live elsewhere can email the story to all our friends, to Olbermann, etc.

Yeah, the national media will close their eyes to this story, but that doesn't mean it won't get out there.

the local media here is beholden to the republican noise machine.

Maybe they'll be able to start over by putting faster growing crops between new plantings of avocado trees. King George must have driven them nuts.

with my step-Mom (Dad, couldn't talk to me right now because he is so pissed, and she is going to make him a sandwich) :)

comments from the people he inconvenienced. Too bad he didn't hear them.

radius is cleared for him. That just goes to show, that the S.O.B. knows damn well what the real Americans in this country think of him. He is a piece of turd.

Can you imagine President Clinton doing this. He would have worked right thru the crowd and shook hands and asked what he could do to help.

and you see what they think of him.

They put so much work into their place, and now this. Then Bush comes along and messes up their day (kind of like the opposite of icing on the cake).

Followed by lemon juice

Bush, in contrast, is useless -- and generally ends up making things worse!

when it comes to situations like these. I recall being absolutely irate with Jeb Bush when his entourage seriously delayed some relief efforts during the 2004 hurricane season. Send your expressions of concern in the form of relief services. Save the on-the-ground grandstanding until after recovery. This stuff just chaps my hide.

I cannot tell you how sorry I am for your parent's loss.

to show up in person. I mean, I know why they do it, but why do they think they're helping?

Personally, I'd say that any politician who can't travel without inconveniencing the rest of us should just stay home - e-mail, videoconferencing, and courier services can do all that is required. The only exceptions I'd make are official business trips that absolutely require personal presence (and that does not include campaign events)...

is his own and his cronies. he's on a permanent campaign, and tough shit if people are sweating, hungry, dying. they make me so sick

is a right cross to the nose. Wonder how he would feel about that?

I'm sorry about your folks' orchard and barn, Gelliebeans.

He is shit bag in my book ;)

He went clear across town from his hotel to eat ONE biscuit for breakfast. They closed two interstate highways and towed a bunch of cars that were parked along the street in a legal parking zone.

He is just a selfish prick. Spoiled too.

wasn't an extra dry bisquit (you know the kind that get stuck in your throat and you need a little water to wash it down). :evilgrin:

And we wished she had told him we save our big biscuits for good presidents.

If you can get me a link, I will make sure that it gets enshrined here: http://www.dubyaspeak.com/incidents.phtml


Whining about the size of his biscuit! Wow. I would have whisked it away and said, "Then I will give it to the folks who are having no breakfast at all today because their kitchens have been burned up. Goodbye, Mr. President."

a plate full of pretzels!

To show he's still relevant. See, he has to remind everyone that's he still the President. He has to let everyone know that he's a 'C' student who tells PhDs what to do. He likes making everyone wait on him. It amuses him.

big ego :puffpiece:

you know it - it sounds funny but that's exactly what it is - the little SOB enjoys his little power plays :hi:

We need a smiley for hitting the nail on the head like you just did, but in the meantime, :thumbsup:

hemorrhoid. Worse than an asshole, a painful part of an asshole.

So sorry about their loss. Guess the line they waited in was to throttle the chimp!

How I wish the Supreme Court had not given him the office.

I am very sorry for them. :hug:

for your kind words and good vibes (since I was unable to write you each back individually). I will print this off and show it to my Dad after he gets home in his own bed and is able to think about their future. My father voted for Kerry and has basically taken the stance that the two assholes (George and Dick) will be out real soon now I don't know that he doesn't want that day to come tomorrow at the latest. I don't want to rev him up anymore than is necessary because I don't want his bp to rise.

We have great friends and a wonderful close family. We will do whatever it takes to put the pieces back together.
I just wanted to start this thread to share a little bit of what their week has been like an offer a glimpse into the chaos down here despite the media's glowing reports that we are all good little Californians that were happy that George graced us with his presence.

Thanks from the bottom of my heart for all the kind words I think it is safe to say that California feels the love and thoughts from DU.

Hope they get up and going and back home and all that soon.

I really hope that he will be able to replant.

