Outrageous Criminal Negligence

The response to Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent Flood is absolutely, dumb-foundingly, ridiculously negligent. Three, four days people were left to fucking die with just a trickle of help. Not a hundred people, but tens of thousands of people. Americans. Black, poor. Nowhere else to go. Yes, there were bad seeds there too fucking it up. But, the fact that an insurgency was allowed to be sparked there speaks to the inefficacy of the government's response.

Another disaster, and the evildoers are George W Bush, Mayor Nagin, and Governor Kathleen Blanco. The evildoers are FEMA, the Dept. of Homeland Security, and the armed services. These people sat on their asses and did nothing. Absolutely nothing in the face of disaster. They denied that anything was wrong. Lying in people's faces. We're used to it from politicians, but not while they let people starve to death in a shithole for days. The feds deserve a lot of blame. Bush's negligence was criminal. He ached to fight Iraq, but when the fight came home and the cause wasn't so glamorous, he wasn't up for the job. In fact, he did a job so terrible that in any other line of work they would've kicked his ass to the curb really fucking fast. But, the state and local officials also failed. They should've known that a Flood could happen. How could they not? Why didn't the Mayor who was so incensed at the feds provide bussing to the poor people who ended up at the Superdome and Convention Center? How could people from the state of Louisiana, supposedly qualified government officials, not be able to guess at what sort of disaster might happen. In the least, they could prepare for the worst.

The bullshit that's flowing from all the pols is appalling. The lies. The covering of asses. The denials. Everyone thinks they can get off by denying facts these days, but when the facts are so painful and so close to home this strategy works terribly. Iraq's chaos can be denied and sidestepped. The tragedy of New Orleans played on CNN, MSNBC and FoxNews apparently for everyone but politicians to see. The disconnect between Bush's rhetoric and facts on Iraq pales in comparison to the disconnect between his words and deeds in New Orleans. His same boilerplate nonsense spouted out of his mouth. He thinks he's a tough guy, but real tough guys help people in need. Real tough guys aren't totally impotent and careless. Bush showed himself to be a horrible leader. His negligence was both outrageous and criminal.

New Orleans is accessible from the ocean, from the Mississippi River, from the air, from the floodwater, from roads. How could Anderson Cooper get somewhere that the federal government couldn't? It's out-fucking-rageous! These clowns will soon start clouding the facts. They didn't know. They couldn't help. What happened to the can-do attitude of bringing democracy to Iraq? Now we can't even bring water to New Orleans.

Bush is at fault. The Mayor is at fault. The Governor, who has been largely absent from the media, is at fault. The Congress is at fault. People should have known. After 9/11 billions of dollars have been poured into commissions, a Dept. of Homeland Security was created supposedly to streamline law enforcement responses, money was showered on city governments for security. But, New Orleans is destroyed. Flattened. And it took four days for the fucking cavalry to arrive. They left 1,500 New Orleans cops to work 60 hour shifts policing an entire city that had devolved into Flood, anarchy, and death. Meanwhile, the supposed government officials were phrasing empty promises and blithely going through the motions. This somehow worked with the American public with Iraq. Bush could simply say his shpiel and people would forget that their kids died for God-knows-what. But, with New Orleans, hopefully people will revolt. What's the point of paying taxes to these fuckers if all the money is going to go into pork barrel shit and all they do is run-up a useless budget deficit? Where are the results when the supposedly most advanced nation in the world needs so much time to save it's own citizens?

The Israelis were super-efficient in dismantling Gaza's settlements: they were humane, they were timely, they were effective. By comparison, America looks like a PA-ruled Gaza. Chaotic, full of terrorists, fragmented, and decentralized. George Bush, Jr. does not deserve to anoint another Supreme Court justice at this time. Rather, he deserves to be out of a job. Because that's what happens when you fail so miserably that thousands of people die because you sat on your hands. Thousands of people! In the least, he could have saved hundreds--of his own goddammed people!

There was nothing Christian or Compassionate in his response. Bush, his handlers, and the Louisiana politicans proved the worst conspiracy theories of a nation ruled by racist plutocrats who care more about special interests and $ than human life. A nation ruled by people indifferent to a poor class that is condemned as lazy and deserving of its place in society. A nation ruled by people so outrageously, criminally negligent and immoral, that they can't even muster the fortitude to push forth a convincingly delivered lie about giving a shit about the people of New Orleans. I have never had less faith in the government, less faith in the Republican party, and less faith in politicians than I do today. No other organization would let this happen so blithely. No other organization or government could be so ineffectual. In no organization would everyone still have their job tomorrow after a below-failing performance. That's democracy for you--at it's outrageously criminally negligent worst.