After nearly a full week with my head buried in the news section, and one eye stuck on Fox and CNN absorbing Katrina-related news coverage, I think I’ve had enough. At first, there was a dramatic intrigue about how rescue workers and engineers were going to dam up the levees and help save people from rooftops. I’m not saying I was “enjoying” watching this human drama play out, but it was certainly fascinating. No longer. My stomach churns, my head throbs, and my anger boils trying to contemplate what kind of human being would actually SHOOT at doctors, and rescuers trying to SAVE people’s lives. How un-tethered from human emotion must you be, to shoot at a helicopter trying to bring food and water to your fellow starving citizens? I can understand how low level thugs might make off with a TV or a watch from a looted jewelry store. And any “looting” that involves life essentials is not just fine by me, but should be ENCOURAGED by aid workers right now. But how does a thug “benefit” from shooting at doctors? It makes your world just spin in shame and disbelief. How does a thug benefit from setting a house on fire, or a shopping mall. I could even stretch my moral disbelief to think that carjacking is within the realm of “understandable” given that people are trying to get out any way they can. But rape? Are you kidding me? I just can’t watch it anymore. God help everybody still there. My suggestion is to start walking, if you can. It’s about 15 miles out of town from the Superdome, that’s a good hard long day’s walk. Of course, without much food or water, it’ll be brutal. But it can be done. I wouldn’t wait for help to arrive. I wouldn’t wait for the National Guard to arrive and restore order. That has been another colossal embarrassment. And YES, one that I CAN lay at the feet of the man I voted for twice, George W. Bush. Obviously, that weeping woman governor ain’t kicking enough ass. Bush needed to basically order a full scale invasion of New Orleans. Like two days ago. He’s sadly behind the curve of events on the ground. But he’s not the only one. There’s plenty of blame to go around, and it has just begun. This will be ugly. Dems vs. Repubs. Rich vs. Poor. Black vs. White. Blame, blame, blame. This will not be a good episode in our country’s history. Come together in a time of crisis? I’m skeptical. Geezus what a goat-screw of biblical proportions. I can’t wait to have my taxpayer money spend to rebuild the holes from where the helicopter shooting vermin came from. But hey, I guess we have to do it. My wife and I have already fired off a check to Salvation Army. We were going to do it at the Red Cross site, but it’s pretty much locked up with traffic. We are a very generous nation. I have no doubt we’ll get it done financially. Everything else, though, I am more pessimistic
