new orleans could happen to you
i've been mesmerized this entire week by the news coming out of the hurricane katrina. not so much the actual hurricane, but the horrible response and reaction by the government to it. this is worse than 9/11, this is worse than the tsunami, yet no one seemed to understand this until days after, if even then. there are going to be tens of thousands of dead people, far eclipsing the tragedies of 9/11 and all european terrorism put together. even worse is this was not a surprise like an earthquake or terrorism, people saw this hurricane coming days ahead of time. the rich and healthy people fled. the poor, elderly and sick could not. any politician that says the magnitude of the tragedy is a surprise and they couldn't have been prepared are flat out lying. FEMA predicted a hurricane hitting the new orleans area as one of the most probable events that could create chaos. it is five days after the even now it is still chaos, people are dying of thirst, disease and hunger. there should have been troops, national guard, ready with supplies to go in and help even BEFORE the hurricane hit. yet politicians sat on their hands, frozen. this is almost four years after 9/11. we are supposed to be better prepared, these same agencies are now run by the department of homeland security, the same people in charge of things after a terrorist attack. this just shows nothing has changed, if something bad happens, don't depend on the government. your tax dollars are going towards nothing. this isn't a tsunami on the other side of the world, this is fu@#$#@$ louisiana! hours away from anywhere in the US. bottled water and medicine and first aid should have been dropped from the air HOURS, not DAYS after the storm subsided! national guard troops should have been boating into the city HOURS, not DAYS after the storm subsided to stop the looting and criminals shooting at police and aid workers. of course there will be looting, you can't be surprised by that. new orleans is 70% poor, you have criminals on the street with nothing to live for and no police to stop them. you have drug addicts that haven't had a hit for days (drug dealers evacuated) that are going through withdrawal and will do anything for a hit. of course it will be dangerous, everyone knows that will happen. troops should have been there days ago. and its not like the US doesn't have troops or supplies, it was just a matter of politicians saying "do it", and they didn't. incompetence from the city level directly to the president sipping lemonade on his ranch. just now, five days after, after the country sees normal people dying live on television, dead bodies floating in the street, do people start to care. they kept saying help is coming, help is coming, it should have been there hours after the storm passed. this is days later, you could have had supplies on the other side of the world, not two states away, in that time. everyone is talking, but not acting.
FEMA declared the three most dangerous events that could happen in the US and cause the most destruction are: 1. terrorism in new york, 2. a hurricane in new orleans, 3. a major earthquake in LA. this was widely known, how could they not be prepared. people are dying because of incompetence. but don't worry, its just old people, sick people, and yes black people. too bad for them, politicians don't care about you, you are collateral damage, you were worth the risk of not preparing. so now the first two have happened, and things just got worse, not better, nothing was learned. oh guess what? gee, a major earthquake in LA... oh guess where i live? LA? wow... do you think we are any more prepared. hardly. do you think downtown or south LA would be any different than new orleans? we have just as many, if not more, poor minority people living in bad conditions. criminals and gang members on the street. when, not if, the major earthquake hits LA it will be even worse than new orleans, tens of thousands dying. will helicopters be able to drop off water at the staples center with thousands of people dying of thirst? again, its such a simple thing, but if it happened there, it can just as easily happen here. this is america, this isn't a third world country. land of the free, yet apparently home of apathetic and unprepared and frozen still. i'm watching the news and see politician and official keep giving speeches, not actually acting. it is madness. humanity, even in the most civil country in the world, is just one step away from Lord of the Flies. i know this labor day weekend i'm going out and buying enough water and food and supplies to keep myself alive for days after an earthquake, something we did back in the 1980s when i was in elementary school. yet even in california, people haven't had a major earthquake in a while and don't care. when it does happen, it will be chaos the country has never seen before, LA will become a warzone. the only thing missing from my supply kit would be a gun. because even if you prepare, good luck finding troops to protect you and keep your neighbor from taking your supplies from you by gunpoint. if if if... this isn't a story i made up, this is actually happening this very second only hours from my nice comfy house in california, inside the US, in new orleans. wake up people. don't let these pencil pushing government bureaucrats get away with this. we pay taxes for them to prepare for these things, they failed. although the computer simulated models that predicted this exact incident and aftermath perfectly for years weren't enough to get people to prepare, maybe seeing grandma and her granddaughter floating dead face-up down the street of an american city will. i hope for the sake of the rest of the country, and especially my home of los angeles, it does.
