Descent into Hell

The stark images on the evening news often give us pause to be glad we are not there - wherever the disaster is taking place. We are comforted by the knowledge that our high standard of taxation has funded a rich infrastructure which can protect us from all but the worst natural events - or at least come and help us in any situation short of global thermonuclear war.

Or, maybe the self-serving bureacrats and shysters have used all the tax money on conferences and trips to Dubai. These folks - the dept of homeboy security and FEMA have aptly demonstrated that they can only perform well in well-orchestrated drills. These political hires were betting their careers on the hope that if a the Category 5 came ashore, it wwould be in Mexico or some boogerglob Island in the Carribean. They lost that bet and they shouild be fired, maybe tarred and feathered. Let us hope that this experience will serve as the wake-up call for those true dumpfucks charged with planning the safety of the citizens.

New Orleans never smelled good. If you have ever walked down Bourban Street in the Summer you had to breath through your mouth to avoid inhaling the rank odor of stale beer, rotting food and human piss. The downtown area has almost the same population as Boston. But the murder rate in NO is 10 times that of Boston. It is kind of ironic that the Hurricane is the most popular tourist drink - served in a glass that resembles a lantern shape.

The scenes from the so-called shelters in New Orleans - the convention center and the superdome arena are mind boggling. Hellhole defined. No Electricity, 90 degree heat, no water no plumbing and no food. Add 30,000 people. Now you have proof that God apparently hates poor people. One salient fact - everyone in New Orleans is either bone thin or Micky Dees fat - and most of them and their kids are fat. It did not require the skills of a trained systems analyst to notice that most of them are black.
The media is having a field day spotlighting those camera flies like Jesse Jackson who want to call it racism, because the relief did not arrive fast enough to save everyone.
There are some real questions that need answering about the response, but I see that most of the people who are arriving to help are white. How is that racism?

Another interesting contrast. In the Mississippi coastal towns where the people are just as black and just as poor as the city folk, you did not hear the cry "Where is the government? They need to give us help." The Mississippians were saying, "We lost everything, but we are alive. We will just have to start rebuilding." It seems the independent spirit still survives in the rural towns and counties.

There is a big lesson in all this tragedy and loss. Most of us urban and suburban folk are are just a few days away from Hell - if the power goes off (no ice, no TV, no A/C), if the 7-11 runs out of milk or tonic water, if the weekly paycheck does not arrive, or the plumbing stops working. Many of us are - like the unfortunate folks in New Orleans - mostly dependent on a just-in-time infrastructure.

It is shameful that so many are in such a hurry to politicize this event. It's appalling to hear the usual gang of idiots rushing to exploit this tragedy to further a ideological agenda.

One thing I would add to FEMA's list of "To Do's" in preparation for the next major disaster: Shoot the first looters you see carrying anything but food. I guarentee this will stop looting before it get's to be a form of entertainment.