Bush Takes Responsibility For Failures Of Response to Katrina

 

WOW

“Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all
levels of government,” Bush said at a White House news conference with
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. “And to the extent that the federal
government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility. I want
to know what went right and what went wrong.”

Read the rest of the story here.

I have to admit, I commend Bush for stepping up to the plate and taking some responsibility for this. While it is expected due to the National Response Plan (NPR) that he signed in 2004 (that some Republicans conveniently chose to ignore), I’m amazed with the amount of courage it took for him to apologize.

Katrina Victims to Get $2K Debit Cards

BE ADVISED AND WARNED: Strong language below:

 

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For all you intolerant, people hating, mental midgets out there who think that Katrina Survivors are doing better now than they they have ever before, ….

 

 

 

*%#@#* YOU!

 

While it IS true that there are some people who take advantage of welfare, food stamps, and SSI, and while it is true that some may be doing better off from this little handout and more, to make these blanketed judgments about these people with bitterness, resentment, and hate is despicable!

Hat Tip: Talk Left

You can give them all the money in the world. But that doesn’t bring back Mrs. Jones 18 month little girl that died. It doesn’t bring back Mr.Smith’s wife. It doesn’t bring back joy in your life if you’ve just been raped. It doesn’t sugar coat the memories of watching people next to you at the Superdome being mutilated and killed covered in blood. It doesn’t bring back dignity lost after everything that they did have and worked hard for got washed away in the water. It doesn’t bring back lost or missing pets or memories in a photo album. It doesn’t bring back Grandma who died in her wheelchair outside the convention center. It doesn’t bring back the old home movies of Carla first learning how to walk.

As much as you people like to think those “refugees” only care about getting a free ride off the government, that is not the case with most people. Don’t some of you punks realize that some of the evacuees (even though they were poor) were WORKING???

All those people who think that they can speak for the victims are totally clueless.

Some things are not replaceable. So, NO if I were grieving over the death of my husband, you could give me 300 billion dollars and I wouldn’t give a shit.

So, to think these people are better off is a crock considering what they’ve just been through!

Side Note:

You know what I find hilarious? The biggest and whiny-est Libertarians out there — given the situation and the means, they’d, too,  take advantage of a government handout as fast as you can say the word “HYPOCRITE”! I’ve seen it before. You all should be ashamed of yourselves!

This is why I can’t talk politics with some of my family members — as we’d probably never speak again. I just have to sit there and bite my lips.

Quick! Hurry up and Vote!

George Bush to Blame for Katrina or not? Click here to vote!

Like I’ve mentioned before, I’ve heard both sides of the story. I’ve heard them blame back and forth on both CNN and FOX. I’ve heard The Blame Game in Blogsphere. Quite frankly, both sides of the story sound good to me. I’m just trying to make sense out of all this.

What have I learned from this? Someone did not do their job. Why did I not have an answer? Because of my ignorance as to

1. What is the responsibility of the State Government?
2. What is the responsibility of the Local Government?
3. What is the responsibility of the Federal Government?

We have to all be able to answer these questions accurately before we point a finger at anyone. I certainly don’t feel alone in my ignorance, either.

But here I am thinking that Local/State Government is independent from the Federal Government – that the Feds are there as a backup and only used for military purposes.

Here is where the confusion begins:

Bush’s National Response Plan of 2004

This plan states the following:

In Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-5, the President directed the development of a new National Response Plan (NRP) to align Federal coordination structures, capabilities, and resources into a unified, all discipline, and all-hazards approach to domestic incident management. This approach is unique and far reaching in that it, for the first time, eliminates critical seams and ties together a complete spectrum of incident management activities to include the prevention of, preparedness for, response to, and recovery from terrorism, major natural disasters, and other major emergencies. The end result is vastly improved coordination among Federal, State, local, and tribal organizations to help save lives and protect America’s communities by increasing the speed, effectiveness, and efficiency of incident management.

The NRP represents a true “national” framework in terms of both product and process. The NRP development process included extensive vetting and coordination with Federal, State, local, and tribal agencies, nongovernmental organizations, private-sector entities, and the first-responder and emergency management communities across the country. The NRP incorporates best practices from a wide variety of incident management disciplines to include fire, rescue, emergency management, law enforcement, public works, and emergency medical services. The collective input we received from our public- and private-sector partners has been, and will continue to be, absolutely critical to the implementation and continued refinement of the core concepts included in this groundbreaking national plan.

