Okay I'll be the first to say it...This is tough but I'm gonna say it

[noahmijo]

This terrible tragedy will never be forgotten especially for the victims.

I just feel so sleazy for saying this but dammit I'm just going to come out with it:

It took an event like this to wake Americans up. It took this event to slap the shit out of the half brained American who spends all his/her time listening to Rush and the rest of the bums rail on and on about with their anti-humanistic beliefs.

You see these sad images and you see the fearless leader's response and anybody with half a mind just says "holy shit....we really do not have leadership in this country I am not safe my family is not safe....we can't even defend ourself against a natural disaster how would we survive a devestating terrorist attack?"

This event has always moved the country in a more unifying position with both its citizens and its opposition to the bush.

I find myself now riding the bus actually talking to complete strangers something I never really did before (I don't hate people I'm just natrually reclusive) all kinds of people lawyers, poor people who work 12 hours at taco bell just to keep their apartments, ect just out of nowhere everyone is nearly hand in hand discussing both how to help and how incompetent this administration really is.

It is truly horrific and sad that it's come to this but it has and I think this event is going to cause a major shift in the way this country views its leadership and no amount of jingoistic phrases that start and end with the words "freedom" is going to bail them out.

[Beam Me Up]

1. If this ISN'T what it takes, I hate to think what it WILL take.

May grace help us all.

[i miss america]

4. My sentiments exactly.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

10. This is a start, but it's not "it."

My bet is that "it" will be $5 a gallon gas.

And long lines to get it.

Hey, remember Plamegate? The grand jury? Karl Rove?

Remember Iraq?

I have this horrid feeling that Fuckface In The White House is really tickled with this Katrina mess. It's not like he's running for re-election, after all, so it's a terrific diversion from everything else.

Cheney. Remember him?

[tk2kewl]

16. It will be the MASSIVE inflation resulting from this event and winter

heating costs. This is going to be a BAD BAD winter. I hope it is mild weather-wise.

[Doremus]

20. Cheney? Oh, you mean that other guy that's ON VACATION? n/t

[Tace]

2. I Live In NYC Where Many People Are Fairly Liberal...

and I've got people coming up to me out of the blue and saying, with these empty, frightened eyes, "I voted for Bush, but I didn't know. I really didn't know. I'm so sorry. Oh God, how am I going to heat the house this winter?"

It's wild.

[itzamirakul]

13. I live in NYC too and I am wondering what the hell the evacuation plan

is for those of us who don't own cars?

This event shows just how totally unprepared the government is to handle catastrophes.

[Tace]

14. Hey, I'll Tell You Mine -- Good Shoes And A Basic Backpack Camping Kit

No kidding, I'm preparing to walk me, my wife, and two little girls over the George Washington Bridge, if it comes to that.

[NYC]

19. Honestly, I don't think NYC has an evacuation plan.

I always thought it was just considered hopeless.

In the past, I would have thought just staying here until the catastrophe cleared would be the way to go. Now, seeing New Orleans abandoned by the government, I suspect it would quickly become unsafe to stay here. They are allowing lawlessness to flourish in New Orleans. If they did that here, none of us would survive.

So, my new plan is to wear the most comfortable shoes I can, and walk to the mainland, any mainland, but off the island of Manhattan. The federal government's ploy of starving the population until the bad guys take over is an extremely dangerous one.

[laureloak]

3. Unfortunately, I don't think it did. Already they're saying

the victims made the choice to stay. Some are saying they stayed behind so they could loot after the storm passed. So says the Republican Lardass sheeple in my office.

[Spazito]

5. Yeah, but that is only the right-wing spewing talking heads saying

that and it won't work any better than all the other crap they have been trying in order to deflect the blame from their fun-loving, hangin loose guy, bush.

[freeplessinseattle]

7. then what do say in response when you set them straight?

that's an easy talking point to overcome, if they only listen to faux you need to help these people with reality.

[TahitiNut]

17. Amityville didn't want to scare the tourists.

Evacuation? The Chamber of Commerce doesn't like talk like that. Decades of studies that foresaw this exact disaster -- but don't get the public all riled up.
:puke:

[darkworkz]

6. yes. this is what it took.

and now everyone is awake.

next 30 days will set the tone for the near-term future.

[Cleita]

8. And think about it.

This administration seems to be flirting with getting us into a nuclear war.

[Warren DeMontague]

9. Watch: They'll blame the hurricane on the Gays, the violence on

the teaching of evolution, and the crazy gas prices on environmentalists.

They just need a few days to get their story straight.

[tedoll78]

11. I agree.

And I don't feel sleazy because it's true. Many Americans have bought that bullshit line that the GOP is better when America faces catastrophe, and now we see that they're utterly incompetent in using the full force of the federal govt to respond to these disasters.

Still.. this matters not one bit if we have a Democratic party unwilling to use this as Exhibit A against the GOP. A gonad transplant might be in order.

[bbgrunt]

12. I HOPE this wakes people up.....

but as soon as these images disappear from the tv screen, and gas comes back down to $3.00, people will have to deal with the next crisis.....and the question is.....even if they DO wake up, is the die already cast?

[natrat]

15. depends if "they" have the strengtth and soul to see through

the inevitable spin from the media and hate machine

[Javaman]

18. This is what moron* fears the most. What we are seeing...

coming out of NO, is everything they surpressed in Iraq. In Iraq they can control what's going in and what's going out, but in NO, they can't stop the media from showing the reality of what a disaster looks like, be it from a hurricane or from a war.

The people of this nation are finally getting a dose of what reality really is and it scares the shit out of them. this worries moron*. rightly so.

This is the end, my friends, of the chimp in charge*, the scales are falling away and the people are asking questions again.

Cindy lit the fuse, but Katrina set off the charge.