My brother in Japan sent out his periodic liberal spam to me and all my family. I was wondering if you guys could help me counter his arguments really solidly, I am a really strong conservative and am great at making logical arguments against the casual liberal, but I suck at arguing against the hard-core loonies who have "facts" backing up their position.

I could make a comment about how Bush diverted hundreds of millions of dollars away from levee repairs and flood prevention work in Louisiana to the Iraq war(1), but the fact is, the best levee system that money could have bought probably wouldn't have completely stopped the flooding (though it may have saved some lives). People have known for years that New Orleans, being 15ft below sea level, would become a lake if a strong enough storm hit. It was a question of when, not if. But here is what I really want to comment about: When the tsunami hit Asia last fall, everyone balked at the lack of preparation and organization after hundreds of villages and towns were flooded away. No one thought such chaos could happen in the Western world, especially the United States. Yet, even in those poverty-stricken third world nations where the loss of life and property was much higher than what we're experiencing now, you didn't hear any news stories about roving rape gangs, looters armed with automatic weapons, police and emergency personnel getting into shootouts and turf wars with each other, or refugees shooting at rescue helicopters. I am incredibly concerned by the fact that this was a relatively minor and predictable disaster that we experienced, and this was how an entire country, the (arguably) richest and smartest and most civilized in the world, was able to deal with it? What if we had a larger disaster on our hands, such as price/rarity of gasoline skyrocketing to the point where food can no longer be delivered in quantity to major metropolitan areas? I shudder to imagine the resulting chaos. It would make Katrina and 9/11 look like a pleasant walk through the park. As far as the crime situation goes, I can "understand" the food and water looting, but why the raping? Why the violence against rescuers? What moral justification is there for that? All I was really expecting to see post-hurricane was generic flood photos and cheesy clips of people grabbing TVs from shop windows, not stories of cops siphoning gas from rescue vehicles and stealing food, ammo, and valuables from stores before other people do, while rape and pillage gangs roam around without resistance. Truly a sad day for the human race. Maybe we'll look back on how *we* behaved when we look at other countries and remark about how "uncivilized" they are in the future.

Draw down on them.

How about this:

Every society has its dregs. The NO and LA police are notorious for their rampant corruption. They don't represent America. The tens of millions of people donating their money, time, food, homes, etc, our government which is able to care for 100,000 refugees and make sure they are all taken care of eventually, the military which is able to mobilize to rescue survivors and distriube supplies, the economy that allows for all of those people to come back and rebuild, those people for having the courage to do so, that is America.

Im not a big political man but if your so conservative, this is your words brother!

conservative or not this is what everyone should be saying to themselves.

As for NO Who care about wha tpeople are doing, save the stranded, (tell them to leave their shit behind if they where steeling) help the sick, and SHOOT BACK at the ones shooting at you

its called MARTIAL LAW. Its total anarchy I dont think it would matter killing a few rapists and shooters. Protect yourself and i kinda feel sick saying it.

Quoted: You empty any city in the world of its working class and leave the Ghetto while the person in charge owes their position to the those in the Ghetto, this is what you get. It wasn't conservatives that elected the mayor of New Orleans or governor of LA.  This was the first line of both decisions and response.  The federal resolve is coming.     Tj

well said TJ