The NRP is built on the template of the National Incident Management System (NIMS), which provides a consistent doctrinal framework for incident management at all jurisdictional levels, regardless of the cause, size, or complexity of the incident. The activation of the NRP and its coordinating structures and protocols—either partially or fully—for specific Incidents of National Significance provides mechanisms for the coordination and implementation of a wide variety of incident management and emergency assistance activities. Included in these activities are Federal support to State, local, and tribal authorities; interaction with nongovernmental, private donor, and private-sector organizations; and the coordinated, direct exercise of Federal authorities, when appropriate. The NRP is also an essential element of the broader policy coordination and reconciliation mechanisms of the Federal Government. The operational and resource coordinating structures described in the NRP are designed to support existing White House policy mechanisms and decision making entities during the response to a specific threat or incident. Also, while the NRP itself creates no new authorities, it serves to unify and enhance the incident management capabilities and resources of individual agencies and organizations acting under their own authorities in response to a wide array of potential threats and hazards.

Implementation of the NRP and its supporting protocols will require extensive cooperation, collaboration, and information-sharing across jurisdictions, as well as between the government and the private sector at all levels. The Letter of Instruction included with the NRP provides specific guidance on the phased implementation of the plan. I ask for your continued cooperation and assistance as we begin the implementation process for the NRP. I look forward to working with you as we use this new foundational plan to improve our national incident management capability across the board. December 2004 National Response Plan | Preface Tom Ridge Secretary | Department of Homeland Security

Can anyone explain this to me? This is a sincere question. I may not be understanding this as it can be interpreted in two ways:

1. The Federal Government acts as the first responder to huge disasters?
2. Or the Federal Government works together with the Local/State officials.

I know one thing’s for sure! The Republicans who are saying that the Feds play no part in this game are lying based on this information. The Pro-Bush people are saying that starving dehydrated displaced children need to “fend for themselves” because “nobody’s responsible to take care of you.”

The answer is CRYSTAL CLEAR now according to the NRP. Katrina NEEDED FEMA! But we also need to say that the Local/State plays a part in this as well.

But who’s the primary responder? Perhaps there’s no need for one as they are obliged to act together?

What went wrong?

Do we need to wait until more facts come along?

Does FEMA and the Local/State Government HAVE to wait for Bush to say, “HEY, GET OFF YOUR BUMBS AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!” ?

Budget cuts delayed New Orleans flood control work

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Bush administration funding cuts forced federal engineers to delay improvements on the levees, floodgates and pumping stations that failed to protect New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina’s floodwaters, agency documents showed on Thursday.

Is this true? Or is this the Liberal Media “lying”?

Basically we need to know what every party is responsible for first. Well, the NRP explains most of it. Then, what went wrong so something like this doesn’t happen again.

But Local/State/Federal officials are just beating around the Bush (no pun intended) feeling so persecuted that they are afraid to step up and TALK. If you have a GUILTY CONSCIENCE, you will play the back-n-forth BLAME GAME instead.

You know why I’m so worried about this? 9-11 wasn’t a one time thing, folks. IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN AGAIN. Please convince me that we are prepared.

And while you’re at it, scroll up, click on that link and vote. It helps put things in perspective.

Silence Speaks Volumes (Debate at Cao’s Blog)

I left the following comment in Cao’s Blog in this entry. My recent experiences with Cao have been pretty good.I find that if I play nice with her, she plays nice with me. Unfortunately, some have not survived the Wrath of Cao. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time for me.

You see, I love a good debate and it’s hard to find sometimes because of those who take things more personally than need be. Sometimes you get the silent treatment, sometimes you’ll get one who says they’ll never talk to you again and pouts like a child, and sometimes a person will use vigorous profanity with the intention to hurt.

I’ve gotten a tasty blend of all three cases in Planet Cyberspace. 

