Mad As Hell - Observations on a tragedy

TornadoTN

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Tue Aug-30-05 07:10 PM
Original message

Mad As Hell - Observations on a tragedy

Edited on Tue Aug-30-05 07:19 PM by TornadoTN

I have been glued to this entire situation since it passed through Florida, watching it make its final path into the Gulf Coast. It was surreal, a feeling of impending disaster looming in the distance. Our government was totally unprepared perhaps even uninterested in ensuring the best response was given from the top-down. Sure, the Red Cross has stepped up to the plate and the brave people of the Coast Guard, and the people on the ground in the cities. The storm blew through and all of the talking heads were proclaiming that this was "nothing like we thought", even though all around them were scenes of incredible destruction and even an impending disaster with the levees. Now, we see the destruction, the loss of life that is going to be staggering and the lives that have totally been sent into chaos. It truly is a sad and emotionally charged scene that many are struggling with, including myself.

I have been to New Orleans, just this past October was the last time for business. The city is amazing and filled with some amazing people, largely recpetive and welcoming to all of us. Watching the scenes today, I saw so many places that I recognized it really ripped at my heart. Seeing the people displaced, in shock and totally torn apart made me really look at the state of our country. I came home, kissed my wife and spent some time just holding my two month old son, thinking about how lucky that I am to be able to come home to an actual house and be able to hold my family.

While I feel lucky, I am also very, very pissed about how this disaster has been treated by this administration. Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised, but part of me thought that the partisan and neocon mindset would be cast aside to deal with true, human tragedy in our own backyard. Our President, who is supposed to lead, decided that he would rather play politics, hit the links and pal around with John McCain rather than do the "Presidential" thing by giving aid, support and comfort to the people of the affected areas. He gave a few canned responses about the hurricane and then quickly ran on to other pet subject, such as our Iraq debacle. He even had the gall to compare himself to Franklin Roosevelt and compare Iraq to World War II. Unbelievable, but not surprising at the same time. We have sent our National Guard and their equipment to Iraq, when they could have and should have been used here, in these circumstances. We are blowing billions of dollars in Iraq, when it will cost much much more to rebuild the city of New Orleans alone. Bush has cut the funding that could have helped avoid or at the very least, better prepare to respond. This disaster could have even been lessened had a mere 14 billion dollars been invested in a program that called for the channeling of the Mississippi river back to its natural flow areas in the southern-most marshes. We are blowing that in Iraq every 2 weeks. 2 weeks in Iraq are worth more to this administration than the possiblity that a catastrophe of these proportions could have been avoided. Oh, thats right, doing something like that would cause a hardship on the oil facilities in that particular area. Nevermind they could adapt, we are all about profit now. Bush's actions were clear before the storm, when his people called the Mayor of New Orleans to inquire about the oil infrastructure preparation.

Now we get to watch Bush try to act like he gives a damn about these people, when in reality, he could care less and thats pretty damn obvious by his actions of the last few days. All of us here at DU already knew Bush was an evil, worthless waste of a President, but if the rest of America doesn't wake up to these games, then I truly weep for our nation. Bush doesn't have to answer to anyone anymore. Polls mean nothing, he doesn't have to run for election again.

Sorry for the rant, I'm just awash in emotions right now and needed a place to vent. I know I was a bit disjointed in my thoughts, and I promise to be a bit more eloquent next time. It's time for all of us to band together and help our fellow man, while at the same we need to get the word out about how this administration has contributed to the disaster over their actions over the course of their term in office. Anyway, I'm going back to stare at my son, who is sleeping and hope that we can do something to make his and many others futures as bright as ours once was.

Peace from Tennessee

*Edited for terrible, terrible typos!*