"God Is Mad At America"

More ridiculous, self-aggrandizing Godspeak, this time from the overwhelmed and increasingly pathetic mayor of What Used to Be New Orleans. He's gotten the word, apparently, that God is mad at America, and that hurricanes are the way The Big Man is communicating that anger. So Ray Nagin joins the legions of shameless opportunistic public figures who invoke God to get people's attention.

Hmmm, I don't rember Nagin making too much mention of God when he was cursing the State of Louisiana, the federal government, and everyone else who wouldn't give him the help he was demanding (and deserved/still deserves). No God then, so why is it coming up now? He must be up for reelection, or a tough lay-off announcement is coming, something like that.

So Nagin joins the ranks of the ridiculous and marginalized, the hateful and pathetic, the Pat Robertsons and the Usama bin Ladens, those who have unique divine insight, who know what God is thinking, who somehow have plugged into the Grand Plan.

How is it Ray knows that God is mad at America? Since he's the mayor of What's Left Of New Orleans, I'd have to assume he'd keep his rhetoric confined to his constituency, the people to who he answers, for whom he is responsible, and whom he directly represents. I'd even stretch this out to the larger N.O. metropolitan area, since his public persona and responsibilities do in fact reach beyond just the city limits. But how is it he's talking about the USofA? Where's his legitimacy for such a statement? Sorry, but I can't see a deep and long-term commitment to his religious beliefs as a way to open the door to such statements.

Oh, yeah, and God's mad at black Americans, too. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. That's why the black communities of the US have been hit by so many repeated natural disasters, right? Like the Midwest wildfires? Nope, that's mostly white folks. Like California rain and landslides? Nope, that's mostly EVERYONE! What a ridiculous, hyperbolic statement. But then again, the guy's a goddamn politician--it's his job to bend and twist and obscure and speak to emotion, rather than deal in truth and facts.

And God's mad about the Iraq war. Yeah, that and hurricanes really go together. Sure, God ought to be mad about the Iraq war, what with all of the lying and cover-ups and innocent deaths and horrific injuries. If he were, though, I'd think he'd give Cheney another heart attack or drop a twister on the White House, maybe even Crawford, but we're not seeing any of that. If God were assed up over the Iraq war, I think he'd be a little bit more direct in his expressions of displeasure.

And Ray continued: "It's time for us to come together. It's time for us to rebuild New Orleans - the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans," the mayor said. "This city will be a majority African American city. It's the way God wants it to be. You can't have New Orleans no other way. It wouldn't be New Orleans." So, if I'm interpreting this correctly, this vision would be one of a future city of and by and for blacks? I can't help but note that this is a surprisingly racist statement. But I guess it was okay to think that, and say it out loud, since it was MLK Day, after all.

Yeah, Ray, it's hurricanes. If God were mad at us, why is it hurricanes? Pat Robertson said it way back in the late 1990s that gay pride events would invite hurricanes to Florida. Why do you think he said that? Because, the smarmy sonofabitch knew/knows that Florida is an annual hurrican victim, and he'd most likely get a hit or two, which would vindicate him and allow him to continue to falsely evoke God in his racist, homophobic, self-loathing spume.

So what would God throw at us if he were mad? The Bible talks about fire from the sky, the Angel of Death slamming the Egyptians, locusts, plague, blood from the sky, pillars of fire, that kind of thing. So far, I'm not seeing that in the US. Or, maybe God could just reach on down and touch the hollow heart of Bush and make him see the errors of his ways. That would fix it all up, but it hasn't happened. Or God would zap us down the perfect candidate for the 2008 presidential election, but you know we're not going to get that either. Or, God could buy some time on the national networks and hold a brief statement with some Q&A to address why he's mad at America and what we can do to fix it all up.

But we haven't seen any of that, nothing like it. No remorse from the administration, just more of the same, now tearing down historic buildings at the Nationial Observatory just to make some more room for their own activities. No sense of shame, no admissions of wrong or guilt. Not even admissions of mistakes, or choosing wrong paths for apparently good reasons. Not the slightest hint of self-questioning, just unwavering, vicious forward momentum. I'd think God would make things pretty clear, if he were God, after all. It's not like he's wanting for access or power or influence.

Believe me, if God were genuinely mad at us, mad enough to actually do something about it, we'd know it.