While it DOES upset me that adults cannot act their age, I do not feel at a loss. Moving on my merry way in life, I am still able to find good apples in the pot that I can debate with on a mature level. Dissension is O.K. Bring it on! I learn from other people’s intelligent, well written arguments and visa versa. In some rare cases, I actually change my stance on certain issues. But this is how one would expect an adult to behave, right?

This is not to say that I never get over-heated in an argument. I think a lot of us are guilty of that. However, the ones that I do have a lot of respect for, hang in there and face the heat in the kitchen.

There are some people who would definitely never speak to me again if I told them that I thought Michael Jackson was a little spooky and a Pedophile. (Of course, the state never proved that, and of course the accuser’s mother was out for the money and was/is three tacos short of a combo), but that’s a different topic all together!

Imbeciles are everywhere, and you’d think that after having lived 37 years, my eyebrows would cease to rise. They still do. You think maybe I haven’t lived long enough yet?

Speaking of silence regarding Cao’s Blog and my comment, I still have yet to receive a response. Being that I’m Liberal, this is unusual.  Normally, out of Cao and Company, at least SSgt Yatahey would have reamed me a new bumhole for that one. Don’t get me wrong, though. In this case, I didn’t take this kind of silence as an insult. I just think it could be for a couple of reasons:

1. Cao (non intentionally) may have bumped it to the bottom with her new incoming entries and it didn’t get any exposure.
2. Or they found that I was right and just simply had no comment?

Saying that “I was right” sounds obnoxious, doesn’t it? Well, it could be the case? Let me leave you all the comment here and you can decide for yourself!

On September 6th at 10:58PM, I left the following comment:

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Sgt, looks like you’re feeling a little better today. 

Anyway, here’s where I’m eye to eye with the Republicans:

Living off of stolen wealth is a way of life for them.

The welfare state – and the brutish, uncivilized mentality it sustains and
encourages – is the man-made disaster that explains the moral ugliness
that has swamped New Orleans … and that is the story that no one is
reporting.

I am sometimes thinking to myself that welfare should be kicked to the curb. The government does so much for these people, and they are still complaining.

And I’m also aware that percentage-wise that the poverty stricken bunch is more likely to commit crimes. It’s a repeated cycle: Low income, little education, growing up in a violent home causing the cycle to repeat
itself because these people will take it out on people like us. They will have children, beat the shit out of them, and the cycle goes on and on and on.

Yes, this IS a generalization that I’m making. This is not to say that all low income, low educated people
brought up in a violent upbringing will lead them to take out their problems on society.

Everyone copes with their “baggage” in a different way. Some people cope by devoting their whole lives to helping others.

The bottom line here is that most of this leads to criminal behavior. While I understand the “why’s”, I am in no way validating rape, theft, and murder. Welfare just simply needs to be reformed.

We may live in a Conservative Nation, but we are run by bleeding hearts regarding criminal behavior.

If we stopped welfare, the illegal aliens wouldn’t survive here, sir. We need the illegals to want to come here illegally so that they can aid businesses. It’s all Capitalism gone bad, in my opinion. The undocumented don’t even get deported for their crimes here and we aren’t even allowed to ask about their “legal status” because it would be politically incorrect. We get accused of being racists! Pathetic! See what I mean about our little bleeding heart country. And this, sir, is where Bush is WRONG. If he wanted to control the borders, he could do so easily.

Those borders need to be shut down and only open to those who have the proper documentation to live and work here! But no… they get their driver’s licenses, their free education, low cost housing, loans for mortgages, and welfare to boot while they are popping out one baby after the next. And your tax dollars are supporting this.

You see what I’m trying to say here? These illegal aliens are living better than we are! What ever happened to “personal responsibility”. An 87 year old woman dying outside the Superdome is told to “fend for herself”. An 18 month year old wading in her excretions dying of thirst needs to “fend for herself”, little girls getting raped in the Superdome need to “fend for themselves” because that’s what our government is about. But you get an illegal alien? He’s spoiled to death. They don’t need to “fend for themselves”. We kiss the ground that they walk on in the name of “Capitalism”.

Something’s wrong with this picture.

And guess who’s following behind them at our borders? Yep, Al Quida and Company. They’re seeping through the cracks while nothing’s being done about it. We’ve got Minutemen out there volunteering their time to stop this while Bush, in his armchair, is calling us vigilantes. WTF?

