I can’t NOT write about it any longer
I know I mentioned the Hurricane (cap H intended) a few days ago, and that it is probably already on your mind, but I have to get a few more thoughts out there.
I have accomplished very little at work today because I’m addicted to checking cnn.com, msn.com, both local papers, and any other news source I can find with information on what is happening in New Orleans. I was emailing with BFE yesterday and I made a comment about how I’m pissed at the people who had a chance to leave on Sunday but didn’t. The gritty old guys who said things to reporters like, “I’ve survived worse than hurricane. I’ll ride this out, too.” The families who wanted to be there to pick up around the house when it was all over. Those types of people. But now, I feel for them all and I REFUSE to believe we are doing all we can for them.
A few years ago, when I was a little more conservative than I am now (a.k.a. before I moved to Seattle), I was watching post-hurricane coverage on the news and some woman was pissed at “the government” for not helping her rebuild her house, which, naturally, had been destroyed. At the time, I thought, “Why in the hell should the government help you? Don’t you have some personal responsibility here?” And she did, and so did the people on the Gulf Coast who could have left but didn’t.
But it’s different now. The ones who could have left are now struggling for life alongside the ones who had no choice but to stay. We’ve left them there to fend for their lives like wild dogs, and that’s what they are turning into. Looting is rampant, armed men are roaming the streets at night shooting at cops, people are firing on helicopters as they try to evacuate HOSPITALS. You put a guy in a situation where he is starving, dying of thirst, and resourceless to do anything about it and you’re god damn right he’s going to lose his mind. Factor in the fact that he’s probably watching his family suffer and/or die too and you might as well be watching Mad Max. And, go ahead and hate me for this if you want to, it’s the government’s fault. Bush has been about as consoling, competent, and creative about fixing this as my cat. But Niles doesn’t have the resources GW does.
I bought gas on my way to work this morning, not because I needed it yet, but because I know it’s about to be $5 a gallon. As I looked at the guy next to me, shook my head, and said “Two ninety-five!” and then heard him say, “Three seventeen!” (because he was filling up his Beamer, which apparently requires a higher octane than my VW) I realized that I’d pay $10 a gallon if it meant every person in the Superdome could get on a bus to a place not run by post-apocalyptic madmen, and be holding a bottle of drinkable water on their way.
Fucking Bush.
UPDATE: I just found this site via What Do I Know via Pop Astronaut. Unbelievable.
September 1st, 2005 at 1:40 pm
I’m at home watching CNN coverage, which at the moment is Wolf Blitzer. And a commentator on the program said something that was so cathartic for me to hear coming from a media source: that the ‘elephant in the living room’ which most coverage in the wake of Katrina has ignored is that the victims and refugees who are starving and abandoned in the cities are largely poor and black. These are people who did not have the means to leave their homes. And now they are being ignored by the government. And I wonder what role class and race play in the federal view of their expendability. Jake Shafer wrote the following article on Slate http://slate.msn.com/id/2124688/nav/tap2/
That speaks to this issue. I cannot believe Americans are suffering in ways that seem so preventable. I just need to understand why. And I can’t help but think if a devastating earthquake hits Seattle, I’ll be left to die in the street by my government.
September 2nd, 2005 at 10:34 am
It’s hard to imagine, and stomach, what’s going on in the south this week. I’m going to reserve final judgement on the response of the Bush administration until a clearer picture emerges of who knew what and when. At the very least, I’m disgusted with the Bush administration’s reaction.
It disturbs me that according to this NPR interview with Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff, it seems that the casual viewer of CNN knew more about the crisis than the federal government…and this is TWO FULL DAYS after the Hurricane.
If the truth comes out that the administration didn’t pay attention to this catastrophe because the majority of victims were poor and without resources; If it comes out that the slow response was due to most of the National Guard being overseas in Iraq, then even the most staunch conservative wil have to start asking themselves what they hell has happened to our government.
Ideological differences aside, gross mis-management and incompetence on this scale should not be tolerated by anyone.
September 2nd, 2005 at 11:00 am
You also have to remember that it’s still summer there and the heat is in the mid 90’s and humidity is still 100%. I’d hate to have to sit outside for four days in that kind of temperature even with food and water let alone in filth and with no water. I’d be really pissed also, especially hearing all of these reports that help is on the way.
I did see CNN yesterday start showing some statistics about homelessness and racial proportions in the New Orleans area and I really hope that this story becomes a very large factor in the political fallout that is sure to come. This has the potential to set race relations back years. I hope that it’s something that can be used to kick the Republicans out of office or at least make people wake the hell up to the Republican shitstorm that we are in.
September 2nd, 2005 at 11:10 am
What is going to come to light is that the politics in New Orleans, hell Louisiana for that matter, is some of the most corrupt in the country.
Katrina was just the force that just turned over the rock.
Having said that. I have friends on Florida, and other areas that are telling stories of past hurricanes, where relief to hard hit areas is always slow in coming, mostly due to logistics, and the break down of the infrastructure due to the storm.
We are seeing the side effects of that infrastructure breakdown affecting the relief efforts in New Orleans. Many of the roads are still underwater. Airlifting stuff in, i can understand coast guard pilots not wanting to go to some areas do to the violence.
Izzy
September 2nd, 2005 at 1:33 pm
I’ve heard that about New Orleans and have no dobut it is a factor, but the Bush administration knows that too. What was going through their minds…
"Hmmm, big hurricane heading towards a city below sea level and with poor infastructure, thousands still in the city. Should we send the national guard to evacuate everyone? Should we mobilize troops and spend every waking minute and every resoource working to avoid a potential disaster? Naw, let’s go for a bike ride and give Condi that New York shopping trip she’s been asking for."
September 2nd, 2005 at 1:34 pm
At the very least, they’re going to have a huge, public relations nightmare on their hands.
September 3rd, 2005 at 5:57 pm
Like Joe, I need to wait until all the facts are in before I can determine to what extent ANY government should/could have “done more, sooner.” I am wondering why the blame falls on the federal government. Wouldn’t you think the gulf states have the most expertise in preparing for such a disaster as this, being they are the ones most often hit by a hurricane? Why didn’t the state of Louisiana decide to bus those that couldn’t leave out of the state instead of putting them up in the Superdome? I realize that no one knew the extent of the damage, but if any official had personal knowledge of the potential for catastrophe, wouldn’t it be those who live IN the state?
I am quite frustrated that help wasn’t extended faster and I’m trying not entertain the notion that economic class has anything to do with this. Regardless, as I recently vocalized my frustration in the seemingly “do-nothingness” of the federal government and agencies, someone pointed out that it takes the average person at least a day to plan for a trip over Labor Day weekend. What a logistical nightmare it probably is for GROUPS of people to determine the best course of action, take it and move it across a few states. Just another reason that states need to take on more of their own ruling rather than rely on big government to save them.