KATRINA
I chose to wait and write my thought on Katrina AFTER seeing what happened in the weeks following the storm. While I could not believe the inept response of FEMA, I was amazed at the efforts of the rescue workers pulling people off of roof tops day after day. The magnitude of this flood blew me away, a whole city lost. Watching people on that I-10 overpass for 3 days getting no food, water, or medical attention. The people at the convention center, that FEMA only found out about from watching TV, just going un-noticed for days. I just could NOT believe that this was happening in America.
Was the Government response slow in New Orleans because the people were poor blacks? I would like to think NO, but I can't help believe that if this happened in Chevy Chase and the "blue hairs" were looting Sack's and Neiman's the response would have been swifter. Then again, the folks in Chevy Chase have the three "C's" Cars, Cash, and Credit. They simply would have gone to their place in West Palm.
Would FEMA had been any less fucked up if the storm had affected a mostly white area of the country? I doubt it. But our government has a way of letting its "less significant" people fade away. Remember the early 1980's as the AIDS epidemic was killing thousands, Ronald Reagan, our President, refused to acknowledge or even say the word AIDS. Would this have been different if thousands of straight white men were dying?
So what have we learned? What did 9-11 teach us? What will we learn from Katrina?
Face it folks, we are not safe from terrorist, natural events or our government. They spend billions of our tax money and devise "plans" but it's all bullshit! And for the life of me, I can't figure out why more people can't see it. I live 15 miles from The White House, I had F-16 fly fast and low over my house on 9-11 and every time someone enters the No Fly Zone. I know I live in the danger zone and NO plan of evacuation is going to work. Hell, DC rush hour is 3 hours in the morning, 3 hours in the evening. We're all gonna die on 495, 270, and 66.
Maybe we as humans "feel better" to know that our government has a "plan" that will save us from all the evil doer's. BUT this is the same government that told children of the Cold War to hide under their wooden school desk in case of a nuculear (Duh-bya speak) attack.
Did that make them feel safer? Did they not see the huge fire fuck ball and mushroom cloud film of Hiroshima? My Mom, who can "duck and cover" with the best of them, says that "It did make us feel safe and no one thought it through or even asked questions because that is what our government told us to do."
I guess false security is better than reality........ Scary, very scary.
GIVE WHAT YOU CAN: www.redcross.org