This is a HUGE PROBLEM – especially when   we’re “trying to win the war” on terrorism.

Sorry for the tangent — back to Law and Order

I miss the guillotine, the gas chambers, the electric chair. I believe in the “cruel and unusual” punishment. When the anger subsides, however, I’m fine with Life without Parole.

You see, this is where Liberals hate me.

You need to understand that even some of us Libs don’t agree with each other. I am unable to join any of the Liberal Web Rings out there because of some of my views on things. That’s why I get hot and heavy
when some of you die-hard Republicans lump us all together.

Anyway, I am a bleeding heart but have no tolerance for thugs.

Also I was aware that New Orleans had the highest rate of crime in the nation, and that even the police over there were corrupt.

Who do I feel sorry for? The defenseless law abiding citizens that got trapped amongst the lowly criminals. Do I blame Bush for that? Nope. Never said I did either.

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Care to comment?

Hypocritical Republicans in Action!

This message is mainly for the uncivilized Republicans out there that just don’t have a clue.

Listen up!

I’ve heard it all. Here’s what I’ve been hearing over the past few days:

• You guys are just a bunch of Bush Haters trying to look for any reason to accuse him for something.

CORRECTION: Not all of us Liberals hate Bush. Not all of us accuse him for the lack of immediate help in New Orleans.

• You just wanna blame someone.

THE REALITY: You Conservatives are doing just the same thing by pointing the finger at the local, state, and government officials of New Orleans!

• You’re just trying to get political gain off the suffering of others.

THE REALITY: How are the average Joe Bloggers gaining off of this politically? This has nothing to do with politics. Something went wrong. People are angry because lives could have been saved. We worry about our future and safety in this country. This is a normal reaction to something as horrific as what just happened in in the Gulf.

• What a bunch of crybabies you all are. All you do is whine!

BLATANT HYPOCRISY: When Clinton was President, that’s all you guys did too: whine. If he was in office today, you’d continue the whining. You are already doing that with Hillary Clinton and Howard Dean.

Have you ever wondered why the Bush Administration allows for the New Revolution of Political Correctness, welfare, food stamps, SSI, Section Eight Housing, free education for the Illegal Aliens, Mortgage Loans for the Illegal Aliens, and other programs to help Illegals feed their MANY children while they’re getting away with murder in our Justice System everyday?

This is a bleeding heart – handout giving kind of country UNDER YOUR PRESIDENT. Aren’t you pissed off about that?

• You just want Bush impeached.

BLATANT HYPOCRISY: When Clinton was in office, you were trying to get him impeached for a blow job.

• Nobody is to blame, but the citizens in New Orleans. Nobody should have to depend on anyone for help.

REALITY CHECK: I’d love to see you say that to the faces of the elderly dying in their wheel chairs, to all the displaced children with no mother and father, to all the vets who have served for our country, to all the dying children and little girls that were raped, to all of those on the brink of death with no medication, and to all those that were murdered. And I’m talking about the ones that DID evacuate and make it to the Superdome. Tell them that they deserved to die. Tell them that they deserved to suffer.

Most of all, should you ever be in that desperate a situation, I’d love to be there when I see you crying for help and how quickly you change your politics.

• Our Federal Government, especially, is not responsible to take care of you!

BURNING QUESTIONS: If FEMA is not supposed to help out in these kinds of situations, then what the hell are they doing over there right now? I still have yet to get an answer from you people!

Also have you read this? Bush’s National Response Plan of 2004

• You Libs and Dems are so full of hate!

BLATANT HYPOCRISY: You all spew just as much hate from your dirty mouths regarding Libs and Dems in the Blogsphere and those who are involved in politics. I hear violent threats and vicious name-calling every time I pass one of your blogs.

• You’re just a bunch of commies!

REALITY CHECK: Um, please tell me what this all has to do with Capitalism vs. Communism? Do you actually know what a communist is? Do you really believe that all Liberals are poor, lazy bums who live off government handouts? You’ve got to be kidding me, right?

• You’re a bunch of Pinkos!

