The Rueters Manifesto

Reuters is once again trying to stoke the burning embers of class warfare in the United States. In this shameless piece, Reuters is journatorializing (and I claim a copyright on that word if no one has claimed it already!) that the poor (er, financially-challenged?) residents of coastal Mississippi were left to die by their wealthier neighbors who fled the approach of Hurricane Katrina.

Says Reuters:

"Many of [Biloxi's] well-off heeded authorities' warnings to flee north, joining thousands of others who traveled from the Gulf Coast into northern Mississippi and Alabama, Georgia and other nearby states. *** But others could not afford to join them, either because they didn't own a car or couldn't raise funds for even the cheapest motel. 'No way we could do that," said Willie Rhetta, a bus driver, who remained in his home to await Katrina.'"

Now I certainly don't want to sound insensitive, but I find it hard to believe that gainfully employed individuals, like Mr. Rhetta, are unable to afford a bus ticket from Biloxi to Jackson, Memphis or Nashville, even if they could not afford accomodations (which I also find incredible). When a Category 5 hurricane is bearing down on you, you can't be too fussy about where you are going to be staying when you leave town; you just get out. Moreover, weren't there shelters inland for those who had no where else to go? This is, of course, not the first hurricane to hit Mississippi.

Reuters just loves these little opportunities to jab its biggest enemy -- the United States.

Link