Love to your folks,

Lisa

:patriot:

whatever you guys do, please make sure you get back to your homes, and not be stopped to re build, cause you know what happened to people in New Orleans they screwed them off their own property.

such an asshole...i can almost hear him thinking let them eat cake. how can anyone anywhere see any good in this barely humanoid creature

so the message is loud and clear *'s photo-ops are very obstructive self-service displays of arrogance. The asshole needs to get a clue that he is not welcome to these disaster spots

They need to know how much frustration is wrapped up into these ops. Some people claim that it is necessary and good for most of the people to have their leaders there asap. I dunno. He took heat for not going to NOLA soon enough. But maybe this one was TOO soon. Seems to me that if he is coming, he should be bringing loads of physical help along the way so ass not to slow down people's recovery efforts. If it isn't done right, a president is damned if he (she) does, damned if he (she) doesn't.

I've been to plenty of these dances as a rescue worker

Some leaders come in, and disrupt some... no way to avoid it, and some (this one) disrupt a lot..

And this one is a coward

to the crowd. 3 1/2 hours in the heat and no one thought to hand out water?

I'm so sorry to hear about this - I'll send you an email!

They are in our family's thoughts and prayers.

:hug:

Is it any wonder?

...about, along with a few torches.

Heh. Sorry, got carried away.

Jeez, and I'm SO VERY SURPRISED that CNN did not report on this incident. Not. They were too busy saying Bush had "learned his lesson from Katrina," which kind of made me want to barf.

Best of luck to your dad and mom, Gellie. At the moment, their luck is in their kids and friends. :hug: God bless him for saying publicly and loudly what we all think.

Hekate

Want to make the right appearance in front of the reporters and their cameras this time.

I'm glad your parents survived. I'm betting he'll find the strength to start over.

"Tell that asshole to just fly over next time and just send a check"

But we will never hear this story in the MSM. They just keep showing how wonderful Ahnold thinks Bush is and how they both care so much about Californians. Ugh. I am so sorry about your parents farm. I hope they get the help they need to get back on their feet. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of you.

We can post replies in the newspapers to this sorry behavior in Michigan if we can get the details!

I am so disgusted by this... I cannot say what I want to about bush, but I am sorry for your family.

and I probably would have started yelling before he did!

My sister-in-law and her husband evacuated from up by Lake Arrowhead Monday night. They still don't know if they have a house left. We are all just hoping they do. Like your mom and dad, this is their retirement home.

Our family is just praying for everyone. That's all we can do right now.

I'm sorry your family has lost so much. :grouphug:

Can someone send the story to Keith O?

First, I am so sorry for what your parents have gone through, Gelliebeans.
The loss must be just heartbreaking. My thoughts and prayers go out to them.

It is callous beyond words that these people who have had their lives turned upside down have to wait in the hot sun for hours while * (the little f-wit) has a sit down with the firefighters...for three and a half hours! It's inhumane. He has no compassion or empathy - a textbook example of a sociopath.

I hope Olbermann gets this and gives it lots of attention in the next day or two. It is a story that must get out.

heat while prez shit-for-brains does his photo-op.
The media are still complicit in his bullshit....still no one has the courage to publicly say that the emperor is f**kin nekkid!!!!!!!

So sorry for the hardship your folks are going thru. It sounds like they have friends and family that will help them thru this tragedy.

I was watching that on TV and how I wish somebody would yell "Go fuck yourself Mr. Dubya" like that doctor did in Mississippi to the dick man after Katrina!

Oh, only in my dreams!

On edit: My best wishes that your family recovers swiftly from this! Many of us here have those people in our thoughts!

Everything is a photo-op for him. Including 9/11. And that photo-op covered by the White House photographer and fed to the New York Times is one of the things that really set the loonies off with their conspiracy theories. Including this loonie.

He doesn't care about human beings. He doesn't care to mingle with the masses. He is, after all, the king. He doesn't care if people stand in line in the heat after having lost everything and are standing there hungry in the heat. He is having a photo-op to once again promote himself as the hero so all the flag-wavers will keep waving their flags and supporting his evil agenda.