CORRECTION: Code Pink is where this knee jerk reaction is coming from. Isn’t this an organization that’s against Jews? Is it because some of us think that Bush may have had something to do with the delayed response to help the survivors of this hurricane, that we hate Jews? I’m sorry, but I’m just not seeing a connection with Israel here. Last time I checked, there was a massive flood in New Orleans and we saw a lot of people needlessly suffering and dying.

• Oh, you just want a Mommy/Daddy Government to do everything for you.

BLATANT HYPOCRISY: Yes, and you need Daddy Bush to give you a break on your taxes, you depend on Big Daddy to allow Illegal Aliens in the country so that your business will get more profit, and you rely on the military to save your asses should we get blown up again by the Arabs.

• “Find a way to help or SHUT UP!”

CORRECTION: Um, I did, and so did many of us. But, thanks.

• “Go cry in your Granola and Soy Milk you whiny bitches.”

CORRECTION: I like granola, but I dislike Soy Milk. I drink whole milk. So, I guess I have a little bit of Conservative in me, right? I also enjoy eating Hot Dogs and Apple Pie!  Have you read this? It appears that the Red States contain the fattest people in the nation! It looks like it would do ya’ll a little good if you were to get on a nice Hippie Diet.

• “You’re another brain-dead, Leftie-Communist-Lover … how large of a bowl of LEFTIE STUPID DUMBASS did you eat for breakfast???”

CORRECTION: While I agree there are a lot of dingbat Lefties out there, there are many of us that are very intelligent that don’t resort to name calling, have respect for dissenting opinions, and know how to debate in a civil manner.

Any questions?

Help for Hurricane Katrina Survivors

I have found several blogs and websites out there dedicated to the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Get your notepad ready!

Live from Louisiana – a Hurricane Bloggers Personal Journal
This blog has information on

• Hurricane Katrina Scams
• A list of Hurricane Katrina Survivors
• Hurricane Shelter Listings
• Information on how to find your pet
• a crisis counseling hotline
• critical resource phone numbers
• and Public Service Announcements

Journey to Healing: Support for Survivors of Hurricane Katrina
This blog contains thoughts and prayers from people all over the world, ways to help kids in dealing with Katrina, Mental Health resources that include a list of agencies and services in the Batan Rouge area, and last but not least, I recommend this blog if you’re looking for spiritual support.

A NEW Orleans: Dedicated to the Survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and to the Restoration of New Orleans

The Mission of this Website:

aNewOrleans.info is a new website created to help
facilitate the complete restoration of the city of New Orleans and its
residents. This restoration process will involve the exchange of
information and services between individuals and corporations alike.
aNewOrleans.info aspires to be the most powerful resource available for
the citizens and residents of the states affected by Hurricane Katrina.

This website also includes Federal Resources, Social Resources, Hurricane News, Photos and Videos, and a Message Board also dedicated to the restoration of New Orleans.

HurricAid
This blog contains the following categories to help out Katrina Survivors:

• Animal Rescue
• Companies that are helping
• Damage Information
• Employment
• Fundraising
• Housing
• Locating People
• Rebuilding
• and Transportation

Katrina Housing and Transportation Resources
This blog contains a Wiki Link:

Unfortunately many Katrina evacuees are facing an indefinite separation from their homes and businesses. This page is an effort to provide a checklist of actions that can be taken.

On this blogger’s site, we can also find Donation Resources, Contact Information for those resources, and a HUGE list of Housing Resources.

Hurricane Watch

Hurricane news and information. Hurricane
and weather science. This blog is the top resource online for Hurricane
Katrina pictures / pics, storm tracks, a picture, coordinates,
flooding, tracker, tracking, forecasts, photo/photos, map/maps,
information, forecast, reports, path.

This blog also contains information on the death toll, credit card fraud prevention, news headlines, Katrina Heros, information on Typhoon Nabi, and a HUGE list of charities that you can donate to.

And finally…

Housing Opportunities for Katrina Survivors
This is an actual website that I recently fell upon.

This is a housing services hub for Katrina victims. You can offer up housing
space for victims, or hurricane survivors can search for available
rooms/houses/apts/etc. This site is working in cooperation with other support
organizations.

