General Hurricane News:
Hurricane Katrina has completely altered the Louisiana/Mississippi coastline. There are communities that are entirely wiped out, neighborhoods that are completely gone, and homes that were battered so badly that there isn’t even a pile of rubble left where they once stood.

I saw one story about a Vietnamese community that came to Mississippi after the Vietnam War to start over. They had nothing when they came, but they prospered in Mississippi. After Katrina - they’re back to square one. Thirty-five years of neighborhood building, community relationship, foundation planting…gone.

Another news channel was covering the evacuation of a home for the mentally challenged - it was an inspiring story. These people, who are in no condition to live on their own, are not even able to comprehend the living hell that their city has become. They don’t understand what has happened and they can offer nothing to the immediate needs of the community - yet they are treated with human dignity and respect just the same.

Yet another story on another news channel covered how the relief efforts were beginning to make an impact. The entrance of literally tens of thousands of National Guard and other military troops has helped the search and rescue efforts. And yet, with all of the good that these troops are doing, there are still some completely disgusting elements of this event.

The Looters:
These looters should be put away in a prison somewhere. Before the belly-aching begins, I nor anyone else who are condemning the looters are talking about those who broke into pharmacies for medication, supermarkets for food, or clothing stores for clothes.

I’m talking about those assholes who were pushing a 42″ plasma screen television down 5 feet of water. What in the hell are you going to do with that television when 1) there’s no electricity and 2) the damn thing is waterlogged? And what the hell is the use in spending your time getting a plasma screen when there are babies and children who need food and water in the shelters?

For the love of God - how disgusting, uneducated, and ignorant can some people be? I saw a news report two mornings ago where three young kids were walking in waist deep water each with a garbage bag full of Nike shoes. When asked why they had looted shoes when they were young and strong enough to help in the recovery effort, their response was that they needed shoes, and now they had them. What the fuck does that even mean? These ignorant thugs can’t even wear the shoes that they stole, yet they stole them anyway.

And then you have the idiots who decided it would be smart to go into the local gun stores and the Wal-Marts and loot the guns. What could you possibly need a gun for when there are 80 and 90 year old citizens in need of your help? What? To be a big man? You know what - if these asses wanted to be big men, they’d drop the weapons and go and help their fellow citizens.

The looting of non-necessary items was and continues to be an embarassment for the rest of the United States to the world.

The Rest of the World:
A few days ago I wrote an entry about how it was time for the rest of the world to step-up and offer the United States the help that we so sorely need on the Gulf Coast. I admit that I’m surprised that over 50 countries have offered to help the relief efforts. I’m also surprised that these countries range from communist countries like Cuba and China to our staunchest allies like Great Britain and Australia to our sometimes tense friends like France and Germany and, of course, to our neighbors Mexico and Canada.

I will say that I’m not surprised that only a small handful Middle Eastern countries pledged help. Many of the leaders over there are internally-focused and it’s really a sad commentary that we send our troops over there to fight for their freedom (which, by all accounts, they are grateful for), yet when we are in need we don’t even get the obligatory offer of support.

But that’s another entry for a much later time.

The Political Fallout:
Everyone out there who is blaming President Bush for the worsening of this disaster area is a moron. President Bush didn’t tell Katrina to destroy the Gulf Coast, President Bush didn’t tell the looters to take guns and institute mob law, President Bush didn’t tell the ignorant thugs to start raping women and killing innocent people.

I don’t know why the political extremists (and I’m not even talking about Republicans or Democrats with this one) must attach every disaster in the world to President Bush. Get a fucking clue. The tsunami hits - it’s a result of Bush bombing Iraq and Afghanistan, thus disrupting the tetonic plates of the earth; the hurricane decimates the Gulf Coast - it’s a result of global warming that Bush has been helping along.

Was it global warming that brought Hurricane Camille to the Gulf States decades ago? No…but I’m sure there’s an uneducated idiot out there who is ready, willing, and somewhat-able to blame Camille on President Bush, too!

The President IS to blame for the terrible FEDERAL response to the hurricane and he has already admitted that there needs to be some major reforms for our country’s internal disaster relief. But I ask - when there are babies being born still-born, why are the asshole extremists still focusing on finger pointing? Why not direct that energy towards motivating the rest of America to donate money for the relief effort?

A Larger Picture:
Another thing that President Bush has to take to the direct blame for is the horrible energy policy in this country. Sure, I understand that he has submitted a great energy program to the Congress and that the Congress didn’t pass it, but that doesn’t mean that he couldn’t at least take some of his administration’s focus off of Social Security Reform, The War on Terror, or other party-platforms and show a little more concern for our nation’s energy policies. Side note: The Congress is just as much to blame as the President on this energy policy.

Bill O’Reilly made a great point in his latest Talking Points Memo. There needs to be a large-scale reduction in US oil company’s profits. Ok, I’m more fiscally conservative and I believe in letting the markets set themselves and work themselves to perfection, but at this point in time, you can’t deny that between price gouging and the constant quest for corporate profits, there is no need for 30% or so of the cost of each gallon of gas to go towards profits.

America is in need and it’s time that these corporate giants step up. Don’t donate $5 million to the recovery efforts! Cut your profits for a few months - hell, maybe even a year - and allow the rest of America to save some money at the pump. Then WE’LL be able to donate much more than your paltry $5 million towards the recovery effort.

President Bush needs to call on these corporate giants to cut their profits for the short-term. And he needs to do that NOW.

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