I am so sorry for your parents. And for everyone else. Hopefully they will be able to rebuild their lives. All of them.

And hopefully enough Republicans were among the people that "lost it" in that crowd that they will not vote for another Republican. California has two problems. Bush is one. The Nazi governor is the other.

Baby Snooks

To be fair. A modern Monark, wil NEVER ACT AS MR BUSH is acting... Becouse a MODERN MONARC know that hes "power" lies in the hand of the public.. And if the public is going angry, his crown can be verry, verry in danger... As I am living in a country with a king I wil say that if our king acted 1/3 like Mr Bush are acting sometimes.. Our king wil be out of a job verry soon...

Mr Bush are not action as a MODERN KING, rather like a old style tyrann, who act as he pleases, even that it are going to hurt the pesanst he had to se sometimes..

Diclotican

Sorry my bad engelish, not my native language

We all know everything in the universe revolves around the Coward Boy King....

What I want to know is this....

Why the hell did the fire fighters dine with him? Why doesn't everyone refuse to be in his presence & tell him to go fuck himself? Yes, Bush is a complete & total scumbag narcisstic idiots. But, why the hell do regular people cater to him.

Why did they allow themselves to be props for the Shrub?

Shouldn't they be out doing their job fighting fires and such?

people, especially men in uniform, have you noticed?

mr. fake fireman, cod piece wearing, flight suit sporting, should have sent me to Viet Nam jackass* has some serious serious fucking image issues, beyond all his other flights of fancy issues.



I hope your parents are okay.

Good to have family, and I worry for all those who don't. I'd guess more than a few alone people are burned out too.
Your father is a fortunate man.

You dad did a good job of keeping his cool as far as I am concerned. If it had been me I probably would have disappeared by now. My prayers are with you and your family and I hope he soon gets the help he needs.

As far as the photo ops, I became outraged again. It's a common emotion for caring people these days. Bush and Cheney do not care about anything except themselves. With FEMA doing its own press conferences, Bush thinking nothing about causing people more grief by waiting it's a wonder a riot hasn't broken out.

people

Orchards will take a long time to replace. I'm glad they have you there to help them get through this.

As for Bush, to paraphrase his decider quote, it should be "I'm the disruptor, I disrupt." It's all he can seem to do.

Seriously, this is a story that deserves to be told.

As I look at my morning Times, I see that Steve Lopez has written a fairly scathing column "San Diego set no enviable standard" about the Republican backslapping over how well evacuations have gone in SD versus New Orleans. Lopez is an incisive writer with an eye for hypocrisy and graft. You can write him at <steve.lopez@latimes.com> His column is on page 1 of section B, the California section.

Speaking of backslapping, the reporters who covered Bush's little tour wrote on page A19 "Bush tours the scorched Southland. Haunted by the legacy of Katrina, he seeks to convey a mesage of care and command. -- Wrapping his arms around newly homeless victims, greeting grimy firefighters and predicting 'a better day ahead' etc." The article is accompanied by one of those nauseating photos of the smiling Comforter in Chief.

The authors are James Gerstenzang <james.gerstenzang@latimes.com> and Peter Wallsten <peter.wallsten@latimes.com>

Don't forget the dot between their first and last names in their email addresses.

DUers are suggesting Keith O, which is great for a national audience, but the LA Times is our regional newspaper and it's a big, big region.

Best of luck.

Hekate

:hug: You and yours are in my thoughts and prayers. :loveya:

That's my kinda guy!

Wish he had been able to shake the Chimp's hand and "share a few of his thoughts" with the Gangster.

Blessings to your family from a fellow Californian.

You are in my thoughts :hug:

Be thankfull of what they do have, although it is hard to do under those circumstances. Bush rubbing it in to boost himself is so typical as was evidenced by katrina and his real message is 'I'm great and the rest of you don't matter'. Tell them not to focus on that pissant pResident as it only serves to make one sick and make things worse. One can even forgive, but never forget.

everyone here. so very, very sad.

Yeah-I'm not surprised. Now I know not to go and wait in line the next time he comes to throw some crumbs to my community's peasants.