Any assistance on distributing this web site would be greatly appreciated. We
have tens of thousands of people posting, but we need hundreds of thousands
more in order to make many housing options available to the Katrina survivors.
Also, if you are involved in the rescue and recovery efforts, please print the
housing lists and distribute to those in need of temporary housing.

Good Luck, everyone! And Kudos to all who are volunteering their time, their goods, their ability to try and understand what these people are going through, their sincere and warm heart, their organization and problem solving skills, and for opening their wallets to get Katrina Survivors back on their feet again!

A Question for the Republicans and Democrats

To the Republicans: Does Bush always have to be 100% flawless or 100% right ALL the time? I don’t think that is humanly possible. Whether you admit it or not, we ALL make mistakes – some well covered up; some very obvious.

To the Liberals: Does Bush ALWAYS have to be wrong? Every little thing he does? Can he do no right? Has he done any right at all?

I think it’s sometimes important to give people the benefit of the doubt and keep an open mind – leaving our strong emotions aside.

I see the extremists on both sides being very stubborn.

This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:

“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so
certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.” –Bertrand Russell

Who’s to Blame? Look at the Bigger Picture

To all the uninformed idiots telling the people of New Orleans to “help themselves”, read this! Damn, I wish all Republicans could reason like Ken.

Some are just missing the picture.

Sam Nixon (R) walks through high water on Canal Street as he carries a dog he rescued in New Orleans, Louisiana. Fresh floods, fires and looting rode in the destructive wake of Hurricane Katrina, deepening a humanitarian crisis that left hundreds feared dead and sections of New Orleans submerged to the rooftops (AFP/Getty Images)

No sympathy for you. Help yourselves?

No wait. They deserved this right?

Sheila Dixon of New Orleans weeps as she clutches her 18-month-old daughter, Emily, as they sit on the side of Interstate 10 near New Orleans after being airlifted Wednesday out of the flood-besieged city. Dixon said that everything she had was lost and she didn’t have any idea where she was being taken.

Too bad; too sad, right? Forget that some of these people had medical conditions too. Others with worse medical conditions couldn’t evacuate at all. Too bad, grandma. It was your fault. You deserved to DIE. And to all the Diabetics without medication: Get over it and “fend for yourselves”.

NEW ORLEANS – A Hurricane Katrina refugee collapses while waiting to board evacuation buses in New Orleans, yesterday. (Photo: AP)

Body Count Rises Along Gulf Coast:

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said on ABC: “The biggest concern is that this whole situation is totally overwhelming. I know the desperation of all of the folks who had evacuated. I know the desperately want to get in. In most cases, it is totally impossible for them to get in. The streets are inundated with water.”

The hurricane knocked out power to more than 1 million people from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, and authorities said it could be two months before electricity is restored to everyone. Katrina also disrupted petroleum output in the very center of the U.S. oil-refining industry and rattled energy markets.

By the way, how do some of these people know to evacuate if they don’t have any electricity?

Ever thought of the possibility that these people could be Republicans that voted for Bush? There’s got to be at least one Republican in New Orleans.

A couple cries after returning to find their home and business destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

(ROBERT SULLIVAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Hug for Daddy: Carmon Williams of the Rowan County Sheriff’s Department gives his daughter, Logan, 5, a hug goodbye before they loaded up and headed down to Louisiana. Photo by Brett Clark, Salisbury Post.

No! You’ve got to be kidding. He’s heading off to Louisiana to help out? Stop him now! The people of New Orleans need to “help themselves”!

A New Orleans resident tries to drive his car through floodwaters past the University of New Orleans on Tuesday. (AP/Bill Haber)

This article and picture was published on Friday, August 30th before the hurricane actually hit. So you can imagine what it was like trying to evacuate.

Disclaimer:

This post was intended for the Right-Wing Extremists that have absolutely no clue what it is like to be in a hurricane, have no concept of this kind of devastation, have not been paying attention to the news, who don’t have a heart, who are misinformed, and who thinks that the people of New Orleans need to “help themselves”.

The Non-Radical Republicans have told their story in this fashion which has taught me (if you will), that rather than blaming Bush, that the lack and delay of aid, the looting, the snipers, the destruction and failure of the levees is the fault of the Mayor of New Orleans/the local/state government.

