Yesterday, I spent in a somewhat narcissistic post-time-away pity-party...having to do with fears about money, my failing computer monitor, and a sense of not being organized in any fashion.
But yesterday afternoon and this morning, I pulled my head out of the sand and spent a long time listening to radio and seeing the news, and reading some things on the internet. And I'm appalled.
What the hell has been happening?! And did anyone really not see this coming? We all know that "evacuating" a city in the face of impending disaster is a myth (even if everyone did have vehicles, there is never enough time to truly evacuate a metropolitan area). So why wasn't there a back-up plan?! Especially because it would have taken an idiot not to know that flooding was going to be an issue (even after a storm passes to the north of New Orleans...it is at the bottom of the watershed and will continue to collect water).
And where are the troops and the money, people are asking? Iraq! At the beginning of the summer, several states prone to wildfires were letting the US government know that with their National Guard resources down and that would make fighting wildfires adequately a virtual impossibility. I remember then thinking, "This is going to be bad." Same problem, different disaster.
I think what has disturbed me the most, however, are people like Rush Limbaugh who questioned why the people who didn't evacuate didn't have cars and blamed the liberals for not evacuating people (as though this is a partisan issue). And then there was the freak who calls himself a Christian who blames the disaster that is New Orleans on God's wrath because there was set to be a gay celebration sometime in the near future. Tell that to the good Christians dying in the streets of New Orleans today, stupid f#ck!
I work at a dialysis facility where we review emergency plans with our patients in case they should need to survive without dialysis for a time. The emergency plans are 3 day plans...and we are into the 4th day. And these are often the people (the old, the sick, the poor) who can't get out when an evacuation order is issued.
I'm off to call some congress people now...
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8 comments:
I don't think I took a breath while reading that....I'm not sure you took one while writing it....
Make those calls
Shooting at helicopters who are trying to rescue babies from the hospital? Rapes in the Superdome? Looting televisions and jewelry when survival is a question mark?
The loss of life is tragic.
The loss of humanity is numbing.
From where I sit, I find it appalling and staggering that in the heart of the USA, it can apparently be so difficult to get aid to where it is most needed.
It's like watching "lord of the flies".
ST
and where's Jack Bauer when you need him, eh?
I think that the thing that got me most in all the watching and listening about the Gulf Coast disaster was this: Someone asked one of the young stand-up-guy-news-casters how he happened to be there in front of the N.O. convention center. He said, "It's my job." He was there DAYS before; he had no fatigues, no rifle. His weapon was the truth. Truth tellers are brave. Thanks for yours.
Yeah, I blame the gay people. And the Syrians. And left-handed people.
Hey, I know, let's bomb Syria, San Francisco and, um, those factories where they make left-handed scissors....
Oh blimey.
red
I've been really upset about all of it tool. It didn't hit me until Friday morning how bad all of this was down there. I gave to red cross, but it's not enough.
And as for SwissToni's question about Jack Bauer, I loved it! I often wonder the same thing...
I've also read that some people abroad are calling this God's judgment for our invasion of Iraq. Whatever.
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