With that said, it appears that even some Conservatives aren’t agreeing with each other.

Katrina Brings out the Truth

Well, it appears to me that Natural Disasters bring out the worst and the best in everyone.

We all know that everyone (whether directly or indirectly) has been affected by Hurricane Katrina. But another thing that we also know is that the minority groups and the poor are being mostly affected by this tragedy. I’ve also noticed another thing that’s going on in both Blogsphere and through conversations with people in the “real world”: the real bigots out there are showing their true colors.

We get some people who believe that this hurricane was sweet justice for the poverty stricken African Americans and Mexicans – that they shouldn’t blame anyone but themselves for watching their family members die, for not being able to locate them, for having not been able to afford transportation to evacuate in time, for starving, and for having to wade in high waters to seek help. It’s all their fault because if they had good jobs, they wouldn’t be in that rut in the first place. They deserve to die and meet the devil.

And I just heard of someone today that refuses to donate any money to the victims because of some black people (victims of Katrina) they saw on TV that disgusted them.

That’s the spirit!

And it’s these same people that call themselves “Christians”.

Never mind that there are MILLIONS of people including those in the Florida Panhandle, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana that are suffering from this STATE OF EMERGENCY disaster. It’s not just the shirt off one black guy. Not just the Mexican female looter who stole food for her dying son. It’s more than that. If you’ve been watching/reading the news, I’m sure that you realize that the “men in suits” have been affected too. The victim list also includes those who have fully supported the Iraqi war, those who voted for Bush and stood by him all these years, those that own guns, those people who have served in the military, those that read the bible and go to church every Sunday, those that work 12-14 hours a day who make a lot of money, those that drive SUVs or pick up trucks, and all the rest that belong to the Ultra Conservative Party.

While the minority groups have been affected probably the worst, this is a bipartisan DISASTER!

People are also blaming “the idiots” for not evacuating when told to do so. OK…. I’m one of those people who were thinking that those people were “idiots” too until a family member of mine gave me some rationale as to why it would be difficult for some to do so. To get a better explanation why “the idiots” didn’t follow orders, read the following testimony by The Gun Toting Liberal.

On Hurricane Katrina: How does anybody get caught in a hurricane when you see it coming for days?  Your answer.

I hear this question all the time coming from people who don’t live anywhere near one of the hurricane zones, but it COULD happen to anybody; you’ve heard about the hurricane, but one day, you look up at the television and the hurricane’s projected to hit your home within hours. The escape routes are clogged to the point where you realize there is a very real possibility you’ll find yourself stranded on the Interstate in your car to deal with tornados, flood waters, winds, debris, or whatever else. NOT a very good situation to be in!

You can read the rest of his rant here.

I also believe that there were some who couldn’t get transportation to the evacuated areas or couldn’t afford it.

You know, I’m not one of those people blaming Bush for the lack of a quick response to this catastrophe. I honestly can’t say why there was a delay. I don’t work for our government. I’m not at the White House. I’ve never been involved in politics or the military. I don’t know who to point a finger at or if there’s any reason to. If I were a direct victim of Hurricane Katrina, would I be frustrated? Of course. But I guess there are just some things that I don’t know, hence my digression for having an opinion in this matter.

However, I’m appalled to hear that some are saying in Blogsphere that the victims should have helped themselves rather than relying on our government — ” staring at dead bodies on the street and do nothing about them themselves.” That would be Jeffery’s comment to this linked post on this blog.

I have to admit, though, that it appears that there are more warm hearted people out there that are genuinely concerned about the victims of this storm than those who just don’t give a hoot and use this calamity for their own purposes: a platform for hate speech and vile.

UPDATE!

I blame Bush. Sorry.

UPDATE TWO!

I don’t know what the hell I think anymore. I’ve never been so torn between the Left and the Right like this in my life, and as I said in Cao’s Blog’s comment section, it’s all due to a lack on knowledge on my behalf. I recommend that you go there and read what the Right have to say. So far, they are tame in their responses. It is safe. But I think it’s important to have an open mind.

Yes, there IS an ongoing debate here between the Libs and the Conservatives. However, this does not mean that we don’t care about the victims even though we are going off on a tangent from time to time. I think it’s normal.